http://www.bbk.ac.uk/hiddenpersuaders/blog/

The reputations of the ‘psy’ professions – and the status of their ideas – were altered by controversies, myths and testimonies about ‘brainwashing’ in its various guises during the Cold War. Our project uncovers new source materials and promotes original analyses of the involvement (real and perceived) of clinicians in brainwashing and its cognate practices of interrogation, psychological warfare, subliminal advertisement, and therapeutic experimentation. We consider what ethical guidelines and safeguards, past or present, have been formulated to deal with the dangers of mind control so powerfully articulated during the Cold War.

By exploring these historical debates over mind control and their continuing legacies for psy expertise, Hidden Persuaders offers timely historical analysis of continuing present-day controversies. The language of ‘brainwashing’ continues to influence, in diverse and unexpected ways, present understanding of the relationship between the individual and the state; the nature of the therapeutic encounter between patient and psy-professional; and the borderlands between education, persuasion and indoctrination.

Our blog addresses these themes, with recent posts including:

• Marcia Holmes’ interview with Prof. Tim Shallice on interrogation ‘in-depth’ and sensory deprivation in Northern Ireland during the 1970s
• Albert Mason on the medicine of magic and hypnotism 
• Carl-Henrik Bjerstrom on Alfonso Laurencic’s interrogation cells in the Spanish Civil War
• Maria Hadjiathanasiou on the Propaganda Wars of 1950s Cyprus

If your research touches on these themes and you would be interested in writing a post for us, please contact s.marks@bbk.ac.uk

The Hidden Persuaders project is led by Professor Daniel Pick at Birkbeck, University of London, and is made possible by a Wellcome Trust Senior Investigator Award. Find us on Twitter: @HPersuaders

We are delighted to present, above, a fascinating and informative new film about psychoanalysis at Birkbeck, University of London.

Birkbeck has a long standing and lively tradition of Freudian thought and a distinctive, highly interdisciplinary approach to psychoanalysis. In this film a number of academics with sustained interests in psychoanalysis, drawn from across different disciplines in the College, talk about the many spaces that psychoanalytical ideas occupy in their lives and research. Spaces of Psychoanalysis makes extensive use of drawings and collages offering a panoramic view of the Freudian legacy’s contemporary inflections and elaborations.

This 2016 film was directed by Bartek Dziadosz and produced by Lily Ford at Birkbeck’s Derek Jarman Lab.

The featured image was shared on Twitter by the Derek Jarman Lab on May 15, 2016.

https://youtu.be/iX8mjo3HHGM

Video recording of the event which took place on Wednesday 25 November 2015 at
The British Academy, 10-11 Carlton House Terrace, London, SW1Y 5AH

Chaired by Professor Laura Marcus FBA, University of Oxford

The work of Freud has shaped ideas, discussion and social discourse since the start of the twentieth century. This event revisited his key ideas and the influence they have had on society over the past hundred years.

This event was the first in a series re-examining the life and works of influential historical figures from across the humanities and social sciences, exploring the important and continuing influences they have on society and debating their place as key thinkers for our time.

Speakers:

Professor Stephen Frosh, Birkbeck, University of London
Professor Ankhi Mukherjee, University of Oxford
Dr Shohini Chaudhuri, University of Essex
Dr Jana Funke, University of Exeter