Primitive Psychology Research Articles

Myth, Mystery, and Murder: Trauma and Resistance in The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida

This paper attempts to read Shehan Karunatilaka’s The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida, which is set against the 1980s Sri Lankan Civil War, and focuses primarily on how the mythic and magic realist elements within the narrative offer different variations of the idea of a national imaginary and delineate the intersectional traumatic experiences of the central character, Maali Almeida. Bronisław Malinowski, in his Myth in Primitive Psychology, stated that people in pain often turn to myths, legends, and folktales to seek a form of psychological escape from the repressions imposed by society. The novel, however, uses fantasy not as a form of psychological escape, but as a form of resistance against the chaos and injustice which the Civil War ensued. Designed partly as a whodunit, with the ghost of a dead gay atheist photojournalist searching for his killer, it provides certain avenues of exploration into trauma studies and also looks at how the central character rises above his own trauma by resorting to fantasy and magic realism. Moreover, by retaining the voice of the dead character, and also using a second person narrative style, it implicates the reader within the scheme of events and leaves open a possibility of overcoming trauma through a new understanding of the social and political institutions.

Between Stereotypes and Hermeneutic Quest

G. Jung’s alleged racism with regard to indigenous populations and, by extension, people of color and, specifically, Africans and native Americans, is much debated. The present contribution is based largely on Jung’s writings, some of which are unpublished. Jung’s considerationsoften deriving from his travels in North Africa and New Mexicoseem sometimes to imply the psychic inferiority of certain populations in comparison with the alleged civilized “white man.” To establish context, the essay cites passages from Jung’s published works (including his fear of “going black”), the discussion of the “racial question” among his contemporaries, and secondary literature. It then turns to statements from Jung’s unpublished manuscript “African Journey” (ca. 1925–26) for fresh insights into his views on his “primitive psychology.” On the one hand, Jung’s psychological approach failed to fully account for the social, economic, and historical aspects inherent to cultural differences. Moreover, he followed the widespread notion equating the primitive, the child, and the mentally ill. On the other hand, Jung’s understanding of “primitiveness” appears to be intrinsically linked to a critical approach to the alleged superiority of the “civilized man.” I argue that some passages from his unpublished manuscript “African Journey” demonstrate Jung’s conviction that the Western white man must recover a sense of the sacred and the experience of the numinosum, which the so-called primitive still retains. I discuss this complex and somewhat paradoxical view alongside an epistemologically problematic connotation inherent both to Jung’s empirical approach and his conception of the collective unconscious.

Theme of the Revolution in the Artistic Discourse of Mikhail Prishvin

The aim of the paper is to analyze Prishvin’s view of political, economic and social causes of the October Revolution, based on the material of the “The Worldly Cup” story, the writer’s publicistic writing and diaries, previously unpublished due to the censure. Prishvin sharply criticizes the course of the Bolshevik Party for the destruction of all previous culture of the Russian people, being against of the Marxist ideology of class antagonism and primitive equality which is established by violence. It is shown in the paper that the class struggle implemented by the Bolsheviks in the village is destroying traditional morality and family ties upon which the peasant life is based. But although Prishvin considers the new government as a way of life of robbers and thieves, he is against the unilateralism in the assessments of events happening in the country. In contrast to the Whites and emigrants, the writer does not consider the failure of the Soviet idea as the failure of socialism in general. Prishvin has a keen sense of personal responsibility for the fate of the Russian people and state. Historical and philosophical analysis of Prishvin’s creative heritage leads to the conclusion that the dialectical thinking of the writer allows him seeing not only the dark, but the bright side of life. Prishvin believes that there is a way out from the abyss of general enmity, where Russia fell after the revolutionary catastrophe, that the primitive psychology of hostility can be overcome only by means of Christian forgiveness and love. So Prishvin sees his self-affirmation and salvation himself as a writer in his devotion to good, not to evil of the class hatred. Keywords: Bolshevism, Class Struggle, Creativity, Ideology, Marxism, Revolution, State

