Clio’s Psyche Understanding the "Why" of Culture, Current Events, History, and Society
Volume 8, Number 4 March 2002
The Psychology of Terrorism and Mourning September 11 Special Issue
In Search of bin Laden Mourning, Melancholia, and Ted Goertzel the Palestinians Rutgers University Robert Pois Adam Robinson, an author and journalist University of Denver who has lived for 10 years in the Persian Gulf area, and has written the best book I have read on the Saudi Paul Elovitz dissident and terrorist. Though this book is not a Ramapo College of New Jersey psychobiography, to the best of my knowledge it How will our nation mourn the terrible provides more information on Osama bin Laden's events of September 11, 2001? What are the conse- childhood and personal life than previous sources: quences of a failure to mourn losses? What is the The most useful prior source I had found is a bio- role of war in mourning collective tragedy? As graphical sketch available online from PBS at Americans, historians of modern European history,
A Window to the Middle East ...... 195 IN THIS ISSUE Michael E. Nielsen What’s Osama bin Laden Doing on The Psychology of Terrorism and My Office Door? ...... 196 Mourning September 11 Sam A. Mustafa In Search of bin Laden...... 165 Understanding the Gap Between American Ted Goertzel And Iranian Students’ Views...... 198 Mourning, Melancholia, and the Palestinians...... 165 Simine Vazire with Patricia McCord Robert Pois and Paul Elovitz Individual Identity, Collective Experience, A Nation Mourns: The Kübler-Ross Model And Memory ...... 199 Applied to the World Trade Center Disaster ...... 168 Daniel Klenbort John Scott Smith The Infantilization of the American People...... 200 Counseling Alongside Ground Zero...... 170 H. John Rogers Irene Javors The Power of Images and Symbols: The Role of Children’s Delayed Reactions to September 11 ...... 171 Television in the Attacks of September 11...... 201 Robert Quackenbush Maria T. Miliora The Capture of Barbastro: Terror, Vengeance, and Fantasy War in Hollywood Action Films...... 203 Politics in 11th-Century Spain...... 173 Ryan Staude Brian Catlos Magical Thinking as a Response to Terrorism ...... 205 Sane People in Groups Can Be Terrorists Helen Smith When They Feel Threatened...... 175 A Nation Awakened? Terrorists Test Jonathan T. Drummond America's Resolve ...... 206 Beyond Martyrdom and Salvation...... 177 Craig D. Morrow and David J. Walker Chris Tatarka "Home" Symposium A Psychoanalytic Approach to bin Laden, Political Violence, and Islamic Suicidal Terrorism ...... 181 Home, Sweet Home: Building and Destabilizing Nancy Hartevelt Kobrin The Home Sphere...... 165 Peter W. Petschauer The Hunt for bin Laden: America’s “Second Intelligence Failure”?...... 184 Responses ...... 213 Aubrey Immelman Michael Britton Anatoly Isaenko Dan Dervin David Lotto Mohamed Atta’s Personality ...... 185 Paul H. Elovitz Evelyn Sommers Aubrey Immelman Amy C. Hudnall Howard F. Stein John Walker Lindh, the Taliban, and Me ...... 189 Reply ...... 222 F. Lincoln Grahlfs Peter W. Petschauer A Selected Bibliography on Suicidal Terrorism...... 189 Nancy Hartevelt Kobrin A Psychogeographical Tale of Two Cities ...... 223 Book Review by Peter W. Petschauer Denigrating Terrorists as Cowards ...... 195 Herbert Barry III Calls for Papers and Bulletin Board ...... 224
personal circumstances, was healthy. It enabled republic, was an inability of Germans to accept one to accept the reality of death. defeat in a war in whose outcome they had in- Melancholia, on the other hand, results vested so much effort. Obviously, individual Ger- from an inability to accept loss. This failure may man families could and did experience individual stem from a variety of reasons but in the end it re- losses just as did families in France or Great Brit- volves around an inability or unwillingness to ac- ain. But, loss on a national basis was difficult for cept the loss of an individual with whom one has many Germans to assimilate; for some, it proved to unresolved issues. It may involve an unwillingness be impossible. Millions of Germans were not emo- to accept the degree of emotional investment one tionally prepared to accept the reality of defeat. has had in an individual resulting in a sense of This was partly because throughout the war their frustration or betrayal. For Whalen, one of the pri- armies occupied territories of France and Belgium mary reasons for the sort of outrage generated by and to the east the Russians accepted defeat in the Germany’s defeat in the Great War and the imposi- humiliating Treaty of Brest Litovsk. For these Ger- tion, as many Germans saw it, of an unwelcome mans too much national blood had been spilled, March 2002 Clio’s Psyche Page 167 too much energy had been expended, and too much Europe. lebensraum (room for living, feeding) lost, for the While reeling from the shock of the terror- cause to be lost. Many blamed Jews, Communists, ism of September 11, Americans held many fune- and the democratic Weimar Republic for the disas- real ceremonies at Yankee Stadium, at Ground trous, unexpected outcome of the war and the hu- Zero, at sporting events, and even at the Winter miliating elements in the Treaty of Versailles. Na- Olympics in Salt Lake City. The media, politicians, zism was only one of many movements seeking to and public focused on extremely public funerals, avoid the work of mourning and healing by focus- interviews of survivors, and memorials. As of Feb- ing on the sense of betrayal. The Nazi focus on the ruary 2002, The New York Times is still running dead of World War I, so dramatically portrayed in individual obituaries of the close to 3000 people Leni Riefenstahl’s Triumph of the Will (1934), rep- who died in the World Trade Center. While such resented a commitment to vengeance -- future war memorials may contribute to the mourning process, and future deaths -- rather than a willingness to they may not necessarily have this effect. Irene truly mourn and move on with the issues of life. In Javors, in a personal communication, maintains short, since loss was not accepted on the national “that this ‘spectacle of death’ functions as a de- level, mature mourning was avoided and the emo- fense against experiencing those nasty real feelings tional and military issues would be replayed in of terror in the face of loss. By going to the funer- World War II with disastrous consequences for als of people we do not know, we allow ourselves to go through a sort of pantomime of grief once removed … while tricking ourselves into believing Clio’s Psyche we are really feeling all this pain and loss.” As a grief specialist and psychotherapist “trained to ask Vol. 8, No. 4 March 2002 myself, what lies beneath what is being stated….”
ISSN 1080-2622 she remains unclear as to what is happening. As scholars of the emotional life of nations, we need Published Quarterly by The Psychohistory Forum 627 Dakota Trail, Franklin Lakes, NJ 07417 to understand far more about the implications of Telephone: (201) 891-7486 such rituals to the societal working through of grief e-mail: [email protected] and the restoration of a healthy optimism regarding
Editor: Paul H. Elovitz, PhD life. Associate Editor: Bob Lentz The mourning process was greatly compli- Editorial Board cated by the "declaration of war" by our President C. Fred Alford, PhD University of Maryland • David immediately after the event. Several weeks after Beisel, PhD RCC-SUNY • Rudolph Binion, PhD the tragic events of September 11, his chief politi- Brandeis University • Andrew Brink, PhD Formerly cal strategist, Carl Rove, reported on C-Span cable of McMaster University and The University of television, that as soon as President Bush learned Toronto • Ralph Colp, MD Columbia University • of the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Joseph Dowling, PhD Lehigh University • Glen Pentagon, even before he knew anything about Jeansonne, PhD University of Wisconsin • Peter who the perpetrators were, he declared that “we are Loewenberg, PhD UCLA • Peter Petschauer, PhD at war.” However necessary many of the activities Appalachian State University • Leon Rappoport, associated with the War on Terrorism may be to PhD Kansas State University avert future terrorism, the focus on enemies dis- Advisory Council of the Psychohistory Forum tracts from the processes of collective and individ- John Caulfield, MDiv, Apopka, FL • Melvin Kalfus, ual mourning. PhD Boca Raton, FL • Mena Potts, PhD Wintersville, OH • Jerome Wolf, Larchmont, NY The economic recession in America was
Subscription Rate: deepened by the uncertainty following September Free to members of the Psychohistory Forum 11 and the depressed feelings experienced by so $25 yearly to non-members many whose sense of security is badly shaken. $40 yearly to institutions People in mourning, without the focus of an identi- (Both add $10 outside U.S.A. & Canada) fiable, defined enemy who can be fought and Single Issue Price: $12 brought to heel, as was Japan after Pearl Harbor, We welcome articles of psychohistorical interest are not inclined to create an economic expansion. that are 500 - 1500 words. Part of the national agenda needs to be the mourn-
Copyright © 2002 The Psychohistory Forum ing of not only America’s dead but also of Amer- Page 168 Clio’s Psyche March 2002 ica’s sense of invulnerability and security. Defeat- the renewal of war. Let us hope that the United ing the Taliban restored some sense of U.S. power States can be vigilant in combating terrorism, at home and in the world but it only partially elimi- while actually mourning our dead and loss of secu- nated the future danger of terrorism because rity. Otherwise, a cycle of violence based upon un- Osama bin Laden and the al-Qaeda network oper- resolved grief is more likely to continue. ated successfully in the Sudan and elsewhere be- Robert Pois, PhD, is Professor of History fore it ever went to Afghanistan. Furthermore, at the University of Colorado in Boulder. His America's every military and diplomatic action in a special interests are in Weimar Germany, Nazism, worldwide war against terrorism may refocus ter- the Great War, and German Expressionism. With rorists on the United States rather than on their lo- Philip Langer, he has recently completed the cal government. manuscript, Psyche and War: Psychohistorical Five months after September 11, it is un- Essays on the Military. Dr. Pois may be reached at clear if a sense of confidence is restored suffi-
September 11 attack wanes and allows time for strating solidarity with America. "I feel close to the deeper reflection, feelings of overwhelming sad- American people. America was very close to us ness have arisen. President Bush acknowledged when we needed them in the past and now we have this in his Address to a Joint Session of Congress to stay close to them," said an Italian. An Islamic and the American People given nine days after the prayer leader called for building bridges of brother- attacks. “Great harm has been done to us. We have hood. "Help us to change this national tragedy into suffered great loss…. It is my hope that in the an opportunity to know one another," he said in his months and years ahead, life will return almost to prayer. "Help us to continue to work together with normal…. Even grief recedes with time and grace.” love and compassion in the best interest of this na- Even now, almost five months after the event, tion and all other nations." Internet chat lines reflect individuals’ sobering In conclusion, in the wake of terrorist at- confrontations with depression. “Is it just me or is tacks that have left more than 3,000 people dead or all the stuff today making everyone so much more missing, United States citizens have reacted in a depressed than normal.” Another wrote, “I get manner similar to the terminally ill and dying de- more depressed every day. It stems from a feeling scribed by Kübler-Ross in 1969. President Bush of complete helplessness.” A Pew Research Center referenced a part of this process during his Septem- survey released October 19 showed that 71 percent ber 20 Address when he said, “Tonight we are a of Americans acknowledged feelings of depression country awakened to danger and called to defend following the attack. Almost half had trouble con- freedom. Our grief has turned to anger and anger to centrating and one-third had difficulty sleeping. resolution.” Using Kübler-Ross’ process as a The research center said the impact was much model, professionals can examine the changes that greater than during the Gulf War when 50 percent are currently occurring within American society, of Americans questioned felt depressed. explain what has occurred, perhaps predict what is The application of the fifth stage of accep- likely to occur, and have a positive effect on our tance seems to make most sense in terms of accep- future. tance of the reality of living in a country vulnerable John S. Smith teaches psychology and to massive terrorist attacks. This will take some counseling in the Department of Behavioral time and many people may never accept this real- Sciences and Leadership at the U.S. Military ity. Emergency responders such as policemen, fire- Academy, West Point, New York. He is a field men, and members of the military must ensure that artillery officer and has served in various staff and they provide time and resources to allow for re- leadership positions at the platoon through flecting and experiencing on the loss. Trained to brigade level in the Republic of Korea and at Fort focus on the mission at all cost, organizational Sill, Oklahoma. training and culture may lead to a tendency to skip over this step. The risk for these organizations is that individuals may perceive their leaders as in- Counseling Alongside sensitive or uncaring, thereby alienating its mem- bers in the process. Many soldiers view their par- Ground Zero ticipation in military operations in Afghanistan as Irene Javors their opportunity to make “amends” for somehow Private Practice, New York City not averting the September 11 attacks. Given the opportunity to physically do something in the fight Since September 11, I have been counsel- against terrorism, the military can view this battle ing clients who work in corporations whose offices as its next challenge -- as the opportunity to deal are near Ground Zero. In doing this I have been with an enemy that should have been addressed forced to confront many of my assumptions about sooner. the nature of counseling as well as what it means to However, just as disasters can destroy or- be a counselor in these traumatic times. ganizations and communities, this event also has I came of age as a psychotherapist in what the potential for positive effects. Some individuals I would call the “golden age” of psychotherapy. I are viewing the World Trade Center disaster as an trained during the 1970s during the height of the opportunity to strengthen ties among countries as human potential movement. My “therapeutic they work towards the common goal of combating house,” so to speak, has been built on the assump- terrorism. Nations throughout Europe are demon- tion that therapeutic work occurred within the March 2002 Clio’s Psyche Page 171 safety of a therapist’s office far from “the heartless traumatic stress by exercising, taking long walks, world.” Recently, in an e-mail to a client to con- getting enough sleep, eating properly, consulting firm our session, I wrote “our nest appointment....” with peers, and spending as much time as I can Obviously, my unconscious is residing very close with loved ones. I “just keep going” by taking "one to the surface and managing to slip through quite step at a time." easily in my cyberspace communiqué. Irene Javors, MA, M.ED., DAPA My office is no longer exclusively the safe (Diplomate, American Psychotherapy Association), “nest” my psyche craves. Now I do crisis counsel- is in private practice in New York City. She is a ing downtown within the shadow of Ground Zero. certified Bereavement Facilitator and is trained in In the days immediately following the attack, I Critical Incident Stress Management (CISM). Dr. traveled to my clients, clothed in the urban uniform Javors writes a column, "Grief Notes," for the of eye goggles and facemask. When I came up out official publication of the American Psychotherapy of the Broadway-Nassau Street station, my eyes Association and is a consultant to the Ayers immediately began to tear from the acrid, burning Group. She may be contacted at air that enveloped me.
