Voices from ROOM: A Podcast for Analytic Action

This week, Aneta and Isaac speak with Kissu Taffere, a licensed clinical social worker whose clinical focus centers on women in BIPOC and immigrant communities. Taffere was laid off from a refugee resettlement organization shortly after the Trump administration came into office. She unpacks the roles of silence on the cultural and individual level, highlighting where it can be used to protect those who are vulnerable and where it is used in an effort to protect authoritarian and colonial power. 

At ROOM's fifth annual Gala held this past summer, we honored Lord John Alderdice with the Coline Covington Award for his courage in facing divisions, connecting communities, and forging peace through analytic thought. We are delighted to open our third season of Voices from ROOM with the Gala’s fireside chat between Lord Alderdice and Aneta Stojnić. They discuss the bravery required to face a dangerous and difficult world with transformative speech and writing. Alderdice stresses how vital it is to embrace new perspectives and foster communities that can survive disagreement. “Are there any indications of what kind of change in our thinking might bring us to the new paradigm I have talked about? Today, interdisciplinary connections are key. We have to move beyond our professional and academic silos.”— "Beyond Reason," Lord John Alderdice, ROOM 10.23Watch the video honoring Lord John AlderdiceNew episodes will be released twice a month on Thursdays;Listen and Subscribe today! 

Ipek S. Burnett, a cultural critic and co-chair of Human Rights Watch's Executive Committee, dives deep into the emotional toll of ecological crises and the concept of psychic numbing. She argues for critical consciousness and the need for psychological activism, emphasizing the strength found in vulnerability. Burnett critiques the superficial positivity of the happiness industry, advocating for open discussions about societal issues, especially with the younger generation. She connects Jungian psychology with activism, revealing how empathy can be a powerful tool for addressing injustices.

Rina Lazar, a clinical psychologist in Tel Aviv, offers a poignant anti-war viewpoint shaped by her experiences in a conflict zone. She examines the emotional complexities of identity and belonging amid societal unrest, sharing how historical trauma influences personal responsibility. The dialogue delves into the weight of ideology, emotional turmoil, and the therapeutic challenges faced when working with trauma-affected clients. Lazar also reflects on the dual nature of community and the importance of psychoanalytic theories in navigating our collective experiences.

This week, Aneta and Isaac talk with licensed clinical social worker Max Beshers. Beshers applies analytic thinking in spaces ranging from private practice to anti-racism reading groups to local activism efforts in Chicago geared towards ending police violence. Beshers contends with what 'radical' means now and the fear stoked by being seen as too radical or not radical enough. Beshers unveils a personal history with identity politics that strives to find the place between the elastic and the rigid, the descriptive and the confining, as he engages with a diverse patient base and larger community."Over the years, “radical” as a leftist political stance has tempted and haunted me. I was and am inspired by the wildly creative visions of a different world, without racism, without violence, without prisons, and yes, even without police."— Beshers, "Free Radicals" ROOM 2.25

In this discussion, Sue Grand, a faculty member at NYU specializing in psychotherapy and psychoanalysis, explores the seductive elements of fascism. She connects toxic masculinity with charismatic leaders and examines how gender dynamics play a role in right-wing ideologies. Sue reflects on the allure of authoritarian rhetoric, especially during the Trump years, and the psychological factors at work in identifying with aggressors. The conversation emphasizes the importance of open dialogue and community support in resisting oppressive forces.

This week, Aneta and Isaac speak with Mary B. McRae, who describes her experience growing up in a segregated southern Black community, migrating to NYC as a teen, and her revolutionary days in groups like the Black Panther Party. Highlighting the importance affirmative action programs had for her generation, she reminisces about the doors that were open and closed to her as she made her way from being a young single mother to becoming a research psychologist, tenured professor, and current president of William Alanson White Institute.Read Mary's work in ROOM:"As a child, I played in this graveyard with other children. The pain and joy of those memories, owning our first house before losing it and migrating to New York. Not remembering difficult times or suffering is like dementia, a fear of repetition. I am the baby girl, the sixth of seven children, a sharecropper’s daughter." - Mary B. McRae, Notes from a Sharecropper's Daughter, ROOM 10.24

This week, Aneta and Isaac speak with Katie Burner, a therapist raised inside the Latter-day Saints faith. Burner unpacks how her Mormon upbringing and experience at institutions like Brigham Young University affect her relationships with her clients. Seeing both Mormon and non-Mormon patients, Burner navigates transference and countertransference inside her practice alongside a shifting relationship to the religion itself.

This week, Isaac and Aneta speak with Jill Gentile about how the liberatory and inclusive projects of democracy and psychoanalysis reflect and enable patriarchy. Suggesting that castration fantasy was psychoanalysis’s original conspiracy theory, Gentile draws our attention to the non-binary, non-unitary vaginal space as a repressed signifier of the multiplicity of otherness. Channeling Winnicott, she suggests that the birthing fantasies, misogyny, and the overt exclusion of others during Trump 1.0, which has led to the societal breakdown that Trump 2.0 portends, may provide the opportunity for collective renewal. "It is not accidental that the Trump era is characterized by a preoccupation with borders, immigrants, walls, reproductive surveillance, and a general fear of feminine space." - Jill Gentile, "Vaginal Veritas," ROOM 6.19

This week, Aneta and Isaac speak with Dr. Robert Frey about his work in international medicine and his direct action against the use of nuclear equipment to mine for oil in Western Colorado. Frey details how humor, identity, global politics, and environmental emergency may all congeal at moments of protest. Moreover, Frey emphasizes the critical interconnectedness that can be created by both political engagement and medical care when individual feeling is galvanized into collective action.