Theme of the Revolution in the Artistic Discourse of Mikhail Prishvin

The aim of the paper is to analyze Prishvin’s view of political, economic and social causes of the October Revolution, based on the material of the “The Worldly Cup” story, the writer’s publicistic writing and diaries, previously unpublished due to the censure. Prishvin sharply criticizes the course of the Bolshevik Party for the destruction of all previous culture of the Russian people, being against of the Marxist ideology of class antagonism and primitive equality which is established by violence. It is shown in the paper that the class struggle implemented by the Bolsheviks in the village is destroying traditional morality and family ties upon which the peasant life is based. But although Prishvin considers the new government as a way of life of robbers and thieves, he is against the unilateralism in the assessments of events happening in the country. In contrast to the Whites and emigrants, the writer does not consider the failure of the Soviet idea as the failure of socialism in general. Prishvin has a keen sense of personal responsibility for the fate of the Russian people and state. Historical and philosophical analysis of Prishvin’s creative heritage leads to the conclusion that the dialectical thinking of the writer allows him seeing not only the dark, but the bright side of life. Prishvin believes that there is a way out from the abyss of general enmity, where Russia fell after the revolutionary catastrophe, that the primitive psychology of hostility can be overcome only by means of Christian forgiveness and love. So Prishvin sees his self-affirmation and salvation himself as a writer in his devotion to good, not to evil of the class hatred.

Management of Intense Countertransference in Group Psychotherapy Conducted in Situations of Civic Conflict

Conducting group psychotherapy in a situation of intractable conflict such as Northern Ireland activates turbulent emotional dilemmas within psychotherapists and group members alike. Professional practice and therapeutic zeal must struggle daily to survive the stark encounter with the reality of a regressive and primitive psychology and on occasion may succumb to atavistic tendencies, dragging relationships down to primitive levels and leaving connections broken.In this article, three group therapists describe their countertransference struggles when leading such groups. They meet in a psychosocial setting in which the risk to one’s psyche parallels the risk to one’s life and limb. The countertransference experienced here is dark, indeed identified by one author as not unlike Dante’s Inferno. They describe how understanding their personal countertransference enables them to survive emotionally even though it may not always lead to the survival of their groups. The effect of those struggles also troubled the act of writing itself, making cooperation difficult on occasion, a mirror of the external social matrix.

Understanding socially intelligent agents - a multilayered phenomenon

The ultimate purpose with socially intelligent agent (SIA) technology is not to simulate social intelligence per se, but to let an agent give an impression of social intelligence. Such user-centred SIA technology, must consider the everyday knowledge and expectations by which users make sense of real, fictive, or artificial social beings. This folk-theoretical understanding of other social beings involves several, rather independent levels such as expectations on behavior, expectations on primitive psychology, models of folk-psychology, understanding of traits, social roles, and empathy. The framework presented here allows one to analyze and reconstruct users' understanding of existing and future SIAs, as well as specifying the levels SIA technology models in order to achieve an impression of social intelligence.

Group: The More Primitive Psychology?: A Review of Some Paradigms in Group Dynamics

Comment is made on the concept of “paradigm” in contrast with the attitude of mind implicit in Husserl's “phenomenological reduction”. Merleau-Ponty's development of Husserl's phenomenology brings into focus our intersubjective enmeshment with a shared world, a view denied by traditional emphasis on individuality and objectivity. An outline of the origins of group life and individual valency is sketched by consideration of child development and object-relations theory, broadened by the insights of R. D. Laing. W. R. Bion's formulations on the work and basic assumption groups are seen as a description of the group expression of primal patterns of instinctual life. R. Schindler of Vienna has distinguished pre-group from group and has described the binding power of the group's opponent (G) function. His description of fixated group positions represents a sophistication of the ethological concept of pecking-order. This institutionalization is seen as a step in the formation, maturation and decay of a group's structure. Some interrelation is seen between Bion's and Schindler's ideas. The relevance of these dynamic models of the natural history of groups to interpretative technique is discussed, leading to a consideration of H. Ezriel's analysis of the common group tension into required, avoided and calamitous relationships.

