Transcending Divisions

Borders are not just lines on a map; they are scars on the earth,
wounds inflicted by history.

Carlos Fuentes, The Crystal Frontier (2012)

Borders are set up to define the places that are safe and unsafe, to distinguish us from them. A border is a dividing line, a narrow strip along a steep edge. A borderland is a vague and undetermined place created by the emotional residue of an unnatural boundary. It is in a constant state of transition. The prohibited and forbidden are its inhabitants.

Gloria Anzaldua, Borderlands / La Frontera (1987)

We are pleased to announce that the 7th Analysis and Activism conference will be held from November 5-8, 2026, in Mexico City. The conference theme - Transcending Divisions: Borders, Identity, and the Rekindling of Our Shared Humanity – is a direct response to the global resurgence of authoritarianism, hardened borders, nativism, anti-immigrant policies and an overall sense of a collective devolution.

For more than a decade, and in the course of six conferences held in London, Rome, Prague, Ljubljana, and online, and with the strong support of the IAAP, Analysis and Activism have explored the intersection of Jungian psychoanalysis (and psychoanalysis more broadly) and political Activism, offering a space to gather, dream, and articulate just what the Jungian project might provide the political world, and how Jungian-informed psychoanalytic interventions might figure into an activist response to political struggles and humanitarian crises.

For our seventh conference and our first in Mexico, we are interested in various topics on borders, identity and division, which can be broadly interpreted.  Following Jung, Hillman, Anzaldua, and others, we seek presentations that explore borders (both inner and outer), and the borderland as a literal and figurative state, the site of trauma as well as resilience. We invite reflections on how hardened borders effect the notion of identity, and how the emergence of the themes such as division and exclusion have influenced the world.

How might we as psychoanalysts respond to the current moment, and what insights and hope might we have as Jungians to offer those harmed by the politics of fear, resentment, othering and injustice?

We strongly encourage submissions from individuals from countries and regions historically underrepresented in the world of Jungian theory and practice. Attendance fees will be prepared for candidates according to their socioeconomic reality. We want to make sure that the economic division will not be the reason for not attending.

Send your proposals to [email protected] as a Word document, including an abstract (up to 300 words) and a short biography, including a clinical, academic, and/or activist background, professional affiliations, and any recent publications.

All proposals should be submitted by October 31, 2025. We encourage a wide variety of proposals, especially those highlighting actual, on-the-ground Jungian, and psychoanalytically oriented responses to the political crises of the current collective moment.

Please note that the conference will be in person only and include workshops, embodied practices, social dreaming matrixes, social excursions, and a festive gala dinner. We hope you will join us for this vital gathering in Mexico City. Conference logistics and lodging details will be available in early fall.

With warm regards,

Programming and Organizing Committee

Lucero Alfaro

Gustavo Beck

Victor Manuel Lopez

Kathleen Kirgin

Alex Sierck

Manca Svara

Tine Papic

Michal Stankiewicz

Noelia Vasquez

Emma Wong

Call for paper in English - pdf.

Call for paper in Spanish - pdf.