"Racial Melancholia, Racial Dissociation: On the Social and Psychic Lives of Asian Americans"

with David L. Eng, PhD

Program Description

We are bombarded today by celebratory discourses of multiculturalism and diversity in the face of intensifying racial discord and violence. In our so-called colorblind age, we lack sufficient critical resources to analyze the social and psychic conditions that give rise to such contradictions. Equally important, we have few conceptual frameworks to understand their social and psychic effects on Asian Americans. This program will explore these topics through a discussion of my recently published book (co-authored with psychotherapist Shinhee Han), Racial Melancholia, Racial Dissociation: On the Social and Psychic Lives of Asian Americans (Duke, 2019). The book draws on case histories from the mid-1990s to the present to explore the social and psychic predicaments of Asian American young adults from Generation X to Generation Y. Combining critical race theory with strands of psychoanalytic thought and clinical practice, we develop the concepts of “racial melancholia” and “racial dissociation” to investigate changing processes of loss associated with immigration, displacement, diaspora, and assimilation.

The program will begin with a discussion of how the history of the (racial) subject intersects with the subject of (racial) history before moving on to a discussion of the final chapter of our book, (Gay) Panic Attack, which focuses on case histories of academically accomplished parachute children, all of whom are male and identify as gay. The term “parachute children” refers to adolescents and children as young as eight who migrate, typically on their own, from different parts of Asia to countries in the West for educational opportunities.

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About the Presenter:  David L. Eng, PhD is Richard L. Fisher Professor of English at the University of Pennsylvania, where he is also Professor in the Program in Asian American Studies, Comparative Literature & Literary Theory, and Gender, Sexuality & Women's Studies. Eng has held visiting professorships at the University of Bergen (Norway), King’s College London, Harvard University, and the University of Hong Kong. He is the recipient of research fellowships from the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, the Helsinki Collegium for Advanced Studies, and the Mellon Foundation, among others. In 2016, Eng was elected an honorary member of the Institute for Psychoanalytic Training and Research (IPTAR) in New York City. His areas of specialization include American literature, Asian American studies, Asian diaspora, critical race theory, psychoanalysis, queer studies, gender studies, and visual culture.  

Leaning Objectives: By the end of the session, learners should be able to:

1. Describe critical approaches to psychoanalysis and race.
2. Describe how the history of the (racial) subject and the subject of (racial) history impacts our understanding of how psychoanalysis and law frame race relations.
3. Articulate the histories of loss, immigration, assimilation and racialization that underpin Asian American subjectivity. 
4. Analyze the histories and dynamics of model minorities, transnational adoptees, and parachute kids.
5. Explain how different psychic paradigms—including racial melancholia and racial dissociation—construct Asian American subjectivity.
6. Explore race relations outside binaries of white and black, victim and perpetrator, in order to understand how Asian Americans triangulate such polarities of race.

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This activity has been planned and implemented in accordance with the accreditation requirements and policies of the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) through the joint providership of American Psychoanalytic Association and Psychoanalytic Center of the Carolinas. The American Psychoanalytic Association is accredited by the ACCME to provide continuing medical education for physicians.
The American Psychoanalytic Association designates this Live Activity for a maximum of 2 AMA PRA Category 1 CreditsTM. Physicians should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.

IMPORTANT DISCLOSURE INFORMATION FOR ALL LEARNERS: None of the planners and presenters of this CME program have any relevant financial relationships to disclose

The Psychoanalytic Center of the Carolinas is approved by the American Psychological Association to sponsor continuing education for psychologists. The Psychoanalytic Center of the Carolinas maintains responsibility for this program and its content.

The Psychoanalytic Center of the Carolinas has been approved by NBCC as an Approved Continuing Education Provider, ACEP No. 6518. Programs that do not qualify for NBCC credit are clearly identified. The Psychoanalytic Center of the Carolinas is solely responsible for all aspects of the program.

Social workers receive a letter of attendance documenting 2 hours of continuing education, which may not be accepted by all states to document continuing education credits.

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