Professor Raluca Soreanu
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Email
raluca.soreanu@essex.ac.uk -
Location
5A.114, Colchester Campus
Profile
Biography
I am Professor of Psychoanalytic Studies and Deputy Director of Research in the Department of Psychosocial and Psychoanalytic Studies at Essex. My work sits at the intersection of psychosocial studies, psychoanalysis, social theory, and medical humanities. I have a particular interest in the social, political and cultural applications of psychoanalysis. Prior to joining Essex in 2019, I held a four-year Wellcome Trust Fellowship in Medical Humanities at the Department of Psychosocial Studies, Birkbeck. Between 2017 and 2019, I was part of the team of the collaborative Wellcome Trust project, 'Waiting Times'. Between 2013 and 2015, I was Marie Curie Fellow in Sociology at Birkbeck and at the Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro. In 2009 and 2010, I was Fulbright Fellow at New York University. I gained my PhD from University College London. I am a psychoanalyst in private practice, effective member of the Círculo Psicanalítico do Rio de Janeiro (CPRJ), Brazil. I am also a member of the College of Psychoanalysts - UK (CP-UK) and an Academic Associate of The Freud Museum. I am Editor of the Psychosocial Studies series at Palgrave, and Editor of the Journal of the Balint Society. My research has several strands. A first strand of my research is centred on trauma theory and at the social life of psychic fragments. I am interested in the way collective trauma and psychic splitting are entangled with collective creativity, mourning and recognition. My monograph, 'Working-through Collective Wounds: Trauma, Recognition and Denial in the Brazilian Uprising' (Palgrave, Studies in the Psychosocial Series, 2018) proposes a trauma theory and a theory of recognition. I transpose Sándor Ferenczi’s ideas on trauma and ‘the confusion of tongues’ from a psychoanalytic horizon to the horizon of psychosocial studies. The book also offers a psychosocial ethnography of political protest in Brazil. Two current projects are related to this strand. My monograph, ‘The Psychic Life of Fragments. On Splitting and the Experience of Time in Psychoanalysis’ is under contract with Routledge (Relational Psychoanalysis Series). My co-authored book ‘Ferenczi Dialogues: On Trauma and Catastrophe’ (with Jakob Staberg and Jenny Willner) was published in 2023 by Leuven University Press (Figures of the Unconscious Series). Written in an experimental dialogical form, this book situates the legacy of Ferenczi within a broad interdisciplinary landscape – including social sciences, literary theory, psychoanalytic theory, and clinical practice. Planned and written during the Covid-19 pandemic, finished during the months in which war in Europe became a dominating subject, the dialogues address Ferenczi’s work in terms of thinking in times of crises, considering various clinical situations in constellation with scenes from the past: the outbreak of the First World War, the crisis of psychoanalysis as an institution, the disastrous last encounter between Ferenczi and Freud, the rise of Fascism and National Socialism, and the impending exile of the founding members of the psychoanalytic movement. A second strand is dedicated to free psychoanalytic clinics. I am interested in collective projects in psychoanalysis that find ways to open psychoanalytic spaces to excluded or marginal individuals or groups. I am currently working on a social memory project around free psychoanalytic clinics, which will explore the political life of these invisible or little-known psychoanalytic spaces. I argue that a new vocabulary is needed in psychoanalysis, creating a mode of inscription for the collective practices of free clinics, and exploring their profound influence on mental health, inequality, and the social bond. I am the PI of the five-year project ‘Free Clinics and a Psychoanalysis for the People: Progressive Histories, Collective Practices, Implications for our Times’ (FREEPSY), funded by a UKRI Frontier Research Grant (ERC Consolidator Grant guarantee) [freepsy.essex.ac.uk]. The project aims to produce a new global figuration of psychoanalysis as a progressive discourse and practice, by tracing the little-known histories of free psychoanalytic clinics. It is an interdisciplinary project spanning from psychosocial studies, to social theory, historical research and arts methods. It brings together a team of nine researchers to investigate how collectives of clinicians invested in the social mission of psychoanalysis innovate in the clinical and institutional domain, and in mental health cultures, by reconfiguring the meaning of time, space, money, suffering and their interrelations. Ideas such as ‘mental health commons’ and ‘clinical ecologies’ are central to this research programme. In 2021, I co-organised (with Joanna Ryan and Ivan Ward) an international conference in two parts, ‘Psychoanalysis for the People: Free Clinics and the Social Mission of Psychoanalysis’, which was hosted by the Freud Museum. A special issue dedicated to the first part of the conference was published in December 2022 in Psychoanalysis & History. I co-edited this special issue with Matt ffytche and Joanna Ryan. In 2023, I organised a conference on ‘Money and Psychoanalysis: Economies of Care’, which will result in an edited volume and a ‘Money Dictionary’, which aims to rethink value in psychoanalysis. A third strand of my research is in the medical humanities, focusing on the intersection between medical and psychoanalytic epistemologies. I investigate this intersection through a particular instance of psychoanalysis outside the clinic, the Balint groups tradition, initiated by psychoanalyst Michael Balint in the 1950s. In the groups, psychoanalysts encounter medical doctors to discuss the latter’s