Thursday, September 18 | 5:00PM - 6:30 (ET) | Hybrid Workshop - Online and in person at The Murray Room, Boston College
Description:
**Note: This event is free to the public. Please use the promotion code OEDIPUSSEPT2025 to register at no cost. The event is $25 for those seeking CEs.
Decades ago, Frantz Fanon suggested that the Oedipal complex was far from coming into being among Black folk of the Antilles; perhaps tongue-in-cheek, Fanon nevertheless intends to signal in this passage from Black Skin, White Masks that traditional psychoanalytic theory and praxis cannot be applied wholesale, or without radical revision and correction, to Black life under the complicated circumstances of the post-colonial, post-slavery Western worlds. This inquiry aims to explore both the idea of the Oedipus complex, as well as Fanon’s commentary on it, in reference to life on the other side of the Middle Passage as it engendered the African Diaspora centuries ago. The primary concern here is finding a way to articulate an Oedipal cycle—or the transfer of authority from one generation to the next—that has been interrupted or deferred (as it was in the Atlantic slave trade) and what this might look like; the classic model of the complex brings us up short in understanding what this deferral might mean not only in reference to the transfer of power from parents to children, but the configuration of relations between siblings, or the entire field of contemporaries. “Riding With Oedipus” attempts to read the broad movement of the generational across six centuries of Black human becoming.
Learning Objectives:
At the conclusion of this workshop, attendees will be able to:
- Describe the key components of the Oedipal complex.
- Analyze Frantz Fanon's critique of the Oedipal complex as it relates to Black life in the Antilles.
- Explain the historical context of the "Middle Passage" and its relevance to the concept of the African Diaspora.
Timeline and Requirements:
The course will take place on Thursday, September 18, 2025. This workshop is presenter-led and is a Hybrid experience. This will be conducted online via Zoom and in the Murray Room at Boston College from 5:00-6:30 pm (ET).
CE Pending:
Application for CEs is being submitted for LMHC, APA, and LI/LCSW. We will update this section as soon as we hear back from the credentialing bodies.
Participants must attend the lecture in full and complete the post event survey to be eligible to receive CEs.
This lecture does not offer CEs for other clinicians not listed above.
Fees & Policies:
This event is free to the public. Please use the promotion code OEDIPUSSEPT2025 to register at no cost. This event is $25 for those seeking CEs. Payment for CEs is due by credit card at registration. Refunds will be granted only up until registration closes at 4pm on September 18th. No refunds will be granted for errors on the participant's part (such as incorrect name/email upon registration, login failure, scheduling conflicts, etc.).
We strive to host inclusive, accessible events that enable all individuals to engage fully. If you need to request an accommodation or ask a question about accessibility, please contact wcas.cece@bc.edu.
Additional offerings from the Woods College Office of Continuing Education and Community Engagement can be found on our website.
