~ Hybrid film screening and panel discussion ~
Wednesday 11 March 2026, 4.00-6.00pm (GMT)
Location: Grenada Centre for Visual Anthropology, Humanities Bridgeford Street, University of Manchester
Register here by selecting either in Person or online attendance: (link to be added soon)
Unsettling Freud, Psychoanalysts, Anthropologists
Unsettling Freud, is to be an interdisciplinary symposium led by a panel bringing together psychoanalysis and anthropologists and chaired by the distinguished psychoanalyst Ian Parker. In cooperation with the RAI, it will be held online and in person on 11 March from 4:00 pm. to 6:00pm at the basement Studio of the Grenada Centre for Visual Anthropology, in the Humanities Bridgeford Street Building at the University of Manchester. The first hour of the symposium will include the screening of an episode from the video essay, and after refreshments, the second hour will sustain more of the panel discussion along with in-person and online audience contributions.
Unsettling Freud will consider Richard Werbner’s project, taking the form of an experimental video essay, Conquistador Freud, now available from RAI FILM, and ‘Situating Freud’s Grasp’, an accompanying book, currently in a working draft. The video essay is inspired by Freud’s own self-description to his close friend Wilhelm Fliess. Werbner’s project departs from the familiar depictions of Freud as the psychoanalyst and scientist, inviting audiences to discover Freud as an artist, collector, and dreamer – a man captivated by the visual and symbolic power of objects and spaces, a man who made his dwelling a place of theatrical enchantment.
In Werbner’s exploration, we encounter Freud not as the target of the “Freud Wars” or a figure in the Freudian industry but as a designer of intimate spaces and a collector with a curatorial sensibility. Freud’s fascination with imagery extended to his own life, where he saw himself not merely in words but in pictographic elements and symbolic spaces within his Viennese home. This included the autobiography inscribed on his walls, a Garden of Eden crafted for his patients, and a veranda retreat, each a multi-layered expression of his inner life. The ambiance of his dwelling was imbued with an argument of images.
The final episode of the video essay, the one to be screened on March 11th, traces Freud’s steps through Vienna and ultimately to the tragic end of his era in Austria, displaced by the Nazi takeover. The narrative continues with Freud’s relocation to England, where he spent his final days, reflecting his dislocation as a refugee in a space both beautiful and alien. ‘Everything is in place,‘ said Freud ironically, and with a sense of the uncanny, ’but me.’
The six episodes of the video essay are available for streaming here
Event attendees will be sent a 50% discount code upon registration via Eventbrite.
Prof. Richard Werbner is an anthropologist specializing in the Zimbabwe and Botswana region, with research interests in ritual, personal and historical narrative, politics, law, and regional analysis. He has taught at the University of Manchester since 1961.
Richard Werbner’s work is grounded in his extensive fieldwork in visual anthropology, including studies on regional cults, diviners and charismatic faith-healers in Africa Two of his numerous books, Divination’s Grasp and Holy Hustlers, Schism and Prophecy, underscore his commitment to the intersection of anthropology, spirituality, and visual storytelling. As a filmmaker, Werbner has completed 10 films based on his research practice, many of which are available from RAI FILM.