difficulties with their patients. A Wellcome Trust Fellowship in Medical Humanities allowed me to study the Michael Balint Archive, held by British Psychoanalytical Society, for five years. The result is a multi-method social history of Balint groups, where I ask two questions: how can we understand this complex psychoanalysis-medicine conversation and what does this case have to say about what psychoanalysis can offer to medicine, with respect to making sense of illness? My monograph, ‘Thinking in Dyads: On Michael Balint and Countertransference’, is in preparation. I am also co-editing two volumes, which will contribute to a 'Balint revival' in psychoanalysis. The first volume, co-edited with Judit Szekacs and Ivan Ward, ‘Michael Balint and His World: The Budapest Years’, was published by Routledge (The History of Psychoanalysis Series) in 2023. The second volume, ‘Michael Balint and His World: The London Years’ is forthcoming in 2024. At the intersection of these three strands of research, I have a long-standing investment in the revival of the Budapest School of Psychoanalysis (and thinkers such as Sándor Ferenczi and Michael Balint). Their vibrant contributions ground a re-thinking of power, authority, submission and ethical acts. To promote this work, I have organised interinstitutional and transdisciplinary contexts for teaching and knowledge exchange, which include universities and psychoanalytic societies, but also cultural institutions and research networks. As a fruit of my archival work, I have also conceived, curated and displayed five exhibitions, creating engaged publics for psychoanalytic ideas and practice. The exhibition ‘The Balints and Their World’ was displayed at the The Freud Museum (London, December 2018). As Deputy Director of Research of the Department of Psychosocial and Psychanalytic Studies at Essex, I am invested in further establishing the discipline of psychosocial studies, in creating opportunities for early career academics, and in building international collaborations that advance both the clinical and critical aspects of psychoanalysis. * Other Activities Conferences organised: • ‘Money and Psychoanalysis: Economies of Care’, International two-day hybrid conference, The Freud Museum, London, October 13-14, 2023. [https://www.freud.org.uk/event/in-person-money-and-psychoanalysis-economies-of-care/] • ‘Cannibalising the Decolonial or Decolonising Cannibalism?’ International online seminar, Department of Psychosocial and Psychoanalytic Studies, University of Essex, September 9, 10, 17 2022 (co-organised with Giuseppe Cocco). • ‘Psychoanalysis for the People: Free Clinics and the Social Mission of Psychoanalysis. International four-day online conference, The Freud Museum, London, January 16-17 and July 24-25, 2021 (co-organised with Joanna Ryan and Ivan Ward). [https://www.freud.org.uk/event/psychoanalysis-for-the-people-free-clinics-and-the-social-mission-of-psychoanalysis/] • ‘The Balints and their World: Object Relations and Beyond’. International two-day conference, The Freud Museum, London, December 7-9, 2018, (co-organised with psychoanalyst Judit Szekacs). [https://www.freud.org.uk/event/the-balints-and-their-world-object-relations-and-beyond/] • ‘Trauma and the Contemporary World: Working-through Collective Wounds’. International symposium. Department of Psychosocial Studies, Birkbeck, London, UK, October 2018. • ‘Necropolitics, Biopower and the Crisis of Globalisation’. One-day conference with international guests. Department of Psychosocial Studies and Birkbeck Institute for Social Research, Birkbeck, London, UK, January 29, 2018 (co-organised with Giuseppe Cocco). • ‘Creativities of Protest: Imaginaries, Commons and Reparations’. International symposium. Department of Psychosocial Studies and Birkbeck Institute for Social Research, Birkbeck, London, UK, November 19, 2015 (co-organised with Stephen Frosh). Psychoanalysis short/intensive courses taught: • ‘On Ferenczi’s Clinical Diary’, a course in two parts. Part1: ‘Trauma, Hypocrisy, Authority’; and Part 2: ‘Mutual Analysis, Orpha, Femininity’. July 2000, The Freud Museum, London, UK. [https://www.freud.org.uk/event/on-ferenczis-clinical-diary-trauma-hypocrisy-authority/] [https://www.freud.org.uk/event/on-ferenczis-clinical-diary-mutual-analysis-orpha-femininity/] • ‘Ferenczi for Our Times’, a course in two parts. Part1: ‘Trauma and the Confusion of Tongues’; and Part 2: ‘The Psychic Life of Fragments. On Psychic Splitting’. June/July 2019, The Freud Museum, London, UK.[https://www.freud.org.uk/event/ferenczi-for-our-times-trauma-and-the-confusion-of-tongues/] [https://www.freud.org.uk/event/ferenczi-for-our-times-the-psychic-life-of-fragments/] • ‘Psychic Fragmentation: Balint-Ferenczi Dialogues’. August 2019, Círculo Psicanalítico do Rio de Janeiro (CPRJ), Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; and Instituto de Psicologia da Universidade de São Paulo, Brazil. • ‘Working-through Collective Wounds: The Manifestations of 2013 in Brazil. Part 1: The Psychic Life of Fragments. Part 2: The Social Life of Fragments: On Trauma and Recognition.’ August 2018, Instituto de Psicologia da Universidade de São Paulo, Brazil. • ‘Superego: Revisions for the Contemporary Clinic (Freud, Ferenczi, Klein, Laplanche)’. August 2018, Círculo Psicanalítico do Rio de Janeiro (CPRJ), Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Recent interviews: Raluca Soreanu speaks to Christopher Russell about ‘Working-through Collective Wounds: Trauma, Recognition and Denial in the Brazilian Uprising' (Palgrave, 2018) for the New Books in Psychoanalysis podcast series [https://newbooksnetwork.com/raluca-soreanu-working-through-collective-wounds-trauma-denial-recognition-in-the-brazilian-uprising-palgrave-macmillan-2018]. I welcome supervising PhD candidates in my areas of interest. FREEPSY website: freepsy.essex.ac.uk
Qualifications