(his father plays baseball) hitting a home run in a things we hear on television.” Further exploration giant stadium. Proof that the group had become revealed that to them the power of curse words was unified came through William, who had previously like the frightening words they heard from the me- been rejected by the other boys in the group. Now dia about surprise attacks of terrorism. Through the the other boys were asking him to work with them children talking, positive things like this are hap- on their drawing and clay projects. The group re- pening in all the groups I work with. I am con- sistance of not working cooperatively together was vinced that we adults have much to learn from chil- resolved. dren during these uncertain times. I used this experience to encourage “safe Robert Quackenbush, PhD, has place” art projects in my volunteer work Down- specialized in working with children for many town with equally successful results. I suggested years in the capacity of art therapist, that the boys and girls in the community centers psychoanalyst, teacher, artist, and writer. He is make miniature books about their ideas of safe the author and illustrator of over 170 books for places to be. An eight-year-old girl made a book young readers, which focus on humorous mysteries about the safety of having a close friend and how and biographies. His popular Miss Mallard her friend cheered her up when she was feeling Mysteries have been made into animated films by “bad.” A nine-year-old boy made a book about Cinar in co-production with China and are being feeling safe with his grandmother and the things he shown around the world on children’s television enjoyed in her neighborhood. A seven-year-old programming. Most of his books are based on boy, who had been unable to speak about the hor- Modern Psychoanalytic principles. He is a ror he witnessed on September 11, made a book graduate of the Center for Modern Psychoanalytic about the destruction of the Twin Towers and what Studies in New York and holds a doctoral degree he had seen that day. He drew pictures of people from International University for Graduate Studies leaping from the towers and firemen and police- in Children’s Literature and Childhood Education. men going to their deaths. When he came to the He may be contacted at
Muslim neighbors with whom they continued to Geographically removed from the events, many of enjoy close relations and who, incapacitated as them were not in a position to appreciate the sub- they may have been, were nevertheless the pro- tleties of local factors or differentiate between the tagonists of societies far wealthier and culturally different subsets of Christians (in this case, Ara- and technologically superior to those of the Latins. gonese and foreigners) and the varying attitudes Along the mountain frontier, raiding and skirmish- that these groups had towards Muslims, warfare, ing was a constant in which local potentates chose and the honoring of truces. The act was, in their their allies and enemies with little regard to reli- eyes, morally as much as militarily unacceptable gious conviction, but when Christian forces assem- and they strove to rally and unify all Muslims bled outside of the walls of Muslim Barbastro the against a new threat which they perceived funda- terrible events which were to follow seemed to her- mentally as Christian. ald a new kind of warfare. The Muslim military response was meas- The army that assembled before the large ured but not slow and al-Muqtadir ibn Hud of and prosperous town was said to have numbered Zaragoza, the king to whom the defeated town be- some 40,000 (surely an exaggeration of the con- longed, began to assemble a coalition for the coun- temporary “media”) and was made up not only of terstrike. Popular support ran high among the Mus- Aragonese Christians but also of a sizable contin- lims of the peninsula and of al-Muqtadir’s do- gent of Norman knights. These had been given the mains, who were eager to participate in the cam- blessings of an obscure and distant holy man (as he paign of vengeance and retribution. (However, would have seemed to Muslim eyes), Pope Alexan- despite initial enthusiasm among other Muslim rul- der II, who had promised them salvation should ers of the peninsula to contribute troops to the they risk their lives in battle with the infidel. Siege counterattack, their presence in the force which al- was laid and after a while the inhabitants of the Muqtadir eventually led was largely symbolic and town, pressed by lack of food and water, parlayed numerically limited.) In 1065, only nine months terms of surrender. This was the usual practice in after the Normans’ act of cold-blooded treachery, Muslim-Christian warfare in the peninsula, where the forces of Zaragoza, which according to chroni- opposing parties shared a sense of commonality clers were aided by “the kings of Muslim Spain and recognized that respecting treaties was the best and the people of the frontier,” assaulted the city. way to ensure their own security. The Muslim They took it by force and meted out the same fate population agreed to abandon Barbastro in ex- to the Christian defenders as the refugees had suf- change for safe passage for themselves and their fered: plunder, death, and captivity. goods. But, to their surprise and horror, as they It is tempting to envision the massacre of moved away from the town they were swept upon Barbastro as a turning point in Christian-Muslim by the Christians who slaughtered the men without relations in the Mediterranean, and some see it -- in mercy. Carrying the women and goods back, the view of the papal sanction which it had acquired -- attackers installed themselves in luxurious deca- as the real birth of the Crusades. Indeed, within 40 dence in the homes of the dead Muslims, whose years, “armed pilgrims” of Latin Europe had wives and daughters now served them as slaves stormed through the Holy Land and seized Islam’s and concubines. third holiest city, Jerusalem, massacring its Muslim The Islamic West was shocked and out- and Jewish inhabitants wholesale (despite the sur- raged by the events, not only because of their re- render agreement which had ostensibly guaranteed pulsion at the wholesale massacre of civilians who their protection). The Christian ideology of grand had been given safe-conduct but also because it ecumenical confrontation, which sprang out of the shattered the illusion of the invincibility of Muslim Roman church’s maturation as a centralized impe- power and was irrefutable proof of the decline of rial-style organization, was met by Muslim think- Islamic hegemony in the peninsula. Shock at the ers, who refined the Islamic concept of jihad to events engendered a new vision of Christendom in signify a divinely sanctioned military conflict the eyes of learned Muslims (ulama): an aggres- against unbelievers. sively violent culture whose desire for pillage pre- Seen from the distant perspective of the cluded pity for children, women, and the aged. In 21st century, the fears of the ulama seem to have their outrage, Muslim religious figures began to been justified. Toledo fell in 1085, Barbastro again characterize current political events in the penin- in 1101, and Zaragoza in 1118. There were griev- sula as fruit of a confrontation of civilizations. ous battles and occasional massacres. Despite the March 2002 Clio’s Psyche Page 175 intervention of fundamentalist Berber regimes California Santa Cruz and is currently a visiting from North Africa, Christian kingdoms managed to scholar at the Institució Milà i Fontanals of the push the balance in their favor. Within two centu- Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas ries, Islamic political power had been all but swept (CSIC) in Barcelona, Spain. He has written a from the peninsula, leaving only the tiny kingdom number of articles on Muslim-Christian interaction of Granada, a vassal-state of Castile. Looking in the medieval Mediterranean and is preparing back, it is tempting to imagine two titans, Christi- the book manuscript of his 2000 doctoral thesis, anity and Islam, fortified respectively by ideologies “The Victors and the Vanquished: Christians and of Crusade and jihad, locked in a struggle for the Muslims of the Ebro Valley in the Middle Ages.” fate of Hispania. A closer look at the events of He may be reached at
Osama's mother, Hamida, was a beautiful this period of his life, bin Laden found enormous young Syrian woman who caught Mohammed's satisfaction from bonding with other young men. fancy late in life. Married at the relatively late age The terrorist network he built in young adulthood of 22, she had lived a relatively modern lifestyle in involved a particularly intense form of male bond- Syria, including shopping trips to Damascus. She ing that is a central source of life satisfaction for had an independent streak and found life within the him. The videotape, captured by American troops, bin Laden compound confining. She did not like of his bragging to a group of male friends about the covering her face with a burka and was scorned by World Trade Center bombing, provided a revealing the other wives and ex-wives. By the time Osama picture of the pleasure he obtains from his close was born, she was ostracized by the other women. relationships with other men. They referred to her as "the slave" in reference to He was sent to Lebanon to high school, her resentment of her status. Osama was known by where he was free from the restrictions he had the nickname, "son of the slave." known all his life. He had a generous allowance Osama was raised largely by nurses and and a luxurious life style, including his own Mer- nannies, with his mother kept in the background cedes Benz and a chauffeur. He spent much of his and sometimes not even living at the compound at time in fashionable nightclubs with other wealthy Jeddah but at other family residences. The nurses young playboys, often in the company of blonde and nannies were, of course, of even less impor- prostitutes. He had been married, at the age of 17, tance to Saudi culture than the wives and no infor- to a Syrian girl who was a relative but this placed mation is available about them. The label "son of no limits on his behavior. Osama's Beirut revelry the slave" never left him and he was shy and gener- was rudely interrupted by the outbreak of the Leba- ally rejected by his brothers. He sought attention nese civil war. The family brought him back home through mischief and pranks but he was careful to and sent him to the university in Jeddah, one that be dutiful and obedient when in the presence of his had been largely funded by his father. father. He loved camping in the desert and his fa- In Jeddah, Osama was given considerable ther was pleased with his outdoor skills. Most of religious instruction and Adam Robinson believes his brothers hated the desert and went only to pla- that he felt guilty about his earlier indulgent ex- cate their father. cesses in Lebanon. He became excited about the The relationship with his father was proba- war in Afghanistan and eagerly sought an opportu- bly the most important thing in Osama's life as a nity to join in the fighting. According to Robinson, young boy and he felt abandoned when his father he was recruited and supported by the CIA in ful- died in a helicopter crash when Osama was only filling this dream. Fighting for Islam met his needs 10. The household was dispersed and he was sent for purpose in life and purged him of the sins of his to live with his mother, whom he hardly knew. He youth. He told an interviewer from TIME magazine felt more and more that he was the black sheep, the that "in our religion, there is a special place in the only victim of the dispersal of the family. His hereafter for those who participate in jihad. One mother tried to reach out to him but he kept his day in Afghanistan was like 1,000 days of praying distance. Within a few months, there was almost in an ordinary mosque.” no interaction between them. He played a leadership role in Afghanistan, As an adolescent, Osama had almost no in part because of his wealth and family connec- contact with women. He overcame his shyness and tions and in part because of his interpersonal skills learned to make friends with young men outside and sense of dedication. After the victory over the the family, who knew or cared little about the Soviets, he returned to Jeddah as a hero, saying he taunting he experienced at home. He became intended to work in the family construction busi- friends with several of King Fahd's sons, with ness. This was largely a cover; his primary activity whom he enjoyed many adventures in the country- was building an international network of funda- side. He also picked up their attitudes toward mentalist Islamic warriors. women as objects to be enjoyed for recreational The rest of the book covers military and purposes and as status symbols. He was educated political events that are generally better known but at home with private tutors, along with his brothers of less interest psychohistorically. Osama broke and sisters. He was a bright child, and was eager to with the Saudi leadership when they brought excel in schoolwork, including Islamic studies and American troops into the country and joined with memorizing large passages from the Koran. During the international coalition to force Saddam Hussein Page 180 Clio’s Psyche March 2002 out of Kuwait in 1990-1991. He offered to mobi- this situation to them and to the women, while holy lize 10,000 mujahideen from his network and was wars purge the society of unwanted and potentially certain they could defeat the Iraqi armed forces. disruptive bachelors. The Afghani mujahideen's success in defeating the Given the closed nature of Saudi society, Soviet Union had given him feelings of omnipo- Adam Robinson is to be thanked for digging up as tence. He was certain that the superior dedication much personal information on bin Laden as he did. of the religious true believer could overcome any There are, however, many frustrating gaps. Bin of the world's "paper tigers." Laden's own wives and children and his relation- In his exultation about the September 11 ship with his mother are only occasionally men- World Trade Center bombing, bin Laden identified tioned. It is known that his third wife, taken to ce- himself and his agents with "God Almighty" and ment his political alliances in Afghanistan, was the proclaimed that daughter of Mullah Omar, the Taliban leader. what the United States tastes today is a However, nothing whatsoever is known about this very small thing compared to what we have woman herself. (There is conflict between bin tasted for 10s of years. Our nation has been Laden and his mother over his treatment of his tasting this humiliation and contempt for wives and children. Hamida believes he should more than 80 years. Its sons are being killed, allow them to live normal lives in Saudi Arabia, its blood is being shed, its holy places are while he keeps them in hiding "almost as hostages being attacked, and it is not being ruled on the verges (borders) of his life.") according to what God has decreed. Despite From his point of view, Osama bin Laden's this, nobody cares. (Text retrieved from the attack on the World Trade Center cannot be Internet at
A Psychoanalytic Approach to From Clinical Practice to International Relation- bin Laden, Political Violence, ships, 1988) Delusionally jealous of America, bin Laden and Islamic Suicidal Terrorism felt betrayed by the U.S. when Saudi Arabia called Nancy Hartevelt Kobrin on it to rescue Saudi Arabia and Kuwait in 1990- Hennepin-Regions Psychiatry Training Program 1991. From his perspective, he was entitled and and Private Practice, St. Paul obligated to be the savior of his Saudi Arabian homeland, leading the mujahideen he fought with The world has witnessed the most abusive in Afghanistan. Osama responded to this rejection “couple” ever: the unconscious pathological “love with lethal fear and rage. However, Amrika, as affair” between Osama bin Laden and the United Osama calls her by her Arabic female name, has a States. Bin Laden and his Islamic suicide bomber life of her own and chooses not to be submissive to entourage have engaged in a perverted dance of his will. Osama and his entourage feel mocked by what I call political “domestic” violence. By America and, therefore, they must destroy her. “wedding” themselves to Christians and Jews They envision her as the exciting, seductive, envi- through suicide and murder, they have reversed the able, threatening, and dangerous object of their usual order of domestic violence where the object envy, fear, and hatred, which intrudes upon and of hatred and love is murdered first, prior to the disrupts Arab unity. Osama has submitted his suicide. I will argue that by proxy, as he sends out “holy self” to Allah, yet his other self maintains a terrorists, bin Laden vicariously participates in sui- lustful, unconscious attachment to America and the cidal terrorism from a distance, fanning the flames values she represents. America is reminiscent of of rage while the suicide bombers seek a unique, his first girlfriend, Rita, a Christian in cosmopoli- symbolic maternal fusion in death. This violence is tan Beirut during his days of binge drinking. related to the high levels of child and wife abuse in (Adam Robinson, Bin Laden: Behind the Mask of Islamic societies. Regrettably, considerations of the Terrorist, 2002, p. 65) This is not a far cry space, necessitate my providing most of the evi- from couples traumatically bonded in marital con- dence for this argument in a study too lengthy to be flict. presented here. In order to better understand the Both domestic violence and political do- clinical and theoretical framework for my ap- mestic violence involve a "wedding" of violence proach, I recommend that the reader read many of between partners who rage at one another. Yet, this the studies in the selected bibliography I have com- mutual need to hate masks a defining of one's iden- piled for this issue. [See pages 189-195.] tity in terms of and against the other, and a mutual Where do violence and erotic love meet? unconscious, primitive love for the other. Through Since domestic violence re-enacts “the seething the process of the unconscious defense mechanism cauldron of erotic, passionate, and murderous emo- of projective identification, the split-off bad un- tions within the family,” it lends itself well to a wanted parts of the self are projected into the hated psychoanalytic inquiry about conjoint murder and evil “other” in a reciprocal way, recycling unend- suicide. (Harriet Kimble Wrye, "Projections of Do- ing hatred and violence with moments of perverse mestic Violence and Erotic Terror on the Film pleasure -- the glue of traumatic bonding. The dy- Screen," Psychoanalytic Review, 84, 1997, pp. namic harkens back to the early archaic maternal 685-686) Acts of Islamic suicidal terrorism are a fusion of Eros and violence, merger and separation. political mixture of hatred and unconscious love (Joan Lachkar, Many Faces of Abuse, 1999) because domestic violence is paranoid group be- Instead of healthy dependency needs form- havior in itself. When this happens, it follows that ing in the first relationship, this fusion transforms two different groups may symbolically wed just not only into a reciprocal hatred between mother like a couple weds and, as such, suicide and mur- and son but, additionally, to a mutual sadistic at- der may occur, expressing the groups’ fantasy of tacking. This gives rise to a perfect fit for a maso- domestic violence. (Robert S. Robins and Jerrold chistic victimized mother who can identify her ag- M. Post, Political Paranoia: The Psychopolitics of gression only through her grandiose sadistic son. Hatred, 1997) The al-Qaeda terrorists feel that (Joan Lachkar, "The Psychological Make-up of the they need to see America as the evil partner re- Suicide Bomber," Journal of Psychohistory, spring sponsible for all the world’s problems. (Vamik 2002 at press, and personal communication with Volkan, The Need to Have Enemies and Allies: the author) Page 182 Clio’s Psyche March 2002
