Catharsis and Projection: A Roundtable on Non-Oedipal Psychologies and a Doll-Making Workshop (CUNY Graduate Center, 3 December)
We seek informal, ten-minute presentations for our roundtable on subjects related to what Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick described as “non-oedipal psychologies” and what we’re calling “catharsis and projection dolls.” In her CUNY Graduate Center course, “Non-Oedipal Psychologies,” Sedgwick explored the work of Melanie Klein, Michael Balint, Christopher Bollas, and others—as well as perspectives from literature, art, and Buddhism—that emphasize the affective experience of relationships with all sorts of internal and external objects, rather than Freudian drives or the heteronormative family. Presentations for this roundtable may focus on any topic relevant to these subjects: worry or voodoo dolls, shrines and icons, American Girl dolls and GI Joes, Sedgwick’s discussions of the “queer little gods” in Proust and Cavafy, Victorian mourning or hair jewelry, projection in art therapy, transitional spaces and objects, the psychology of symbol formation, projective and introjective identification, fort/da, etc.
The roundtable will be followed by a studio workshop in which materials will be provided for people to make their own cathartic or projective dolls and objects. This is not required for presenters, although no crafts experience is necessary, and we encourage you to participate.
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Text Textile Texture Studio (3Text Studio <http://3textstudio.wordpress.com/>) was inspired by Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick, late Distinguished Professor of English at the City University of New York Graduate Center, queer theorist, and fiber artist. Its purpose is to help graduate students and other academics practice crafts that are loosely connected to books, texts, or language, as well as studying theoretical and artistic work related to the materiality of language.
October 31: Please send a brief (approx 200-word) description of your intended topics for discussion and presentation.
November 5: Acceptances will be sent.
December 3: Projection and Catharsis roundtable and workshop
Submissions and inquiries may be sent to A. Cranstoun, A. Magnet, and T Meyerhoff at text.textile.texture@gmail.com.
