PHOBOGENSIS: FANON’S CRITICAL CONTRIBUTION TO UNDERSTANDING THE PSYCHODYNAMICS OF RACE

1.5 Continuing Education Credits for Social Workers & LMHC’s*

What is phobogenesis?  How does the phobogenic object fit into ideas of selfobject theory or Kleinian projection/introjection processes?  Critical to present theory and practice is Fanon’s critique of the ideas coming from early theorists including Freud, Jung and Adler, particularly as his critique helps us to face into the challenges of considering race in psychoanalytic theory and practice as it shapes the subjective and intersubjective experience of both patients and analysts, both within the consulting space and in their personal and collective experience.

This discussion will center around a close reading of Fanon’s discussion of the dynamics and impact of phobogenesis on both subjects of whiteness and subjects of color.  We will consider this contribution found in Fanon’s  landmark text, Black Skin, White Masks and the direct implications his theoretical vision has for current work with patients of all racial, ethnic, religious, gendered and abled backgrounds.  This presentation will be augmented with considerations coming from clinicians and theorists both within psychoanalysis and from outside our discipline, who have approached the implications of Fanon’s conceptualization in a variety of ways that can be helpful to clinicians in today’s current socio-politically charged contexts.