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PhD University College London,
Appointments
University of Essex
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Professor of Psychoanalytic Studies, Department of Psychosocial and Psychoanalytic Studies, University of Essex (30/9/2022 - present)
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Deputy Director of Research, Department of Psychosocial and Psychoanalytic Studies, University of Essex (1/9/2022 - present)
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Reader in Psychoanalytic Studies, Department of Psychosocial and Psychoanalytic Studies, University of Essex (1/8/2019 - 1/9/2022)
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Director of Research, Department of Psychosocial and Psychoanalytic Studies, University of Essex (1/9/2019 - 1/9/2022)
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Research Impact Director, Department of Psychosocial and Psychoanalytic Studies, University of Essex (1/9/2019 - 1/9/2022)
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Research Ethics Lead, Department of Psychosocial and Psychoanalytic Studies, University of Essex (1/9/2019 - 1/9/2020)
Other academic
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Programme Director MA in Psychoanalytic Studies, Department of Psychosocial Studies, Birkbeck, University of London (1/12/2018 - 1/5/2019)
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Wellcome Trust Fellow in Medical Humanities, Department of Psychosocial Studies, Birkbeck, University of London (1/2/2016 - 1/9/2019)
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'Waiting Times' Wellcome Trust Research Fellow, Department of Psychosocial Studies, Birkbeck, University of London (1/9/2017 - 1/9/2019)
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Marie Curie Fellow in Sociology, Department of Psychosocial Studies, Birkbeck, University of London (1/1/2013 - 1/12/2015)
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Fulbright Fellow, Institute for Public Knowledge, New York University (1/9/2009 - 1/8/2010)
Research and professional activities
Research interests
• Psychoanalytic theory and metapsychology
• The history and epistemology of psychoanalysis
• The Budapest School on Psychoanalysis; the work of Sándor Ferenczi and Michael Balint
• Trauma theories and the study of collective trauma
• Fragmentation and psychic splitting
• Theories of recognition
• Psychosocial studies of collective creativity
• Time studies
• Contemporary social theories; post-humanist theories; feminist theories
• Sociology of emotions; sociology of creativity; sociology of knowledge
• Epistemologies and methodologies of the social sciences and of psychosocial studies
Conferences and presentations
On Psychoanalytic Convertibility and Infrastructural Thinking [Keynote Talk]
'Money and Psychoanalysis: Economies of Care' Conference, The Freud Museum, London, UK, 13/10/2023
Free Psychoanalytic Clinics and the Issue of the Group [Keynote Talk]
‘Inside-Outside: Community in the Mind and the Mind in the Community’ Conference, The Consortium for Therapeutic Communities, Birmingham, UK, 18/9/2023
The Psychic Life of Fragments: On Trauma and Splitting in Sándor Ferenczi [Plenary Talk]
Ferenczi 150th Anniversary International Conference, Budapest, Hungary, 9/6/2023
Denial, Respiratory Intimacies, Bubbles and Droplets [Keynote Talk]
Invited presentation, Keynote presentation, International Sándor Ferenczi Network, New York, United States, 7/11/2021
Michael Balint: Early Interventions, Early Groups [Plenary Talk]
21st International Balint Congress 'Seeing Medicine through Other Eyes', Porto, Portugal, 2/9/2019
The Creativity of Balint Groups and the Legacy of the Budapest School of Psychoanalysis [A criatividade dos grupos Balint e o legado da Escola de Psicanálise de Budapest] [Inaugural Lecture]
Keynote presentation, Pós-graduação em Psicanálise, Saúde e Sociedade, Universidade Veiga de Almeida, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 16/8/2019
Truth, Utopia and the Figure of the Child. A Ferenczian View [Plenary Talk]
The 11th Meeting of the International Society of Psychoanalysis and Philosophy: ‘The Truths of Psychoanalysis’, Stockholm, Sweden, 4/5/2019
On Michael Balint, Cases and Taboos [Keynote Talk]
Keynote presentation, South London Organisation of Vocational Training Scheme: ‘Taboos: Addressing Difficult Topics with Medical Trainees’, Cumberland Lodge, Windsor, United Kingdom, 18/9/2018
On Michael Balint’s Trail [Plenary Talk]
The International Balint Federation Congress, Oxford, United Kingdom, 6/9/2018
Collective Trauma and Recognition [Trauma coletivo e reconhecimento] [Inaugural Lecture]
Keynote presentation, Pós-graduação em Psicanálise, Saúde e Sociedade, Universidade Veiga de Almeida, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 17/8/2018
The Psychic Life of Fragments. Splitting from Ferenczi to Klein [Plenary Talk]
13th International Sándor Ferenczi Conference: ‘Ferenczi in Our Time & A Renaissance of Psychoanalysis’, Florence, Italy, 4/5/2018
‘Bodies in Assembly’ – a conversation with Judith Butler, Leticia Sabsay and Raluca Soreanu [Keynote Talk]
Keynote presentation, London, United Kingdom, 27/6/2016
Teaching and supervision
Current teaching responsibilities
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Psychoanalytic Theory (PA901)
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Clinical and Critical: Contemporary Dialogues in Psychoanalytic Theory (PA935)
Current supervision
Publications
Journal articles (28)
Minozzo, A. and Soreanu, R., On the Mental Health Commons: Brazilian Free Psychoanalytic Clinics and an Ethics of Togetherness. Critical Times
Soreanu, R. and Minozzo, A., (2024). A manifesto for infrastructural thinking: Living with psychoanalysis in a glitch. Psychoanalysis, Culture and Society. 29 (3), 323-342
