ABSTRACT
Despite the popularity of psychoanalysis in Brazil, some scholars highlight the European roots of the discipline and question the extent to which it can effectively cope with local issues, particularly as they refer to the experiences of certain racial groups. This essay debunks that view, arguing that psychoanalysis’s subversive mission and its potential for subversive redemption work as a two-way street, both transforming and being transformed by the cultures with which it comes into contact. By looking at the case of Afro-Brazilians who undergo analysis in the city of Salvador, Bahia, this essay proposes that, given its discursive character, psychoanalysis works through language to unsettle a predetermined fate to which one has been subjected through their personal history and that of their racial group. Grounded in psychoanalytic and postcolonial theories, this essay analyzes case studies from the local community and shows that psychoanalysis mobilizes articulations between the individual and the collective, dialectically and reciprocally, creating a subversive dialogue with the local culture(s).
