Archetypal and Cultural Perspectives on the Foreigner

Minorities and Monsters

Joanne Wieland-Burston examines the question of the ‘foreign’ and ‘foreigner’ from multiple perspectives and explores how Jung and Freud were more interested in the wide phenomenon of the foreign in the unconscious rather than in their own personal lives. It includes contemporary perspectives on immigration and displacement throughout.

In this era of intense migration, the topic of the foreigner is of paramount importance. Joanne Wieland-Burston examines the question of the "foreign" and "foreigner" from multiple perspectives and explores how Jung and Freud were more interested in the wide phenomenon of the foreign in the unconscious rather than in their own personal lives. She analyses cultural approaches to the archetype of the foreigner throughout history using literary, cultural (as seen in mythological texts and fairy tales) and psychological references, and interprets the scapegoating of foreign minorities as a projection of the monster onto the foreigner. The book includes contemporary perspectives on immigration and displacement throughout, from analysing patient case material, the archetypal needs of people who join terrorist groups, feelings of alienation, and the work of Palestinian-German psychologist Ahmad Mansour. Throughout this personal and highly topical study, Wieland-Burston questions and studies C. G. Jung’s own reflections on himself as a foreigner and her own personal experiences.

This book will be vital reading for Jungian psychotherapists and analytical psychologists in practice and in training, as well as for academics and students of Jungian and post-Jungian studies, archetypal studies, identity politics, and courses examining the experiences of displaced persons, refugees, migrants and minority groups.