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      Exploring the Dynamic Unconscious: Intersubjectivity and the Raced-Self in Vertically Infected HIV-Positive Adolescents

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            Abstract

            This paper explores intrapsychic life as a site of socio-political insertion from birth. The first part of this paper engages with the psychoanalytic theory of Melanie Klein on the notion of the dynamic unconscious and the Oedipal situation as key processes in the development of the self. The paper goes on to discuss the critical contemporary position taken up by scholars who have highlighted the racialisation of the Oedipus complex and its use in justifying racial hierarchies. Furthermore, the paper engages with the unconscious as an intersubjective organising principle. Franz Fanon's psychoanalytic framework, that deals with colonial subjectivity, is reviewed here in order to explore how the raced-self becomes imposed and internalised. The second part of the paper locates this theoretical argument within the context of HIV. Intrapsychic development, which comes to be located in our unconscious mind from birth, cannot be understood outside of specific socio-political considerations. The unique developmental challenges of HIV for those who are vertically infected cannot be taken for granted, and there must be more deliberation on the ways in which intersubjective, politically aware versions of psychoanalysis can be used to inform clinical knowledge and practice in working with vertically infected HIV-positive adolescents in South Africa.

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            Author and article information

            Contributors
            Journal
            10.2307/j50020082
            intecritdivestud
            International Journal of Critical Diversity Studies
            Pluto Journals
            2516-550X
            2516-5518
            1 December 2019
            : 2
            : 2 ( doiID: 10.13169/intecritdivestud.2.issue-2 )
            : 55-71
            Affiliations
            Psychology, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa
            Psychology, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa
            Article
            intecritdivestud.2.2.0055
            10.13169/intecritdivestud.2.2.0055
            26aba87d-4332-4092-ac60-9962ffbc5022
            © 2019 International Journal of Critical Diversity Studies

            All content is freely available without charge to users or their institutions. Users are allowed to read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, or link to the full texts of the articles in this journal without asking prior permission of the publisher or the author. Articles published in the journal are distributed under a http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.

            History
            Custom metadata
            eng

            Social & Behavioral Sciences
            dynamic unconscious,Fanon,vertical HIV-infection,intersubjectivity,raced-self,Oedipus complex

            References

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