The Current Social and Political Situation in Iran
Join us to discuss the current social and political situation in Iran with psychoanalytic theorists and practitioners.
This international online event, organised by the Association for Psychosocial Studies, brings together Iranian and non-Iranian members of the psychoanalytic and psychosocial communities to reflect on the current social and political situation in Iran.
What are the possibilities of psychoanalysis in conditions of prolonged uncertainty and political violence? How do Iranians survive and psychically endure mass social trauma, state terror, the impact of sanctions and colonial warfare? And does the political imaginary of the psychosocial community afford sufficient recognition and solidarity to its Iranian members?
This event will feature contributions from psychosocial and psychoanalytic scholars and practitioners, based inside and outside Iran: Nazanin Shahbazi, Sheyda Esmaili, Mona Jamshidi Nasab, Shahrzad Hashemi and Sheyda Zokaeieh.
Contributors will explore the bodily charge of political consciousness; the possibilities and limits of psychoanalysis in Iran; alienation within political debates; and the question of collective identity.
Following the presentations, there will be time for questions and discussion among all participants. The event will not be recorded. Register now to confirm your place!
Recommended reading:
Hashemi, S. ‘Don’t woman, life, freedom us, murderers!’: woman, life, freedom between silence and spectacle. Journal of Psychosocial Studies (2026). https://doi.org/10.1332/14786737Y2026D000000084
Shahbazi, N. Right after the cut: subjectivity and the Real in Iran’s 2025–2026 uprising. Subjectivity (2026). https://doi.org/10.1057/s41286-026-00261-5