An example of this can be found in bin and a false self. The true group self is oriented to- Laden's projecting his rage outward against “bad ward the private Islamic community (ummah). It mother” Amrika as he fought against his derisive calls the suicide bomber a "martyr" (shaheed); his nickname, "son of the slave," given to him by the act the "martyr’s marriage" (al-Shahadah); and his extensive family of his father, Mohammed bin nuptial smile bassamat al-Farah. In Lebanese Shi- Laden. His mother, Hamida was called “slave” by ite communities there are even female martyrs, other wives because she complained about her named the "brides of blood" (arous dam). The false status as the fourth wife, one who was legally dis- group self defends against its most violent fanta- carded -- but financially supported and controlled - sies, covering up the underlying profound shame - as Mohammed's attention turned elsewhere. (The and humiliation anxieties. By proxy, the group 53 or 54 children the billionaire father had, were leader acts vicariously through the suicide bomber, the product of more than the four wives allowed to who is scapegoated, thereby also purging the a Muslim.) Hence, Osama has been his mother’s group’s mounting aggression and rage before it champion, fighting her battles as he splits off his implodes. (Martin Wangh, "The 'Evocation of a hatred of the “bad mother” and projects it onto Am- Proxy': A Psychological Maneuver, Its Use As a rika. (Bin Laden, p. 49-51) Defense, Its Purposes and Genesis,” Psychoana- Islamic suicidal terrorism perceives Amer- lytic Study of the Child, Vol. 17, 1962, pp. 451- ica and Israel as nation-states having group selves 472, 468; Anna Freud, The Ego and the Mecha- identified with Christianity and Judaism but they, nisms of Defense, 1936, pp. 132-146; and private too, are part of the extended monotheistic family communication with Avner Falk and Joan descended from Biblical father Abraham. In 1998, Lachkar) The group false self provokes the family bin Laden formed an alliance declaring a "global of humankind but specifically targets the Crusader jihad" against the Crusaders and the Jews, showing and Jewish cousin-brides. the group’s need to have enemies, and perhaps Since suicide is self-murder, murder and some religious “sibling rivalry.” The decree suicide occurring together are best conceptualized (fatwa) is important for several reasons. Its lan- as an extended self-murder, fusing the victim to the guage reveals a grandiose group self stuck in a nar- murderer. Death concretizes the fusion. While cissistic medieval time warp using modern technol- murder was perceived to be the desire to kill the ogy and organization. "Crusader" is an explicit ref- sadistic oedipal father, Falk has shown that this is erence to the military expulsion of the Muslim not so. (Avner Falk, "Political Assassination and Moors from al-Andalus in southern Spain, which Personality Disorder: The Cases of Lee Harvey was Islam’s westernmost caliphate. Losing the Oswald and Yigal Amir," Mind and Human Inter- crown jewel, exposed the group to its own impo- action, spring 2002 at press) Rather, the assassin tence. Osama and Ayman al-Zawahiri, the so- wishes to kill the sadistic early (pre-oedipal) called "brains" behind al-Qaeda, talk about recon- mother. His emotional turmoil is that of the terri- quering al-Andalus, demonstrating their group in- fied infant at the whim of his mother. The inability ability to mourn loss. (Susan Sachs, “The Video- to mourn the loss of the fusion leaves the adult ter- tape: Bin Laden Images Mesmerize Muslims,” The rorized at the deepest level, having internalized his New York Times, October 9, 2001, p. B6) Like the early mother as terrorist. The suicide bomber dis- charismatic leader who refracts political reality plays a graphic road map of these psychodynamics. through the traumatic lens of his early childhood What is it about the maternal symbiosis experience, bin Laden has revealed his maternal that stirs up such violence? The early mother is fusion without knowing it. Avner Falk, the Israeli experienced as voluptuous: the baby feels excited, psychohistorian, predicted something close to this, alive, and the warmth of Eros. When the baby feels which Akbar Ahmed named "the Andalus Syn- abruptly abandoned, he experiences sheer terror. drome." (Avner Falk, "Unconscious Aspects of the (Melanie Klein, Contributions to Psychoanalysis, Arab-Israeli Conflict," Psychoanalytic Study of 1921-1945, 1948; John Bowlby, Attachment and Society, Vol. 17, 1992, pp. 213-247; Akbar S. Ah- Loss, 1973) Fearful and anxiously attached, he med, Discovering Islam: Making Sense of Muslim clings to the maternal traumatic bond/fusion, some- History and Society, 1988, pp. 2-3) thing is better than nothing. Domestic violence Marriage, martyrdom, and blood are inti- expresses this infantile terror in the couple, mutu- mately linked together for the terrorist group. Like ally projecting and recycling endlessly the terror two sides of a coin, the terrorist group has a true tinged with Eros. Feeling out of control, fearing March 2002 Clio’s Psyche Page 183 the pull of regression to the early voluptuous the voluptuous warm early mother. In the Islamic mother, homicide-suicide erupts. ("Projections," world, women are not the only subjugated group. pp. 685-686; Melvin Lansky, Fathers Who Fail: Non-Muslims, such as Christians and Jews, are Shame and Psychopathology in the Family System, never considered equals; they are always “second- 1992) class citizens” holding a protectorate status It is my contention that Osama bin Laden (dhimmeh). The only submission, which the Mus- and his suicide bombers display the exact same lim participates in for the group, is surrendering to fears. Shakespeare even captured the Islamic pro- Allah, which is what the word “Islam” means. pensity toward traumatic bonding in Othello, about Osama and the suicide bombers merely take this a 16th-century military Moor who suffers from dynamic to the next level. They stalk their victims, delusional jealousy. The main ingredient for this concealing their crude weapons for surprise attacks delusion is predicated on the young son's having no such as those at the World Trade Center. rival. In Islamic culture, the mother raises a young Yet, the time sequence, the mode of death, boy away from his father until age seven, kept and the anonymous victim are unique. In political solely in the company of women. The son believes domestic violence, suicide occurs before the mur- irrationally that he owns his mother, like a piece of der. By contrast, in domestic violence the loved property and rules the world, just like Osama. one is killed prior to committing suicide or setting (Muhammad M. Haj-Yahia, "Battered Brides in up a scenario of being killed by the police. The Israeli-Arab Society," National Council of Jewish terrorist kills by controlling the appointed time of Women Journal, Vol. 24, No. 3, 2001, p. 27) The the wedding of death; he kills himself and by ex- Muslim psychoanalyst Abdelwahab Bouhdiba tension the other. In detonating the charge, be it a adapted the Western Oedipus complex by creating belt or a plane turned into a bomb, the suicide its counterpart, the Jawder complex, which takes bomber embeds himself into his victims, mixing its name from a young man in One Thousand and his blood and body parts with theirs. Reminiscent One Arabian Nights. Delusional jealousy is inter- of the moments right before birth -- it is as if he twined with but more annihilating than envy in were restaging it -- he weds himself to the victim, a conjugal paranoia. Fueling Othello’s flames is stand-in for his early, exciting, voluptuous, terrify- Iago, who gets him to believe that his wife Desde- ing mother. In his mind’s eye, blood is more valu- mona has been unfaithful. Othello murders her and able than breast milk as he forestalls birth through kills himself, leading to suicidal domestic violence a death fusion. Perhaps the promised reward of 72 sometimes referred to as the "Othello Syndrome." dark-eyed virgins really expresses the wish to re- A difficulty with applying the paradigm of emerge in a pure primordial fusion. The annihila- domestic violence to Osama and the suicide bomb- tion of self and cousin-brides also eliminates the ers is a paucity of information about their child- problem of identity. Nietzsche called this nihilism. hoods and little interest in psychology among Mus- Nancy Hartevelt Kobrin, PhD, a lims. However, our general knowledge of Islamic psychoanalyst who supervises psychiatry residents childhood and family relations is increasing, as in the Hennepin-Regions Psychiatry Training Muslim psychologists courageously step forward Program, maintains a private practice in St. Paul, to document Islamic domestic violence. They are Minnesota. She is a clinical member and providing more information on how honor crimes, supervisor in the Israeli Association of Marriage polygamy, and even sexual honor of female chas- and Family Therapy and was a contributor to tity are used as a method of subjugating women. Effective Treatments for PTSD (Edna Foa, Terence Isolated from her family in an arranged marriage at Keane, and Matthew Friedman, eds., 2000), a young age, the young Islamic female fits the pro- considered to be the international guidelines for file of the woman at risk. Bin Laden and his male Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. Dr. Kobrin does entourage control their many wives in a preoccu- most of her research in Arabic, English, and pied, obsessive manner, sequestering them at home, targeting them for beatings and stalking Call for Nominations: Halpern Award them. Rather than negotiate with a wife, the Is- for the lamic fundamentalist simply takes another. The Best Psychohistorical Idea Taliban publicly displayed their terror of the excit- in a ing female body by forcing women to be covered Book, Article, or Internet Site from head to toe, exposing no flesh reminiscent of Contact Paul H. Elovitz,
Hebrew but also has competence, to varying ality: DSM-IV and Beyond, 1996.) degrees, in six other languages. She may be con- Ambitious individuals are bold, competi- tacted at
Osama bin Laden himself, Atta “seemed more seri- matter-of-fact, rational tone cloaks its fundamen- ous and aloof to those who had known him be- tally murderous intent in a mantle of divine re- fore.” Yardley, too, quotes his sources as recalling demption. that Atta was “more serious,” not smiling as much, The inner imprints (object representations) and becoming “more brooding, more troubled.” left by a person’s significant early experiences with More compulsive variants are solemn, emotionally others -- memories, attitudes, and affects—are a controlled, grim and cheerless, keeping a tight rein vital part of our character formation. The charac- on emotions, though they may occasionally exhibit teristic internalized early imprints of compulsive abrupt, explosive outbursts of anger. Finn quotes individuals are concealment: Only those that are an acquaintance of Atta as saying, “'He was a very socially acceptable are permitted into conscious tight person.... I cannot remember him smiling.'” awareness. Thus, personal difficulties and social Self-image denotes a person’s perception of conflicts anchored to past experiences are defen- self-as-object or the manner in which people sively denied and maintained under the most strin- overtly describe themselves. Conscientious indi- gent of controls. These individuals devalue self- viduals are highly reliable. Correspondingly, they exploration, claiming that introspection is anath- view themselves as dependable, disciplined, re- ema to rational thinking and self-control. Had sponsible, industrious, efficient, and trustworthy. Atta’s insight into his deeper motives been less Indeed, they are sometimes conscientious to a constrained by maladaptive personality organiza- fault, perceiving themselves as scrupulous and me- tion, his vision might have been less clouded by ticulous in fulfilling obligations, despite often be- the residue of early imprints left by, in the words of ing viewed by others as high-minded, perfectionis- Yardley, “a pampering mother and an ambitious tic, and fastidious. Yardley writes that Atta’s ac- father” -- a disciplinarian taskmaster who grum- quaintances from Hamburg-Harburg Technical bled “that his wife spoiled their bright, if timid, University felt that "he was meticulous, disciplined son, who continued to sit on her lap until enrolling and highly intelligent." More compulsive variants at Cairo University.” A high school classmate re- view themselves as righteous. They overvalue as- called that the young Mohamed “focused solely on pects of themselves that exhibit virtue, moral recti- becoming an engineer -- and following his father’s tude, discipline, and perfection. Yardley asserts, bidding.” According to this youth acquaintance, “I “The awful efficiency of the attack demanded a never saw him playing.... We did not like him very leader with a precise and disciplined temperament, much, and I think he wanted to play with the rest and Mr. Atta apparently filled that role.” of the boys.… I think his father, wanted him to Regulatory mechanisms involves a per- always perform in school in an excellent way.” son’s characteristic means of self-protection, need Cloud also cites childhood friends as describing gratification, and conflict resolution. Compulsive Atta’s father as “quite strict.” After Mohamed individuals prototypically employ reaction forma- graduated from the University of Cairo in 1990, his tion but tend to rely on a broader range of ego- father “convinced him that only an advanced de- defense mechanisms than other personalities, in- gree from abroad would allow him to prosper in cluding displacement, identification, sublimation, Egypt.” Once again, Atta followed his father’s isolation, and undoing. These dynamics provide a bidding, enrolling in Hamburg-Harburg Technical context for the five-page handwritten document University. left behind by Atta, the apparent author, who re- The ego strength and the functional effi- minded the hijackers to “be obedient ... because cacy of the personality system, the morphologic you will be facing situations that are the ultimate organization, is compartmentalized in compulsive and that would not be done except with full obedi- individuals. They restrain ambivalent and contra- ence.” In a manifest act of undoing, Atta’s concur- dictory thoughts and feelings, partitioning their rently malevolent and pious screed exhorts the hi- inner world into numerous distinct and segregated jackers to sharpen their knives and to “strike above constellations. Thus, a poised surface quality may the necks and strike from everywhere,” while pro- belie an inner turmoil. Because they usually have a viding spiritual guidance on purifying one’s mental history of exposure to demanding, perfectionistic and physical state. Furthermore, the missive offers parents, a potent force behind their tightly struc- a chilling glimpse of sadistic hostility displaced tured world is their fear of disapproval. As their onto defenseless members of a scorned out-group public facade of conformity and propriety often while -- in a final act of reaction formation -- its masks an undercurrent of repressed urges toward Page 188 Clio’s Psyche March 2002 self-assertion and defiance, they must guard The picture that emerges is that of a man against “detection,” which they achieve through carrying an enormous grudge against the increas- characteristic control mechanisms such as reaction ing secularization of Egypt, for which he blamed formation. the West, and America in particular. The puritani- Horrendous tragedy, such as that of Sep- cal Atta took personal offense and on occasion re- tember 11, is easier to bear when heroes are heroes, acted angrily to the West’s cultural corruption, in victims are victims, and villains are unequivocally his mind, of the Islamic world. He was highly in- evil to the very core of their being. On the face of sular, perhaps with intense fears of losing his Is- it, only a sadistic psychopath could possibly have lamic identity and power of self-determination. been capable of coordinating the cold-blooded de- Yardley writes that Atta’s path to destruction “was struction of September 11. Part of the complexity a quiet and methodical evolution of resentment that of the post-September 11 world order is that but for somehow -- and that now remains the essential im- his final act of brutality Atta’s character would ponderable -- took a leap to mass-murderous fury.” seem beyond reproach. But clearly, the hermetic Noting that Mohamed Atta “came of age in an partitioning of ambivalent and contradictory Egypt torn between growing Western influence thoughts, feelings, and impulses -- so characteristic and the religious fundamentalism that gathered of the psychic architecture of the puritanical com- force in reaction,” he postulates that after Atta ar- pulsive -- presents another, more inexorable path to rived in Germany to continue his studies, the kind of devastation seen at the World Trade his religious faith deepened and his Center. That much is reflected in his very distinct resentments hardened. The focus of his Aggrieved/self-denying traits, indicative of an un- disappointment became the Egyptian derlying masochistic orientation. government; the target of his blame became A portrait of the self-sacrificing personality the West, and especially America.... His type depicts them in the following manner. vision of Islam embraced resolute precepts “Knowing that they have given of themselves, they of fate and destiny and purity, and, feel comfortable and at peace, secure with their ultimately, tolerated no compromise. place in the scheme of things.” Of course, “at its As a paradigmatic case study, Mohamed best and most noble, this is the selfless, magnani- Atta proves to be a near-perfect match for the kind mous personality style of which saints and good of personality traditionally sought out for recruit- citizens are made.” (Oldham and Morris, The New ment by organizations such as Hamas and the Is- Personality Self-Portrait, 1995, p. 319) A child- lamic Jihad: modest, blends easily into society, and hood friend of Atta’s remembers, “Mohamed ... with no criminal record. In the words of Abdul never offended or bothered anyone.... He was good Nasser Issa, a “high-ranking strategic planner” and to the roots.” Another recalls, "He was a little bit Hamas bomb maker, “A shaheed [martyr] has to pure." (Both quoted by Cloud.) Finn reports that, have the motivation to become a martyr, to have upon completing his thesis in Hamburg, Atta of- faith.... his kind of job requires a strong will and fered this dedication, drawn from the Koran: “My persistence.” (Suicide Bombers) It is difficult to prayer and my sacrifice and my life and my death imagine a more suitable candidate for recruitment belong to