What does it mean to be a “community?”
What is it to be an analytic institute–which might be thought of as a specific cluster of community around…in…or…with psychoanalysis?
But what does that mean, really? Who decides? And how?
These questions led me to explore the definitions of “community.”
Com·mu·ni·ty (noun)
1. “a group of people living in the same place or having a particular characteristic in common.” Similar to group, body, company, circle, clique, ring, band, faction, gang, or bunch.
This first definition evokes the most straightforward notion of community and may be the default way many think of PINC or psychoanalysis generally. (We are often living/relating as if in a timeless “here” of psychoanalysis.) But this framing of community exerts subtle pressure toward some kind of “saming.” Or it is vague enough to suggest “same” despite incredible difference(s). PINC is no longer (and has not been since the early 2000s) in the same place (due to national and distance cohorts), the same time (generations and the passing of time), or even the same school of psychoanalytic thought (as a pluralistic, comparative institute from the beginning). Even among those who share a “school of thought,” we are distinct. This model of community creates problems in that it assumes or breeds a monoculture.
2. “a feeling of fellowship with others as a result of sharing common attitudes, interests, and goals.” Such as the sense of community that organized religion can provide.”
This second framing offers potential comfort—a sense of belonging and safety. Yet, I’d argue it also presents risks—a veneer fellowship that suggests “we are a community because we agree or feel similar to one another.” When we don’t agree or don’t share a common experience, this definition strains. Structurally, it also forces the project of community to be about fitting in and may minimize the personal costs inherent in any attempt to belong.
3. (From ecology) “A group of interdependent organisms of different species growing or living together in a specified habitat.” Such as communities of insectivorous birds.”
This third framing seems, to me, the most promising and useful, though I suspect this is rarely the definition we think of when we hear the word community or find ourselves discussing the community of psychoanalysis. I think it should be.
If we thought of PINC from an ecological perspective, we might open space for the rich diversity we already embody. We might learn to value the “other” who challenges us, sometimes even irritates or offends us—the one whose presence catalyzes growth, however difficult. We might come to realize that our shared habitat, a particular subgroup of psychoanalysis (with a small “p”), is (already) interdependent. We might better appreciate how the presence and contributions of many others are somehow in creative connection to “your” endeavor.
The project would not necessarily seek “same” or “agree,” but recognize and contend with profound, complex, interdependent difference which (as we see in the natural world) is the type of diversity that sustains life, seeks generative balance, and strengthens the whole.
This might sound idealized or distant from the very real experiences some may have of organizational injury (when structural violence falls upon individuals) or interpersonal harm festers within a group. Nor does it account for the labor involved in addressing imbalances or the disruptive influences that inevitably arise. I don’t mean to downplay these realities.
Becoming an ecological model of community is not just a semantic change, nor is it a “top-down” decision. It requires individual and collective will, skill development (creativity, humility, patience, curiosity, radical accountability, personal responsibility, resilience, vulnerability, courage, an ability to speak under pressure, continued care, and generosity), and time. To truly adopt this approach requires a willingness to decenter oneself, allowing a different form of relation to emerge.
I believe there is promise in such an endeavor.
We will see what happens.
Recommended/Related:
The Poetics of Relation, Glissant (1990)
On Freedom (Introduction), Nelson (2021)
Otherness & Belonging, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W_-ux9LhkyY, powell (2016)
Braiding Sweetgrass (The Three Sisters chapter), Kimmerer, (2013)
On Hating Psychoanalysis Forever, Carter (2024)
Giving an Account of Oneself, Butler (2005)
