RACE AND PSYCHOANALYSIS: ENCOUNTERS WITH OTHERNESS
The 2026-2027 Colloquium Series
presented by the Psychoanalytic Society of the William Alanson White Institute
Domination and Disalienation
presented by Romy Opperman
with Host & Moderator Stephen Friedman, PhD
FRIDAY, MAY 7, 2027 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
What is the place of emotional and psychic life within planetary anthropogenic climate change and mass ecological destruction? Amongst responses to this question, attention to structural racism – including settler colonialism and imperialism – is largely absent. Ms. Opperman intervenes in these conversations by focusing on Frantz Fanon’s treatment of alienation and the conceptualization of environment central to it. Building on Fanon, she argues that colonial constructions and treatments of Nature are central to the psychic harms of racial alienation. Reciprocally, ecological alienation cannot be understood without an account of structural racism. Ultimately, ecological-racial alienation works as a form of debilitation in the service of domination. Yet, it is never total. She concludes by considering some of the implications of this account for disalienation.
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Romy Opperman is a feminist philosopher bridging critical philosophy of race, environmental philosophy, and critical theory. Her research focuses on Africana and anti- colonial and -imperialist philosophies to understand ecological violence and envision liberated climate futures. Romy is Assistant Professor of Philosophy at the New School for Social Research. She is currently completing her first book, Ecological Autonomy: Reimagining Environmental Racism with Frantz Fanon and Sylvia Wynter.
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.