Soreanu, R. and Nobus, D., (2023). Responses to ‘Anxiety in the Eyes’. Psychoanalysis and History. 25 (1), 95-100
Soreanu, R., (2023). Toward a Psychoanalysis of Organs: A Note on Ferenczi’s Contribution to the Theory of Sexuality. Imago Budapest. 12 (3), 43-53
Soreanu, R., Dayrell Santos, C. and Salgueiro Marques, AC., (2023). Montagens Decoloniais: os atingidos pela mineração na fotografia e no audiovisual. Logos. 30 (1), 111-127
Soreanu, R. and Estarque, T., (2022). The Institute of Complexity Studies and the Question of Social Responsibility. Psychoanalysis and History. 24 (3), 343-351
Ffytche, M., Ryan, J. and Soreanu, R., (2022). Psychoanalysis for the People: Interrogations and Innovations. Psychoanalysis and History. 24 (3), 253-267
Soreanu, R., Khan, S., Elder, A., Dammers, J. and Patterson, A., (2021). Editorial: COVID-19 and the Virtual Group. Journal of the Balint Society. 48 (1), 1-10
Soreanu, R., (2021). From the Archive, Otto Fenichel to Michael Balint: Struggles, Exile, Searching for a New Home. Journal of the Balint Society. 48 (1), 142-146
Soreanu, R., (2020). Orphic socialities, Orphic times: Psychoanalysis for social theory. Psychoanalysis, Culture & Society. 25 (2), 194-212
Soreanu, R., (2019). Supervision for our times: countertransference and the rich legacy of the Budapest School. American Journal of Psychoanalysis. 79 (3), 329-351
Soreanu, R., (2019). Michael Balint's Word Trail: The ‘Ocnophil’, the ‘Philobat’ and Creative Dyads. Psychoanalysis and History. 21 (1), 53-72
Soreanu, R., (2019). The Time of Re-living. For an Eventful Psychoanalysis. Vestigia. 2 (1), 132-153
Soreanu, R., (2019). Arnold William Rachman, Elizabeth Severn: The ‘Evil Genius’ of Psychoanalysis. Psychoanalysis and History. 21 (3), 377-380
Soreanu, R., (2018). On Michael Balint, Cases and Countertransference’. The Journal of the Balint Society. 46, 57-63
Soreanu, R., (2018). O estilo epistêmico de Michael Balint: “Grupos Balint”, utopias médicas e o legado da Escola de Psicanálise de Budapeste [On Michael Balint’s Epistemic Style: “Balint Groups”, Medical Utopias and the Legacy of the Budapest School of Psychoanalysis]. Cadernos de Psicanalise (CPRJ). 40 (39), 229-250
Soreanu, R., (2018). Speaking of Leonardo Da Vinci’s Mother: A Critique of Freud’s Notion of Identification. Studies in the Maternal. 10 (1), 1-22
Soreanu, R., (2018). The Psychic Life of Fragments: Splitting from Ferenczi to Klein. The American Journal of Psychoanalysis. 78 (4), 421-444
Soreanu, R., (2017). Something Was Lost in Freud’s Beyond the Pleasure Principle: A Ferenczian Reading. The American Journal of Psychoanalysis. 77 (3), 223-238
Soreanu, R., (2017). The Social Unconscious. By Carla Penna. International Journal of Group Psychotherapy. 67 (1), 145-151
Soreanu, R., (2016). Ferenczi’s Times: The Tangent, the Segment, and the Meandering Line. American Imago. 73 (1), 51-69
Soreanu, R. and Hurducaș, I., (2016). Children's imaginaries in the city: on things and materials. Children's Geographies. 14 (4), 422-436
Soreanu, R., (2015). O que pode um rosto? O que pode um braço? O levante brasileiro e a nova estética do protesto [What Can a Face Do? What Can an Arm Do? The Brazilian Uprising and a New Aesthetic of Protest]. Lugar Comum. 43, 203-225
Soreanu, R., (2014). Death, gold and the square: Rhythm-analysis in a time of protests. Studia Universitatis Babes-Bolyai Sociologia. 2014 (2), 117-136
Soreanu, R., (2014). Por uma análise rítmica dos protestos [For a Rhythm-analysis of Protests]. Revista Política & Trabalho. 40, 171-197
Soreanu, R., (2010). Feminist Creativities and the Disciplinary Imaginary of International Relations1. International Political Sociology. 4 (4), 380-400
Soreanu, R., (2010). Metaphor in the Social Sciences: Creative Methodologies and Some Elements for an Epistemological Reconstruction. Studia Universitatis Babes-Bolyai Sociologia. 55 (1), 239-256
Soreanu, R. and Hudson, D., (2008). Feminist Scholarship in International Relations and the Politics of Disciplinary Emotion. Millennium: Journal of International Studies. 37 (1), 123-151
Books (3)
Soreanu, R., Staberg, J. and Willner, J., (2023). Ferenczi Dialogues: On Trauma and Catastrophe. Leuven University Press. 9789462703520
Szekacs-Weisz, J., Soreanu, R. and Ward, I., (2023). Michael Balint and His World The Budapest Years. History of Psychoanalysis Series. 0367857774. 9780367857776
Soreanu, R., (2018). Working-through Collective Wounds Trauma, Denial, Recognition in the Brazilian Uprising. Springer. 1137585234. 978-1-137-58522-6
Book chapters (5)
Soreanu, R., (2019). Sándor Ferenczi’s Epistemologies and Their Politics: On Utraquism and the Analogical Method. In: Psychology and Politics: Intersections of Science and Ideology in the History of Psy-Sciences. Editors: Erös, F., Borgos, A. and Gyimesi, J., . Central European University Press
Soreanu, R., (2015). What Can a Face Do? What Can an Arm Do? The Brazilian Uprising and a New Aesthetic of Protest. In: Creative Capitalism, Multitudinous Creativity Radicalities and Alterities. Editors: Cocco, G. and Szaniecki, B., . Lexington Books. 107- 126. 1498503993. 9781498503990
Soreanu, R., (2013). Network Analysis. In: Critical Approaches to Security. Editors: Shepherd, LJ., . Routledge. 181- 195
Soreanu, R. and Simionca, A., (2013). Social network analysis. In: Critical Approaches to Security: An Introduction to Theories and Methods. 181- 195
Soreanu, R., (2007). Exploring the Space of Identification: A Tricolour Story from the City of Cluj-Napoca. In: Nation in Formation Inclusion and Exclusion in Central and Eastern Europe. Editors: Baker, C., Gerry, CJ., Madaj, B., Mellish, L. and Nahodilová, J., . University College London Press. 159- 173
Conferences (89)
Soreanu, R., The Time of Re-living. For an Eventful Psychoanalysis, The ‘Reading’ Conference of the Association of Psychosocial Studies, Birkbeck College, London, UK, May 16-17, 2019.