Kinship and Conflict in a Yombe Village: a Genealogical Dispute

Opening ParagraphIn Myth in Primitive Psychology Malinowski saw in myth an active force which safeguarded and enforced morality and contained precedent, law, and practical rules for the guidance of man (1948, 101). It expressed, enhanced, and codified belief. For Malinowski myth was dominant and he thought that it still ruled Trobriand social life (1948, 126). Myth was an important integrating force and one of its social functions in Trobriand society was to convey, express, and strengthen the unity of the local group and that of the group of people descended from a common ancestress (1948, 116). In a Durkheimian sense, it was a social fact, external to the individual, generalized in society, and imposing constraints on human behaviour (Durkheim, 1958, 3).

La Bella Dormida: An Interpretation of the Image in Selected Spanish American Poets

century poetry by a rather widespread penchant for nocturnal themes and oneiric imagery. In Spanish America the modernista poets, Jos6 Asunci6n Silva, Rub6n Dario and Leopoldo Lugones clearly reflect this tendency; more recently, such markedly different poets as Pablo Neruda, Xavier Villaurrutia, Octavio Paz and Jorge Luis Borges share this preoccupation with Sleep and her two inseparable handmaidens, Love and Death. My objective in this study is to examine one particular image cluster within this general area of the nocturnal motif: that of the dormida, or sleeping woman. The realm of the sleeper may be poetically viewed either internally or externally. If the artist adopts the first of these approaches, he attempts to re-create the world of dreams with its ever-changing images and unexpected associations and, by so doing, endeavors to have his reader participate in the experience. By contrast, when the poet employs the external approach to the subject, he focuses upon the sleeper and his or her relationship to a second being. This second being may be simply a casual observer, or-and this is the specific situation which concerns us here-he may be the poet-lover. It is precisely the inability of this person to penetrate the dream world of the sleeper which provides the poetic crux of his creative problem. The poet thus finds himself in the realm of conjecture, of doubt, and quite often, of fear. The notion that the dreamer has in some manner abandoned his body, that his soul or spirit wanders during the eriod of sleep is deeply rooted in folkbeliefs and in primitive psychology. Closely related to this idea is the suggestion that in the somnolent state the wandering spirit returns to its original, genuine, primordial condition. This differentness which transcends the obvious physical problem of communication between the sleeping and waking state gives rise to a kind of amatory relationship that often approaches the mystical in its intensity. The theme of the beloved asleep, so rich in poetic suggestion, so laden with paradoxes and antitheses-death and regener tion, possession and loss, fear and tranquility-has been treated by a number of Spanish American poets: Jos6 Asunci6n Silva in Oh dulce nifia pilida and Mariposas; Leopoldo Lugones in Endecha; Octavio Paz in the Oda al suefio; Xavier Villaurrutia in some of his Noctumos; Herrera y Reissig in Plenilunio; Humberto Diaz Casanueva in La bella durmiente; and most notably by Jorge Luis Bo ges in Amorosa anticipaci6n.' A close examination of the Borges piece shows the richness of the poetry inspired by th dormida and also provides an excellent starting point for an analysis of the complex of images frequently surrounding the central figure:

Jung's influence on contemporary thought

Carl Jung, whose long life came to an end on the sixth of June, 1961, devoted his enormous energies for many years to the exploration of the human psyche. He would spend eight to ten hours a day in the consult ing room, working with his patients and pupils. In the evenings he studied everything he could find relating to the inner life of human beings. Even when he was but recently graduated from medical school, his interest was captivated by the problems of human behavior?and misbehavior. What is the motive power of the human psyche? he asked himself; and why do some people react to a situation, and indeed to life itself, in one way and some in another? And strangest of all, where did the queer ideas that he observed in his mental patients come from? In the last analy sis, were not these ideas very similar to the fantasies and day-dreams that he and other normal people entertained? What did these ideas mean? All his life Jung sought the answers to these questions. At first they seemed to be merely questions needing more or less simple answers. But gradually he realized that they contained the most profound mysteries of human life and experience. He was up against the enigma of life itself. He looked for answers first through his work with his patients in the consulting room, at the same time observing and analyzing his own dreams and fantasies. Then, realizing that analysis always brought out the primitive reactions in the individual, he began to read anthropologi cal reports. Later he went to North and Central Africa and to the Indian reservations of California and New Mexico to observe primitive psychol ogy at first hand. Next he studied oriental religions, journeying to India to meet and talk with Hindus, Buddhists, and Mohammedans. Meanwhile he studied the speculative thought of Gnosticism, alchemy, and patristic literature. But always he kept himself grounded in reality through his constant and patient work with people. As he gained insight into the

