Danse Macabre and Other Stories
A Psychoanalytic Perspective on Global Dynamics
Halina Brunning author Olya Khaleelee author
Format:Paperback
Publisher:Phoenix Publishing House
Published:22nd Mar '21
£30.99
Available to order, but very limited on stock - if we have issues obtaining a copy, we will let you know.
Danse Macabre and Other Stories: A Psychoanalytic Perspective on Global Dynamics examines the world using a systemic and psychoanalytic lens, including concepts of splitting, separation, projection, displacement, and the return of the repressed. They consider what impact the disappearance of some iconic and psychic containers has on individuals’ functioning and why we choose populist leaders to shore up our own social defences. They question why the world feels so threatening to the twenty-first-century linked-in citizens when the objective facts suggest that overall much is improving for the global citizen.
Building on their previous work, Halina Brunning and Olya Khaleelee have created a coherent framework in order to conceptualise global dynamics within a matrix form. The matrix contains dialectic dynamic forces for both good and evil, love and hate, creation and destruction. They take a closer look at the plethora of phenomena which they see arising therein.
Whilst the matrix holds steady, inside it is a world in constant flux, reconfiguring and rearranging itself, as if in a kaleidoscope, with inevitable and unavoidable turbulence, but – Brunning and Khaleelee hypothesise – with an underlying pattern that is available to be discerned and studied.
Aware of this turbulence, Brunning and Khaleelee wish to share their view of the world in the hope of offering a containing reflection, capable of calming the nerves of the readers as well as their own.
A wonderful book offering depth insights into the dynamics of a troubled world. It reveals how psychological and social forces dance unconsciously together, shaping the emotions and thinking which impact on our collective lives. Whether working with individuals, or working to change organisations and wider society, the learning from this deeply thoughtful book will be profound. A must-read for all who desire to 'create the good society'.
A book that demonstrates how psychoanalytically informed thinking can throw light on such issues as immigration, political leadership, climate change, colonisation, and globalisation. Moreover, interspersed through the chapters are stories that illustrate the more personal impacts of these global events, bringing such concerns home to us all.
-- Professor Susan Long, Director of Research at the National Institute of Organisation Dynamics Australia and associate of the Tavistock InstituteTogether with a number of great colleagues, Halina Brunning and Olya Khaleelee bring a wealth of experience and thought to the telling of stories with meaning, purpose, and insight. This is an excellent and intriguing volume, and I thoroughly recommend it.
Psychodynamic experts and scientists Halina Brunning and Olya Khaleelee offer precious unconscious assumptions about recent social, religious, and political phenomena in a variety of countries. By exploring the fight between Eros and Thanatos in society, where social defences, disappearing containers, splitting, threats on identity, perverse leaders, and vulnerability play a major role, they meaningfully follow Freud’s attempt to explore clinically our world and possibly give way to a better form of civilisation.
-- Gilles Amado, Dr Psych, Emeritus Professor of Psychosociology (HEC Paris), founding member of the International Society for the Psychoanalytic Study of OrganizationsThe book is a hard but rewarding read. Its scope is vast, and the writers’ knowledge about global politics and history is impressive.
-- Melanie Kinross, counsellor and supervisor – Therapy Today NovISBN: 9781912691371
Dimensions: 229mm x 152mm x 20mm
Weight: 610g
360 pages