A Theory for Subjectivity in the Psychological Humanities Complicities

PALGRAVE STUDIES IN THE THEORY AND HISTORY OF PSYCHOLOGY Complicities A theory for subjectivity in the psychological humanities Natasha Distiller Palgrave Studies in the Theory and History of Psychology Series Editor Thomas Teo Department of Psychology York University Toronto, ON, Canada Palgrave Studies in the Teory and History of Psychology publishes schol- arly books that use historical and theoretical methods to critically examine the historical development and contemporary status of psychological concepts, methods, research, theories, and interventions. Books in this series are characterised by one, or a combination of, the following: (a) an empha- sis on the concrete particulars of psychologists' scientifc and professional practices, together with a critical examination of the assumptions that attend their use; (b) expanding the horizon of the discipline to include more interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary work performed by researchers and practitioners inside and outside of the discipline, increasing the knowledge created by the psychological humanities; (c) “doing justice” to the persons, communities, marginalized and oppressed people, or to academic ideas such as science or objectivity, or to critical concepts such social justice, resistance, agency, power, and democratic research. Tese examinations are anchored in clear, accessible descriptions of what psychologists do and believe about their activities. All the books in the series share the aim of advancing the scientifc and professional practices of psychology and psychologists, even as they ofer probing and detailed questioning and critical reconstructions of these practices. Te series welcomes proposals for edited and authored works, in the form of full-length monographs or Palgrave Pivots; contact [email protected] for further information. Serimes Editor: Tomas Teo is Professor of Psychology at York University, Canada. Series Editorial Board: Alex Gillespie, London School of Economics and Political Science, UK; Suzanne R. Kirschner, College of the Holy Cross, USA; Annette Mülberger, Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona, Spain; Lisa M. Osbeck, University of West Georgia, USA; Peter Raggatt, James Cook University, Australia; Alexandra Rutherford ,York University, Canada. More information about this series at http://www.palgrave.com/gp/series/14576 Natasha Distiller Complicities A theory for subjectivity in the psychological humanities Natasha Distiller Gender and Women Studies University of California, Berkeley Berkeley, CA, USA ISBN 978-3-030-79674-7 ISBN 978-3-030-79675-4 (eBook) https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-79675-4 © Te Editor(s) (if applicable) and Te Author(s) 2022. Tis book is an open access publication. Open Access This book is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence and indicate if changes were made. Te images or other third party material in this book are included in the book’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the book’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. Te use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specifc statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. Te publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, expressed or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. Te publisher remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional afliations. Tis Palgrave Macmillan imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature Switzerland AG. Te registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland “Seeking innocence is a distraction of the highest order to critical thought” (Imani Perry, Vexy Ting 2018, p. 102). Preface Tis book has been challenging to write. It is interdisciplinary to its core, a product of my own journey through knowledge collections that span literary studies, a range of critical, cultural and political theories, and psychology and psychotherapy. My hope is that it synthesizes its inform- ing discourses clearly for those who are new to some of them, and inter- estingly for those who are not. Te title of this book was originally, and probably rather grandiosely, Complicities: A Model for Subjectivity in the Twenty-First Century. About halfway through writing it, I realized I was not, in fact, ofering the reader a model for anything. “Model” suggests something that can be followed, a series of principles and actions that can be laid out and pursued as with an instruction manual. I changed the title to “theory,” which more accu- rately captures what I am doing here: ofering a way to think about human subjectivity that can be useful to critical psychologists and prac- ticing psychotherapists if they are convinced that the humanities-style approach I detail is worthwhile. My colleague in the Beatrice Bain Research Group of the Gender and Women’s Studies Department at the University of California Berkeley, Robin Clark, assessing the frst part of the manuscript, declared it a manifesto, and that is perhaps the most accurate descriptor of all. Tis book is a summary of everything I have learned as I traversed disciplines. It aims to capture what I have learned vii viii Preface accordingly, and how I think about what it means to be human—a con- cern both of literature, my frst home, and psychotherapy, my second. So ultimately, this book may be ofering a philosophy, a way of thinking that encodes a set of beliefs about the world and how it could be. Tis may well be informative to critical psychologists and others con- cerned with social justice, feminism, decolonialism and other theories of human being. But how does it apply to therapeutic practice? In the fnal chapter, I ofer some suggestions. I apply my theory to the modalities I use with clients, and hope to open up possibilities for doing, as well as thinking about, psychotherapy. Tere are no case studies. I know providing some might well help to ground the more theoretical moments, especially in the frst chapter. Tis is why there are no case studies: I have come to believe that it is a form of making use of clients in a way that does not feel congruent with my therapeutic philosophy. I consider each therapeutic relationship an invi- tation to a unique journey with someone. When the relationship goes well, the connection is special. I might even use the word sacred, although that will be the most spiritual this theoretical book will get. It does not feel right to me to share this journey for the purposes of my own gain. I learned this from a client whose journey I hold very close to my heart. I want to honor that lesson, and all my clients’ sacred sharings. Instead, where appropriate, I will talk about my own journey. I hope this func- tions to ground some of the ideas. Tis book, then, is unashamedly theoretical, although it does also aim to be accessible. For readers not used to the tone and jargon of critical theory, I hope the parts that require more from you are made up for by the illustrations and applications that come up from the third chapter and are the focus of the last chapter. I would like to take a moment to address the choice of the notion of complicity to capture what I am trying to say. Complicity has a negative connotation. It suggests that one is guilty of collaborating with a wrong. In a sense, that is the point: As I will argue in detail, the term is meant to invoke the idea that we subjects of Western modernity are none of us unimplicated in the systems of oppression whose historical trajectories I account for in this book. It suggests that to be human is to be made by, Preface ix participants in, resistors to, and benefciaries of, the systems and institu- tions that we cannot help but inherit. Some sufer more, but no one of us is better than the other, a theoretical statement that will be fully explored in the course of the book. But another argument of this book is that binary thinking has to go if we want to improve things. Terefore, the binary innocent/guilty is not a helpful way to approach the idea of complicity. It keeps us in the realm of good/bad, self/other, right/wrong. If Complicities argues anything, it argues that we have to think about our- selves and each other in more complicated terms. Tis is how we fnally exceed the terms that Western Enlightenment and then colonial pro- cesses, as consolidated in the psy disciplines as one of the technologies of modern subjectivity, have given us. One last set of explanations about style choices: I have used the upper- cased adjective Black to denote people of African descent. I do this to acknowledge that the specifc history of oppression African people have sufered, because of the historical forces I detail in this book, has created specifc material and identity outcomes for Black people. I have not used the uppercase for other descriptors of racialized groups indicated with reference to color.

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