78005 - History of Psychology (1)

Learning outcomes

The course aims to prepare students to critically read and contextualize both texts and sources belonging to different scientific domains. Students will also learn how to use the acquired historical knowledge in order to theoretically analyze several recurring problems and themes. At the end of the course, they will have the skill to express a well-founded opinion, both thinking about all of the notions acquired and discussing them with other students.

Course contents

Psyche, culture and identity. From the case of the “wild boy” to Ethnopsychoanalysis

The encounter with the “other”, (the savage, the primitive, the colonized, the insane, the woman) stimulated Human Sciences since their birth and fuels the contemporary scientific debate on the topics of psychological distress of migrants and of the complexity of personal identity.

In the first part of the course it will be faced the history of studies on the relationship between psyche and culture, focusing on the more relevant steps and representative personalities, from the case of the “wild boy of Aveyron” (1798) to the birth of Ethnopsychiatry. The problematic cruxes that have characterized the debate among Psychiatry, Psychology, Psychoanalysis and Anthropology will be then analysed.

The second part of the course will deepen the history, the matters and the key concepts of Ethnopsychiatry and Ethnopsychoanalysis starting from an introduction of the theoretical and epistemological work of the anthropologist and psychoanalyst Georges Devereux (1908-1985). In this part, the topic of identity will be comprehensively examined considering other authors – like Franz Fanon, Margaret Mead, Franco Basaglia, Herbert Marcuse – which, together with Devereux and from different backgrounds, faced the matter of constructing cultural, psychological and gender identity, in the dialogue with alterity and diversity, denouncing the problematic neutrality of scientific knowledge.

Readings/Bibliography

• EXAMINATION REQUIREMENTS (HISTORY OF PSYCHOLOGY 12 CFU)

1) The reading of these texts:

SOURCES

Sigmund Freud, Il disagio nella civiltà (1929), a cura di Stefano Mistura, Torino, Einaudi, 2010.

Georges Devereux, La rinuncia alla identità. Una difesa contro l'annientamento (1967), a cura di Alessandra Cerea, Milano Mimesis, 2015.

CRITICAL STUDIES (Handout)

Sergio Moravia, La scienza dell’uomo nel Settecento, Bari, Laterza, 1970, pp. 117-150.

Valeria P. Babini, "La psichiatria", in Storia delle scienze, vol. IV, Natura e vita. L'età moderna, Torino, Einaudi, 1994, pp. 402-37.

Alfredo Civita e Domenico Cosenza (a cura di), La cura della malattia mentale. 1. Storia ed epistemologia, Milano, Mondadori, 2001, pp. 89-132 e pp. 248-291.

Roberto Beneduce, Etnopsichiatria. Sofferenza mentale e alterità tra storia, dominio e cultura. Roma, Carocci, 2007, pp. 47-56.

Roberto Beneduce, Breve dizionario di etnopsichiatria, Roma, Carrocci, 2008, pp. 5-19.

Salvatore Inglese, “A sud della mente. Etnopsichiatria e psicopatologia delle migrazioni in sei movimenti”, in AA.VV., La cura degli altri: seminari di etnopsichiatria, Roma, Armando, 2005, pp. 98-134.

2) The study of one of the following themes:

Franz Fanon, Pelle nera, maschere bianche (1952), Pisa, ETS, 2015 + Roberto Beneduce, Etnopsichiatria. Sofferenza mentale e alterità tra storia, dominio e cultura. Roma, Carocci, 2007, pp. 25-113.

Margaret Mead, Maschio e femmina (1949), Milano, il Saggiatore, 2016 + Valeria P. Babini, Fernanda Minuz, Annamaria Tagliavini, La donna nelle scienze dell’uomo, Milano, Franco Angeli, 1986.

Franco Basaglia, Scritti I: 1953-1968, Torino, Einaudi, 1981, pp. 3-54, pp. 227-240, pp. 294-328, pp. 410-423 + Valeria P. Babini, Liberi tutti, il Mulino, Bologna, 2009, pp. 177-292.

Herbert Marcuse, Eros e civiltà (1955), Torino, Einaudi, 1964 + Tito Perlini, Che cosa ha veramente detto Marcuse, Roma, Ubaldini, 2001.

 

• EXAMINATION REQUIREMENTS (HISTORY OF PSYCHOLOGY 6 CFU)

1) The reading of these texts:

SOURCES

Sigmund Freud, Il disagio della civiltà (1929), a cura di Stefano Mistura, Torino, Einaudi, 2010.

CRITICAL STUDIES (Handout)

Sergio Moravia, La scienza dell’uomo nel Settecento, Bari, Laterza, 1970, pp. 117-150.

Valeria P. Babini, "La psichiatria", in Storia delle scienze, vol. IV, Natura e vita. L'età moderna, Torino, Einaudi, 1994, pp. 402-37.

Alfredo Civita e Domenico Cosenza (a cura di), La cura della malattia mentale. 1. Storia ed epistemologia, Milano, Mondadori, 2001, pp. 89-132 e pp. 248-291.

Roberto Beneduce, Etnopsichiatria. Sofferenza mentale e alterità tra storia, dominio e cultura. Roma, Carocci, 2007, pp. 47-56.

Roberto Beneduce, Breve dizionario di etnopsichiatria, Roma, Carrocci, 2008, pp. 5-19.

Salvatore Inglese, “A sud della mente. Etnopsichiatria e psicopatologia delle migrazioni in sei movimenti”, in AA.VV., La cura degli altri: seminari di etnopsichiatria, Roma, Armando, 2005, pp. 98-134.

Teaching methods

The course will be based on lectures and critical reading of the texts. Students will be encouraged to participate actively to the discussion. Movies and documentaries will be used to encourage students' considerations and discussions.

Assessment methods

The exam will consist of an oral discussion starting from a topic chosen by the student: historical knowledge, critical approach and personal analysis will be appreciated. Only the achievement of a complete knowledge, mastery of expression, and clear reasoning and explanation will be assessed with a score of excellence.

Office hours

See the website of Alessandra Cerea