Blue heaven: jazz as connector and disrupter in family and community relationships

Abstract

Psychoanalytic understanding of the human predicament pays more attention to developmental experiences within families of origin, of whatever form, than to the communities in which they grow up. Recent critiques of attachment theory draw attention to cultural factors that question measures of attachment security based on WEIRD (Western, Educated, Industrialised, Rich, and Democratic) family assumptions, and emphasise instead the significance of trust for individual and community well-being. Music forms part of the communications web in all societies, and arguably precedes language in connecting and separating people. This exploratory contribution will consider the role music, and jazz in particular, can play in communication, considering both its connective and disruptive potential within families and communities. Using clinical illustration, it will consider jazz as a metaphor for couple psychoanalysis.