RACE AND PSYCHOANALYSIS: ENCOUNTERS WITH OTHERNESS
The 2026-2027 Colloquium Series
presented by the Psychoanalytic Society of the William Alanson White Institute
White Work: Reckoning with the Legacies of “Whiteness”
presented by Mary Watkins, PhD
with Host & Moderator Stephen Friedman, PhD, LCSW
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 30, 2026 from 7:30-9:30pm/Eastern
Held in person at the Institute, 20 West 74th Street, New York City and via live stream online
1.5 CEs are available for attending. In order to receive your credit after attending, follow the instructions that are sent prior to the event.
ABOUT THIS EVENT
When people deemed “white” in the U.S. try to understand themselves, they rarely honestly address their extended ancestral histories. Even less common are efforts to critically understand how the invention of whiteness in the late 1600’s Virginia has affected their lives.
Dr. Watkins will share her odyssey through reparative genealogy to retrieve her ancestral history of enslaving and to reckon with ancestral debt through repair and racial reparations. Her work opens a path for “white” people to develop something akin to what W.E.B. Du Bois described as double consciousness, an effort to try to see through the eyes of those who have been harmed by white supremacy. This kind of “white work” is vehemently opposed by many who embrace whiteness as a fact instead of a myth, as well as by white people who have suffered a variety of losses and are low on sources of pride. For those who believe in white superiority, the call for reparations is often seen as shaming whites. How might we mindfully approach the issue of shame so that becoming accountable for ancestral histories that have harmed others is a restorative pathway to empathic action? How might therapeutic practices open their lens to include the relevance of whiteness and ancestral history for self-understanding and reparative action?
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Mary Watkins, PhD, Professor Emerita at Pacifica Graduate Institute, co-created the first doctoral program in liberation psychology in the U.S. She is the author of numerous books, including Toward Psychologies of Liberation (with Helene Shulman), Mutual Accompaniment and the Creation of the Commons, and White Work and Reparative Genealogy: Reckoning with Ancestral Debt as a Path to Racial Reparations. She is the recipient of the award for Distinguished Theoretical and Philosophical Contributions to Psychology (Div. 24, APA) and is the 2023 recipient of the Seymour B. Sarason Award for Community Research and Action (Div. 27, APA). Currently, Dr. Watkins focuses on critical anti-racist genealogy and the pedagogy of the white non-poor in the U.S. for the purpose of racial reparations. She facilitates the Houses of Healing psychoeducation curriculum in prison and conducts psychological evaluations for asylum seekers in immigrant detention.
ABOUT THIS SERIES
The ability to live with differences, let alone to enjoy such living and to benefit from it, does not come easily and certainly not under its own impetus. This ability is an art which like all arts, requires study and exercise…
Zygmunt Bauman (2000)
Psychoanalysis at its best lingers in liminal spaces and gleans wisdom from encounters on the margin (bell hooks, 2000), with things unseen and experienced as ‘Other.’ The spirit of this colloquium series on Race and Psychoanalysis is to foster a dialogue about otherness in far flung places and deep within ourselves. The hope is to sustain the conversation and build authentic human connection without a collapse into a realm where defensiveness reigns, thoughts cannot be thought and feelings become rife with experiences of anxiety and shame.
Although the repair of centuries of racial oppression is impossible, the speakers in this colloquium series will address in an interdisciplinary fashion, the myriad ways in which psychoanalysis may help inform pathways towards some semblance of healing in the consulting room and beyond.
All the speakers will present their talks in person. We encourage everyone to attend in person and continue the tradition of meeting at the Institute. At the same time, the series will be offered on a live stream, allowing us to reach a broader audience beyond New York, and connect with those who are unable to join in person.
This series is presented at no charge to its audience. Please consider making a donation to The Psychoanalytic Society when registering.