CMS 390R: Psychoanalysis and Rhetoric

Unique: 08355 Office Hours Joshua Gunn Spring 2021 by appointment CMA 7.138 Meets Thurs. 3:30-6:15 p.m. 512-471-3933 Classroom: Online [email protected]

Those who have proclaimed the death of psychoanalysis never seem to tire of such pronouncements. Psychoanalytic theory, of course, has a number of explanations for why folks would take such pleasure in death. In this course we will examine those explanations, as well as the rationale for "killing off" certain elements and thinkers of the psychoanalytic tradition (e.g., Freud, drive theory, and so on). More specifically, this course is intended as a broad survey of the various schools of psychoanalysis, the controversies and disagreements among those who claim and jettison psychoanalytic perspectives, and the ways in which psychoanalytic theory has been used in critical practice. Although this course will fail to provide any semblance of mastery, it should help to provide a starting place for further researches should you choose to pursue a psychoanalytically informed criticism or critique. At the very least, this course will help to explain a number of common assumptions behind fashionable contemporary cultural theories (e.g., poststructuralism, posthumanism, postmodernism)—assumptions that are often mistakenly, if not irresponsibly, overlooked by present day rhetorical theorists. As we will see, no contemporary theorist or critic—from Alain Badiou and Judith Butler, to Deleuze and Guattari and Slavoj Žižek—can be appropriately understood without some familiarity with psychoanalysis.

REQUIRED TEXTS

Stuff You May Have to Buy:

Sconce, Jeffrey. The Technical Delusion: Electronics, Power, Insanity (Durham: Duke UP, 2019). ISBN: 9781478001065.

Stuff Available as PDFs on Canvas

Armstrong, Louise and Whitney Darrow, Jr. A Child’s Guide to Freud (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1963).

Blanton, Smiley. Diary of My Analysis with Sigmund Freud (New York: Hawthorn Books, Inc., 1971).

Fairbairn, W.R.D. Psychoanalytic Studies of the Personality (New York: Routledge, 1994).

Freud, Anna. The Ego and the Mechanisms of Defense, trans. Cecil Baines (London: Karnac Books, 1993).

Freud, Sigmund. The Standard Edition of the Complete Works of Sigmund Freud, Volume XVIII (1920-1922): Beyond the Pleasure Principle, Group Psychology, and Other Works, trans. James Strachey (London: The Hogarth Press, 1981).

Freud, Sigmund. The Interpretation of Dreams, trans. James Strachey (New York: Avon Books, 1965). ISBN: 0380010003. Available as PDF on Canvas, although this is a book you probably should own.

Freud, Sigmund. The Freud Reader, edited by Peter Gay (New York: W.W. Norton and Co., 1989). ISBN: 0393314030.

Frosh, Stephen. A Brief Introduction to Psychoanalytic Theory (London: Macmillan International, 2019). ISBN: 9780230369306. Available as PDF on Canvas, although this one is worth buying as a reference.

Hartmann, Heinz. Ego Psychology and the Problem of Adaptation, trans. David Rapaport (New York: International Universities Press, 1961).

Klein, Melanie. The Writings of Melanie Klein, Volume I: Love, Guilt and Reparation and Other Works (New York: The Free Press, 1975).

Klein, Melanie. The Writings of Melanie Klein, Volume III: Envy and Gratitude and Other Works, 1946-1963 (New York: The Free Press, 1975).

Mitchell, Juliet. Psychoanalysis and Feminism: A Radical Reassessment of Freudian Psychoanalysis (New York: Basic Books, 2000). ISBN: 0465046088.

Seshadri-Crooks, Kalpana. Desiring Whiteness: A Lacanian Analysis of Race (New York: Routledge, 2000).

Van Haute, Philippe. Against Adaptation: Lacan’s “Subversion” of the Subject: A Close Reading (New York: Other Press, 2002). ISBN: 1892746654.

RECOMMENDED TEXTS

Evans, Dylan. An Introductory Dictionary of Lacanian Psychoanalysis (New York: Routledge, 1996). ISBN: 0415135230. Available as a PDF on Canvas.

Fink, Bruce. A Clinical Introduction to Lacanian Psychoanalysis: Theory and Technique (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1997). ISBN: 0674135369. Available as PDF on Canvas.

Greenberg, Jay R. and Stephen A. Mitchell. Object Relations in Psychoanalytic Theory. (Cambridge: Harvard UP, 2003). ISBN: 0674629752. Available as PDF on Canvas.

Laplanche, J. and J.-B. Pontalis. The Language of Psychoanalysis, trans. Donald Nicholson- Smith. (New York: W.W. Norton, 1973). ISBN: 0393011054. Available as PDF on Canvas.

