Part III: Short Papers from the Course

ABSTRACT

At the end of each class, we ask students to write either an annotated bibliographic essay on a psychoanalytic subject of their choosing or a short paper. We include here three examples of the kind of work we receive. The first is an annotated bibliography written by Monica Black, a drama major, who has been “play-acting” since childhood and who is now a serious actress, exploring the question of “Why Perform?” She wrote the paper when she was a sophomore. The second is written by Becca Stine, a junior creative writing major, who, when she saw Waiting for Godot at the Chicago Shakespeare Theater, had moving insights about her relation with her sister, insights that were enhanced by the psychoanalytic reading we did in relation to the drama. The third, by first-year neuroscience major Peter Lehman, is an annotated bibliography that seeks to understand how neurobiology and psychoanalysis can best intersect.     

Part I: Psychoanalysis and Undergraduate Education

ABSTRACT

Part I consists of two articles by the professors who invented the Chicago course, articulating why they think that teaching psychoanalysis to undergraduates is crucial. Marcia Dobson, who is a clinician along with being a professor of Classics, gives some personal history as to why she is so invested in psychoanalysis and offers a clinical understanding for why she thinks undergraduates need psychoanalysis to help them understand themselves better. John Riker, a philosopher, concentrates on why the conceptual tools of psychoanalysis are crucial for undergraduates as they think about who they are, who they want to be, and how they are going to negotiate adult life.