Allah, the Lord of the worlds.” The than the self-sacrificing, devout, strong-willed, and masochistic elements in Atta’s profile provide a conscientious Atta. The essential difference be- partial, personality-based explanatory framework tween Atta and “old-profile” suicide bombers is for his willingness to sacrifice his life, as he saw it, not in their underlying personality dimensions or as a martyr for his cause while satisfying his as- character traits. It is a difference only in the surface cetic, obsessive spiritual hunger for divine perfec- characteristics of demographics and schooling -- tion. qualities dictated by critical role requirements of Furthermore, Atta’s profile reveals some new, infinitely more complex, global reach terror distrusting, suspicious features. In the normal operations. course of events, such a “vigilant style” may be In conclusion, the over-control that consti- well suited to “the roles of social critic, watchdog, tutes the critical childrearing ingredient and so- ombudsman, and crusader in their private or our cialization process in the formation of compulsive public domain, ready to spring upon the improprie- character structures -- with the attendant potential ties -- especially the abuses of power -- that poison for blind obedience to authority -- produces a vola- human affairs.” (The New Personality, p. 157) tile mix when primed with the catalyst of authori- March 2002 Clio’s Psyche Page 189 tarian, xenophobic political systems. That much we Pakistan where, apparently, he was recruited by the learned from the Nazis. Without a massive, sus- Taliban. tained public diplomacy offensive to stem the pro- When viewed in parallel with my own ex- liferation of diabolical enemy images of the West, perience the degree of Mr. Lindh’s involvement is which serve as a culture for incubating fringe ex- not hard for me to comprehend. Once I was in the tremist movements in the Islamic world, more Sep- navy I determined to learn all the rules and to be tember 11s will surely be visited upon the United the best sailor possible. I had a job I loved and at States. which I was successful and I found the adventure I See profile of author on page 185. craved. However, by the time my six-year enlist- ment was about to expire the situation changed. John Walker Lindh, the The war had ended three years earlier and, al- Taliban, and Me though my job was essentially the same, it was in a different context. In that last three years I had par- F. Lincoln Grahlfs ticipated in nuclear weapons testing and in logistic St. Louis Community College support for Pacific Islanders. I had matured consid- erably and, by virtue of those post-war experi- On January 24, 2002, John Walker Lindh was brought into a federal courtroom and charged ences, had some purpose in life. with conspiracy to kill Americans outside the I know now that the alienation and desire United States, two counts of providing material for some purpose and meaning in life that I felt support to a terrorist organization, and one count of before I joined the navy is typical of adolescence in engaging in prohibited action with a terrorist American culture. This is a tremendous factor in group. The 20-year-old had been found among facilitating recruitment of late-teenage youth into prisoners at Mazar-e-Sharif in northern Afghani- the armed forces. It is my suspicion that, under stan where he admitted involvement with al-Qaeda slightly different circumstances, young Mr. Lindh and the Taliban. could have ended up as a sergeant in the Marine Corps. Because of where he lived and with whom In December, when news was broadcast of his apprehension, many Americans, including my- he interacted, the Taliban got him first. self, wondered how an upper middle-class young Lincoln Grahlfs, PhD, retired as Chair of American from Marin County, California, could the Anthropology and Sociology Department of the end up in such a situation. Since then, I have had University of Wisconsin Centers and is currently some time to ponder and inevitably had to recog- doing adjunct teaching of sociology at St. Louis nize certain parallels with my own life. Community College as well as volunteering his As a teenager I breezed through high talents to a variety of non-profit organizations. school and started college. But I felt a definite lack Dr. Grahlfs may be reached at of purpose and meaning in my life and craved ad-
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Suhrkamp, 1986) pp. 463-474. ______and Daniel Offer, “Leaders and the March 2002 Clio’s Psyche Page 195 Arab-Israeli Conflict: A Psychodynamic Inter- unacceptable feelings onto an enemy who is per- pretation” in The Leader: Psychohistorical Es- ceived to be evil. Using empathy, rather than join- says (New York: Plenum, 1985). ing the terrorists in splitting the world into good Zur, Ofer, “The Psychohistory of Warfare,” Jour- and evil, enlarges our ability to understand and re- nal of Peace Research, 1987, 24:125-134. spond to them. See profile of author on page 183. Projection, which denies one's own feel- ings, also creates a distorted perception of the ob- ject of projection. Responses by the United States Denigrating Terrorists as government to the terrorist actions have included attempts to frighten terrorists. The terrorists are Cowards described as vainly trying to hide. Nations that Herbert Barry III cooperate with them are warned that they will University of Pittsburgh share their fate. Such threats incline to strengthen the anger and determination of the terrorists, unless In recent years, political leaders have often matched by resolute actions. I hope U.S. actions in characterized a suicide bombing by terrorists as a Afghanistan have discouraged, rather than encour- "cowardly" act. President George W. Bush used aged, future acts of terrorism. that term in his initial remarks after the September The terrorists regard themselves as being at 11, 2001, kamikaze attacks. Many derogatory ad- war against the "Great Satan," projecting onto the jectives are applicable to that act, such as United States their rejected feelings about them- "fanatical," "callous," "destructive," "sociopathic," selves. It does not help for the United States to re- and "suicidal." A dictionary definition of "coward" act by declaring war on the terrorists and on every- is "one easily or excessively frightened by some- body who cooperates with them because there are thing recognized as dangerous, difficult, or pain- so many supporters of terrorism in the world, in- ful." A terrorist who carefully plans the sacrifice cluding at times, the U.S. Instead, the war should of his life is not a coward. be targeted strictly against the terrorists. A limited The characterization of terrorists as scope of the war will isolate the terrorists, mini- "cowardly" appears to me to be an example of the mizing their recruitment of others and demonstrat- Freudian defense mechanism of projection. It re- ing the falsity of their projected perception of the flects the human capability of reinforcing our de- United States as the "Great Satan." nial of a trait we dislike within by projecting it Herbert Barry, PhD, is Emeritus Professor onto another person. A suicide bombing leaves at the University of Pittsburgh. people frightened of future acts of lethal violence. The drastic decrease in air travel following the tragedy of September 11 is an expression of fear. A Window to the Middle East Ordinary people, most especially political leaders, are strongly motivated to deny their cowardly feel- Michael E. Nielsen ings. The label of "cowardly" applied to the action Georgia Southern University by the dead terrorists therefore helps us to deny our own cowardly feelings. Each fall, I teach a course in the psychol- ogy of religion. We review psychological theory Almost 50 years ago, when I was a gradu- and research relevant to understanding religious ate student in psychology at Yale University, we belief and behavior, with one important goal being were trained to identify projection as a potentially that students apply their knowledge to the events pathological defense mechanism. The projection of they have experienced and the people they have "cowardly" onto a terrorist action limits our ability known. To this end, I invite guest speakers from a to understand the terrorists. I recommend the use wide variety of faith traditions, who describe their of empathy instead of trying to separate terrorists personal encounters with religion. from our own humanity by the use of projection. Empathy is an adaptive human capability, enabling One of our guests is an Egyptian-born man people to place themselves imaginatively into the in his mid-70s. He is well educated, a British- thoughts and feelings of another person. Empathy trained M.D. who then earned his Doctorate of for terrorists recognizes their fanatic beliefs, anger, Public Health in the U.S. For several years, he has childishly destructive wishes, and projection of come to my class to discuss Islam. He usually be- Page 196 Clio’s Psyche March 2002 gins his presentation with an eloquent description ple. They merely expressed their anguish and their of historical events -- how Islam comes from the hope for justice. monotheistic tradition and shares much with Chris- When it was his turn to speak, my Muslim tianity and Judaism. The golden age of Islam repre- friend began with a verse from the Koran, and used sents the height of cultural ideals, he tells the class. it to decry terrorist acts. Very quickly, however, his He recommends that students read Arnold Toyn- reaction transformed into one of fury, as though he bee’s Experiences (1969) in order to gain a better had been accused of being an accomplice to the appreciation of how Islam fits into history and to attack. For 15 minutes he raged against the West, better understand his region of the world. Next, he for its greed and imperialism, for its ignorance of discusses the beliefs of his religion. The Koran Israeli atrocities, for its support of dictatorships was delivered directly to Muhammad, making it a rather than democracies. Only with great effort on perfect reflection of God’s will. The Five Pillars of my part did the panel regain its focus and did the Islam -- declaring that there is no God but God and audience begin to ask questions of the guests. At that Muhammad is his messenger; daily prayers; that point, my friend joined with the other panelists giving alms; the month-long fast of Ramadan; and to denounce the attack and described why the vast the hajj [pilgrimage to Mecca] -- form the core of majority of Muslims do not view the attackers’ ac- the faith. He often demonstrates how Muslims tions as being in accord with Islam. Finally, as the pray and describes the meanings of the actions and discussion ended he apologized for being so pas- words that constitute prayer. Students react posi- sionate and asked the audience to understand that tively to his presentations and leave the class better these issues burn deep within his heart, within the informed about Islam and about the meaning of heart of everyone who lives in the Middle East. Islam in one man’s personal experience. Michael Nielsen, PhD, is Associate This year, he visited my class six days after Professor in the Department of Psychology at the September 11 terrorist attacks. He came with a Georgia Southern University in Statesboro. He is different quality of intensity and his presentation the author of Psychology of Religion Pages on the did not follow the usual pattern. Step-by-step, he Internet at Find who did this to us and kill them…. The nice- ciently cope with the fact that the country is now a ties of justice be damned.” A violent act had been prime target for terrorists? committed on American soil; thousands of people Movies never show us what happens after were dead, and human nature dictated the desire to the hero wins. Does the slain enemy’s family take see the perpetrators receive retribution for their revenge? Independence Day ended with the defeat deeds. The Northern Alliance, backed by American of the alien invaders. The filmmakers did not tell air power, logistics, and diplomacy, has since the audience what happened when the alien’s home driven the Taliban out of Afghanistan. But defeat- world received news of the disaster. Surely, a ing the Taliban does not equate to the end of the stronger force would be sent to deal with the obdu- war on terrorism. rate earthlings. The American public must be ready Shortly after September 11, U.S. Secretary to face more terrorist challenges. Act III will be of Defense Donald Rumsfeld said that Americans much longer than expected. were “going to have to fashion a new vocabulary History shows that popular culture forming and different constructs for thinking about what it a conception of war is not a new idea. In August is [they’re] doing.” The question that needs an- 1914, German, French, and British soldiers swering is, how long will Americans be willing to marched to battle hoping to revel in the glory asso- fight a war on terrorism? Even if those responsible ciated with the Napoleonic wars. In Great Britain, for the events of September 11 are captured, the Rupert Brooke’s war sonnets and Rudyard idea of terrorism remains. Herein lies the problem: Kipling’s “Fringes of the Fleet” were recited regu- the campaign is not a contest for a piece of land -- larly on patriotic holidays. War was seen as a test it is a war for the hearts and minds of those who of manhood and a proper rite of passage for young would use terrorism to promote their political be- men to prove their honor. Pericles' "Dulce et deco- liefs. Americans have to redefine their understand- rum est pro patria mori" (It is pleasant and proper ing of war to encompass an extended operation to die for one’s country) was the motto of 1914. targeting individual and rogue governments. The The soldiers soon discovered the fallacy of a glori- “vocabulary” and “constructs” of success, in his- ous war. Bloody trench warfare, not magnificent torical and cinematic terms, is the definite termina- cavalry charges with gleaming sabers, greeted tion to any military operation whether through the them on the Western Front. The horror of modern destruction of the enemy’s armed forces or the ca- warfare descended upon European society like the pitulation of its government. What has contributed Angel of Death; all were forced to watch as an en- to molding this “vocabulary” as Americans under- tire generation sank into the muddy earth of Ver- stand it? dun, the Somme, and Passchendaele. Americans, Movies have given Americans unrealistic like the Europeans of 1914, are not psychologically expectations as to the type of response and the du- prepared to deal with the fallout from shattered ration of the military operations to be conducted. illusions. The moving image, not the written word, The best manifestation of the American mindset is the siren that beckons the American public to the comes from rental statistics of New York City shores of calamity. Blockbuster video stores. In the month after the The average American’s experience with attacks, rentals for movies like Die Hard, The war and terrorism is through the movies. The inter- Siege (1998), and Armageddon increased over 50 nalization of the screenplay’s three-act structure percent. To find comfort, the public has turned to has created a paradigm from which to view the cur- the action movie where all problems are solved rent conflict. Osama bin Laden may never be cap- with the skillful use of a nine-millimeter Beretta. tured and the war can go on for 50 years. Amer- Will reality end as neatly as in these films? ica’s perception of immediate victory must change Can the United States and its coalition attain com- for the campaign to achieve victory. Maintaining plete victory over terrorism? While crushing the morale is the essential ingredient of success but if Taliban provides a certain amount of comfort to the cinematic framework is not broken, public sup- the American psyche, the man who perpetrated the port will vanish when the true nature of the fight is attacks is still unaccounted for. When the debris of revealed. Then the terrorists will have won. Holly- the World Trade Center is gone, will America be wood has helped to create the American mindset willing to face higher taxes to continue funding a for dealing with this tragedy, now it must help to more forceful military? How long will the hunt for establish a more realistic approach to fighting ter- Osama bin Laden go on? Can Americans suffi- rorism. March 2002 Clio’s Psyche Page 205 America is a nation of moviegoers. Movies a false sense of security. At least until the next have a profound effect on how Americans live mass murder takes place and we are left shaking their lives because the movie theater is the com- our heads, wondering why our symbolic solutions mon cathedral of the pluralistic American society. have done little to solve the problem. Of course, Films give feeling and visibility to unconscious this is what this kind of symbolic solutions is all thought. They influence styles of speech, modes of about -- the appearance of doing something. fashion, and give form to the “American Dream.” Whether or not that something works to reduce Many film critics have used the term "love affair" random acts of violence is not even the question. to describe the American relationship with the cin- This is not surprising. From primitive times ema. As with all love affairs, however, the ro- to the present, people have engaged in magical mance may provide comfort for the present but it thinking in times of terror. Magical thinking is the can also be a source of trouble for the future. practice of associating a particular action with a Ryan Staude is a graduate student at the desired result even though there is no logical con- State University of New York, Albany, where he is nection between the two. It's like ancient priests finishing his master’s thesis entitled, “A Destiny sacrificing babies to prevent an earthquake or a Unseen: The First Ten Years of the United States modern student carrying a rabbit's foot in the hopes Army, 1784-1794.” He can be contacted at of passing a test. Relocating or studying would be New Yorker, recalled a fellow doctor who was Our Beaufort experience is similar to the about to return to the U.S. from Haiti, saying, “I one in Cortona, Italy, the Tuscan hill town many of am an American and I am going home.” (Tracy us have learned to love from Frances Mayes’ Un- Kidder, “The Good Doctor,” The New Yorker July der the Tuscan Sun (1996) and Bella Tuscany 10, 2000, p. 57. See also Kidder, House, 1985) (2000). Mayes and her husband Ed have made The phrase is reminiscent of Uri Shulevitz speak- their house a home through their labor, their cook- ing on TV a few years ago about arriving in the ing and eating, their love of place, their immersion New York harbor and being impressed by the sky- in the culture, and their understanding of them- line and feeling at home. The phrase reminds me as selves in that world. Two Americans came home at well of the customs official who told me, after my Bramasole in Tuscany. third return from Europe one summer and fall, This sense of home is again similar to that “Welcome home, sir.” of Ivana Mrozkova and her family as they recover Indeed, on both sides of the Atlantic, home a place near Sternberk in the Czech Republic. is for some people no more than a place where Czech-Germans built it with a solid foundation and their crib happened to stand or where they now 90 centimeter[three