UFH Colloquium Series: Yolanda Mlungwana

[Werner F. Smith]

The Department of Politics and Philosophy at the University of Fort Hare, in collaboration with the Centre for Leadership Ethics in Africa, invites you to a Philosophy Colloquium presented by Yolanda Mlungwana.

 

Title: ‘Freud My Dear, You Will Forever Be Famous’: Lacan’s Return to Freud

Abstract:

What justifies a psychoanalytic claim or theory? My research is concerned with the lessons that we can draw from the Lacanian conception of the constitution of the subject. Since we cannot speak about Lacan without speaking about Freud, I explore what psychoanalytic orthodoxy is according to Freud to show how Lacan deviates from this norm. I begin by tracing the history of the psychoanalytic movement and explain how Freud develops his theoretical formulations of the mental structure and its mechanisms. Then, I examine the meaning of Lacan’s return to Freud. My aim is to justify Lacan’s enterprise, to provide good reasons for why his theory is tenable, on psychoanalytic grounds. Finally, I analyze Lacan’s contention to “ego psychology” and the contemporary problem of popular psychology as an example of its dangers.

Bio: 

Yolanda Mlungwana is a lecturer at the Department of Politics and Philosophy at the University of Fort Hare. She is also a PhD Candidate at the University of Johannesburg. Her research interests include questions on identity and life's meaning, psychoanalysis, 19th and 20th century Continental Philosophy, existentialism, ontology as well as African Feminism. Her current research focuses on the question of identity through the lens of psychoanalytic theory (particularly Lacanian psychoanalysis) and its relation to the perennial philosophical question of happiness. She has also published an article in the South African Journal of Philosophy titled “An African Approach to the Meaning of Life” (2020).

 

 

Date: 12 May 2026
Time: 13:00–14:00 SAST
Format: Hybrid (Online and Library Training Room 1)
Online Link:
https://teams.microsoft.com/meet/322414553834315?p=tLJVvpZLiRQ20k7LNq