Making Sense of Walt: A Psychoanalytic Understanding of Racism

Abstract

This paper explores Klein's concepts of the depressive position, paranoid position, envy, projective identification and reparation, and their application to understanding overt racism. An extensive case example from the movie Gran Torino and its protagonist Walt Kowalski are the foci of this theoretical speculation. Implications for antiracist practice are discussed.

KEYWORDS:

• racism
• Klein
• antiracism
• positions
• envy
• reparation

Acknowledgments

An earlier version of this paper was presented at the Smith School for Social Work Summer Lecture Series, June 2011.