ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the Relational-Cultural Theory concept of relational images to explore these dynamics and be proactive and intentionally responsive. Educators seeking to understand the intensified emotions we sometimes experience in response to students have tended to draw on psychoanalytic literature, in particular the concepts of transference and countertransference. Some readers will recognize the connection to transference and countertransference, as described in the psychoanalytic literature and later applied in the teaching milieu. Along with strategies for dealing with these dynamics in the moment, we are wise to proactively position ourselves to more quickly identify and respond to transference and the influence of relational images. Some faculty will experience similar dynamics with classes or cohorts wherein a group takes on a particular vibe or energy because of the mix of personalities or a few dominant students. Discrepant relational images are the images that counter dominant cultural narratives and our own embedded relational assumptions.
