Annual Conference at the IPU Berlin: »Drive and Method. Psychoanalytic Perspectives in Qualitative Research«
The annual conference of the IPU Berlin will be devoted to qualitative methods within psychoanalytic cultural and social research.
For Sigmund Freud, the various applications of psychoanalysis outside of the couch-setting were indisputable. Freud said that the use of analysis for the therapy of neuroses is only one of its applications and that the future might show that it is not the most important one. In the wake of Freud’s cultural-critical studies, among others, ethnological and critical studies of religion emerged. The Frankfurt School incorporated psychoanalytic concepts and methods in its studies of anti-Semitism and authoritarianism. In these studies, subjective drive dynamics were seen as the processing of social crisis phenomena. Applying psychoanalytic models allowed for the unraveling of these phenomena.
With the conceptualization of depth-hermeneutics, Alfred Lorenzer made an influential contribution to ‘cultural analysis’ in the German-speaking world. Methodologies within depth hermeneutics vary widely and are taken into account to varying degrees. Among others, they include: scenic understanding, free association, text evaluation, analysis of countertransference and group evaluation formats. Particularly influential is Georges Devereux’s argument that the use of overly formalized methods can help to ward off anxiety when dealing with a research subject. Ulrich Oevermann also drew on psychoanalytic terminology to develop objective hermeneutics – an analytical method that attempts to reconstruct the latent structure of a case through precise textual interpretations.
With the help of psychoanalytic concepts and the application of psychoanalytic methods, there is a great variety of approaches to investigate social and cultural problems today. These different variations of qualitative interpretations are positioned in a field of tension between associative and textual, (counter)transference-focused and structuralist approaches to analysis. Regardless of their orientation, all are united by the intention to identify something in the subconscious, in the “dregs [ …] of the world of phenomena” (Freud). The chosen perspective of each subject area leads to distinct assumptions about what the subconscious is and how and where it can be discovered. Only rarely, however, is the concept of the subconscious made explicit. Thus, this year’s annual conference will also focus on which assumptions about subconscious processes in their relation to culture and society are implied in qualitative-psychoanalytic research.
The conference is aimed at a professional audience interested in the psychoanalytic, cultural and social sciences. Together with experts in the field of psychoanalytic cultural and social research, scholars from the IPU will present their approaches and research. During workshops, young scholars will be able to present and discuss their research. The conference will conclude with a panel discussion where a range of methodological approaches will be discussed. The panel will further explore the question of the critical orientation of psychoanalytic social and cultural research.
Speakers at the conference: Prof. Dr. Michael B. Buchholz, Prof. Dr. Hans-Joachim Busch, Dr. Katarina Busch, Dr. Markus Brunner, Prof. Dr. Benigna Gerisch, Prof. Dr. Vera King, Jun.-Prof. Dr. Julia König, Dr. Steffen Krüger, Prof. Dr. Elfriede Löchel, Dr. Sonja Witte
Organizers: Prof. Dr. Christine Kirchhoff, Aaron Lahl, Benedikt Salfeld
Contact: triebundmethode(at)ipu-berlin.de
Location: International Psychoanalytic University (IPU) Berlin
Room: Stromstr. 2 (Lecture Hall 1)
The event is free of charge.