IPA Congress 2011 in Mexico City

Dear Colleagues,

THE IPA WILL HOLD ITS CENTENNIAL CONGRESS IN MEXICO 

FROM 3 TO 6 OF AUGUST 2011. 

I am pleased to announce that the theme of our 2011 Congress in Mexico City is “Exploring Core Concepts: Sexuality, Dreams and the Unconscious.” The Mexico Congress will be an international celebration of the 100th anniversary of the IPA, the culmination of the local and regional celebrations of 2010. The Congress will be an opportunity to commemorate one hundred years of achievements and to dedicate ourselves to the advancement of psychoanalysis for its next 100 years.

Having recently returned from a site visit there with Gunther Perdigao, the Secretary General, Henk Jan Dalewijk, Treasurer, Steven Ellman, Programme Chair and Arnold Rothstein, North America Programme Chair, I can report that we have an impressive venue. I am aware that some of us have doubts about the safety of Mexico City. For everyone involved in planning the Congress, safety concerns are paramount and have guided our choice of the World Trade Centre. It is an excellent, convenient modern venue for our scientific meetings offering rooms for the large assemblies and for the smaller groups required by our scientific programme. And it is safe, as is the area of the city in which it is located.

From Tenochtitlan (Mexico City’s name when it was the centre of Aztec civilization) to the Viceroyalties of New Spain during the colonial era to the democratic modern international city, Mexico offers much historically, culturally (including cuisine), architecturally and economically. It has magnificent world class museums; it has exceptional arts and crafts; above all, it has Mexican hospitality.

Work on the scientific programme is already well advanced under the capable stewardship of Steven Ellman and his committee – Antonino Ferro (Italy), Roberto Doria Medina (Argentina), Arnold Rothstein (USA) and Adela Escardó (IPSO, Peru). Watch for the call for papers and panels that will be sent out in April 2010.

As the Congress approaches, your IPA officers, the Programme Committee, and the Local Arrangements Committee in Mexico City will be keeping you informed about the event, as well as about the social and cultural activities that will be available to members of the Congress and their guests.

I look forward to seeing you there.

Best regards

Prof. Charles Hanly
President

Miscellaneous Congress information:

• Please click here to read a letter from the Minister of Tourism

• Please click here to read a letter from Steve Ellman, Chair of the Mexico City Congress Programme Committee.

• Link to the 47th IPA Congress site on the: World Trade Centre website

• Mexico City Guide: Where to stay, where to eat, what to do

• The following list of videos give an impression of Mexico City and the World Trade Centre. Just click on the links:

• Impressions of Mexico City

• Looking down from on high!

• A tour of the famous National Anthropology Museum

• A look around the Congress venue – The World Trade Center (in Spanish only)

• A 2nd look at the WTC (in Spanish only)