James Baldwin: Race, Media And Psychoanalysis
Following on from renewed interest in a previously unreleased 1979 documentary interview with American author James Baldwin, produced by ACL Executive Director Joe Lovett, ACL presented an online panel discussion with over 10,000 live viewers through NYU’s Grey Art Gallery.
Scheduled for June 24, 2021, James Baldwin: Race, Media and Psychoanalysis was a public forum on the impact of Baldwin’s observations on society forty years ago and how they continue to resonate today. Before the forum, the public had access to the never-before aired profile. The press picked up the story and the upcoming event drew articles in the New York Times Magazine, Esquire, Boston Globe as well as on major website blogs. That attention brought over 1,000,000 viewers to the Baldwin profile, and 10,000 people registered for the discussion.
In this profile, Baldwin talks about hatred he faced growing up black in America, the toll that hatred took on both sides, and people’s attitudes toward LGBTQ people as well as themselves.
The eloquent profile never aired as Lovett was told “Who wants to listen to a Black, gay has-been?”
The profile was later unearthed and in 2021 it was presented at the Psychoanalytic Institute of Northern California for a discussion on Cultural Psychoanalysis.
This led to a webinar presented by A Closer Look and the Grey Art Gallery for the Committee on Ethnicity, Race, Culture, Class, and Language (CERCCL) at NYU’s Postdoctoral Program in Psychotherapy and Psychoanalysis.
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Joseph F. Lovett
Producer, writer and filmmaker, Lovett is a documentarian of HBO, ABC, as well as Lovett Productions and A Closer Look. In his career he has been esteemed with numerous awards including a Peabody.
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Aisha Karefa-Smart
Aisha Karefa-Smart, author, educator, public speaker, and niece of James Baldwin. Aisha is an educator and public speaker who has facilitated discussions about Baldwin at academic centers such as Columbia, NYU, the Library of Congress, etc.
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Annie Lee Jones, Ph.D.
Annie Lee Jones, Ph.D., Clinical Psychologist and Psychoanalyst, a fellow at the Institute for Psychoanalytic Training and Research (IPTAR).
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Victor P. Bonfilio, JD, Ph.D.
Victor P. Bonfilio, JD, Ph.D. is a psychoanalyst, psychologist, and founding member of the Psychoanalytic Institute of Northern California.
