Beginnings of Pschoanalysis: Narrating Resistance (Workshop & Lecture)

Organized by: Florentine Emmelot, Olivia Gilbert, Christiane Neubauer

Departing from the observation of a persistent, yet largely implicit influence of psychoanalytic thought on the humanities, the workshop reconsiders the early history of the discipline, its attempts at self-theorization and -stylization, and its impact on what we consider theory today. Scholarship in the history of the humanities has long attempted to locate the ‘beginning’ of psychoanalysis – specifically, in Freud’s renunciation of hypnosis or in the conceptual framework of the Interpretation of Dreams. We are interested in diversifying the set of historiographical assumptions informing such accounts, which have long pointed out the self-heroizing, mythologizing tendencies of Freud’s own reflections on the disciplinary identity of psychoanalysis and its institutionalization from 1900 onward. The notion of resistance serves as a promising point of departure: Freud employs resistance on two distinct conceptual levels, both reaffirming it as a fundamental principle of the therapeutic encounter and utilizing it as a discursive strategy to define and defend the boundaries of the discipline against its alleged outsides. Taking inspiration from scholars such as Rebecca Comay, Katja Guenther, and Andreas Mayer, whose work situates psychoanalysis within its diverse media, scientific, and institutional contexts, the workshop reexamines the early history of the discipline through the lens and the legacies of resistance.

The workshop will be held in a roundtable setting open to registered participants. It will consist of a discussion of shared reading material, followed by a series of 15-minute presentations from the invited speakers. A reader will be circulated to registered participants in advance. The workshop will be held in English; readings will be shared in German and English. Please get in touch with the organizers if you have accessibility needs you would like to communicate.