Unconscious Perception

Unconscious Perception

Exploring the work of psychoanalyst Christopher Bollas
Bollas book cover

Christopher Bollas is widely known for his pioneering, polymathic, and maverick investigations of unconscious perception of objects and the object world, including human beings — work that has been highly suggestive for many domains of the humanities and social sciences — and more recently for his exploration of fractured unconsciousness (anxiety, hysteria, breakdown, and schizophrenia). This 1-unit seminar will discuss his published works, including The Freudian Moment, The Shadow of the Object, Being a Character, and When the Sun Bursts: The Enigma of Schizophrenia, as well as forthcoming and in-progress works. Students present their own projects to the group and develop questions to be discussed directly with Bollas in one-on-one meetings.

Professor Whitney Davis (History of Art) convenes the three seminar sessions, which meet on Wednesday, September 21 and October 5, and Tuesday, October 18, all from 5:15 pm – 7 pm.  Participants must attend all three sessions, participate in one-on-one meetings with Bollas, and attend the associated public events of his residency that take place daily from October 31 through November 4.

This Fall 2016 seminar is listed in Rhetoric (244A), History of Art (298) and Comparative Literature (298) and is open to all UC Berkeley graduate students. Advance communication with and permission of the instructor are required.

For additional course information and permission to enroll, contact Professor of History of Art Whitney Davis at wmdavis@berkeley.edu.

Conveners
Whitney Davis