feet]-thick walls and after happen to have a house. But even on the American years of neglect Ivana and Zdanek have been re- side of the Atlantic we are conscious of the emo- covering it room by room. It is home. In other tional underpinnings of home, sometimes creating words, home is not a “trophy house” on Sullivan’s a rather cynical perspective of it. Hotel chains have Island in Charleston, South Carolina. That sort of imbedded into their advertising the idea that stay- place can be sold at a moment’s notice when the ing with their brand is like staying at home. Never “right” price frees the owner for another trophy. mind that many people are glad to leave their But our American home base may change house and routines to avoid cooking, cleaning, or quickly as we shift from job to job. We even lin- laundering their clothes. guistically differentiate home from homeplace. Home is indeed shared food and experi- The homeplace is the house in which we were born ences, work, landscape, roots, trust, solidarity, lan- or grew up; home is where we live, however per- guage, music, and a way of being in the world. manently or transiently. That may be one of the Thus, a home can be a hut or a mansion. In the reasons we can be so adamant about speaking of South, for example, people insist on calling our house as home; the more transient we have be- "home" the place where the family has settled come, the more rooted we would like to think we down and has made a house into a home; some are. Occasionally, a Web site is still called a "home even call it “the homeplace.” (See, for example, the page," a starting point or base. I suspect that this mass market paperback, JoAnn Ross, Home, was also a way of saying that we actually have a 1994.) home. When we abandoned this quaint term for a Some people are so deeply attached to a Web site, we surely were not thinking that home house, or home, precisely because they were born implies more than a series of electric impulses. into it. There they slept as infants, took their first Nevertheless, for Europeans and Ameri- steps, spoke their first words, sang their first songs, cans, home is and stays home. Home is not a page, spied their first love, recovered from illness, and however well designed; it is a house, earth, food, helped their parents die. In this version of home, a culture, landscape, and much more. It is a tragedy house or place has become the collective feeling when the real house is not rooted in a context, as and recollection of experiences that are the gran- the 17-year-old told me in Olomouc. One of the deur and ordinariness of life. One of my students, reasons the displacement of Jews and other minori- Krista Schmidinger, wrote that home is the family ties in the 1930s and 1940s in Germany and Russia house in the North Carolina mountains where her (and their murder in millions of cases) was so pal- family and twin sister happen to be. pable is that they lost their homes and roots. The Often, home is a house to which one has Jews, Gypsies, Poles, Chechens, Ingushetians, Bal- given considerable thought and effort. Joni, my tics, Germans, and many thousands upon thou- wife, and I have put such attention and work, and sands of others who were driven from their homes experiences, into our house in Beaufort, North in that awful period, if they survived, suffered not Carolina. We recovered it from neglect and abuse, only the trauma of maltreatment and incarceration and it rewarded us with becoming home. but also the removal from their homes. In most cases, their families had lived in their cities and March 2002 Clio’s Psyche Page 209 villages for many generations and they were deeply that it, too, does not remain stable. For example, embedded in their culture and landscape. Yet, in the house in which I grew up, the Egarter Hof one unspeakable moment of darkness, they lost (farm) and after which I am still named "Egita their houses or apartments and the very essence of Peatr" (Peter from the Egarter farm) in the village, what connected them to a street, town, and region. has been abandoned for at least 15 years. Thus, we Marcel Reich-Ranicki, Mein Leben [My all see it gradually lose its luster and with its de- Life], 1999, pp. 263-265, writes about having been cline specific memories fall away. But amazingly, assigned, after the “Great Selection,” an apartment the overall context remains intact and home has in the Warsaw Ghetto. He described in touching been shifted to the house of one of the women who detail the apartment, the home, that a few hours brought me up on the Egarter farm. (See Peter W. earlier had been abandoned by a couple who surely Petschauer, “Rediscovering the European in Amer- found their death at Treblinka. Elie Wiesel, Night ica: From the Boy in Afers, Italy, to the Man in (transl. Stella Rodway, 1960, p. 17), writes simi- Boone, North Carolina,” Paul Elovitz and Char- larly about being relocated into a house in a lotte Kahn, eds., Immigrant Experiences: Personal smaller ghetto near his home town of Sighet, Ro- Narrative and Psychological Analysis, 1997, pp. mania. The trauma of the relocation was intensified 29-46.) because they were betrayed by their known and For those who were forced from their understood world; they were betrayed by the peo- homes, one can identify at least four responses. ple who were part of home. This loss and the effort One group abhors the very thought of having any- to stay connected to home is told forcefully by thing to do with their original home and its people Edith Hahn Beer who had to flee Vienna and create because it was taken from them and it, together a very unique home in Brandenburg, with her first with culture and context, was destroyed. Then husband, as they were hiding from the Nazis. there are those who settled somewhere else and (With Susan Dworkin, The Nazi Officer’s Wife: often retained a longing for their “real” home. A How One Jewish Woman Survived the Holocaust, third group wanted to retake their home forcibly. 2000) In a sense this is also the story of the coloni- The fourth group is probably the smallest; its mem- als who came “home” to the mother country, Eng- bers somehow found their way back to their origi- land, during the 1940s, 1950s, and early 1960s, nal home and yet live there at some discomfort. having had to give up their real home. (Wendy In the first group are Jews, Czechs, Poles, Webster, Imagining Home: Gender, "Race," and and Germans who lost every aspect of their homes National Identity, 1945-64, 1998) as they were chased out of their ancestral places by Of course, there is a difference between Germans, Russians, Poles, Czechs, and their allies. those who left home voluntarily and those who They were generally incapable of thinking about were forced to do so. It is the difference between returning “home.” Home “there” ceased to exist. Arnold Schwarzenegger and me and Henry Kiss- Yet, they spoke often about the place and people inger and Peter Gay. The latter two were forced to that betrayed them; indeed, dealing with the pain is leave their homes in the 1930s because their fami- so difficult that we have a vast literature of those lies were pressured out of Germany. (The English who endeavored to deal with the betrayal. (See “pressure” does not express the highly pointed Primo Levi, Survival in Auschwitz, 1996; Wiesel, German hinauseckeln, which means something like Night; and Peter Gay, My German Question: “to sicken out” or “to disgust out.”) The former Growing Up in Nazi Berlin, 1998.) two left because there was little work and “action” Then there is the group who retained a in Austria and Northern Italy in the 1950s. deep and yet ambivalent attachment for their place Those who left freely over the last century of origin. In the mildest form, members of this or so have had the ability to return but for the most group shared a homesickness; in the more expres- part have never come home fully, to infuse once sive forms, they had an intense desire "to go more Wolfe’s phrase. Partially this inability stems back" (in place and time). The longing for home from their rejection of their first homes. Sometimes expressed itself in many different ways. For exam- they came “home” once or twice and then were ple, as a younger man, I listened in on hundreds of done with the past. In other cases, like mine, they conversations of former Yugoslav-Germans who rediscovered their home and felt a need to return were displaced at the end of World War II. Their frequently to “re-place” themselves. But even those families had lived since the 1320s in what was of us who return to a certain place to be home find Yugoslavia (Erich Petschauer, Das Jahrhundert- Page 210 Clio’s Psyche March 2002 buch der Gottscheer, 1980, pp. 27-52) and they server we know today. He was asked several years decried the loss of family members, friends, ago in an interview if he was German; he said, No, homes, lands, villages, and a peculiar fit in the he was a Jew living in Germany. In his Mein Le- world. As they spoke their version of Old High ben, Ranicki elaborated in at least two contexts that German, they tasted their ancestral dishes, they his only home is German literature. He wrote that smelled their barns, and they visualized their land- he has a “portatives Vaterland” (a portable father- scapes. The desire of others to be back home ex- land), like the Jews who saved only the Bible from pressed itself in the tours to areas of Eastern and the burning Second Temple, and that it is German Central Europe that used to be home. They re- literature. (p. 373) One of his most insightful com- turned from these excursions, saying, “It is not the ments is that with his death will pass one of the last same.” But then they promptly signed up for an- remnants of the unique and brilliant German- other tour the next summer. They went back over Jewish culture of the 19th and early 20th century. and over to find someone and something that re- Home is culture; home is language; home is am- minded them of a lost world. After all, West Ger- bivalence. Yet another home about to disappear! many, the U.S., or Canada of the 1960s and 1970s Every year, students in my Russian history was not their home. classes ask me why people in Eastern and Central To this day, we have still another group, Europe did not run away when they knew that the the one that represents the most extreme form of secret police or the army was about to descend expression, namely the people who engage in run- upon their apartment or house and to carry them ning battles between themselves, who want to be in off. As one woman put it a few years ago, “That their former homelands, and those who deny them [waiting for the police] was so stupid!” Indeed, but this wish. The most recent example in Europe is only from an American’s perspective. In magnifi- the Chechens. All of them were driven from their cent descriptions in Generations of Winter (transl. homes in 1944 by Joseph Stalin’s NKVD, were John Glad and Christopher Morris, 1995), Vassily returned there in 1957 by Nikita Khrushchev’s Aksyonov gives a hint of the reason for the Euro- government, and were denied their homeland once pean response, as does Ryszard Kapuscinski in Im- more in the 1990s by two successive Russian gov- perium (transl. Klara Glowczewska, 1994), the ernments. The Soviet and Russian effort to wipe subtle cultural/political exploration of Eastern out this people speaks volumes about a 200-year Europe and Russia. The Europeans saw, and still Russian ethnic policy that categorized and deval- see as we learned anew from Bosnia and Kosovo, ued all non-Russians and the profound desire of their home as the castle that had been inviolate. people to retain their homeland at almost any cost. Home was the place where one could hide; some- (See Anatoly Isaenko and Peter Petschauer, “A how its inhabitants seem forever surprised that the Failure that Transformed Russia: The 1991-94 De- police did not pass on to another floor or another mocratic State-Building Experiment in Chechnya,” house and instead knocked on their front door and International Social Science Review, 75 (1 and 2), that they dared enter. 2000, pp. 3-15; the same, "Visitors to the Cauca- Another side to staying put is that people sus: History and Present in an Ethnically Charged had no other place to go and that those who Area," in Kathleen Nader, Nancy Dubrow, and “moved out of the way” were the exception and Beth Hudnall Stamm, eds., Cultural Issues and the even then rarely successful. In The Seamstress, the Treatment of Trauma and Loss: Honoring Differ- audacious Seren went off to Budapest but to no ences, 2000, pp. 150-177; and the same, "The Long avail; she, too, was caught. (Sara Ruvel Bernstein, Arm of the Past," Mind and Human Interaction, 6 with Louis Loots Thornton and Marlene Bernstein (3), August, 1995, pp 103-115.) Samuals, The Seamstress: A Memoir of Survival, The smallest group is the people who have 1999, pp. 116ff) One is additionally reminded of somehow found their way back to their original Elie Wiesel’s account in his Night, when his family homeland and live there in some ambivalence. chose not to hide with their servant and fell victim One powerful example from this group is Marcel to a roundup. (pp. 1-20) These scenes and false Reich-Ranicki, one of the finest literary critics hopes about the future are repeated in Reich- writing in German today. Having escaped the War- Ranicki’s account in Mein Leben. People simply saw ghetto in 1943, and survived under very diffi- did not believe that their fellow Germans would cult circumstances in Poland, he returned to Ger- engage in the terrible activities for which they be- many in the late 1950s and became the astute ob- came so infamous. (pp. 163-177) Home to these March 2002 Clio’s Psyche Page 211 Jews had been invincible and inviolable. room; there she had created her “own world” and One can literally feel the trust that people everything was arranged to suit her needs and pur- had in their world, their home, and their political poses. Taking her home apart was the dismantling, authorities. “Surely here nothing untoward can or should I say the deconstructing, of what had happen!” they said to one another. After all, they been my mother. (See Peter Petschauer, Human had managed to survive many previous onslaughts; Space: Personal Rights in a Threatening World, this place had been and was their sanctuary and it 1997, pp. 120 and 122.) Her apartment was an ex- was impenetrable. One can argue that the fear of tension of herself, from the stunning Jugendstil (art staying put in the known environment, whatever deco) armoire to the stark black coat hangers in a the consequences, was less than the fear of facing closet. In taking this place apart, we “closed down the world beyond it. The German word ausharren her home” and sadly ended her private life. While (to wait out) adds a further descriptor; it offers the we had no choice but to dissolve this charming sense of being able to outlast any adversity. The place in view of her institutionalization, this is not word also reminds of the Czech sense of lying low an act to repeat. Our sadness received further rein- until the current storm has blown over. Even run- forcement a few months later when we visited her ning into a nearby forest seemed inconceivable. sister’s apartment near Goslar and found the same So, Jews, Poles, Germans, and others waited -- in- ambiance, the same sort of paintings and carpets, side their homes and villages. and the same odor. Home, sweet home! It, too, does not exist any more. A generation has passed A home can be dissolved in other ways that and with it a certain perception of home. are forceful. Whatever the innocence or guilt of the individual, or his or her family, millions of people My mother’s experience points to the final have lost their homes to natural disasters and, in move of almost all persons who today grow older the last several wars and lesser military engage- and cannot do so in family contexts. Each of us ments, to bombs and artillery. The examples of knows of a parent, a friend’s parent or relative, or a avalanches in the Alps, floods in North Carolina, story of a person nearby, who has had to make the typhoons in Bangladesh, and the bombings of awful decision to “give up their home.” As insid- Dresden, Hamburg, or London only indicate the ers and outsiders to this drama, we hardly seem to horror of all those who saw or heard their houses comprehend why “older people” have such a diffi- and apartments wiped away or torn to shreds. cult time leaving their home for “a home for sen- iors.” A time may have been in which seniors grew The mother of an acquaintance lost what toward death in a family context. This final journey she considered home 13 times; is it any wonder could not have been easy for anyone in a family, that she never quite regained her balance? When neither the children and grandchildren nor the ag- my stepmother was 17 she cowered in her apart- ing. In the households in South Tyrol in which this ment building’s basement in Nuremberg when a aging took place in my lifetime and observation, it bomb fell into the staircase above and left four sto- has been difficult as seniors, children, and grand- ries in a heap of rubble; in the five decades we children, guided by love, understanding, religious have known each other, that incident came up only belief, and duty but also disdain and dislike, en- twice in conversations. A woman in whose small deavored to manage adjusting to aging and dying. hotel in Düsseldorf Joni and I stayed often in the These are processes about which no one had any 1980s told us every time of a bomb landing in her literature, hardly any experience, and no societal bed; although it was removed unexploded, she saw help, and for which others usually had no more her entire district go up in flames. The barbarians than a knowing smile. in Berlin who started World War II never once felt a moment of guilt about the destruction they Home is more and less than all of these unleashed on all of their people. perspectives. Throughout history, and in our pre- sent considerations, it is not just a place of momen- One can lose home in still a further forceful tary grief and inordinate adjustments. Home is way, this one not caused by politicians. When my where one works, eats, sleeps, loves, and finds mother fell into senior dementia in the early 1990s, safety, renewal, family, privacy, and even indi- Joni and I had to disassemble the apartment that viduality. Like the Japanese, most Europeans take she had created in a quiet street in Düsseldorf. Her their street shoes and street clothes off as they enter home was on the fourth floor of an apartment their homes. Hardly any act presents so poignantly building; we, too, felt at home there. For my one major difference between present-day Europe- mother, home was two rooms and a small bath- Page 212 Clio’s Psyche March 2002 ans and Americans. Europeans consider their “deprivatized” the private sphere by permitting homes to be a private sphere, a sphere that is not to others into most parts of our homes. Wearing street be soiled by the dirt and concerns of the street. clothes and shoes into all parts of a house affirms (Conversely, they used to avoid washing their this practice. We are always in public and never in laundry in public, a rather private activity in part private. because it was women’s work.) Americans used to One of the most private and home- have a similar attitude, reflected in the cartoons reaffirming acts is eating. About a century after and movies in