Discussion: “Unconsciousness-Raising”

ABSTRACT

In discussing Nick Malherbe’s important exploration of liberation psychology and psychoanalysis, I attempt to sharpen analysis of the oppressive impact of traditional psychology/psychoanalysis (especially so in the U.S.). I consider oppressive hierarchies of privilege within the capitalist order in which all institutions, movements and individuals are implicated. I draw particularly from the intersectional theories of the Black feminists of the Combahee River Collective and their successors, and I consider struggles around privilege within other activist movements like ACT UP. This exploration leads me to raise questions about Malherbe’s sharp distinction between “consciousness- raising” and “unconsciousness-raising.” I explore, and raise some questions about, Malherbe’s vivid case illustration.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

¹ Its founding members were Barbara Smith, Beverly Smith, Cheryl Clarke, Demita Frazier, Gloria Akasha Hull, Chirlane McCray, Margo Okazawa-Rey and Audre Lorde. Barbara Smith, Beverly Smith and Demitra Fraser coauthored the Combahee River Collective Statement.

² https://www.participatorymethods.org/glossary/participatory-action-research

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Notes on contributors

Alexandra Woods

Alexandra Woods is a psychoanalyst/psychologist in private practice in New York City. She supervises doctoral students in clinical psychology at CUNY where she has taught several courses in Diversity and Mental Health. Dr. Woods served as co-Chair of the Committee on Ethnicity, Race, Class Culture and Language (CERCCL) from 2012 through 2022 at the New York University Postdoctoral Program in Psychotherapy and Psychoanalysis. She is a founding member of Black Psychoanalysts Speak. She has been a member of the activist group Rise and Resist since November 2016. She is a mentor for Students for Justice, a project of Reclaim Our Vote. In her writings Dr. Woods traces the history of white supremacist ideology embedded in 400 years of chattel slavery and links this history to conflicts within, and limitations of, contemporary psychoanalytic training. She also examines white privilege from a personal perspective.