Sitegeist is a space for thinking and questioning philosophy and psychoanalysis, which aims at a change in Geist–spirit, mind, intellect, wit, genius and morale. Emerging from the Site for Contemporary Psychoanalysis, with its commitment to exploring the extended field of psychoanalytic thinking and engaging with the traditions of European thought, Sitegeist seeks to contribute to a renewal of psychoanalysis, which by engaging with both the theoretical and the clinical, might provide a usable discourse on the subject.
The current psychoanalytic scene displays every sign of crisis: whilst psychoanalysis itself has probably never had more impact, both as a therapeutic intervention and as a cultural vade mecum, its own concepts and self-understanding have been subject to rigorous criticism from within and without. In many cases this has led to outright rejection as newer therapies have made extravagant claims for efficacy and insight. In a parallel way, the explosion of philosophical production after the middle of the twentieth century and the caravan of isms inaugurated by the structuralist revolution in France have left the theory of the subject in a state of radical uncertainty. Yet, such crises, which themselves reflect a period of astonishing change in the possibilities of being human and in the understanding of what it is to be human at all, have every potential for productive and creative responses learning from the traditions that have become unstable and yet moving beyond them.
To facilitate such creative responses, Sitegeist will provide an intellectual space where the plurality of traditions of thinking about the subject can engage in a productive colloquy. Once, the institutional loci for such an encounter might have been the university or the lay intelligentsia informed by the emergence of new disciplines, but these have suffered the closure and routinisation associated with professionalisation and the enforcement of canonical understandings of thought: a ceaseless production of party lines or disciplinary stasis. Avoiding this professional territorialisation, the journal will be committed to the encouragement,
exploration and light-handed orchestration of the polyphony of current thinking about the subject and its vicissitudes.
The journal will endeavour to enable dialogue and conceptual engagement without falling into a diffuse eclecticism or seeking to establish new orthodoxies; it will seek to explore the aporias and contradictions of contemporary psychoanalytic theory and practice while opening up to the potentially fruitful consequences of dissonant intersections between superficially antagonistic models; it will provide a space for thinking about experience–in life or the clinic–in ways that might creatively develop the resources and capacities of psychoanalysis broadly conceived; and its main aim would be to hold open the frontiers between psychoanalysis and philosophy such that a productive regeneration of both might emerge.
Notwithstanding its peer-reviewed credentials the journal will make every effort to be inclusive. Whilst we will publish established authors and practitioners, we will also make every effort to encourage new writers and contributions from clinicians who might not have published already.
Sitegeist will thus:
Promote the field and function of the Site.
Clarify the Site's project in the field of psychoanalysis.
Provide a space for the development of psychoanalytic theory.
Contribute to the debate between psychoanalysis and contemporary thought.
Provide a space for the articulation of theory and the clinic.
The present issue speaks for itself; it sets the tone of open-minded enquiry in the spaces within and between the fields of psychoanalysis and other discourses, in this instance the discourses engaging with homosexuality. The papers were given at a Site conference held in May 2007 entitled ‘Homosexuality: Why Psychoanalysis?’ Stephen Gee's closing summary at the conference actually forms an excellent and cogent introduction to the other contributors and for this reason we have placed it first. All the writers are members of the Site.
Sitegeist needs both readers and contributors. From the beginning the editorial collective needs writing of the highest quality. We will put forward
themes and ideas but we seek writing of the highest quality from others - wherever it can be found. Over to you.
Philip Derbyshire
Stephen Gee
Kirsty Hall
Peter Wood