Everyday war: the psychoanalytic listening of social bonds in the face of political violence

Abstract

This article aims to discuss the psychoanalytic listening of social bonds based on the work in a community preparatory course for university entrance exams, with an average of 70 young people, mostly residents of favelas and peripheral regions of the city of Rio de Janeiro, who face political violence daily. Amid precarious living conditions, sustained by neoliberal rationality and necropolitical apparatuses ingrained in brazilian subjectivities and institutions, the subjective effects arising from this precarization end up being silenced and normalized, which can lead to psychological suffering. To address these issues and consider possible interventions, we rely on the implementation of a psychoanalytic listening device named “Tá na roda: clinical-political interventions in educational spaces.” This device is based on the methodology of operative groups, that is, groups organized around a task. In this case, the task that defines the groups is to circulate speech through the movement of collectivized free association. Thus, based on two years of participation in the project, the results show that collective constructions have the potential to act as an instrument of care and recognition of individuals, strengthening social bonds. As they seek to break the silencing of emotions and challenge the subjective alienation of individuals in the face of hegemonic discourses, these devices reveal their clinical-political character.