Fanny Brewster, PhD (Psych.), MFA, LP
The Racial Complex: Race, Racism and Cultural Complexes
Saturday, Feb. 13, 2021, from 1:00-2:30 pm
The Harlem Family Institute presents an afternoon with
Fanny Brewster, PhD, MFA, LP
Just as the colored man lives in your cities and even within your houses, so also he lives under your skin, subconsciously. Naturally it works both ways. Just as every Jew has a Christ complex, so every Negro has a white complex and every American (white) a Negro complex.
– C.G. Jung Collected Works, Vol. 10, para 963.
As we encounter the issue of race and therefore racism, witnessing the constellation of cultural complexes in actions of racial violence, marching protests and global engagement, it appears important to visit the Jungian concept of psychological complexes. Jung’s early work on the “color” complex, what I have named the racial complex, has with few exceptions, not been reviewed and investigated for almost one hundred years. Jung’s early attempt to define ethnicity and culture within the context of a racial complex, had the hallmark of 19th Century colonial-influenced thinking. As we work within a 21st century consciousness, we are required to deconstruct psychological theories that are relevant specifically to Jungian psychology and in general to the field of Psychoanalysis. This deconstruction allows us to question, inquire of and re-define both the interior unconscious space of complexes, and the exterior relationship with a differing cultural/ethnic “Other,” in deepening our understanding of racial relationships within the clinical setting.
The program offers 1.5 continuing education credits for Licensed Psychoanalysts.
Dr. Brewster is a Jungian analyst and Professor at Pacifica Graduate Institute. She is a graduate of the C.G. Jung Institute of New York and is a New York State Licensed Psychoanalyst and Certified School Psychologist. She is a senior faculty member at the Harlem Family (Psychoanalytic) Institute, where she is establishing the Institute’s new Public Programs. She is also the author of several recent books, including:
The Racial Complex: A Jungian Perspective on Culture and Race, 2019, nominated for the 2020 Gradiva Award;
Archetypal Grief: Slavery’s Legacy of Intergenerational Child Loss, 2018; and
African Americans and Jungian Psychology: Leaving the Shadows, 2017.
Objectives:
1. Learn C.G. Jung’s general theory of psychological complexes and its applicability to clinical practice in terms of the Transference relationship.
2. Learn two characteristics of C.G. Jung’s “color”/ racial complex, its theoretical history and contemporary influence on the development of cultural group process.
3. Define C.G. Jung’s perspective on the American collective societal issue of racism as described in his Collected Works writings from the 1930s.
Registration: $60
To register: Pay $60 here via the Donate button, and then register here.
To receive CE credits, participants must be visible at all times during the presentation.
Cancellations: Professionals who are unable to attend a course for which they have registered may obtain a 60% refund if they notify the Registrar (emily.forche@hfi.nyc) in writing, no later than 24 hours before the class. Less than one day, no tuition will be refunded.
The Harlem Family Institute is recognized by the New York State Education Department’s State Board for Mental Health Practitioners as an approved provider of continuing education for Licensed Psychoanalysts, #P-0048.