Mark Solms visited by Chuck Fisher, shortly before Mark became Sigourney-ed.
N. Szajnberg, MD Managing Editor
This report concerns his visit in South Africa on Mark Solms’ estate.
Dear Friends and Colleagues,
Leah and I had an exciting visit with Mark Solms, the well-known psychoanalyst and neuropsychologist who has done so much to shape contemporary views of the dreaming brain and the neuroscience of subjectivity. Mark was quite interested in Beth Kalish’s and my findings about dreams among the Achuar in the Amazon. We talked about those at some length and considered the issue of worldwide similarities in dream contents in relation to the neuroscience of dreaming. There may be further developments about this topic as we look to the future. He also had lots to say about his debates with Alan Hobson and the current state of scientific research on the
dreaming brain. I’ll leave more detailed comments about dreaming and science for another occasion. Right now, I want to tell you more about our amazing day at his estate.
We met Mark at his farm in the wine growing region of South Africa. The town of Stellenbosch and its surrounding area remind us strongly of the Napa Valley. The nearby town of Fransschhoek (Afrikaans for “French Quarter”) has an extraordinary beauty. A green valley is surrounded by mountains that remind us of Switzerland or certain parts of Colorado. I met a troupe of baboons on a late afternoon hike up a mountain.
Just outside Fransschhoek is Mark’s wine growing estate. Having left South Africa during Apartheid, he returned with his family in 2001. He came back to land which had been in his family for generations. Although neither he nor his father had ever been farmers, the Solms family has a history of wine growing going back at least to the 16th Century in Germany.
Mark greeted us warmly and showed us around his house, illustrating its Cape Dutch architecture. Before we got down to talking about dreams, he explained the history of his farm. There was more detail than I can summarize in this note, but the essence of the story is that in returning to the land, he became the de facto employer of seven or more large families of black workers who had worked on the land for generations.
Mark’s initial idea was to work cooperatively with these families, allowing himself to be guided by their expert knowledge of grape growing. He soon found that he could not talk to them. At the very dining room table where we met with him, he encountered each family in a series of meetings. When he explained to the workers what he hoped to do, he was greeted with silence and without eye contact. Thinking as a psychoanalyst, he recognized that the only way to make contact was to deal seriously with the obstacles to communication. He undertook a deep and painful examination of the history of racial relations in South Africa and on his particular farm. He involved the
farm workers and their families in the project, as well as academic researchers from departments of archaeology, anthropology, sociology, history, political science, etc. The results of this work are available to the public in a museum on the farm. But the word “museum” hardly does justice to it. After our meeting with Mark, Leah and I spent two hours in the museum. It is one of the most detailed and fascinating museums of anthropology I have ever seen. It covers the history of the indigenous peoples of South Africa, the paleolithic
archaelogy of the site, the recent history of apartheid, the histories of specific slave families on the estate, and a video gallery of statements by their descendants who now work on the farm. The care with which historical and scientific controversies are examined is breath-taking. Side by side one sees statements from 17th Century Dutch sailors who regarded the Africans as beasts, and statements by Africans of the period who had a similar view of the
Dutch.
The Solms Delta estate is actually three farms. One now owned by the Solms family. One owned by a philanthropist family, the Astors. And a third, which the Solms and Astors purchased and gave to the workers on the estate. The workers keep all the proceeds from their farm. Mark’s energy and enthusiasm in explaining all this was wonderful to observe.
So after our museum visit, we of course went to the wine tasting room. We’re no experts about wine, but we liked what we tasted. We shipped some back to the U.S. Then we had a very late lunch in the Solms Delta restaurant, the profits of which go to a local NGO. At this point in the story, is there any question about whether the lunch was good? It was spectacular.
We learned from Mark that he is one of the recipients of the Sigourney Prize for 2011. A great and well-deserved honor which will be awarded at the January 2012 APsaA meeting in New York. I’ve got to say we’re having fun.
Best wishes to all,
Chuck