THIS COURSE IS WEB-BASED

Owing to the Covid-19 pandemic, this course is almost entirely web-based, which means we do not meet in person, but rather engage entirely through UTs online "Learning Management System" (LMS), which is currently Canvas. The best web browser for this purpose is Google's Chrome. If you are not familiar with Canvas, please spend some time taking the available tutorials available on the Canvas interface.

The seminar will meet at its normally scheduled time via Zoom, which you can connect to through Canvas.

Please note digital technology always fails at some point! Please routinely back up your work! Each and every time you post something in discussion or annotation, double- check to make sure your post actually appears in Canvas. It is your responsibility to make sure your writing and thinking appear on the screen for everyone.

ASSIGNMENTS AND GRADING

Grades will be determined on the basis of written assignments and participation.

Minutes (10 points): For each class, someone will be assigned to take minutes. This person will keep careful track of class discussion, including the concepts and questions raised, and then will present a summary of these minutes at the beginning of the next class. The minutes should be extensive, detailed, and typed, and copies should be distributed to the class via PDF via the "minutes" folder on Canvas (path: Files/minutes). The delivered report, however, should only contain a brief summary of the main subjects and questions asked during the previous class (3-5 minutes).

Reading Response (50 points): Once in the semester each enrolled participant will write and deliver a short reading response, followed by questions for class discussion. The assignment is designed to stimulate discussion, but is also intended as a practice conference paper. We will determine who does which response collectively during the first or second meeting. These responses should be typed and composed like a regular essay, and should be approximately 3-5 pages in length (do not, in other words, turn in an outline replete with incomplete sentences and so on). In your responses, you are to first briefly summarize the reading, and then explore one to three issues or concepts that interest you about the reading for the day. You are welcome to use mass-media exemplars (e.g., to show a film clip or play a song clip, etc.). Think of this as a kind of laid-back "conference" presentation.

• You are not expected to teach the reading; you only need to highlight the "gist" if the reading is "gistable." I realize that some theorists are tough to summarize, so simply do what you are able to do. There is no right or wrong way to engage readings.

• Responses should center on or circle around an issue in the reading that you find interesting and particularly relevant to your academic pursuits outside of class. Boring responses are those in which you are not really engaged; class suffers as a consequence.

• Responses obviously composed at the last minute will receive no credit. This is half of your course grade, so please do your best.

• Responses are modeled on humanities-style presentations, which means they are not extemporaneous (as is, for example, the norm for social scientists). Readings should be read and must be no longer than 10 minutes long. Typically you can plan on 2-3 minutes per page. Rambling on and on and on from an outline represents poor preparation.

• You should end your response with two or three good questions to stimulate class discussion. There's no need for a page of questions; one or two is typically enough.

• Copies of your response should be distributed to each class participant, including auditors, before meeting on Zoom. Reading responses can be uploaded as PDFs to the "reading responses" folder in Canvas (path: Files/reading responses). An electronic copy of the response in MS Word should be emailed to Josh prior to or shortly after presentation for feedback.

Term Paper (40 points): A 15-20 page paper in which you explore the conceptual dynamics of psychoanalysis in relation to some project you are already working on; alternately, you can write a theoretically oriented paper or a rhetorical criticism using the concepts or the thought of one of the thinkers we have read in class. After the first five weeks of the semester, please speak to or email me and share with me your proposed topic for the term paper. Although it is perfectly acceptable--and encouraged-- that your paper tie into a larger project (e.g., a thesis or dissertation), it must nevertheless demonstrate a relation to the material that we are covering in class in some way. The primary point of the paper is to demonstrate some degree of familiarity with the course content; any pragmatic end is secondary. The due-date for the term paper will be determined by the class.

Guidelines for Graded Projects: I assume that all of your work for this course is original and not borrowed, and this is inclusive of using material from past classes (working on a project that spans multiple courses, however, is different). Do not turn in a term paper, for example, which contains large chunks of a previous paper. All of your work should be typed, double-spaced, with one-inch margins, and utilize a 12-point font. Papers should be submitted to Josh via email attachment as a MSWord file (I use MSWord's track changes to make comments). Do not submit PDFs of your final papers.

Your work should be grammatically correct and proofread. You must document your work in accord with Chicago Style with footnotes! Papers and reading responses incorrectly documented will not receive feedback; if you do not own a style manual you should purchase one or consult Purdue University’s OWL web pages.

Important Safety Information

Behavioral Concerns

If you have concerns about the safety or behavior of fellow students, TAs or Professors, call BCAL (the Behavior Concerns Advice Line): 512-232-5050. Your call can be anonymous. If something doesn’t feel right – it probably isn’t. Trust your instincts and share your concerns.

