Shame and Its Vicissitudes

Abstract

ABSTRACT My article addresses the theme of shame and its impact on Black identity wounding. In particular, I focus in on what has often been left out of the shame discourse: a consideration of shame that emerges in Black and White relational dynamics. As such, I specifically address the historical and generational underpinnings that play a significant role in Black shame and White responses to shame, as well as the possibilities of healing shame in these contexts. To further clarify these dynamics, I offer some personal reflections on significant elements of my own childhood shame. These experiences illustrate the profound impact racialized shame can have on racial identity formation and development. I identify key therapeutic issues and themes that need to be addressed in the clinical context as well as some key challenges that can arise for White practitioners working with their own unacknowledged shame in such an intercultural analytic setting. I conclude with my reasoning for why I consider sublimation as the single most important concept in understanding the work of healing and managing shame. I end the chapter with an illustration of how the power of spontaneous expression – poetry offered as an example – can redirect negative energies and the impact of racialized shame.