Refugees

Abstract:

Fear of persecution on grounds of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group, or political opinion, together with the economic results of frequent natural disasters has driven increasing numbers of people beyond their home country with far reaching effects for them and their families.

While the industrialised countries may be the desired goal of many, the vast majority of refugees remain in their region of displacement, being hosted by developing countries. In the UK refugees represent only 0.23% of the population yet they are bitterly contested arena. This conference, bringing together academics and psychoanalysts, provides an opportunity for discussion of the psychological, social, cultural and legal issues facing those displaced from their home countries who become refugees and seek asylum.

Please note that the artist Maya Ramsey will be displaying her installation 'Flee' during the conference. Click here for further information

Confirmed Speakers:

Lionel Bailly

Lionel Bailly, MRCPsych, a Psychoanalyst and Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist, is Honorary Senior Lecturer in Psychoanalysis at UCL. At the Psychoanalysis Unit he is in charge of teaching the 'Lacan' units in the MSc in Theoretical Psychoanalytic Studies and psychoanalytic developmental psychopathology in the MSc in Psychodynamic Developmental Neuroscience (in collaboration with the Anna Freud Centre and the Child Study Center, Yale University School of Medicine). He also supervises PhD students and provides seminars for the doctoral programme. He has a special interest in psychological trauma, which started while working with victims of political violence in Paris and collaborating with the NGO Médecins Sans Frontières. He is a member of the Association Lacanienne Internationale. He works as a consultant psychiatrist in the NHS and privately as psychoanalyst in London.

Federica Mazzara

Federica Mazzara is Senior Teaching Fellow and Director of the BA Language and Culture Programme at the UCL School of European Languages, Culture and Society. Her main research interests revolve around migration in relation to cultural expressions including literature, film and video art. She has previously published on the relationship between literature and painting. She is currently working on a book project on Lampedusa and the aesthetics of migration.

David Napier

David Napier is Professor of Medical Anthropology at University College London and Director of its Science, Medicine, and Society Network. His special interests in applied research include primary health-care delivery, inequality, caring for ethnically diverse populations, migration, assessing vulnerability, and homelessness. He has published on law and anthropology and is the author of several books as well as being lead author on a new Lancet Commission on Culture and Health. His new book, Making Things Better (Oxford University Press 2013), explores notions of property, local value, and exchange across cultures. His social engagement work has been publicly featured (e.g., Le Monde diplomatique, The New York Times). For his activities with more than 100 charities and NGOs, the UK government and research councils awarded him the first Beacon Fellowship in Public Engagement. Napier has worked a consultant on vulnerable populations (e.g., for Merlin UK, CRISIS, The United Nations, and the International Organization for Migration), and is the recipient of the Burma Coalition's Human Rights Award.

Judit Szekacs

Judit Szekacs-Weisz is a bilingual psychoanalyst and psychotherapist, a member of the British and the Hungarian Psychoanalytical Society. Born and educated (mostly) in Budapest, she has absorbed the ideas and way of thinking of Ferenczi, the Balints, Hermann, and Rajka as integral parts of a "professional mother tongue". She is author of several articles, and co-editor of Lost Childhood and the Language of Exile. Together with Tom Keve she co-edited Ferenczi and His World and Ferenczi for Our Time.

Topics to include:

'Who cares for refugees? Assessing vulnerability in times of hardship'

'Migratory Passages in Lampedusa: Gaining Visibility through Documentary Art'

'The psychic price of safety'

'Emigration from within'