Jungian analyst explores racism and cultural healing

Our society is deepening its understanding of systemic racism and intergenerational trauma. As we increasingly awaken to the necessity of acknowledging the tragedy of slavery, we must also consider ways of collective healing. Jungian analyst Fanny Brewster will discuss the history of American slavery from an Africanist psychological point of view in her virtual talk “Letting My Heart Be Broken: Healing Cultural Trauma” on Friday, February 11, 2022 at 5 p.m. as a guest of Eugene Friends of Jung. Her talk is cosponsored by the OHC’s Endowment for Public Outreach in the Arts, Sciences, and Humanities.

 Brewster views the enslavement of Africans as an archetypal, somatic, and emotional collective event that created cultural intergenerational trauma. She examines psychiatrist Carl G. Jung’s classic writings on the theory of complexes, relating it directly to race in modern society. Brewster contends that the adoption of racialized Jungian theories in the 20th century did not allow for the acceptance of the ethnic diversity that makes up America, and that the 21st century requires movement toward theories that speak the language of collective racial healing.

On Saturday, February 12th, Brewster will give an online workshop “Dreaming in Black and White: Race in the Unconscious” from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. The cost is $75 (students $50 with ID). Participants will share their perspectives on American history and collective cultural trauma, American Jungian psychology, and considerations of how to speak with one another about racism and racial relations.  

 Fanny Brewster is a professor of Integrative Therapy and Healing Practices at Pacifica Graduate Institute. She is author of The Racial Complex: A Jungian Perspective on Culture and Race (2019), Archetypal Grief: Slavery’s Legacy of Intergenerational Child Loss (2018), and African Americans and Jungian Psychology: Leaving the Shadows (2017). Her poems have been published in Psychological Perspectives Journal. She is an international lecturer and workshop presenter on Jungian-related topics that address culture, diversity, and creativity.

Brewster’s virtual lecture is free and open to the public. Register for the talk and workshop at eugenefriendsofjung.org