which mom or the children brought Louis XIV, European nobles discovered the pleas- dad the slippers when he returned home from ure of eating in private. (See also Human Space, work. But now we wear the same shoes and clothes pp. 34-37.) While eating in public for fun and as a inside and outside our houses; we are always inside demonstration of having "arrived" spread with an and outside. increasingly vibrant restaurant culture, eating in The image of the mother and the children private remained a reaffirmation of family and at home reflects also, of course, another, older im- home. Recently Americans have abandoned this age: the one about men’s work being outside the practice. As my friend Jack Tyrer put it, home and women's inside. It is a division of labor “McDonald's has become our dining room”; we and a division of chores in households that goes have made eating a public act and removed it from back to the ancient world but that found particu- the home. For the sake of convenience, we have larly poignant expression in the German Hausväter allowed our private sphere to be overtaken by the (housefathers) and Hausmütter (housemothers) public sphere. But neither McDonald’s, Wendy’s, literature of the 17th and 18th centuries. (See Peter Burger King, nor any other restaurant is home; Petschauer, The Education of Women in Eight- they are simply places to eat. The act of eating is eenth-Century Germany: New Directions from the central to the sense of home but the obvious pub- German Female Perspective, 1989, pp. 228-323.) licness and thoughtless frequency of this activity, In those houses, the inside and outside were more together with the lack of camaraderie, dignity, ap- starkly separated than they were in the 19th cen- preciation, family, sense of purpose, and even ten- tury when farmers and storekeepers probably did sion, described for example in All Quiet on the not even wipe their feet on every occasion they Western Front and A Place Called Home, deprives entered their own private sphere. it of deeper meaning. Ten door locks cannot protect us, psycho- The cell phone (a "handy" to Europeans) logically at any rate, from any outsider because we and the Internet are the latest contribution to this have ceased to separate with simple acts the out- “deprivatization.” We now answer our phone and side from the inside. Older European houses -- e-mail everywhere and at any time because we some I have studied date to the 17th century -- had have their extensions attached to our bodies. hallways that assured that the outsider could not Probably because we deem ourselves so important penetrate the innermost sphere of a house immedi- that we can never be out of reach for anyone, we ately upon entering it. One is reminded of newer allow almost all aspects of society to enter every castles, those of the 18th century and later, that part of our presence and our lives. separated the private from the public spheres. “Deprivatization” has recently taken on a (Human Space, p. 120) Home was home in part new perspective. During Bill Clinton’s Presidency, because of its private sphere. Americans discovered that neither private conver- Americans greatly value privacy, and many sation nor private act was deemed off-limits either. of our houses were conceived to solve the problem Oddly, the most conservative Americans were least of privacy similarly to those in Europe. One used likely to notice that they had embarked on a mas- to access a vestibule or entryway or now enters a sive erosion of home and privacy. As in the 1930s living area. The foyer and the living room serve to and 1940s in Europe, the men (and women) who shield the rest of the home from outsiders and spoke so consistently of family and home, in their make the other part of it private. But since we also hatred destroyed the homes and private spheres of admire informality, people often enter through the their political enemies; with this act they under- kitchen, traditionally one of the most sacred places mined as well their own homes and privacy. One of a home if for no other reason than its being the cannot willfully destroy the homes of some with- sphere of women. Today, people increasingly shy out undermining the concept of home for all. away from a living room and so we have In practical terms, home is eating, working March 2002 Clio’s Psyche Page 213 and loving, even hating together; it is language, to suicide when they were children, large parts of music, art, purpose, landscape or cityscape; it is their psyches frozen in time by the brutal cutting cultural roots. In the ideal it is love, devotion, care, short of the life trajectories of the brother she had individual expression, patriotism, and commit- loved, the father he had loved. They were absorbed ment. We are born into our home, we create our in worlds that had long since ceased to exist and home, we leave our home, and we may be forced had little left of themselves with which to find the to abandon our home. Home is the private sphere; present world engaging. Our neglected home was a we can retreat into our homes. Home is also an mausoleum for a dead past, as I later realized -- a extension of a person or family; there we can ex- situation expressed not in words but in the treat- press who we are and what we stand for. Home is a ment of the furnishings. It was hard to keep the safe haven where we can be ourselves, and it is portals of my senses fully open to the sensory where we could trust -- until overexercised patriot- world when the furnishings in which I should have ism in some periods and divorce nowadays -- the felt at home spoke subtly but relentlessly of dead members of the community. worlds. Peter Webb Petschauer, PhD, is Professor I think “home” comes to life first in our of European History at Appalachian State Univers- discovery of its presence in our parents' psyches. ity in Boone, North Carolina. He is former head of As much as we find the world for ourselves, we Appalachian State's Faculty Senate and the first discover its possibility in their knowing of it. University of North Carolina Faculty Assembly. When home is a physical place painted with Professor Petschauer is author of four books and choices made by people who treasure an alive, con- more than 100 chapters of books and articles. He temporary, differentiated human world in which may be reached at they are making their lives, children can internalize How difficult it is when the world impress- often contradictory ways. From all his stimulating ing itself on our senses has been constructed by a ideas, I will restrict my comments to just two: the mind that is evil or insane or, as for me, preoccu- insight that without home, culture is impossible pied with the dead. I was part of the present that and the thought that home (qua family) evokes am- was shunted aside in favor of figures now long bivalent responses. gone. When a parent’s inner world is populated During a recent book review, I was with troubling figures (introjects) that provide little prompted to reflect on Thomas Wolfe's truism that basis for identification that will place one confi- you can’t go home again. Not that one can go dently in the world that exists -- when the present home again or that the prospect of leaving home is world is not given through parents’ love of us and not so absolute as it once was. More literally, when it -- how difficult for the tendrils of our souls to you shuffle through American literature, the heroes tolerate staying in contact with pain and/or mad- and the authors for whom they perform cannot get ness and make of them a home. Once those tendrils away from home fast enough and most never look are withdrawn from the soil, how difficult to ex- back. These youthful heroes are dead-set on going perience anywhere or anyone as “home.” Letting West ("lighting out for the territory," as Huckle- any place feel like home can then bring pain, a berry Finn has it), going to the Yukon, going to grief for never having felt truly at home in the re- sea, joining the Italian ambulance corps in World gard of others because they were preoccupied or War I, and hitting the open road, as the Beats fi- cruel. For a while the touch of tendril to any soil nally celebrated the relentless drive to break away. thus hurts. In the memoirs I was reviewing, Edward Hoag- In my current research, I wonder about the land, coming of age in a time of reduced options, urban renewal projects that ripped out neighbor- nonetheless ran away and joined the circus. hoods that were home to so many people: what had This is not the whole story. Arthur Miller, happened to the tendrils of the soul of the people Emily Dickinson, William Faulkner, and Saul Bel- that planned such traumatic “developments” for low thrived by staying home. Miller said that our other people’s lives? I wonder about the daring basic urge is to make a home for ourselves in the New Urbanists with their courageous desire to cre- world. Still, freedom in much of American litera- ate neighborhoods that can feel like “real” places, ture is defined in opposition to home. For this cen- that can become “home” for family, business, spiri- trifugal impulse to succeed, home must be experi- tual, and play life. I wonder what their quests to enced not only as restrictive and repressive but also create the experience of home may have in com- as a stable base. With electronic media bringing mon with my quests as a therapist. cultural material into the home and with the nu- clear family giving way to the single-parent house- *** hold and serial marriage, the family is both less repressive and less stable. Accordingly, the escape Ambivalence About "Home" theme has all but disappeared from American lit- In Literature and Film erature. Jay McInerney's Bright Lights, Big City (1987), which evokes the enduring allure of getting Dan Dervin, PhD, Professor Emeritus of away, ends with the hero in Greenwich Village, Literature at Mary Washington College, is a pro- nostalgically eating fresh bread that reminds him of lific psychohistorian whose recent books are En- home and mother. actments: American Modes and Psychohistorical Models (1996) and Matricentric Narratives (1997) Electronic media in the home obviate the on questions of gender and agency in women's necessity of one favored way of getting away from writing. He was born in Omaha, Nebraska, and home on a short-term basis with which we are all makes his home in Fredericksburg, Virginia. Prof. familiar, namely, going to movies. Petschauer's Dervin may be contacted at Ralph Fiennes), ransacks the ancestral home and ning. At its core, the film is an old-fashioned plea discards many treasures -- albums, furniture, and for father to come home and enjoy mother, rather heirlooms -- that have survived the century's up- than dally with the strange temptations of a myste- heavals. These beautiful precious objects symbol- rious city. As homes today are changing kaleido- ize a human tradition as well as an ancient heri- scopically before our eyes, the film invites us, al- tage, and we watch as they are impersonally swal- most nostalgically, to recall a certain version of the lowed up in the metal jaws of a garbage truck. It home, one with two functioning parents of differ- seems so destructive that we can hardly resist the ent genders, even as such a version seems to be urge to intervene and rescue a sacred book or a col- receding. lection of family portraits from oblivion. Why does he do it? We don't really know but my sense is *** that he has to break from a past that has become an unbearable weight of oppression. We have seen Some of My Psychohistorical how over the generations, the family has been a Homes haven and refuge, a site also of both resistance and complicity. If destroying its reminders is the only Paul H. Elovitz, PhD, is Editor of this pub- way he can free himself, perhaps it is necessary; lication. but he has all this family turmoil within him any- way and, being a writer, he can now recreate it for After urban renewal had condemned the himself. For most of us, home is partly internal, brick building but before the wrecking ball had partly still out there somewhere in token form, and done its work in preparation for a downtown mall, we can't let it go entirely. I visited the first home I remember. It was early in my analysis when I was struggling to remember In A Clockwork Orange (1971), Alec, the things about my early childhood. I kept asking my futuristic barbarian who gets off on Beethoven as sister, a year-and-a-half older, what she recalled of readily as on mayhem, comes upon an old- our early lives living over “the store” at 317 State fashioned bed-and-breakfast, with the sign "Home Street in Bridgeport, Connecticut. She had little to Sweet Home" on the front yard. Inside, he flies offer beyond what I had dredged up from my own into a rage and slaughters the unsuspecting couple, dim memories and she was unwilling to talk about obvious stand-ins for Mom and Dad (reworked in the sexual abuse she had suffered as a young girl at Natural Born Killers to similar effect). Home is the hands of a stranger. Yet, it still felt good to also the site of the primal scene, the place where have a loved one with whom I could probe the our most primitive and powerful drives are awak- past. I tore the half-loose boards away from the ened and engaged or repressed. No wonder we door of the condemned building and we walked up feel ambivalent about home and can never quite the stairs to the apartment of our early childhood. give it up. What amazed me most was how small both the Finally, Stanley Kubrick's fizzle of a film, rooms and the windows were. In the eyes of the Eyes Wide Shut (1999), manages willy-nilly to in- six-year-old who had last seen them, they were ject a timely theme into cultural discourses on enormous, yet the man in his 30s found them to be home. Ostensibly, it follows a physician's night small. This little apartment had been home and prowling through New York's marginal sexual “the store” beneath it would continue to be home scenes and maladies, then out to a dangerous mas- for many years to come. Though we no longer querade of perverse rituals at a Long Island man- lived over “my father’s store” (never “my sion. But in the end he returns home to his family mother’s” or “my parents' store”), it and the work- and his highly-sexual wife (the camera lasciviously shop in the back remained central to our sense of prowls over Nicole Kidman's anatomy as Tom home. “My father’s store” was where both parents Cruise delves into the City's dark secrets). The worked and where one could always find Mom. In point is a simple one, though overlooked by most the busy season when my parents worked 9:00 a.m. critics: the best sex anywhere is at home -- a sort of to 9:00 p.m., at times the store seemed more like grown-up take on Dorothy's coming out of her trip home than did “home.” After all, home is about to Oz and exclaiming memorably, "There's no attachment to people you love and who love and place like home." Kubrick's own father was a care about you. Brooklyn doctor who had to be away much of the While earning my doctoral degree in his- time at his office or making house calls in the eve- tory, I was often heard to say, “I live in the li- Page 216 Clio’s Psyche March 2002 brary.” For me it was a statement not only of where but if he touched my cactus he would pay a prickly I spent considerable time but also of intent: I felt I price for invading my home turf. For the next quar- should make the library my home until my PhD ter century, I used plants, which I associated with was achieved. Yet, I found myself working long the small ivy plant my mom grew, to mark terri- hours at various low-paying jobs and wanting to tory. The less space I had, the more important the spend more time with my young family. plants were to me for a sense of psychic well be- Houses and homes have always fascinated ing. The stuff filling our homes includes transi- both my wife Geri and me. Almost 20 years ago tional objects connected to our loved ones and when her Fortune 500 company was downsizing, other sources of comfort. she was at a loss as to what she would do to make a As every dog-walker knows, certain territo- living. The only options she could think of had to rial animals mark their turf by urinating on the do with houses and homes. Her choice to enter the boundaries of it. It is my impression that humans real estate business has meant that she has ob- mark their territory by putting their stuff in it, indi- served and helped people make a decision regard- vidualizing it, making changes, having some con- ing the space that they will seek to make into a struction done, and planting what they want on the home. At least as much as anything else, this deci- property. When I look out my window, I proudly sion, with its profound financial and personal rami- stare at stonewalls I built, a patio we designed and fications, is based upon emotion. I laid, and a great variety of flowers and plants I Some people are new house buyers, be- planted, watered, weeded, fertilized, and of which cause they are willing to pay a high price in terms we sometimes enjoy the blossoms. There are oth- of money, waiting for its completion, and aggrava- ers who also claim the same territory that I fondly tion, to have a dwelling built according to their look out upon, despite the fact that they do not pay specifications that has never been lived in by an- taxes. These include birds, chipmunks, deer, other human being. Since there is so little undevel- groundhogs, moles, rabbits, raccoons, and squir- oped land left in our county, many houses are be- rels. Despite my complaints that I do all the work ing torn down to satisfy the costly psychic needs of and that they view our garden as a salad bar, these new house buyers. Much of this construction is for critters are willing to accept our making a home on the sake of building what Peter Petschauer refers to their turf -- so long as we continue to provide the as “trophy houses.” Whether these will be turned finest delicacies in the form of flower buds for into homes depends on the people involved. Geri them to eat. Each species, as Darwin would say, often notes that what sells a house is the furniture, finds its own niche in which to build a home. decorations, and style of the occupants; all things Psychohistory Forum Research Associate that will leave with the former owners after the sale Ralph Colp has found a home in the niche of Dar- is closed. Yet house buying, much like love, living win’s studies. In the 19 years I’ve known this ex- together, and marriage, is such an important deci- tremely knowledgeable psychiatrist and scholar of sion that it must have a powerful emotional base to Charles Darwin, he has been most energized by his have a fair chance of success. It takes more than work on Darwin. Vacations are a time when he can dollars-and-cents justifications for your average examine additional diaries and papers of Darwin in homebuyer to face the prospect of paying a mort- Shrewsbury and other parts of England. His state- gage for the next 15 or 30 years. There is such am- ment, “I really found a home in Darwin studies,” bivalence regarding this great commitment that led me to invite him to write about this and Dar- many sales of homes are never completed: attor- win’s sense of home. Ralph has promised Clio's neys and home inspectors often fuel the flames of Psyche an article on the latter. doubt that terminate the sale. Marital relationships I like to think that one of the reasons for are stressed by these