Title IX Reporting

Title IX is a federal law that protects against sex and gender based discrimination, sexual harassment, sexual assault, sexual misconduct, dating/domestic violence and stalking at federally funded educational institutions. UT Austin is committed to fostering a learning and working environment free from discrimination in all its forms. When sexual misconduct occurs in our community, the university can:

1. Intervene to prevent harmful behavior from continuing or escalating. 2. Provide support and remedies to students and employees who have experienced harm or have become involved in a Title IX investigation. 3. Investigate and discipline violations of the university’s relevant policies.

Faculty members and certain staff members are considered “Responsible Employees” or “Mandatory Reporters,” which means that they are required to report violations of Title IX to the Title IX Coordinator. I am a Responsible Employee and must report any Title IX related incidents that are disclosed in writing, discussion, or one-on-one. Before talking with me, or with any faculty or staff member about a Title IX related incident, be sure to ask whether they are a responsible employee. If you want to speak with someone for support or remedies without making an official report to the university, email [email protected] For more information about reporting options and resources, visit titleix.utexas.edu or contact the Title IX Office at [email protected].

COURSE POLICIES

If you require any disability-related accommodations to participate in this class, please contact me privately as soon as possible. One purpose of the minutes assignment is to accommodate students requesting the assistance of a note taker.

Attendance Policy: Attendance is a precondition of satisfactory participation in this course—including those who are only auditing. For every 2 days missed, your final course grade will be dropped by one letter. STUDENTS ARE EXPECTED TO ATTEND THE SEMINAR IN ORDER TO PASS THIS CLASS.

Late Papers: No late papers will be accepted. Acts of God/Goa/Nature/Alien Slave Masters may find exception.

Incompletes: Owing to changes in the enforcement of policy in the college, an incomplete is only granted in extreme circumstances (according to the college dean of students, I had been granting incompletes erroneously; I was disciplined and told incompletes are only allowed in "life or death" situations). So, withdrawals are your best option.

Grading Policy: I will issue a verbal grading contract with you on the first day of class; failing to come to class, failing to do your best work, anti-intellectualism, and hostility or meanness directed toward the class or the class community will nullify this contract. In the event you violate the verbal contract, your work will be graded according to a percentage model, and your final grade in the class will be determined as follows: 90-100=A, 80-89=B, 70-79=C, and 69 and below is a failing grade. I do not use pluses and minuses. I reserve the right to change my grading policy and criteria at any point in the semester.

Complaints and grade disputes: You should submit grade disputes in writing within one week of receiving the contested grade via email.

Academic misconduct: If you cheat you will be reported to the Graduate School and the appropriate student dean and receive an "F" for the course. Usually, cheating means plagiarism or academic dishonesty. Academic dishonesty includes unintentional dishonesty or misleading representation. The Graduate School expels students for plagiarism.

COURSE SCHEDULE

This schedule is tentative, most especially because of the pandemic. Departures will be announced in advance. The seminar is officially 15 weeks long. I have planned for only 14 seminars in the event we need to adjust because of unexpected circumstances.

The course progresses through what I call the Toy Box model of pedagogy: we get a bunch of toys out before we begin to play with them. FOCAL READINGS are typically "application" readings of the primary material; if you cannot get to all the reading for a given seminar, at least read the focal reading.

I. The Father(s)

BREAK READING: Please read Armstrong and Darrow, A Child's Guide to Freud (provided as PDF file). If you have time, read the Frosh book.

1. January 21: Sigmund Freud.

For class, should have read Frosh, pp. 1-36. Also read the following selections (in order): from The Freud Reader, The case of Anna O, pp. 60-78; then from The Interpretation of Dreams, pp. 35-40, pp. 121-145; "The Dream Work," pp. 295-334, skim the rest of the chapter; and then pp. 512-572, skim the rest of the chapter.

2. January 28: More Freud.

For class you should read the following from The Freud Reader: "Three Essays on the Theory of Sexuality," reading the first essay (pp. 240-258), skimming the second (pp. 259-279), and skimming the third (pp. 279-293); read "Repression" and "The Unconscious," pp. 568-584; and Freud's final, major flourish, "The Ego and the Id," pp. 628-658.

FOCAL READING: Dean and Lane, "Homosexuality and Psychoanalysis: An Introduction." Homosexuality & Psychoanalysis, eds. Tim Dean and Christopher Lane (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2001), 3-42

3. February 4: Psychoanalysis and Communication Studies, or, Smiley Blanton on the Couch.

Read Blanton’s Diary (PDF provided).

