Maudsley Lectures in Psychoanalysis | Big, Black and Dangerous - Anne Aiyegbusi

Maudsley Lectures in Psychoanalysis | Autumn 2024

Violence in Mind: Psychoanalytic Perspectives on Forensic Work

Big, Black and Dangerous

Anne Aiyegbusi

Monday 11th November 2024

7:30pm - 9:00pm (GMT)

Hybrid

In-person at 10 Windsor Walk and Online via Zoom.

During racial atrocity, the ‘Big, Black and Dangerous’ trope was convenient for enslavers and colonizers who employed it to a) evacuate any sense of their own savagery onto their victims and b) justify the savagery used to subjugate, oppress and plunder. I will argue that centuries after abolition and the de-colonization of overseas territories, the ‘Big, Black and Dangerous’ trope remains in the Western social unconscious, functioning as a looming threat to Black people who recognize that to be perceived as such, can be life threatening. In fact, life may be organised around managing the reality of this threat. Hence, for example, ‘the talk’ whereby Black parents attempt to equip their children with strategies for surviving encounters with law enforcement. As well as exploring all of these factors, I will consider the positioning of this trope in relation to the widespread criminalization of Black adults and children, along with the implications.

Dr Anne Aiyegbusi is a forensic psychotherapist, group analyst, organisational consultant and registered mental health nurse. She works part time in the NHS as a principal psychotherapist and group analyst. Anne is also a director, psychotherapist and consultant nurse with Psychological Approaches CIC, an independent training and consultancy company which primarily supports service delivery within forensic mental health and criminal justice settings. Anne is currently President elect of the International Association for Forensic Psychotherapy. She has recently completed a term as a member of the Board of Trustees at the Institute of Group Analysis and is Head of the Training Committee for the Forensic Psychotherapy Society where she had a key role in developing the recently launched foundation course in forensic psychotherapy. She has presented and published widely.

Acts of violence have long been a source of fascination and bewilderment, not least because the shock of their impact invites a particular type of thinking, or non-thinking. When confronted with unthinkable, or apparently mindless, acts, we are all vulnerable to locating the source of violence in the 'offender', and not seeing the links with the violence, both interpersonal and structural, in our families, communities and societies. This lecture series will offer participants an opportunity to engage with a range of contemporary psychoanalytic perspectives on understanding and thinking about different types of violence, in minds and deeds. There will be a combination of theory and clinical presentations. This series has relevance for those who are experienced and those who are new to this area. 

REFUND POLICY: Tickets are fully refundable until 14 days before the lecture, after which time no refunds will be issued.

Concession tickets are available, for students, BPAS candidates and NHS trainees and nurses. Please email outreach@iopa.org.uk if you are unsure if you qualify for a concession ticket.

Views and opinions expressed by speakers are their own and do not represent the views or opinions of the Institute, event organisers or other speakers. We expect delegates to respect the confidentiality of clinical material discussed in our events. The content must not be recorded, conveyed or disseminated in any format and participants must not share access to the event with non-registered participants.