Editorial

In this edition of the Journal we hope to share with readers something of the very special, unforgettable experience of the recent IAAP congress in Cape Town. Prior to the conference, some of us may have wondered why there seemed to be such an emphasis on apparently local African issues, much of which seemed to be more to do with politics, sociology and anthropology than with analytical psychology. As soon as we arrived in South Africa, though, our attitude was transformed: how would it be possible not to consider these vitally pressing issues in this context? With its turbulent history of colonial oppression and its recent liberation from the cruel inhumanities of apartheid, the South African experience vividly reveals the way social and political issues can bite deep into the individual soul. Such issues have relevance for all of us and cannot be ignored or divorced from the more intimate concerns of the analyst's consulting room.

We hope to offer our readers something of this transformative experience through the pages of this edition of the Journal. For those who were there, this is an opportunity to reflect further on the themes of the conference. For others, it is an opportunity to discover how the South African experience can inspire us, move us and provide unexpected insights into our daily concerns as analysts.

The first three papers are published in the order they were given on the first morning of the conference, moving inwards from the larger socio-political questions addressed by Mamphela Ramphele via Pumla Godobo-Madikizela's moving presentation of the traumatic psychological impact of apartheid as revealed by participants in the Truth and Reconciliation Commission to the intimate dream-space of the inner world elaborated by Cathy Kaplinsky in her considerationofhow cultural complexes impeded one white man's individuation by blocking his deep emotional connection to his black foster-mother.

Cultural complexes also provide a useful conceptual tool for Blak