London, 2001

IMAGO

MULTI-LINGUAL PSYCHOTHERAPY CENTRE

& THE FREUD MUSEM

PRESS RELEASE

INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE

‘LOST CHILDHOOD AND THE LANGUAGE OF EXILE’

12/13 MAY 2001

In the current European political climate raging around refugees and multi-culturalism this International Conference intends to create a space where psychotherapists, analysts, counsellors, teachers, academics, writers and artists from all over the world will reflect and debate the migrant and refugee experience.  The last century has seen waves of migration in Europe. There are refugees who have escaped persecution and a risk to their lives, traumatized and disappointed, for whom entry to a new country meant the possibility of staying alive. Political, social and economic reasons forced others to leave their country and create a new self; find a new language and culture.

In these migrations, continuity of Being has been forcefully interrupted, leaving only traces of the child and the people left behind.  What happens when the mother tongue is lost or disowned? What is lost and what is found? How can losses be mourned, creativity be rediscovered and a new integration take place?  How do people re-build their lives? These are profound questions our international conference aims to address.

Lost Childhood and the Language of Exile’ will be the second of three major conferences to be held in Budapest, London and Paris focusing on the theme of Mother-tongue and Other Tongues.  It is organized as part of the European year of Languages and supported by UNESCO and a range of International Organisations.

Conference Venue: The Brunei Gallery, School of Oriental  & African Studies, 

                                  Thornhaugh Street, Russell Square, London WC1