What
is phobogenesis? How does the phobogenic object fit
into ideas of selfobject theory or Kleinian projection/introjection
processes? Critical to present theory and practice is Fanon’s
critique of the ideas coming from early theorists including Freud,
Jung and Adler, particularly as his critique helps us to face into
the challenges of considering race in psychoanalytic theory and
practice as it shapes the subjective and intersubjective experience
of both patients and analysts, both within the consulting space and
in their personal and collective experience.

This discussion will center around a close reading of Fanon’s
discussion of the dynamics and impact of phobogenesis on both
subjects of whiteness and subjects of color. We will consider this
contribution found in Fanon’s landmark text, Black Skin, White
Masks and the direct implications his theoretical vision has for
current work with patients of all racial, ethnic, religious, gendered
and abled backgrounds. This presentation will be augmented with
considerations coming from clinicians and theorists both within
psychoanalysis and from outside our discipline, who have approached
the implications of Fanon’s conceptualization in a variety of ways
that can be helpful to clinicians in today’s current
socio-politically charged contexts.

Steven H. Knoblauch Ph.D. is Clinical
Adjunct Associate Professor at the Postdoctoral Program in
Psychotherapy and Psychoanalysis, New York University and
faculty/supervisor at The Institute for the Psychoanalytic Study of
Subjectivity.  He also teaches and supervises from time to time
at other institutes. He is author of The Musical Edge of Therapeutic
Dialogue (2000), co-author with Beebe, Rustin and Sorter of Forms of
Intersubjectivity in Infant Research and Adult Treatment, (2005), and
author of Bodies and Social Rhythms: Navigating Clinical
Vulnerability and Emotional Fluidity. (2020).  He serves on the
editorial boards of Psychoanalytic Dialogues, Psychoanalytic
Perspectives, and Psychoanalysis, Self and Context. He is a former
IARPP Board Member. For 17 years prior to entering psychoanalytic
training Steven worked in Community Mental Health in various
community based programs. He worked out of The Door A Center of
Alternatives, a UN NGO based, internationally recognized ,model
program for multidisciplinary service delivery to inner city
adolescents. His roles there included clinician, supervisor and
trainer/consultant to organizations globally from 1975 through 1988.

Dr. Almas (Ally) Merchant is a clinical
psychologist at Sun River Health, a nonprofit agency providing
integrative care to community members in New York City. Besides her
clinical work, she is also the externship coordinator at Brightpoint
Health, where she supervises students from doctoral programs in
psychology. She is also a supervising psychologist at a private
practice, Stress, Trauma Evaluation, and Psychological Services
(STEPS). Currently, she is a candidate at NYU’s postdoctoral
program in psychotherapy and psychoanalysis. She has taught both
undergraduate and graduate-level college courses and has contributed
multiple presentations and publications in the fields of racial
trauma, family dynamics, and the psychotherapy process. She is on the
editorial board for the Sexuality and Gender Studies Journal,
treasurer for the APCS, and an active member of APA’s Society for
Psychoanalysis and Psychoanalytic Psychology, where she serves as a
co-chair on the Scholars committee for graduate students and early
career professionals. Finally, she has recently been elected as
Council Representative to APA at large for the Society.

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