decisions. I have sometimes the success of the Psychohistory Forum is that we joked with my wife about her doing more marital have helped some people find an intellectual home therapy as a real estate broker than I have ever in our organization. Breaking bread as a group af- done as a therapist. ter our meetings is part of what makes this a How does one make an inhospitable place homey group but mostly it is a question of devel- into a home? Overseas, in the army, I put a potted oping the psychohistory paradigm in concert with cactus plant on my footlocker as an open expres- each other, learning together, and caring about sion of my individualism. The sergeant might drop each other as human beings. The considerable time a quarter on my bed to test how tightly it was made and thought I devote to our fledgling field is partly March 2002 Clio’s Psyche Page 217 about helping to build a psychohistorical edifice Peter’s use of “castle” and “sanctuary” represents that some may call home. the masculine side. Even “the homeplace” retains a masculine form. Growing up in the pre-war South, *** my family had its own homeplace that firmly fixed the meaning of this term for me. I can never re- A Home for Men and Women member a time when our family lived at the home- place -- it was a place of stories -- and I never an- Amy C. Hudnall, MA, teaches history at ticipated that any of us would live there. Yet, we Appalachian State University where this year she often visited the house and land, and all it repre- won the university’s graduate thesis award for her sented remains firmly fixed in our memories. Dur- MA thesis, “An Historical Analysis of the Psycho- ing the Red Scare in the 1950s and 1960s, my logical Trauma Suffered by German Prisoners of mother used to say, “No matter where you are, if War Held in the U.S. During World War II.” She is we are bombed, make your way back to the home- book review editor of the National Women's Stud- place. There we can start over.” The day my grand- ies Association (NWSA) Journal and may be mother sold the farm I felt as if our safety net had reached at "Home" depth psychology of this cultural style, from the viewpoint of phenomenology -- of described and Howard F. Stein, PhD, a psychoanalytic evoked experiences -- home-like sensibilities and anthropologist and psychohistorian, teaches in the sentiments can attach to many differing kinds of Department of Family and Preventive Medicine, at units. the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Cen- David Beisel, I believe, has drawn attention ter, Oklahoma City. His most recent book is Noth- to the relation between the improved childhoods of ing Personal, Just Business: A Guided Journey the romanticists and nationalists, and the ability to into Organizational Darkness (2001). Professor identify as "us," unfamiliar people of the home- Stein may be contacted at The sense of place is imbued with psycho- Peter Petschauer Replies logical depth, meanings that can be psychodynami- cally intimated by data from multiple sources, in- To read the comments of my colleagues cluding but not limited to psychoanalysis. One can and friends is a sheer delight. Each took what I at- observe and listen to others. One can especially tempted to formulate about home to another level, tend to one's own countertransference (that is, be it deeper in the sense of personal memory or one’s emotional, often visceral, responses) as one another field. observes and listens, to provide further cues. I per- Aside from the definitions of home offered mit myself a single example. Petschauer describes by Stein, one of the most intriguing issues that has the process of making his house in Beaufort, North emerged for me is, who is at the center of home? Carolina, into his and his wife's home. He writes My student and colleague Hudnall places this issue that, "We recovered it from neglect and at the center of her response and places women abuse." (Using the same words, he soon after de- there but really wants it to be made of both gen- scribes the making of a sense of home by Ivana ders. She discovered the two parts of my percep- and Zdanek Mrozkova in the Czech Republic.) tion of and experiences with home, that is, the Presumably, Petschauer could have bought a dif- more female-centered warm home and the more ferent house. However, the specificity of his choice male-centered cold castle. Is there really a contra- in the purchase and conversion of house into home diction? Indeed, throughout most of history and in asks for more to the story. From my long friend- much recent experience, home is simultaneously ship with Peter Petschauer, and from my (limited) centered on the reality of the womb and on the knowledge of his life history, I would want to pur- need for defense. David Lotto's response addresses sue the meaning of his first selecting a particular that very issue, namely home as the female location and type of house, then committing him- "unheimliche" place and the male ambivalence self and his wife to the work of recovering it from about it. Thus male defenses against home as a neglect and abuse. Petschauer is, after all, a survi- feminine place rather than just against outsiders. vor of and refugee from the devastation of World In support of that idea, "unheimlich" does not mean War II Europe, and one must wonder what domes- "uncanny" as it is usually translated but rather tic and never-foreign worlds, from childhood on- "secretive" like the deep forest. This connection ward, he is also redeeming and rebuilding as he may have much more to do with where the witch makes his home anew -- in America. (It is also my lived in the fairy tales than with the castrated male personal experience that Peter Petschauer helps his genital. Dervin invites us to appreciate woman as friends to recover from their own experiences of the sexual and maternal center of home and he neglect and abuse.) writes about authors who found home in other Careful attention to words and phrases, ways. Isaenko points to women at the core of the then, can reveal footprints of unconscious signifi- Ossetian family and his own home but reminds of cance. For Petschauer, as for us all, home is a the men who controlled the “foreign policy” of the richly overdetermined symbol. In this instance, I clan. (methodologically) used my own emotional re- I am struck also by how deeply we are em- sponse to Petschauer's words to offer an interpreta- bedded in “our” home. Our sense of home is at the tion of his words about home. I do not claim that I core of our essence. Home is where we grew up, am right. My next step would be to go back to him where we lived, loved, and worked between the and explore my "hunch" and then listen to his asso- then and now, and where we live, love, and work ciations and emotions. This, I believe, would be an now. Home shapes our way of thinking about peo- example of the psychodynamic approach to explor- ple and regions, love and hate, trees and lawns, ing the place and sense of place called home. vistas and side streets, offices and classrooms. In conclusion, I have suggested here a pre- Moms and dads, the people at home, created our liminary -- incomplete -- psychohistoric taxonomy cherished memories about homes: foods, smells, of a concept such as “home.” Such a taxonomy carpets, values, and access to society. As Sommers would presumably help other scholars methodol- says, home is a well that nourishes and enslaves. ogically in their own pursuits and in the service of Home is the key that unlocks our understanding of the world. Britton anchors himself and us in impor- building theory in psychohistory. tant moments and one wonders with him about *** those persons who experienced home differently and who endeavor to place their roots in the poten- March 2002 Clio’s Psyche Page 223 tially infertile soil of a brutal environment or a sparse urban setting. Dervin is at home in litera- Book Review ture and film and with men and women who ran away from and toward home. Their approach to torturers, and killers of their kin, neighbors, coun- home is part of their fame and our societal under- trymen, and foreigners. standing of home. Elovitz takes us back to “the store” and his own desire to carve a niche in other settings, including the library as a graduate student, A Psychogeographical Tale of with the prickly cactus in the army, and through Two Cities the Psychohistory Forum and Clio’s Psyche. In a sense, he and his wife Geri continue with the Peter W. Petschauer search for home by assisting others to find their Appalachian State University place. Review of Peter Jüngst, Territorialität und Psycho- Still another perspective is the varieties of dynamik: Eine Einführung in die Psycho- ways to create home. My colleague Isaenko inter- geographie [Territoriality and Psychodynamics: prets the Ossetian and Cossack home as the clan, An Introduction to Psychogeography]. Gießen, the family, and the hearth, and he recreates in Germany: Psychosozial-Verlag, 2000. 357 pp. Boone the home that he lost by giving the new one at least some of the flavor of the old. Walking into To find an author's thesis familiar is reas- his home is indeed walking into Ossetia. Sommers suring. Peter Jüngst's chapter, "Regarding Changes leads us to still another side of home, including the of Territoriality and Representational Symbolic persons made homeless by disasters who desper- from the Early Modern to the Recent Period" (pp. ately want to re-establish a home and the homeless 205-281), deals with Kassel in Germany but he man whose place may indeed be his bench. Then might as well have written it about Olomouc in the there are those for home is a prison and those who Czech Republic. Some American readers know have transcended the concept of a singular place as Olomouc from Austrian Imperial history when it home to being at home in several places, not unlike was called Olmütz and the young Francis Joseph, royalty of previous and the present generation. sidestepping the revolutions spreading eastward Stein reaches to the heart of my own search for from Paris, was crowned Emperor there in 1848. home. Having left my home in Northern Italy as a Olomouc should actually be more famous teenager after World War II, I search for home in for its outstanding assemblage of buildings that terms of both a physical space and an emotional rival each other in style as well as political, eco- place to be at home (with myself). Differently, nomic, and social significance. One core of this Dervin invites us into the urge to destroy a home assemblage is the city hall; the other, the sacred when we want to recreate ourselves. administrative buildings surrounding the much Historians writing and speaking about war later neo-Gothic cathedral. While the town hall in and altercation often dwell on causes, such as those the "upper square" retained its political and social of World War I or World War II. For the most part significance ever since the Late Middle Ages, the their tale overlooks issues such as the psychologi- archbishop and the Imperial government created a cal importance of borders; the visuality and physi- massive administrative center a stone's throw from cality of our understanding of who we are; our the cathedral in the 18th century. This latest center need for space in which to express ourselves; the contains several exquisite baroque churches; ele- possible ambivalence of men toward women being gant but massive baroque, rococo and Paladian sa- at the center of home and the implications of that; cred and secular administrative structures; and and our deeply imbedded images, importances, and Palacky University. assumptions regarding home, homeplace, home- When one reads about this 18th-century land. By gaining a better understanding of the in- center with Jüngst's Kassel in mind, the inescap- tensity with which people work with these essen- able impression is distance, elegance, power, and tials to their being, we get closer to realizing why fear. The newer administrative center is so massive ordinary men (and women) become imprisoners, that traversing or bypassing the center is an under- taking of about 15 minutes. One may even suspect There are no negatives in the unconscious. that this center was erected in part to rival the reli- gious, economic, and political core symbolized by Page 224 Clio’s Psyche March 2002 the upper square (and its associated lower square) as that part of town leaned toward Protestantism. Call for Papers One may confidently doubt that ordinary people in Children and Childhood the 18th or 19th centuries, just like some today, felt Special Theme Issue invited into this center. Just as importantly, and June 2002 again with Jüngst, one can show that the persons Some possible approaches include: and families who lived around this center served the archbishop and the Imperial government. As Changing Childhood late as the later 19th century, the elegant yet huge What Is It Like to Grow Up in the Modern burgher housing blocks created adjacent to the city World? wall, below the center and in view of the new ca- Growing Up With a Single Parent, With an thedral, indicate apartments of well-to-do citizens. Immigrant Parent, As a Refugee Even more fascinating is that Olomouc has The Effects of Television or Video Games on Children recently overcome (without plan, it would appear from a conversation with a city official but in ac- Why American Students See High School cord with Jüngst's suggestions) its autocratic and as a Type of Prison so-called undemocratic heritage. While the town Sonograms as a Prelude to Female Fetus- center at the upper and lower squares continues to cide (China, India, America, etc.) serve its traditional political and economic func- The Effects of Custody Disputes tions, the 18th-century administrative center is be- Children of Divorce ing penetrated successfully by a post office, restau- Children in the Courts rants, hotels, and the varied populations and func- Children and Childhood Through the Ages tions of the university. While university buildings Are Children Better or Worse Off in the are guarded, two of the passages across the town Modern World? wall are locked at night, the churches remain usu- Cross-Cultural Childhood Comparisons ally locked, and most mortals would not dare enter the archbishop's quarters, this commercial infiltra- 500-1500 words, due April 15 tion reduces fear but not grandeur. Olomouc thus Contact Paul Elovitz, PhD, Editor follows Jüngst's suggestion that one can tone down Bush, appearing in Linda O. Valenty and Ofer Feldman, eds, Political Leadership for the New Call for Papers Century: Personality and Behavior Among Ameri- Psychoanalysis and can Leaders. Aubrey will be finishing his term on the Governing Council of the ISPP this July. Religious Experience AWARDS: Tammy Clewell won the fifth annual Special Theme Issue CORST Essay Prize, which was awarded on De- September 2002 cember 20, 2001, at the fall meeting of the Ameri- Some possible approaches include: can Psychoanalytic Association at the Waldorf As- Personal Accounts by Ministers, Priests, toria in New York City. She presented the public Rabbis, Members of Religious Orders, and lecture, “Mourning Beyond Melancholia: Freud’s Scholars of Religion on How Your Per- Psychoanalysis of Loss.” There will be a variety of spectives Have Been Changed by Psycho- awards presented at the International Psychohis- analysis torical Association Business Meeting on June 7, Reconsidering Classic Thinkers Such as 2002. Colleagues who plan to attend should e-mail Freud and Weston LeBarre the Editor. RESEARCH NOTES: Jean Maria Interviews with or Profiles of William W. Arrigo has been working on torture interrogation Meissner, Ana-Maria Rizzuto, or Edward and welcomes contact with others interested in the P. Shafranske subject. Her work comes out against the utilitarian Therapists as Secular Priests argument that torture is necessary in wartime and Spirituality's Role in Clinical Practice in fighting terrorism. Dr. Arrigo may be reached at Robert Pois, Robert Quackenbush, John Rogers, Helen Smith, John Scott Smith, Evelyn Sommers, Ryan Staude, Howard Stein, Chris Tatarka, Simine Vazire, and David Walker. Our appreciation to Monika Giacoppe, our unofficial "Style Editor" and to Anna Lentz and Vikki Walsh for proof- reading. March 2002 Clio’s Psyche Page 227 Page 228 Clio’s Psyche March 2002 March 2002 Clio’s Psyche Page 229 Page 230 Clio’s Psyche March 2002 March 2002 Clio’s Psyche Page 231 Call for Papers September 11 and the Psychology of Terrorism Special Theme Issue March, 2002 Some possible approaches include: Initial Emotions: Shock, Disbelief, Sad- ness, Anger, Hate, Humiliation, Victimiza- tion, and Frustration: Case Studies Fears, Fantasies, and Realities of Anthrax, Bio-Terrorism, and Nuclear Terrorism Group Feelings of Victimization and Enti- tlement in the Face of Trauma The Power of Symbols: Blood (Shed and Donated) and Flags in the Face of Trauma The Power of Altruism in the Face of Dan- ger: The Psychology of Fireman and Other Relief Workers The Psychological Defense Mechanisms of Israelis and Others in Facing Terrorism Bush’s Personalizing the Hydra-Headed Monster of Terrorism The Psychobiography of Osama bin Laden and Various Terrorists Islamic Fundamentalism: America as the Great Satan Why Many People Hate the U.S. Presidents Bush as War Leaders Psychohistorical Perspectives on Terror- ism: Case Studies The Sense of Obligation to Avenge the Dead: Turning Anger into Vengeance Cycles of Terrorism, Retaliation, and Vio- lence Denial and Disbelief in Facing Terrorism: Fortress America and "It Can't Happen Here" Why Intelligence and Security Were Neg- ligent or Ignored Security, the Cloak of Secrecy, and the Open Society Effects on America's Children Nightmares, Dreams, and Daydreams of the Attack Mourning and Closure Survivorship and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder 500-1500 words, due January 15 Contact Paul H. Elovitz, PhD, Editor Forthcoming in Clio's Psyche Book Review Among the already submitted articles on "The Psychology of Terrorism, Tragedy, Group Mourning, Bio-Terrorism, and the War on Terrorism" are: "Apocalypse Now" "A Nation Mourns" "Terror Victims" "Enemy Images After 9-11" "Pearl Harbor & World Trade Center" "Terrorism in a Global Context" "Mohamed Atta" and "Osama bin Laden" "Torture Interrogation of Terrorists" "Delayed Reactions in Children" "Violence in Hollywood Action Films" "Terrorism in 11th-Century Spain" "Home" Symposium by Peter Petschauer with responses by Michael Britton, Dan Dervin, Paul Elovitz, Amy Hudnall, Anatoly Isaenko, David Lotto, Evelyn Sommers, and Howard Stein Inform colleagues of our March, 2002, Interviews with Distinguished Psycho- Psychology of Terror Special Issue. biographic Scholars Ralph Colp and Eliza- Contact Paul H. Elovitz, Call for Papers Wanted: In-depth Insight during Wartime Children and Childhood in The See call for papers on page 162. 