Citation

Rao JM. J. Am. Psychoanal. Assoc. 2021; 69(2): 315-341.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2021, SAGE Publishing)

DOI

10.1177/00030651211006917

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

In a frequently repeated group phenomenon, a racial slur is spoken in psychoanalytic conferences, after which a range of defensive responses emerge to counter acknowledgment of the meanings of having done so. After a discussion of the literature relevant to the use of slurs in psychoanalytic professional settings, Freud's concept of Nachträglichkeit, or deferred action, is used to identify and explore these events as a series of discriminatory gestures that evoke racial trauma. The defensive responses that emerge to protect the use of these gestures indicate ties to the traumatic legacy of slavery and to white supremacy as it appears in contemporary psychoanalytic culture. "Gestures of the open hand" are proposed, and their profound reparative potential is discussed. The intimate link between epistemic justice and psychoanalytic endeavors is delineated.

Language: en

Keywords

deferred action; epistemic justice; psychoanalytic culture; racial slur; racial trauma; white supremacy