Psychoanalysis from the Indian Terroir: Emerging Themes in Culture, Family, and Childhood

(Hardback)

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In Psychoanalysis from the Indian Terroir, Manasi Kumar, Anup Dhar, and Anurag Mishra discuss the synergies and diachronic thought that is emblematic of the current psychoanalytic narrative in India and examine what psychoanalysis in India could become. The contributors to this edited collection connect problems around culture, family, traditions, and the burgeoning political changes in the Indian landscape in order to provide critical rejoinders to the maternal-feminine thematic in Indias cultural psyche. Specifically, the contributors examine issues surrounding ethnic violence, therapists gender and political identities, narratives of illness, and spiritual and traditional approaches to healing.

Reviews

This homage for Sudhir Kakar is a must read for all those who are interested in the current state of cultural and clinical applications of psychoanalysis in India. -- Christiane Hartnack, University of Vienna and author of Psychoanalysis in Colonial India
This volume is a welcome addition to the burgeoning literature on what I have termed 'anthropological psychoanalysis'. Unshackled from the Eurocentric, phallocentric, and heuristically-colonizing 'psychoanalytic anthropology', the contributors to this book locate psychic development in its cultural matrix, forge true interdisciplinary links, and accord significance to the regional idiom in therapeutic discourse. Within the context of India, they cover wide-ranging topics that include the mother-child relationship, the evolution of identity, moral narcissism, yoga, misogyny, and the ever-challenging notion of a cultural unconscious. This is a deeply informative book about both India and psychoanalysis! -- Salman Akhtar, MD, Psychoanalytic Center of Philadelphia

Author Bio

Manasi Kumar is senior lecturer in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Nairobi and research fellow at the University College London and University of Cape Town. Anup Dhar is professor in the School of Human Studies at Ambedkar University, Delhi, and director of the Centre for Development Practice (CDP). Anurag Mishra is adjunct faculty in the School of Human Studies at Ambedkar University, Delhi, and chief of the psychoanalytic unit at Fortis Healthcare.