Racism, the psyche and the Work of Moving On
Filmed and edited by Keith Rodway
This is a conversation between pysychoanalyst Abi Canepa-Anson, born in Nigeria and currently living in London and psychotherapist and essayist Adam Phllips, regular contributor to the London Review of Books and general editor of the Penguin Modern Classics translations of works by Sigmund Freud. Considered something of a maverick among his peers he once claimed that ‘psychoanalysis is only one among many things you might do if you’re feeling unwell—you might also try aromatherapy, knitting, hang-gliding. There are lots of things you can do with your distress.’
Abi and Adam discuss racism, its effects on those discriminated against and ways to deal with inherited and intergenerational distress. Their conclusion may seem too simple to be claimed to be the end result of a stringent scientific process; but then, can psychoanalysis truly be claimed to be a science?
And in a world where hatred, prejudice, bitterness and paranoia hold sway over the divisive politics of the far right in the worlds of Donald Trump, Nigel Farage and other such figures across the world, is kindness to others merely a common-sense solution to collective troubles, or is it too radical and unrealistic to be taken seriously?’