AGGIORNAMENTO

What’s up, Uruguay?

Created in 2013, the Groupo Lacaniano di Montevideo had been in a state of weightlessness and institutional stagnation for ten years. The GLM was intended to be the nucleus of an analytic body in Uruguay, but the situation remained deadlocked. Why did this happen? Mainly because Uruguayan colleagues were invited by their Argentinian mentors to join the NEL, whereas they wanted to join the EOL, which is where their transference was directed. The result: a definite standstill.

No creation was possible, no development with a view to extending the Lacanian orientation to the whole of Uruguay and to new generations. This impasse lasted far too long. It was time to offer a generous perspective for the future.

What can’t go on

It was necessary to move fast, to break through the inertia and precipitate the outcome. On the initiative of the WAP, the EOL Council decided to create an EOL delegation based in Montevideo. This was seen as a logical step in the development of psychoanalysis in Uruguay, respecting the transference of its members to the EOL.

Meetings at the EOL, consultations in Montevideo, exchanges… the response was immediate. Joy, enthusiasm, concerns and questions from our Uruguayan colleagues. Ideas flowed, young colleagues were also present, and cartels were launched. We were finally out of the torpor. The great satisfaction of our colleagues both in Uruguay and at the EOL was testimony to the soundness of this political proposition: the a-propos of an interpretation.

What changes

What changes does this move to delegation bring? A new institutional provision? Yes, but what else? A simple change of name? That would be much ado about nothing.

The essential change lies elsewhere, in psychoanalysis itself. In taking a different approach to the subject of “psychoanalysis”. Creating a place where the experience and practice of psychoanalysis itself is situated at the heart of the formation. In other words, a place where we constantly question how to operate with this real that escapes, this real that cannot be mastered. As no one can give an absolute answer to the question: “What is a psychoanalyst?”, we hasten to create a framework in which to lodge the productions of analysts and keep this question alive. Both doctrinal and research knowledge are at stake, as we await the new.

The perspective changes radically when one puts the School into play – a place for the formation of psychoanalysts and the formations of the unconscious. The presence of the School is measured here by the power to admit members (to guarantee that their training falls under the remit of the School). The EOL is responsible for this. The intension supervises the extension.

A new direction [Rebroussement]

So, what does ‘delegation’ mean?

Delegation does not mean that the delegation represents Uruguay to the EOL, but that it represents the School in Uruguay. It refers to the School’s presence in Uruguay, by virtue of a logic designed to counter the temptation to be localist. It is in fact a relay function that the delegation embodies in Uruguay, through a more direct, closer link with the School and its major debates: putting the School’s themes of work into circulation and making them an object of study, particularly on questions relating to training, supervision, the beginning and end of analysis, or to the themes of its Study Days or Congresses.

The School, seen from a pragmatic point of view

“Delegation” also implies a local organisation and management in line with the realities of a country or region. The local establishment of a delegation makes it possible to use all the resources available for the rigorous study of psychoanalysis: seminars or school activities. It also makes use of a certain social network(ing): here, the School intrudes into the interstices of social life, it makes known what psychoanalysis has to offer, and it disseminates the signifiers of psychoanalysis. It contributes to the influence of psychoanalysis in a city.

Implementing such a policy requires that we go into the details of this initiative: the geography and the times, the past and future experience, the links forged, the practicalities of the organisation. It’s fascinating!

The Uruguay event shows the way, here and elsewhere. Elsewhere and otherwise, no doubt, it should encourage all the Schools recognised by the WAP to bring themselves up-to-date to better meet the demands of the present. Mondō will be following developments closely.