Cry, The Beloved Country

Abstract

ABSTRACT Utilizing the classic South African novel by Alan Paton, Cry, the Beloved Country, postcolonial ideas are explored as they relate to the development of the theory and practice of analytical psychology. The novel explores cultural identity and attachment in a largely segregated South Africa, where native family ties were ruptured and where identity development was deeply influenced by institutionalized racism. The novel evolves the theme of the return to the native land and with it the emergence of a coherent identity, as well as the repair of ruptured family attachments occurring through economic necessity and caused by mass migration from tribal homes to economic centers such as Johannesburg. Erikson’s identity theory is utilized to understand the impact of culture upon personality development, psychopathology, and the analytical relationship; and Ainsworth’s infant observation work in Africa is utilized to understand how culture is transmitted from caregiver to infant during the first two years of life as patterns of attachment systems unfold and are shaped in the psyche. Culture is seen as influencing both the emergence of identity as well as attachment.