I want to invite all of those reading this blog in Dublin to join us on Saturday, May 20th for an in-person events, with the possibility of attendance by Zoom for those who can’t make it in person.
I was invited by the Freud Lacan Institute (FLi) to give a three-hour hybrid seminar (10-1, Dublin-GMT) on the important theme of autism. The FLi is dedicated to supporting and promoting psychoanalysis in Ireland and around the world. It aims to bring together clinicians, students, scholars, researchers and anyone interested in Freudian and Lacanian psychoanalysis. The presentation will include a prepared response by Geraldine McLoughlin (APPI) and will be followed by Q&A and audience discussion.
Register here:
https://www.eventbrite.ie/e/autism-and-the-voice-tickets-620612537807
Note a low-cost ticket is available. Those seeking it should contact the organiser first at coursedirector@freudlacaninstitute.com
Here are the details:
Sat May 20, 10:00 am-1:00 pm (Dublin-GMT)
AUTISM AND THE VOICE
Venue: Royal Marine Hotel, Dun Laoghaire, and by zoom
Invited Guest Speaker Leon Brenner (Berlin)
With respondent Geraldine McLoughlin
Description: In this talk, Leon will examine the aetiology of autism from a psycholinguistic standpoint, paying special attention to the autistic relationship with the voice. Lacan’s psychoanalytic teachings on the voice and its role in establishing enunciative position will be explored in depth and shed light on the phenomenon of autistic individuals demonstrating clear language proficiency but not engaging in its enunciation. The presentation will cover a range of psychoanalytic, philosophical, and anthropological approaches to autism, with the aim of providing a comprehensive understanding of this complex mode-of-being. While prior reading is not required, the talk promises to provide an insightful and nuanced exploration of the topic.
Bios
Leon S. Brenner (PhD) is a psychoanalytic theorist and psychological counsellor from Berlin. Brenner’s work draws from the Freudian and Lacanian traditions of psychoanalysis, and his interest lies in the understanding of the relationship between culture and psychopathology. His book The Autistic Subject: On the Threshold of Language (2020), is a bestseller in psychology in Springer publishing in 2021. He is currently a research fellow at the International Psychoanalytic University Berlin and the Hans Kilian und Lotte Köhler Centrum (KKC) at the Ruhr Universität Bochum.
Geraldine McLoughlin is a graduate of TCD and the School of Psychotherapy at St. Vincent’s Hospital. Her interest in psychoanalysis developed in a reading group at TCD in the 1980’s and she moved to Paris to pursue a Lacanian analysis. During that time, she attended seminars held by Derrida, Kristeva and other French intellectuals. She has worked in clinical practice for over 30 years, much of it in the Irish public health service, the HSE, with a specific focus on working with adults with a history of childhood sexual abuse. In 2010, she completed a master’s thesis entitled “In the Shadow of the Law: Institutional Abuse Victims’ Search for Truth and Justice” as part fulfilment for an LLM in International Human Rights Law. Her clinical work has also included the provision of Organisational Role Analysis to senior personnel with a focus on unconscious processes which influence working group relationships, and their relatedness to the organisation’s objectives. Her current interests include on-going training in Restorative Justice Mechanisms, and working with researchers in the field of Human Rights on the merits of the provision of trauma informed therapy to people who have endured human rights violations in conflict situations.
Leon Brenner 