Soreanu, R., Michael Balint in Budapest [Invited talk], 50th Anniversary Celebration of the Balint Society, Wellcome Collection, London, UK, May 17, 2019.
Soreanu, R., Forgetting of the Recent Past: The Brazilian Uprising of 2013 [Invited talk], Interdisciplinary Workshop ‘Calling Power by Its Name: contributions to psychosocial thought and practice from Latin America’, Birkbeck College, London, UK, May 4, 2019.
Soreanu, R., The Psychic Life of Fragments: Between Superego and Orpha [Invited talk], Sándor Ferenczi – Interdisciplinary Approaches Workshop, Center For Advanced Studies, LMU Munich, Germany, September 13-14, 2018.
Soreanu, R., Working-through Collective Wounds: The Manifestations of 2013 in Brazil. Part 1: The Psychic Life of Fragments. Part 2: The Social Life of Fragments: On Trauma and Recognition. [A elaboração de traumas coletivos: as manifestações de 2013 no Brasil. Parte 1: A vida psíquica dos fragmentos. Parte 2: A vida social dos fragmentos. Sobre trauma e reconhecimento] [Invited talks], Instituto de Psicologia da Universidade de São Paulo, Brazil, August 30, 2018.
Soreanu, R., The Social Life of Fragments: On Trauma and Recognition [A vida social dos fragmentos: sobre trauma e reconhecimento] [Invited talk], Escola de Comunicação e Programa em Ciência de Informação (Ibict), Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Brazill, August 28, 2018.
Soreanu, R., The Psychic Life of Fragments: Ferenczi and Orphic Functioning [A vida psíquica dos fragmentos: Ferenczi e o funcionamento órfico] [Invited talk], Sociedade de Psicanálise Iracy Doyle, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, August 22, 2018.
Soreanu, R., The Psychic Life of Fragments: From Ferenczi to Klein [A vida psíquica dos fragmentos: de Ferenczi a Klein] [Invited talk], Sociedade Brasileira de Psicanálise do Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, August 9, 2018.
Soreanu, R., The Psychic Life of Fragments: Revisiting Sándor Ferenczi’s Ideas on Splitting, Institute of Psychoanalysis Summer School, The British Psychoanalytical Society, London, UK, July 16, 2018.
Soreanu, R., The Times of Social Clinics: On Psychoanalytic Economies of Care, The 1st Temporal Belongings International Conference ‘The Social Life of Time: Power, Discrimination and Transformation’, Edinburgh, UK, July 5-7, 2018.
Soreanu, R., Ferenczi’s Times: The Tangent, the Segments, the Meandering Line [Invited talk], Why Care’ Symposium, Institute for Cultural Inquiry, Berlin, Germany, July 5-6, 2018.
Soreanu, R., The Times of Social Clinics: On Psychoanalytic Economies of Care, Waiting, Persisting, Enduring Research Workshop, Birkbeck College, London, UK, May 30, 2018.
Soreanu, R., What Might Clinical Psychoanalysis Learn from Queer Theories of Sexuality? [Invited talk], Multidisciplinary Seminar, Freud Museum, London, UK, February 24, 2018.
Soreanu, R., Hyperpolitics and the Traumatised State, ‘Necropolitics, Biopower and the Crisis of Globalisation’ Conference, Department of Psychosocial Studies and Birkbeck Institute for Social Research, Birkbeck College, London, UK, January 29, 2018.
Soreanu, R., The Psychic Life of Fragments. Splitting from Ferenczi to Klein, The Psychoanalysis Working Group, Birkbeck College, London, UK, December 13, 2017.
Soreanu, R., 'Grupos Balint' e o legado da Escola de Psicanálise de Budapeste ['Balint Groups' and the Legacy of the Budapest School of Psychoanalysis] [Invited talk], Pontifica Universidade do Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, October 19, 2017.
Soreanu, R., O estilo epistêmico de Michael Balint: “Grupos Balint”, utopias médicas e o legado da Escola de Psicanálise de Budapeste [On Michael Balint’s Epistemic Style: “Balint Groups”, Medical Utopias and the Legacy of the Budapest School of Psychoanalysis] [Invited talk], Círculo Psicanalítico do Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, November 26, 2016.
Soreanu, R., On Michael Balint, Cases, and Countertransference, Symposium ‘Thinking in Cases: On and Beyond the Couch’. The Freud Museum, London, UK, October 30, 2016.
Soreanu, R., Alienation and Utopia in the Work of Sándor Ferenczi, Psychoanalysis and Politics Conference: ‘Solidarity and Alienation: Social Structures of Hope and Despair’. Vienna, Austria, May 6-8, 2016.
Soreanu, R., Social Clinics and the Social Creativities of Psychoanalysis: A Vignette from Rio de Janeiro [Invited talk], Symposium on Mental Health Reform in Brazil, part of King’s Brazil Week, King’s College, London, UK, January 25, 2016.
Soreanu, R., How We Mourned Together: Brazil, June 2013 and after, Symposium on ‘Creativities of Protest: Imaginaries, Commons and Reparations’. Department of Psychosocial Studies and Birkbeck Institute for Social Research, Birkbeck College, London, UK, November 19, 2015.
