The common expectation of Asians living in America involves a fantasy that adhering to the demands of the model-minority myth, regardless of present socioeconomic status or future attainability, will shield them (through class privilege) from racism. This corrosive fantasy not only harms Asians in United States, but also justifies anti-Black logics when applied to other people of color because it implies that all “failure” is a result of not trying hard enough when in fact the logic of the fantasy is a key component of systemic racism. In Passing for Perfect: College Imposters and Other Model Minorities, Erin Khuê Ninh argues that being a “model minority” is not a “myth” but coded into one’s programming as an identity. Through clinical examples, and by using the concept of Esther Bick’s primal skin function and Didier Anzieu’s concept of the skin ego, I seek to explore the impact of the intergenerational trauma of “knowing” one’s place/one’s value during preverbal stages of life and how this relational trauma comes into sharp relief during the process of adult immigration.

TICKETS: $50.00
Student tickets $25.00
(Proof of student status required)

Free for MIP candidates (RSVP candidates only)

THIS IS A HYBRID EVENT: IN PERSON AND ONLINE

CLICK HERE TO PAY AND REGISTER TO ATTEND IN PERSON

TIME: 7:30 to 9:30PM

LOCATION: Bureau of General Services—Queer Division
Room 210 of The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Community Center
208 W 13th St, NY NY 10011

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CLICK HERE TO PAY AND REGISTER TO ATTEND ONLINE

You will receive a Zoom link after you register.

Continuing Education Hours: 2
The Manhattan Institute is a NY State approved provider of continuing education hours for: LCSW, LMSW, LCAT, LMHC and Licensed Psychologists.

Learning Objectives

1. Participants will be able to define Esther Bick’s primal skin function and understand its clinical utility as it applies to immigrant patients.

2. Participants will be able to define Anzieu’s concept of the skin ego and understand its clinical utility as it applies to immigrant patients.

3. Participants will understand how the model minority myth is a preverbal intergenerational transmission of trauma from caregiver to infant.

Almas (Ally) Merchant, PhD (she/her) is a psychoanalytic candidate at NYU Postdoc who works with children, adolescents, adults, families, and intimate partners at Stress and Trauma Evaluation and Psychological Services. Ally strives to help patients engender curiosity within themselves about their mind and their unconscious motivations. Ally’s clinical thinking is influenced not only by psychoanalysis but also by interdisciplinary critical theory and the impact of culture and history on her patients’ psychological development. Ally also provides supervision and mentorship to newer clinicians as well as consultation and education around equity, diversity, and inclusion to organizations. She currently serves as Council Representative to the American Psychological Association for Division 39, Society for Psychoanalysis and Psychoanalytic Psychology and as co-editor of Studies in Gender and Sexuality. Finally, she is a co-host for Couched, a podcast for learning from and listening to conversations between psychoanalysts, artists, and change makers.