Relational Psychoanalysis at the Heart of Teaching and Learning

Sophisticatedly simple, this book is a 'sanctuary for the mutual meeting of minds' (quoted in this volume), one wherein apparent antinomies - progressivism v. traditionalism, theory v. practice, scientific biology v. humanist philosophy - provoke not bifurcation but stunning synthesis in Lissa D'Amour's theory of teaching and learning. Panoramic yet detailed, playful while earnest, joyful and discerning and attuned (despite past trauma, despite the dire present in which we are embedded), this book (itself a transitional object, see within) rides relational psychoanalysis to destinations solitary and shared, sublime and strategic, a sustained - and sustaining - 'a-ha' educational experience of authenticity and presence. - William F. Pinar, Professor and Canada Research Chair, University of British Columbia, Vancouver Lissa D'Amour has reached a brilliant and unexpected conclusion: Relational Psychoanalysis provides ideas and values that can be used to structure a humanistically-informed way of thinking about what it means to educate people, and how to do it. D'Amour encourages people, in learning, to become ever more familiar and accepting of what they find in themselves, and between themselves and others. She argues against imposing faddish values and techniques from outside. I don't know enough about education to comment on Curriculum Theory; I am a psychoanalyst, one of the relational psychoanalysts that D'Amour cites. But with that proviso, I believe I can see that D'amour's book is a tour de force, a brave and creative contribution to Curriculum Theory, and to all of education. - Donnel B. Stern, Ph.D., William Alanson White Institute of Psychoanalysis, New York