Soreanu, R., Sándor Ferenczi’s Epistemologies and Their Politics: On Utraquism and the Analogical Method, Conference on ‘Psycho-politics: The Cross-Sections of Science and Ideology in the History of Psy-sciences’, Budapest, Hungary, October 30-31, 2015.
Soreanu, R., Objects of Psychic Convertibility: Clinical Reflections on Borderline Functioning [Invited talk], Birkbeck Psychoanalysis Working Group, London, UK, October 22, 2015.
Soreanu, R., Working-through Collective Wounds in the Brazilian Uprising [Invited talk], Department of Psychosocial Studies, Birkbeck College, London, UK, October 12, 2015.
Soreanu, R., Ferenczi’s Times: The Tangent-Out, the Segments, the Meandering Line, 12th International Sándor Ferenczi Conference, The Canadian Society of Psychoanalysis, Toronto, Canada, May 7-10, 2015.
Soreanu, R., Working-through Collective Wounds: A Ferenczian Perspective on Trauma, Denial, and Recognition, Conference on ‘The Moral Third’ with Jessica Benjamin. The University of Humanistic Studies, Utrecht, Netherlands, April 21-22, 2015.
Soreanu, R., What Can a Face Do? What Can an Arm Do? The Brazilian Uprising and a New Aesthetic of Protest [Invited talk], Sociofilo research group, Instituto de Estudos Sociais e Políticos, Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, December 2014.
Soreanu, R., When Being in the Square Heals: Trauma and Spaces of Reconciliation in the Brazilian Uprising [Invited talk], Escola de Comunicação e Programa em Ciência de Informação (Ibict), Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, December 2014.
Soreanu, R., Facialidades e a nova estética do protesto [Facialities and the New Aesthetic of Protest] [Invited talk], Casa de Rui Barbosa, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, September 24, 2014.
Soreanu, R., The Oblique Politics of the Brazilian Uprising: Toward a New Semiotics of Protest, The Brazilian Studies Association Congress, BRASA XII, King’s College London, United Kingdom, August 20-24, 2014.
Soreanu, R., Shapes of Sound and Radical Social Imaginaries: The Oblique Politics of the Brazilian Uprising, II Encontro Internacional sobre Imaginários Sonoros, Curitiba, Brazil, November 5, 2013.
Soreanu, R., Outlaw Emotions: Working-Through a Psychoanalytic Sociology of the Mind, 37 Encotro Anual da Associação Nacional de Pós-Graduação e Pesquisa em Ciências Sociais (ANPOCS), Águas de Lindóia, Brazil, September 24, 2013.
Soreanu, R., Children’s Urban Imaginaries: Activist Alliances and Reclaiming the City Through Materials, XVI Congresso Brasileiro de Sociologia. Sociedade Brasileira de Sociologia (SBS), UFBA Salvador, Bahia, Brazil, September 11, 2013.
Soreanu, R., Rhythm-analysis for the New Revolutionary Movements [Invited talk], International speaker series at the Instituto de Estudos Sociais e Políticos, Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, August 16, 2013.
Soreanu, R., Rhythm-analysis of the New Revolutionary Movements: Death, Gold and the Square, Fourth International and Interdisciplinary Conference on Emotional Geographies. University of Groningen, Netherlands, July 1-3, 2013.
Soreanu, R., Rhythm-analysis for the New Revolutionary Movements: Death, Gold and the Square [Invited talk], Sociofilo research group, Instituto de Estudos Sociais e Políticos, Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, May 2013.
Soreanu, R., Atelier participatif de réaménagement urbain dans la zone du Parc Ferroviaire à Cluj, Les Rencontres Européennes de Cluj 'Patrimoine et développement des territoires'. Institut Français, Cluj-Napoca, Romania, October 6, 2012.
Soreanu, R., Autonomy, Heteronomy and Rhythm-analysis: Understanding the New Revolutionary Movements, ‘Cultures and Civilization in the Contemporary World’ International Sociological Association RC16 Mid-term Conference. University of Trento, Italy, June 28, 2012.
Soreanu, R., Autonomy and Heteronomy: On the New Revolutionary Movements as Encounters between Social Imaginaries [Invited talk], The School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, London, UK, November 23, 2011.
Soreanu, R., Creativity, The Radical Imagination, and the Problem of Action [Invited talk], Forum 21 of the Centre for Citizenship, Identities and Governance (CCIG), The Open University, London, UK, May 26, 2011.
Soreanu, R., Non-Hierarchical Encounters and Responsibility in the Discipline of International Relations: When Scholars Meet Practitioners, The 40th Annual Conference of Millennium: Journal of International Studies: ‘Out of The Ivory Tower: Weaving the Theories and Practice of International Relations’. The London School of Economics and Political Science, London, UK, October 22-23, 2011.
Soreanu, R., From the Radical Imagination to the Social Imaginary: Re-thinking the International, ‘Confronting the Global: Alternatives, Alterity, Solidarity’. The University of Warwick, UK, September 8-9, 2011.
Soreanu, R., An Ethnography of the Wrong Emotions, The British International Studies Association (BISA) Annual Conference. Manchester, UK, April 27-29, 2011.
Soreanu, R., The Radical Imagination as Social Resource: Dialogues with Cornelius Castoriadis, The 52nd Annual Convention of the International Studies Association (ISA), Montreal, Canada, March 16-19, 2011.
Soreanu, R., Outlaw Emotions and Theory Change in the Discipline of International Relations. The 39th Annual Conference of Millennium: Journal of International Studies: ‘International Relations in Dialogue’. The London School of Economics and Political Science, London, UK, October 16-17, 2010.