21st Century June, 2002 500-1500 words, due April 15 Contact Paul H. Elovitz, PhD, Editor Next Psychohistory Forum Meeting CFP: Psychoanalysis and Religious Experi- Eli Sagan ence - Sept. 2002 - See page 225 "The Great Promise and Anxiety of Modernity" There are no negatives in the unconscious. Nominate a graduate student or psychoanalytic Proposals for Psychohistory Forum Work-in- candidate for a Young Scholar Award Mem- Progress Seminars are welcomed. Contact Paul bership & Subscription. Contact Paul H. H. Elovitz, PhD, Editor, at Call for Papers Call for Papers Psychobiography Psychobiography Special Theme Issue Special Theme Issue December, 2001 December, 2001 Some possible approaches include: Some possible approaches in- clude: Original psychobiographical vignettes Original psychobiographical Psychobiography-focused mini- vignettes interview with distinguished psycho- Symposium of the pros and biographers such as George, Mack, cons of Erikson's Young Man McAdams, Solomon, Strouse, and Luther Tucker Your experience with psycho- Symposium on Erikson's Young Man Luther biography Recent developments in the Your experience in researching, writing, field and publishing psychobiography Issues in doing psychobiogra- Developments in psychobiography in the phy: last 15 years pathology and creativity Issues in doing psychobiography: the use of empathy pathology and creativity evidence and interpretation, the use of em- reconstruction, and reduction- pathy ism Call for Papers evidence and countertransference interpretation, Children and Childhood in assessing childhood's influence reconstruction, interpreting dreams The 21st Century and reductionism assessing living individuals Special Theme Issue countertrans- March, 2002 ference alternative approaches 500-1500 words, due January 15 assessing child- Reviews / review essays Contact Paul H. Elovitz, PhD, Editor hood's influence interpreting Call for Papers Invitation to Join Join the Psychohistory Forum as a Research PsychoGeography Associate to be on the cutting edge of the Special Theme Issue development of new psychosocial knowledge. For information, e-mail Paul H. Elovitz, PhD, Director, at March, 2001 Insanity and the law Dysfunctional family courts Presidential Election 2000 Call for Participants Book Reviews Role ofCall Law for Papers in Society Psychohistory Forum Psycho-Seminar Halpern Award biography There are no negatives in the The Psychohistory ForumSaturday, has granted January a Sidney 27, 2001, NYC unconscious. Halpern Award to BobSeeking Lentz, participantsFounding Asso- with a legal backgroundof ciate Editor of Clio's Psycheand a, forstrong Outstanding psychodynamic Ralph interest. Work in Psychohistorical Editing. ***** Nader Call for Papers Special Crime andTheme Punishment Next Psychohistory Forum Meeting SpecialMarch, Theme 2001 Issue Saturday, January 27, 2001 Possible approaches:September, 2001 Jay Gonen, Mary Coleman, et al Psychodynamics500-1500 words, and childhooddue July 10 "Role of Law in Society" Contact Nader's Paul appeal Elovitz, to intellectuals Next Psychohistory Forum Next Psychohistory Forum Meeting Meeting Saturday, March 31, 2001 Saturday, September 15, 2001 David Lotto Britton, Felder, and Freund "Freud's Struggle With Misogyny: An Exploration of Homosexuality and Guilt in "Freud, Architecture, and the Dream of Irma's Injection" Urban Planning" r 10, 2001 Call for Papers Call for Papers m Meeting Psychology and Law Crime, Punishment, and onfront the Special Theme Issue Incarceration ocess June, 2001 Special Theme Issue Possible approaches: September, 2001 The diffusion of law into every aspect of 500-1500 words, due July 10 life (i.e., "the legalization of life") Contact Paul Elovitz, Call for CORST Grant Applications The Committee on Research and Special Training (CORST) of the American Psychoanalytic Association announces an American Psychoanalytic Foundation research training grant of $10,000 for CORST candidates (full-time academic scholar-teachers) who have been accepted or are currently in training in an American Psychoanalytic Association Institute. The purpose of the grant is to help de- fray the costs of psychoanalytic training. Payments will be made over three years of training in install- ments of $3500, $3500, and $3000 directly to the candidate. The application is: a) A brief statement of 1000 words about the research proposed, b) A letter from a scholar in the field (e.g., department chair, colleague, or dissertation advisor) attesting to the validity and significance of the research, c) A letter of endorsement by the Education Director of the institute certifying the candidate is in, or has been accepted for, full clinical psychoanalytic training at an institute of the American Psychoanalytic Association, and d) An up-to-date Curriculum Vitae. Applications are to be submitted in three (3) copies by April 1, 2001, to Professor Paul Schwaber, 258 Bradley Street, New Haven, CT 06511. Page 236 Clio’s Psyche March 2002 The Psychol- Call for Papers ogy of The Psychology of Crime, Punishment, and Incarceration Special Theme Issue September, 2001 Some possible approaches include: Emotion in the courtroom Next Psychohistory Forum Meeting Jury psychology Children and women in prison Saturday, September Immigrants and the INS 15, 2001 The crime of punishment Comparative international studies Britton, Felder, and Case studies Crime and punishment on TV How cameras change the courtroom The Best of Clio's dynamics Psyche 500-1500 words, due July 10 Contact Paul Elovitz, Editor This 93-page collection of many of the See Calls for Papers on pages 164 & 165: The Makers-of-Psychohistory Research Project PsychoGeography To write the history of psychohistory, the Forum is interviewing the founders of our field to create Psychobiography of Ralph Nader a record of their challenges and accomplishments. It welcomes participants who will help identify, interview, Psychological Uses of Law and publish accounts of the founding of psychohistory. Crime and Punishment Contact Paul H. Elovitz, Saturday, November 10, 2001 Psychohistory Forum Meeting The Best of Clio's Psyche This 93-page collection of many of the Psychoanalysts Confront the best and most popular articles from 1994 to the Creative Process March 2002 Clio’s Psyche Page 237 Clio's Psyche of Volkan Honored the Psychohistory In honor of the retirement of Vamik Forum Volkan and the work of the Center he created, Call for Papers the University of Virginia Center for the Study of Mind and Human Interaction (CSMHI) con- Violence in ducted a major conference entitled "Identity, American Life and Mass Mur-Mourning and Psychopolitical Processes" on der as Disguised Sui- cide May 25-26. The featured presentations and The Future discussions were on the human processes that of Psychoanalysis in the Third lead to ethnic tension, conflict resolution, and Millennium (June, 2000) the healing process. The speakers came from several disciplines -- psychoanalysis, psychia- Assessing try, psychology, political science, history, and Apocalypticism and Millennial-anthropology -- and hail from the U.S and ism Around the Year 2000 abroad. Peter Loewenberg of UCLA pre- Psycho- sented "The Psychodynamics of a Creative In- Geography stitution: The Bauhaus, Weimar, Dessau, Ber- Election lin, 1919-1933" and Howard Stein of the Uni- 2000: Psycho- biographies versity of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, of Bradley, Bush, Gore, "Mourning and Society: A Study in the History McCain, Buchanan, et al and Philosophy of Science." The Psy-Volkan, who will retire later this year chology of Incarcera- tion and after 38 years on the University of Virginia Crime Legalizing staff, is currently the director of the CSMHI Life: Our Litigious Society and a former president of the International So- ciety of Political Psychology (ISPP). Volkan Psychobiog- founded CSMHI in 1987 as an interdisciplinary raphy Manias and center to specialize in conflict resolution and Depressions in Eco- nomics and peace work, primarily in Eastern Europe and Society subsequently the newly independent countries The Role of from the former Soviet Union. He has devel- the Participant Ob- server in oped theories for caring for severely trauma- Psychohistory Psychohis-tized populations in the wake of ethnic tension. torical Perspectives "At the Center, we study preventive medicine for ethnic issues. In that sense, the Center is very unique," Volkan said. "When large groups are in conflict, people die, they become refu- Call for CORST gees, they lose homes and their loved ones, and Grant Applica- tions so they have to mourn. Without mourning, they cannot adjust. Ethnic identity is related to The Committee mourning. When people do not mourn, their on Research and Spe- cial Training (CORST) identity is different." The Center is on the fore- of the American Psy- choanalytic Association front of studies in large-group dynamics and announces an Ameri- can Psychoanalytic applies a growing theoretical and field-proven Foundation research training grant of $10,000 base of knowledge of issues such as ethnic ten- for CORST candidates (full-time academic sion, racism, national identity, terrorism, socie- scholar-teachers) who have been accepted or tal trauma, leader-follower relationships and are currently in train- ing in an American Psy-other aspects of national and international con- choanalytic Associa- tion Institute. The pur-flict. pose of the grant is to help defray the costs of For further information on Dr. Volkan psychoanalytic train- ing. Payments will be and the Center for the Study of Mind and Hu- made over three years of training in install-man Interaction, visit the Web site, Clio's Psyche of the Psychohistory Forum Call for Papers Violence in American Life and Mass Murder as Disguised Suicide Assessing Apocalypticism and Millennialism Around the Year 2000 PsychoGeography Election 2000: Psychobiographies of Bradley, Bush, Gore, McCain, Bu- Next Psychohistory Forum Meeting chanan, et al The Psychology of Incarceration and Michael Britton Crime "Countertransference: Legalizing Life: Our Litigious Society Royal Road Into the Psychology Psychobiography of the Cold War" Manias and Depressions in Economics Saturday, September 23, 2000 and Society Contact Paul Elovitz, Editor The Truth and Reconciliation Commis- See page 51 sion as a Model for Healing The Processes of Peacemaking and Peacekeeping The Psychology of America as the World’s Policeman Entertainment News Television, Radio, and Media as Object Relations in a Lonely Call for Papers The Psychohistory of Conspiracy Theories Special Theme Issue December, 2000 Possible approaches: Psychodynamics and childhood The Best of Clio's Psyche roots of conspiracy theories This 93-page collection of many of the best and most popular articles from 1994 to the Case studies of conspiracy theo- September, 1999, issue is available for $20 a copy. ries in American history It will be distributed free to Members renewing at the Supporting level and above as well Clio's Survey of the psychohistorical as Subscribers upon their next two-year renewal. and psychological literature on Psyche Contact the Editor (see page three). conspiracy theories Now on Film and television treatment of conspiracy theories Contact Bob Lentz, Associate Editor March 2002 Clio’s Psyche Page 239 Letter to the Editor Dreamwork Resources The Historical Dreamwork Method is available to help the biographer better under- stand the dreams of the subject and other as- pects of psychobiography. Clio's Psyche welcomes papers on historical dreamwork for publication and for presentation at Psychohistory Forum meetings. Con- Call for Papers tact Paul H. Elovitz (see page 51). Group Psychohistory (December, 2000) Conspiracy Theories (December, 2000) (See page 100) PsychoGeography (March, 2001) Legalizing Life: Our Litigious Society Book Reviews (2001) Howard F. The Psychology of Incarceration and Stein Crime (2001) (Editor's Note: Television as Object Relations We welcome Contact Paul Elovitz, Editor scanned pic- See page 51 Life: Our Litigious Society Contact the Editor (see page 3) Letters to the Editor Nader, Political Nightmares, and Invitation to Join Leaders' Morality Join the Psychohistory Forum as a Research Associate to be on the cutting edge of the Editorial Policies development of new psychosocial knowledge. For information, e-mail Paul H. Elovitz, PhD, Director, at Letters to the Editor The History of Psychohistory Clio's Psyche's interviews of outstanding psychohistorians (see "An American in Amsterdam: Arthur Mitzman," page 146) have grown into a full-fledged study of the pioneers and history of our field. Psychohistory as an organized field is less than 25 years old, so most of the innovators are available to tell their stories and give their insights. Last March, the Forum formally launched the Makers of the Psychohistorical Paradigm Research Project to systematically gather material to write the history of psychohistory. We welcome memoirs, letters, and manuscripts as well as volunteers to help with the interviewing. People interested in participating should write, call, or e-mail Paul H. Elovitz (see page 119). Awards and Honors CORST Essay Prize • Professor Janice M. Coco, Art Award History, University of California-Davis, winner of the First Annual American Psychoanalytic Association Com- The Psychohistory Forum has mittee on Research and Special Training (CORST) granted a Sidney Halpern Award of $300 $1,000 essay prize, will present her paper, "Exploring the to Bob Lentz, Founding Associate Editor Frontier from the Inside Out in John Sloan's Nude Stud- of Clio's Psyche, for Outstanding Work in ies," at a free public lecture at 12 noon, Saturday, De- Psychohistorical Editing. cember 20, Jade Room, Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, New York City. Sidney Halpern Award for the Best Psychohistorical Idea • The Psychohistory Forum is granting an award of $200 to Michael Hirohama of San Francisco for starting and maintaining the Psychohistory electronic mailing list (see page 98). Next Psychohistory Forum Meeting Saturday, January 30, 1999 THE MAKERS OF PSYCHOHISTORY Charles Strozier RESEARCH PROJECT To write the history of psychohistory, the Forum is interviewing the founders of our field to create a record of their challenges and accomplishments. It welcomes participants who P Call for Papers s Special Theme Issues Call for Nominations y 1999 and 2000 c Halpern Award h The Relationship of Academia, Psycho- for the o history, and Psychoanalysis (March, Best Psychohistorical Idea 1999) in a The Psychology of Legalizing Life Book, Article, or Computer Site [What is this???] This Award may be granted at the level of Psychogeography Distinguished Scholar, Graduate, or Un- dergraduate. Meeting the Millenium Contact Paul H. Elovitz, Editor -- see p. Free Subscription THE MAKERS OF PSYCHOHISTORY For every paid library subscription ($40), RESEARCH PROJECT the person donating or arranging it will receive a year’s subscription to Clio’s Psyche free. Help The Psychohistory Forum is pleased to announce Clio’s Psyche March 2002 The Young Psychohistorian 1998/99 Membership Awards Page 241 John Fanton recently received his medical degree and is doing his five year residency in Providence, Rhode Island. Currently, he is at the Children's Hospital, Women and Infants Hospital, and the Butler Psychiatric Hospital. His goal is to become a child maltreatment expert working in the area of Preventive Psychiatry. At the IPA in 1997 he won the Lorenz AwardTo Join for histhe paper Psychohistory on improving parenting List in Colorado. send e-mail with any subject and message to Dreamwork Resources The Historical Dreamwork Method is available to help the biographer better under- Call for Nominations stand the dreams of the subject and other as- pects of psychobiography. Clio's Psyche wel- Halpern Award comes papers on historical dreamwork for pub- for the lication and for presentation at Psychohistory Best Psychohistorical Idea Forum meetings. Contact Paul H. Elovitz (see in a page 43). Book, Article, or Computer Site This Award may be granted at the level of Distinguished Scholar, Graduate, or Undergraduate. There are no negatives in the Call for Papers The Best of Clio's Psyche Special Theme Issues This 93-page collection of many of the best 1999 and 2000 and most popular articles from 1994 to the The Relationship of Academia, Psy- September, 1999, issue is available for $20 a chohistory, and Psychoanalysis copy. (March, 1999) It will be distributed free to Members re- newing at the Supporting level and above as Our Litigious Society well as Subscribers upon their next two-year PsychoGeography renewal. Contact the Editor (see page 51). Meeting the Millennium Manias and Depressions in Econom- ics and Society Letters to the Editor Contact the Editor at Next Psychohistory Forum Meeting Saturday, October 2, 1999 Letters to the Editor on Charles Strozier Clinton-Lewinsky-Starr "Putting the Psychoanalyst on the Couch: A Biography of Heinz Kohut" Page 242 Clio’s Psyche March 2002 Clio's Psyche of the Psychohistory Book Review Essay Forum Call for Papers Next Psychohistory Forum Meeting Future of Psychohistory and Psychoanalysis in Saturday, January 30, 1999 the Light of the Demise of the Psychohistory Charles Strozier Political Personality and "Putting the Psychoanalyst on the Couch: A Biography of Heinz Kohut" CharacterThe Best of Clio's Psyche The Psychohistory Forum is pleased to announce Additionalthe creation of Articles The Best of Clio's Psyche. Are Requested for the Call for Nominations This 94-page collection of many of the best and mostSeptember popular articles Issue from of 1994 to the for the current issue Clio'sis available Psyche: for $20 a copy and to students using it in a course for $12. Best of Clio's Psyche TheIt will bePsychology distributed free to Membersof at By July 1 please list your favorite arti- the OnlineSupporting levelCommunication and above as well as Two- cles, interviews, and Special Issues (no Year Subscribers upon their next renewal. Call for Nominations Clio's Psyche of the Psychohistory Forum Call for Papers Forthcoming in the June Issue Violence in American Life and Mass Murder as Interview with a Distinguished Disguised Suicide Featured Psychohistorian AssessingAdditional Apocalypticism Articlesand Millennialism "The Insane Author of the Oxford aroundAre the RequestedYear 2000 for the English Dictionary" PsychoGeography September Issue of "Jews in Europe After World War II" Election 2000Clio's Psyche: PsychobiographyCall for Papers "A Psychohistorian's Mother and Her ManiasThe and DepressionsPsychology in Economics ofand Legacy" SocietySpecial Theme Issues OnlineThe Psychology Communication of Incarceration and Crime 1999 and 2000 Hayman Fellowships Our Litigious Society The University of California Interdisci- Call for Nominations plinary Psychoanalytic Consortium an- PsychoGeography nounces two $5,000 annual fellowships to for the Meeting the Millennium aid psychoanalytically informed research on the literary, cultural, and humanistic The ManiasBest and Depressions of Clio's in Econom-Psyche expressions of genocide, racism, ethnocen- icsBy and July Society 1, please list your favorite arti- trism, nationalism, inter-ethnic violence, and the Holocaust. Thecles, Psychology interviews, of Americaand Special as the Issues (no World'smore thanPoliceman three in each category) and send the information to the Editor (see Truthpage and 3) for Reconciliation the August publication. in South The History of Psychohistory Africa Clio's Psyche's interviews of outstanding 600-1500 words psychohistorians (see "An American in Amsterdam: Legalizing Life: Our Litigious Society Arthur Mitzman," page 146) have grown into a full-fledged TheContact Truth and Reconciliation Commission as study of the pioneers and history of our field. a ModelPaul for H. Healing Elvoitz, PhD, Editor Psychohistory as an organized field is less than 25 years The Processes of627 Peacemaking Dakota Trail and Peacekeeping old, so most of the innovators are available to tell their The PsychologyFranklin of America Lakes, as NJ the 07417 World’s stories and give their insights. Last March, the Forum