“HUMANS CANNOT ACCEPT CHANGE WITHOUT MOURNING WHAT HAS BEEN LOST.”
VAMIK VOLKAN
On January 6, 2021, an angry mob attacked the U.S. Capitol disrupting the election process and the peaceful transition of power vital to American democracy. How did this happen? What motivates this kind of group behavior?
How does HISTORICAL MEMORY
fuel acts of collective violence and domestic terror?
TIME COLLAPSE is Volkan's term for the merging of past and present in the mind of a large group.
Renowned psychoanalyst Vamik Volkan has been studying political unrest and the underlying psychology of group relations for 40 years. His work is key to understanding the dangerous racial, religious and regional divisions that splinter nations.
Professor Volkan's insights into shared emotion and large-group identity are crucial to peace-building in our era of globalization when so many various peoples are hurled in sudden contact. His ideas have shaped a leading model of conflict resolution used in the world today.
The power of LARGE-GROUP IDENTITY in 21st century peacemaking
BLIND TRUST: LEADERS & FOLLOWERS IN TIMES OF CRISIS illuminates how an unhealed shared trauma from the past shapes present day politics.