Society of Analytical Psychology
The escalation into the ‘hybrid’ war in Ukraine following the ‘Maidan Revolution’ threatened to dismember the country politically, economically and, in a very real sense, psychically, creating an unlikely situation for any continued generation of hope. Questions about what hope might be for and where it might come from in such circumstances have, in the process of supervision, picked up on Jonathan Lear’s notion of Radical Hope which ‘anticipates a good for which those who have the hope as yet lack the appropriate concepts with which to understand it’.
The escalation into the ‘hybrid’ war in Ukraine following the ‘Maidan Revolution’ threatened to dismember the country politically, economically and, in a very real sense, psychically, creating an unlikely situation for any continued generation of hope. Questions about what hope might be for and where it might come from have, in the process of supervision, picked up on Jonathan Lear’s notion of Radical Hope which ‘anticipates a good for which those who have the hope as yet lack the appropriate concepts with which to understand it’.
However, Lear’s notion of such a hope is likely to be counter culturaI, I will contend that an unexpected conjunction of a willingness to face devastation and the discovery that it can be spoken about can be thought to be complementary components of the same project, offering the chance of an unforeseeable approach to ethics that could make a difference.
This is a reflection on how clinical material was informed and affected by the context of political upheaval and the threat of war, inviting colleagues to explore how we experience history and political process as analysts and how clinical material is often saturated with both. It will include comments and observations from members of the Kiev group, all of whom have been acutely aware of the importance of what has been happening in Ukraine since the Maidan revolution.
Richard Wainwright is a Jungian Analyst, member of AJA, practising in London. He has also been supervising and teaching with the Kiev Developing group since 2008. Having given many presentations internationally on relationships between theatre and analysis he is at last preparing a book drawing on his experiences of practice in both. He has contributed chapters to the mainly AJA based books on Supervision and Alchemy edited by Dale Mathers and is currently involved with an ongoing project of ‘Recreating the Forensic Patient in Supervision’ with Mario Guarnieri.
Chair: Jan Wiener