Soreanu, R., Feminist Creativities, Outlaw Emotions and the Disciplinary Imaginary of International Relations, The 2nd International Conference on Power & Knowledge, Tampere, Finland, September 6-8, 2010.
Soreanu, R., Creativity and Outlaw Emotions: Working-Through a Psychoanalytic Sociology of the Mind, panel ‘Towards a Sociology of the Mind: Conversations on Reflexivity’. XVII International Sociology Association (ISA) World Congress of Sociology, Gothenburg, Sweden, July 11-17, 2010.
Soreanu, R., Outlaw Emotions, Post-Heroic Creativities and Theory Change in the Discipline of International Relations [Invited talk], ‘Global Café’ series, The Institute for Public Knowledge, New York University, May 3, 2010.
Soreanu, R., Front Lines and Boundary Lines: Reports from a Developing Field [Invited talk] ‘No Longer Exile: The Legacy and Future of Gender Studies at the New School’ Conference, Eugene Lang College, The New School for Liberal Arts, New York, March 26-27, 2010.
Soreanu, R., Creativity and Courage: On the Possibility of a Public Intellectual in the Twenty-First Century, panel on ‘Theory and Practice of Global Governance’. The 51st Annual Convention of the International Studies Association (ISA), New Orleans, February 17-20, 2010.
Soreanu, R., The Positive Sanctions Dilemma and the Diplomatic Habitus: The United States, North Korea and Nuclear Non-proliferation, The Annual Meeting & Exhibition of The American Political Science Association (APSA), Toronto, Canada, September 3-6, 2009 (co-authored with Markus Kornprobst).
Soreanu, R., Habitus and Metis in the Diplomatic Field: North Korea, the United States and Nuclear Non-Proliferation, The 5th European Consortium for Political Research (ECPR) General Conference, Potsdam, Germany, September 10-12, 2009 (co-authored with Markus Kornprobst).
Soreanu, R., Towards a Theory of the Diplomatic Habitus: The United States, North Korea and Nuclear Non-proliferation [Invited talk], Departmental Research Seminar, School of Public Policy, Department of Political Science, University College London, UK, January 2009.
Soreanu, R., Beyond the 'Idiom of Failure': Innovative Institutionalism and Anti-Institutionalist Innovation in Feminist International Relations, ‘Ending International Feminist Futures’ Conference, University of Aberdeen, UK, October 24, 2008.
Soreanu, R., The Complicated Ménage between Feminism and International Relations: Creativity and Resistance, The First International Sociological Association (ISA) World Forum of Sociology, Barcelona, Spain, September 7, 2008.
Soreanu, R., Feminist Scholarship in International Relations and the Politics of Disciplinary Emotion [Invited talk], The Nordic Research School in Interdisciplinary Gender Studies, Linköping University, Sweden, June 11, 2008.
Soreanu, R., Feminist Scholarship in International Relations and the Politics of Disciplinary Emotion [Invited talk], Inter-University Centre, Dubrovnik, Croatia, May 23, 2008.
Soreanu, R., The Making of Disciplinary Subjectivities: The Constructivist Turn in International Relations [Invited talk], Departmental Research Seminar, School of Public Policy, Department of Political Science, University College London, UK, February 2008.
Soreanu, R., Feminist Talk of Self and the Disciplinary Imaginary of International Relations [Invited talk], Bloomsbury International Relations Research Group, London, UK, January 2008.
Soreanu, R., Feminist Talk of Self and the Disciplinary Imaginary of International Relations: A Case of Creative Boundary-Work, The 49th Annual Convention of the International Studies Association (ISA), San Francisco, CA, March 26, 2008.
Soreanu, R., Feminist Scholarship in International Relations and the Politics of Disciplinary Emotion: Who Cites the Millennium Issues?, ‘Between Past and Future: Feminist Debates in International Relations’, London School of Economics and Political Science, UK, January 26, 2008 (co-authored with David Hudson).
Soreanu, R., A Case of Boundary-Work in Academia: Feminist Creativities and Theory Change in the Discipline of International Relations, The British International Studies Association (BISA) Annual Conference, Cambridge, UK, December 18, 2007.
Soreanu, R., Exploring the Space of Identification: A Tricolour Story from the City of Cluj-Napoca, The 7th Annual International Postgraduate Conference ‘Inclusion-Exclusion’, School of Slavonic and East European Studies, University College London, UK, February 16, 2006.
Soreanu, R., The Times of Superego [Invited talk], The New York Psychoanalytic Society & Institute meeting, ‘Waiting for Psychoanalysis', New York, US, October 22, 2019.
Soreanu, R., The Psychic Life of Time and the Collective Container, The Medical Humanities conference ‘Chronicity and Crisis: Time in the Medical Humanities’, Montclair State University in New Jersey, US, October 25-26, 2019.
Soreanu, R., Working-though Collective Wounds: New Spaces of Mourning in the Brazilian Uprising, Colegio de Mexico, Mexico City, Mexico, 21 November 2019.
Soreanu, R., Endings and Exists: Ferenczi and Balint [Invited talk], Centre for Freudian Analysis and Research, London, UK, 28 November, 2020.
Soreanu, R., The Institute for the Study of Complexity and the Question of Social Responsibility in Psychoanalysis, Psychoanalysis for the People: Free Clinics and the Social Mission of Psychoanalysis conference, The Freud Museum, London, 24 January 2021 (co-authored with Tereza Estarque).
Soreanu, R., On Reparation and Reconstruction: Respiratory Intimacies, Bubbles and Droplets, Online PhD Research Conference ‘The Unconscious and Everyday Life Repair and Reparation: Clinical, Social, and Cultural Contexts’. Department of Psychosocial and Psychoanalytic Studies, University of Essex, UK, 11 June, 2021.