Charles Gabriel Seligman

EARLY in 1898, a small band of Cambridge scholars prepared for an unusual adventure: a research expedition to primitive New Guinea and adjoining islands. The group, assembled by Alfred C. Haddon, biologist turned ethnologist, boasted a variety of talents. Two of its members were W. H. R. Rivers, a medically trained physiologist and psychologist, and his pupil, C. S. Myers; they were to study the sensory perceptions of the natives and obtain information on primitive psychology. Anthropology was then in its infancy as a science; Rivers and Myers were to demonstrate for the first time that primitive people did not . . .

Magic, Science, and Religion and Other Essays.

In the same way that Frazer mapped out new worlds for modern anthropologists by rediscovering a common poetry in the mythologies of cultures, so Malinowski (through his studies of the Melanesian peoples) found a poetry in daily living. By exploring the rhythm of work and ritual among primitive peoples, he reveals essentials about ourselves. The three essays included here, first published in the 1920's, retain their power to move. In 'Magic, Science and Religion' Malinowski examines the various views of primitive religion (put forth by Frazer and Durkheim among others) and goes on to explore his own theories. Scientific knowledge, he finds, is common to all peoples, even the most primitive but religion and magic are special means by which man in a specific culture reconciles his place in the universe. The second essay, 'Myth in Primitive Psychology', was written as a tribute to Sir James Frazer, where Malinowski links myth with magic as a source of ethical and philosophical ideas, stressing the changing relationship with the culture that produces it. In the final essay, 'Baloma', Malinowski describes beliefs found in the Trobriand Islands regarding the spirits of the dead and explains his basic ideas on the functional link between behaviour, belief and society.

Book Reviews: The City Manager, Peter Kropotkin, Elisee and Elie Reclus, Time and Western Man, a New View of a Famous War. EL MARISCAL SOLANO LOPEZ, the Racial Basis of Civilization, a History of Village Communities in Western India, “God Rest You Merry Gentlemen.” The Father in Primitive Psychology, Talks to Parents and Teachers, the New Spirit in Russia and

Book Reviews: The City Manager, Peter Kropotkin, Elisee and Elie Reclus, Time and Western Man, a New View of a Famous War. EL MARISCAL SOLANO LOPEZ, the Racial Basis of Civilization, a History of Village Communities in Western India, “God Rest You Merry Gentlemen.” The Father in Primitive Psychology, Talks to Parents and Teachers, the New Spirit in Russia and

The father in primitive psychology,.

The father in primitive psychology,.

The Father in Primitive Psychology

SAVAGES to use a popular term, are no more logical and consistent than civilised peoples. This is a point which ! s often overlooked and has been use fully emphasised by Prof. Malinowski on more than one occasion. Ever since it has been recorded that some primitive peoples are ignorant of the part of the male in procreation, certain obvious difficulties which it is thought should inevitably arise have caused some doubts as to the completeness of this alleged ignorance. In this book Prof. lVlaliriowski records the results of his inquiries on the subject among the people of the Trobriand Islands, with special reference to its bearing upon the position of the father as a purely sociological and not a biological factor in the family group. The results are extremely interesting, and if Prof. Malinowski has not been successful in disposing of all, he has at any rate solved some of the more serious difficulties, The case of the unmarried mother is still a stumblingblck and the author has to fall back upon the explanation that a birth is contrary to the custom of society, a force which, when evrything is taken into account, does not seem quite hdequate, strong as it undoubtedly is. Prof. Maliriowski has some illuminating remarks to make on the relation of this lack of physiological knowledge to the attitude of the natives towards Christianity.

(1) Myth in Primitive Psychology (2) Fee, Fi, Fc, Fum: or, The Giants in England

(1) Myth in Primitive Psychology (2) Fee, Fi, Fc, Fum: or, The Giants in England

Myth in Primitive Psychology.

Myth in Primitive Psychology.