About the Talk

The present exploration while assuming the universality of certain aspects of the psyche which enmesh with an ideology like fascist-fundamentalism looks at the phenomenon in India. It attempts to understand the support of a sizable section of people to the considerable growth of a fascist fundamentalism in the past twenty-five years in Indian society. It tries to articulate the factors, pre-dominantly unconscious, in the psyche of the Indian Hindu male which somewhere fit into or play a role in the mobilization for a fascist agenda. The nature of husband-wife relations in society, the close ‘mother-son’ bond are examined in the context of the development of the personality of a growing boy. The suppression of sexuality, valorisation of celibacy, idealization of mother, the model of the obedient son with no room for ambivalence and the feelings of inadequacy, frustrations and rage engendered form a central focus.  The processes of idealization, splitting and projection which result in the demonization by the Hindu community of the “other” Muslim community leading to violence are examined in this context.

About the Speaker

Rakesh Shukla has more than three decades of engagement with law, movements for social change, constitutional jurisprudence, human rights and justice melded with training and practice in psychodynamic therapy. He was worked on minimizing the impact of biases, prejudices and stereotypes in the judicial decision making process at the National Judicial Academy and State Judicial Academies. He also worked with Forest Service officers in the context of law and governance at Tata Institute of Social Sciences.  He has written in the areas of law, social phenomena and psychology in newspapers, websites and journals including the International Journal of Applied Psychoanalytical Studies. He has contributed chapters in well-known edited books