II. Patricide, or, For the Love of Objects

4. February 11: Melanie Klein.

Read Frosh, 103-116; Klein, "The Psycho-analytic Play Technique" (Envy pp. 35-54); "A Contribution to the Psychogenesis of Manic-Depressive States" (Love, pp. 116-145); and "On the Sense of Loneliness" (Envy, pp. 300-313).

FOCAL READING: Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak, "Translation as Culture," in An Aesthetic Education in the Era of Globalization (Cambridge: Harvard UP, 2012), 241- 255.

5. February 18: Object Relations Theory with William Ronald Dodds Fairbairn.

Read the following essays by Fairbairn: "Schizoid Factors in the Personality," "A Revised Psychopathology of the Psychoses," and "The Repression and Return of Bad Objects."

FOCAL READING: David P. Celani, "Applying Fairbairn's Object Relations Theory to the Dynamics of the Battered Woman." American Journal of Psychotherapy 53 (1999): 60-73.

6. February 25: Ego Psychology.

Read the selections from Anna Freud's A Theory of Mechanisms of Defence and Heinz Hartmann's Ego Psychology and the Problem of Adaptation.

FOCAL READING: Cynthia Burack, "From Heterosexuality to Holiness: Psychoanalysis and Ex-Gay Ministries." Psychoanalysis, Culture & Society 20 (2015): 220-227.

7. March 4: Recovering Daddy?

FOCAL READING: Excerpt from Luce Irigaray, Speculum of the Other Woman, trans. Gillian C. Gill (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1974), 13-25.

Read Juliet Mitchell, Psychoanalysis and Feminism, pp. 5-73; skim 74-100; read 101-119; read 361-376; and finally, go back and read the introduction, pp. xv-xxxviii. The introduction only makes sense if you read the primary material first!

III. The Lacanian Revolution, or, Psychoanalysis Goes Post(al)

8. March 11: Enter the Dragon.

Read Frosh, pp. 171-184. Then read chapter 11, "Marienbad," from Roundinesco's Jacques Lacan (pp. 107-117), then "The Mirror Stage" by Lacan, as well as pp. xi-100 of Van Haute's Against Adaptation.

9. March 25: Adaptation = Bad.

Finish the Van Haute book.

10. April Fools! Subversion.

Lacan's "The Subversion of the Subject" essay, as well as Bruce Fink's reading of that essay.

IV. Other Other(s)

Note: The reading for the final four weeks of the course has been deliberately reduced so that you can focus on your final papers. You'll also note much of the work we engage from here on out is Lacanian, and this is because, as Frosh puts it, "Lacanianism is perhaps the most widely applied branch of psychoanalysis outside the consulting room" (171).

11. April 9: "American" Racism

Excerpt from Kalpana Seshadri-Crooks, Desiring Whiteness, pp. 1-56.

Ricardo Ainslie, Hannah McDermott, and Crystal Guevara, "Dying to Get Out: Challenges in the Treatment of Latin American Migrants Fleeting Violent Communities," Psychoanalysis in the Barrios: Race, Class, and the Unconscious (New York: Routledge, 2019), 54-68.

Jeffry Prager, "Do Black Lives Matter? A Psychoanalytic Exploration of Racism and American Resistance to Reparations," in Post-Conflict Hauntings: Transforming Memories of Historical Trauma, eds. Kim Wale, Pumula Gobodo-Madikizela, and Jeffrey Prager (New York: Palgrave, 2020), 93-118.

12. April 15: Queer Psychoanalysis

Tim Dean, "Lacan and Queer Theory," in The Cambridge Companion to Lacan (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003 ), 238-252.

Astrid Gessert, "Exploring Transgression from a Lacanian Perspective," in Perversion Now! eds. Diana Caine and Colin Wright (New York: Palgrave, 2017), 35-44.

Joshua Javier Guzmán, "Beside Oneself: Queer Psychoanalysis and the Aesthetics of Latinidad," in Psychoanalysis in the Barrios: Race, Class, and the Unconscious (New York: Routledge, 2019) , 171-186.

13. April 22: QAnon and the Technical Delusion:

Read Rabbit Rabbit, "A Game Designer's Analysis of QAnon," and from Sconce, TBD.

14. April 29: Forgetting Theory, or, Concluding the Course.

Read Freud's Group Psychology and the Analysis of the Ego, pp. 69-71; 105-110; skim everything else. Read Catherine Liu, "Forget Theory: Acting Out or Psychoanalysis and Social Change," in Acting Out in Groups, ed. Laurence A. Rickels (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1999), 30-41.