William Kentridge, North Pole Map, 2003

Racism and violence in pandemic times: a psychoanalytical point of view.

In this episode Fakhry Davids and Virginia De Micco begin with a reflection on the “Black Lives Matter” movement, suggesting a continuity between the inequalities of the past and those involved in societal racism today. They consider how such inequalities are internalized, suggesting that it results in one’s in-group identity being structured as an us-them link with an out-group, in which projective processes are heavily involved. Does the increased sense of vulnerability during times of pandemic produce greater pressure to project fear, danger, or ‘evil’ into the racial others – just at a time when their greater vulnerability is more evident?

Fakhry Davids, is a Training and Supervising Analyst of British Society, a member of the International Research Group Geographies of Psychoanalysis, a Board Member of PCCA (Partners in Confronting Collective Atrocities, www.p-cca.org) and Member of the Holmes Commission for Racial Equality, American Psychoanalytic Association.

Virginia De Micco, is a Full Member of Italian Society, a member of the International Research Group Geographies of Psychoanalysis, and a Board Member of the group PER (Psicoanalisti Europei per i Rifugiati) of the Italian Society.

Etude Op. 25 no. 4 in A minor - 'Paganini' comes from https://musopen.org