A People's History of Psychoanalysis - (Psychoanalytic Studies: Clinical, Social, and Cultural Conte) by Daniel José Gaztambide (Paperback)

About the Book

From Freud and the first generation of psychoanalysts in the late 1800s to Jesuit priest Ignancio Martin-Baro's writings in the 1970s, Daniel José Gaztambide introduces readers to the social justice leaders and movements that have defined the field of psychoanalysis and made i...

Book Synopsis

As inequality widens in all sectors of contemporary society, we must ask: is psychoanalysis too white and well-to-do to be relevant to social, economic, and racial justice struggles? Are its ideas and practices too alien for people of color? Can it help us understand why systems of oppression are so stable and how oppression becomes internalized? In A People's Historyof Psychoanalysis: From Freud to Liberation Psychology, Daniel José Gaztambide reviews the oft-forgotten history of social justice in psychoanalysis. Starting with the work of Sigmund Freud and the first generation of left-leaning psychoanalysts, Gaztambide traces a series of interrelated psychoanalytic ideas and social justice movements that culminated in the work of Frantz Fanon, Paulo Freire, and Ignacio Martín-Baró. Through this intellectual genealogy, Gaztambide presents a psychoanalytically informed theory of race, class, and internalized oppression that resulted from the intertwined efforts of psychoanalysts and racial justice advocates over the course of generations and gave rise to liberation psychology. This book is recommended for students and scholars engaged in political activism, critical pedagogy, and clinical work.

Review Quotes

"A cogent combination of psychoanalysis and liberation theology that produces an original psychology of liberation. Channeling the contributions of Freud, Fanon, Freire and Martín-Baró, A People's History of Psychoanalysis gives a compelling account of the ignored emancipatory potential of psychoanalysis. Gaztambide's innovative book is a must-read for anyone interested in an ethics of social justice that gives the unconscious its authentic political dimension." --Patricia Gherovici, author of Transgender Psychoanalysis

"A People's History of Psychoanalysis: From Freud to Liberation Psychology contributes mightily to the healing of psychoanalysis' self-inflicted wound: the amputation of issues of social justice from those of psychological well-being. Daniel Jose Gaztambide redresses depth psychology's amnesia regarding early psychoanalytic work at the intersection of psyche and community. By integrating the histories of liberation psychology and psychoanalytic thought, Gaztambide points to a future where those committed to psychological thriving must attend to issues of social justice." --Mary Watkins, Pacifica Graduate Institute; author of Mutual Accompaniment and the Creation of the Commons; coauthor of Toward Psychologies of Liberation

"Daniel Jose Gaztambide offers a welcomed rethinking of the place psychoanalysis has held in struggles for social justice. With compelling evidence and detail, Gaztambide charts a network of influences that extend from psychoanalytic figures like Sigmund Freud to founders of Liberation Psychology like Frantz Fanon and Paulo Freire." --Sheldon George, Simmons University; author of Trauma and Race: A Lacanian Study of African American Identity

"Dr. Gaztambide's timely, fascinating, scholarly, and highly readable book revives an aspect of the history of psychoanalysis that is often forgotten: its involvement in the fight for social justice. The author has unearthed the works of several early psychoanalysts and analytically informed clinicians whose ideas were instrumental in the formation of psychoanalytic theory and practice, but who are not frequently discussed in our field." --American Imago

Dr. Gaztambide's timely, fascinating, scholarly, and highly readable book revives an aspect of the history of psychoanalysis that is often forgotten: its involvement in the fight for social justice. The author has unearthed the works of several early psychoanalysts and analytically informed clinicians whose ideas were instrumental in the formation of psychoanalytic theory and practice, but who are not frequently discussed in our field.

A cogent combination of psychoanalysis and liberation theology that produces an original psychology of liberation. Channeling the contributions of Freud, Fanon, Freire and Martín-Baró, A People's History of Psychoanalysis gives a compelling account of the ignored emancipatory potential of psychoanalysis. Gaztambide's innovative book is a must-read for anyone interested in an ethics of social justice that gives the unconscious its authentic political dimension.

A People's History of Psychoanalysis: From Freud to Liberation Psychology contributes mightily to the healing of psychoanalysis' self-inflicted wound: the amputation of issues of social justice from those of psychological well-being. Daniel Jose Gaztambide redresses depth psychology's amnesia regarding early psychoanalytic work at the intersection of psyche and community. By integrating the histories of liberation psychology and psychoanalytic thought, Gaztambide points to a future where those committed to psychological thriving must attend to issues of social justice.

Daniel Jose Gaztambide offers a welcomed rethinking of the place psychoanalysis has held in struggles for social justice. With compelling evidence and detail, Gaztambide charts a network of influences that extend from psychoanalytic figures like Sigmund Freud to founders of Liberation Psychology like Frantz Fanon and Paulo Freire.

About the Author

Daniel José Gaztambide is visiting assistant professor in the Department of Psychology at the New School for Social Research and practicing psychologist.