Conference Agenda

This talk will shed some light on a poorly-known country, Lithuania. Although its population has been significantly decreasing, the academic literature has been (and remains) largely silent on the matter – even that of the UK, the prime destination of Lithuanian emigrants. Lithuania is a noteworthy case from a psychosocial perspective, and specifically from the ‘learning from experience’ perspective due to its history of trauma. My study investigates the possibility that this increased mobility of Lithuania’s population is partly related to an immobility within the ‘cultural psyche,’ related to the country’s exposure to repeated historical trauma over many decades. Arguably, some migrants are ‘haunted’ by legacies of the past.

My study – using psychosocial interviews and groups – looks at how the cultural imaginary (the ways migrants imagine their collective social life) is produced out of this history.

There is a search for cultural containers in the imaginary, predominantly through landscape, which plays out differently between generational groups. However, this search falls short of satisfactory as a secure container out of which people can grow and flourish is not found.

This presentation will focus on the use of poetry alongside my other research methods, as it evokes additional meanings to the prosaic and the apparent, and seems to be the most effective vehicle for conveying the stuck and ambivalent states of mind.

Immigrants often find themselves entering a host country that resembles an unknown world. Cultural identity tends to become increasingly significant following immigration, as individuals navigate unfamiliar surroundings. Each culture possesses unique cultural artifacts that hold captivating narratives. These cultural objects, ranging from material items like handicrafts and artifacts to non-material elements such as literature, art, music, and film, play a vital role in helping immigrants preserve their cultural identity and maintain connections to their heritage.

Drawing from both my observations as an Iranian female analyst within the consulting room and my individual experiences as an immigrant, I have developed an interest in the significance of cultural objects in Iranian immigrants' lives.

Employing a psychoanalytic framework, my project aims to explore the impact of displacement on immigrants' psychological well-being and their relationships with people, objects, and culture. Specifically, the research investigates how cultural objects can serve as “transitional objects” in the Winnicottian sense (1953), either facilitating or impeding an immigrant's integration into a new culture. After immigration, the world is perceived as black and white with no grey area; for immigrants, it could be we vs. Others, my country vs. your country. Through the process of integration into the new culture, immigrants could move to a depressive position in Kleinian’s sense that is a grey area, both good and bad. By delving into these dynamics, the project contributes to a deeper understanding of the interplay between psychosocial processes and cultural adaptation. My project will build upon existing scholarship in cultural and migration studies, innovatively bringing together psychoanalytic theory and migration studies. This integration offers a novel approach to understanding the complexities of migration and cultural dynamics.

In our world, the sense of safety often eludes us. This sentiment permeates our daily lives through both direct experiences and indirect influences. Yet, this feeling of insecurity is not evenly distributed across the globe. It is natural for those trapped in precarious situations to seek refuge elsewhere, whether by migrating to a different locale or becoming refugees, hopeful for a new beginning. As the world's insecurity deepens, so does the number of refugees seeking solace elsewhere. The journey of a refugee typically commences with hope, but the subsequent experiences alter their lives irreversibly.

The trajectory of a refugee's experience hinges greatly upon the environment and its policies. To overcome the trials endured and to assimilate into a new environment, individuals require a degree of containment. However, when the prevailing environment and policies lack this essential feature and lean towards rejection and dehumanization, refugees struggle to articulate their emotional and psychological journey. Thus, a journey that commenced with hope often results in further setbacks and injuries in the new setting.

The destination country also has its rationale, prioritizing the protection of its borders, its populace, and its interests. Unfortunately, the media often portrays refugees as burdens, associating their arrival with insecurity and resource depletion. It seems as though lessons from past experiences and exclusionary policies go unheeded, perpetuating the cycle of systemic inadequacies.

One might even perceive the refugee's journey as a quest for restoration and hope. If the destination country could serve as a nurturing entity, offering containment and fulfilling the individual's needs to some extent, perhaps both parties could learn and grow, breaking free from the cycle of trauma repetition.

This paper delves into the emotional violence and developmental impacts of caste in India, a form of social stratification that obstructs one's capacity of being and becoming by enclosing individuals in the logic of purity-pollution and congenital transmission. Despite efforts to address its social impact, the psychic effects of caste are often dismissed as an individual lack rather than a complex psychosocial consequence. Building upon the theorizations of caste by Indian psychoanalysts as the splitting of the self into pure and polluted parts, the former acceptable and the latter unbearable, we attempt to take a step further to theorize the fate of this split with the help of a clinical encounter through a reflexive engagement with acts of emptying, splitting and projective identification.
Engaging with the complexities of caste in the context of psychoanalytic practice in India, this paper proposes a theoretical framework that seeks to use, incorporate and extend conceptualisations of – Green’s (1999) 'negative hallucination', Layton’s (2020) 'psychosocial attacks on linking', Bion’s (1967) idea of 'container-contained', and Benjamin’s (2018) theorisation of 'mutual recognition' – to address the entrenched psychosocial realities of caste.
Through a clinical vignette of the author and both the author’s shared theorization of the case, the paper illustrates how psychic reality is not only impacted by, but also constructed within the constraints of one’s caste identity; as it influences which parts of the self are recognised, allowed to develop, or are arrested prematurely. It underscores our imaginations and the importance of working through these inner realities as well as its implications for both the patient and the therapist, thereby offering insights to psychotherapists in navigating various forms of cultural and psychosocial hierarchies and stratifications within the clinic, with a particular focus on the complexities of caste in the Indian subcontinent.