Soreanu, R., On Collaboration: Michael Balint in Dialogues [Invited talk] Balint Society UK, Newcastle, UK, July 2, 2021.
Soreanu, R., Free Clinics and the Social Mission of Psychoanalysis [Invited talk], Círculo Psicanalítico do Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, September 11, 2021.
Soreanu, R., On Elasticity and Clinical Ecologies in Psychoanalysis, SIPP-ISPP International Society of Psychoanalysis and Philosophy conference, University of Nicosia and University of Cyprus, Nicosia, Cyprus, 21-23 September 2023.
Soreanu, R. and Staberg, J., Ferenczi Dialogues: On Trauma and Catastrophe, Ferenczi 150th Anniversary International Conference, Budapest, Hungary, 9-11 June 2023.
Soreanu, R., The Psychic Life of Fragments: Authority and the Superego [Invited talk], Imágó Budapest, The Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Budapest, Hungary, 7 June 2023.
Soreanu, R., Debate sobre o livro Por um fio: uma escuta das diásporas pulsionais por Kwame Yonatan, Museu da História e da Cultura Afro-Brasileira (MUHCAB), Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 29 April 2023.
Soreanu, R., Staberg, J. and Willner, J., Ferenczi Dialogues: On Trauma and Catastrophe, discussant Harris, A., International Sándor Ferenczi Network (ISFN) Book Presentation Series, 1 April 2023
Soreanu, R. and Baraitser, L., Psychoanalytic Care Now, The Time of Care: A Waiting Times Conference, London, UK, 28-29 March 2023
Soreanu, R., Staberg, J. and Willner, J., Ferenczi Dialogues: On Trauma and Catastrophe, discussant ffytche, M., Open Seminar, University of Essex, UK, 8 March 2023.
Soreanu, R., Free Clinics and A Psychoanalysis for the People (FREEPSY Project Launch Address), The Freud Museum London, UK, 25 February 2023.
Soreanu, R., Staberg, J. and Willner, J., Ferenczi Dialogues: On Trauma and Catastrophe, ‘Crisis and Utopia: Psychoanalysis and Politics’ Symposium, Södertörn University South of Stockholm, in collaboration with Svenska Psykoanalytiska Föreningen, Sweden, 20 January 2023.
Soreanu, R., Clínicas abertas e uma psicanálise para o povo [Invited talk], Clínicas Sociais, Psicanálise e Filosofia, Universidade Federal de São Paulo (Unifesp), 3 December 2022
Soreanu, R., Staberg, J. and Willner, J., Ferenczi Dialogues: On Trauma and Catastrophe, Symposium, with commentaries by Baraitser, L., Bokay, A., Minozzo, A., & Tomcic, A., The Freud Museum London, UK, 7 July 2023.
Soreanu, R., Sobre pensamento infraestrutural e clínicas abertas de psicanálise, Simpósio Nacional ‘Clínica Ampliada: questões emergentes do laço social’ do Grupo de Trabalho (GT) ‘Psicanálise e Clínica Ampliada’ da Associação Nacional de Pós-Graduação e Pesquisa em Psicanálise (ANPEPP), Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP), São Paulo, Brazil, 20 October 2023.
Soreanu, R., Conversation on 'Spheres of Insurrection: Notes on Decolonizing the Unconscious', with Suely Rolnik, Ramsey McGlazer and Raluca Soreanu, International Consortium of Critical Theory Programs, 15th December 2023.
Soreanu, R., On Trauma and Radical Plasticity, ‘What Is Trauma?’ 30th Anniversary PPS Themed Discussion, Department of Psychosocial and Psychoanalytic Studies, University of Essex, 17 January 2024.
Soreanu, R., Discussion of 'Women in the Budapest School of Psychoanalysis. Girls of Tomorrow' by Anna Borgos, International Sándor Ferenczi Network (ISFN) Book Presentation Series, 3 February 2024.
Soreanu, R., The Mourning Crowd: On Symbols and Protest, ‘Soulèvements ou révolutions ? Pouvoir Constituant ou Pouvoirs Constitués ? Enjeux politiques et esthétiques’, Multitudes, The American University of Paris, France, 15 February 2024.
Soreanu, R., Infrastructural Thinking: Free Psychoanalytic Clinics as Global Movement, The College of Psychoanalysts (CP-UK) Conference ‘Psychoanalysis, Community & Movement(s)?’, London, 24 February 2024.
Soreanu, R., On Infrastructural Thinking and Radical Care (Panel ‘Psychoanalytic Free Clinics and Care Infrastructures: Practices and Utopias’), ‘Caring Futures: Contradictions, Transformation, and Revolutionary Possibilities’ Conference, The American University of Paris, France, 29 May 2024.
Exhibitions (5)
Soreanu, R., Michael Balint, The Internationalist. 20th International Balint Federation Congress, Oxford, 6-10 Sep 2017.
Soreanu, R., On Michael Balint’s Trails. The 13th International Sándor Ferenczi Conference, Florence, Italy, 3-6 May 2018.
Soreanu, R., The Balints and Their World. The Freud Museum, London, 8-9 Dec 2018.
Soreanu, R., Balint at 50: From Foundation to the Future. The Wellcome Collection, London, 17-18 May 2019.
Soreanu, R., Michael Balint: Early Interventions, Early Groups. The International Balint Federation Congress, Porto, Lisbon, 11-15 September 2019.
Grants and funding
2022
Mapping Workshops for Psychoanalytic Free Clinics
University of Essex (ESRC IAA)
Free Clinics and a Psychoanalysis for the People: Progressive Histories, Collective Practices, Implications for our Times
European Research Council
2019
'Balint Groups' & the patient-doctor relationship: The social history of a psychoanalytic contribution to the medical sciences
Wellcome Trust
