November 6, 2010

The Vicissitudes of Grievance

Drawing on examples from individual lives and from the world of politics Paul will explore the different forms that grievance can take. He will argue that the challenge posed by the need to overcome grievance is central to many forms of psychic change. But grievance is also central to the struggle for justice, both in one's personal life and in politics. Exploring the paradoxical and ambivalent nature of grievance is a vital psycho-political task.

Paul Hoggett is Professor of Politics and Director of the Centre for Psycho-Social Studies at the University of the West of England, Bristol. His research focuses on identity and conflict dynamics, climate change denial, the political vicissitudes of loss and grief, and the nature of human resilience. His books include Partisans in an Uncertain World (1992, Free Association Books), Emotional Life and the Politics of Welfare (2000, Macmillan), the Dilemmas of Development Work (2008, Policy Press) and Politics, Identity and Emotion (Paradigm Publishers, 2009). He is also a psychoanalytic psychotherapist and a member of the Severnside Institute for Psychotherapy.