Racial trauma as an unlaid ghost of empire

Abstract

The persistence of racism is explored intersectionally, through a personal narrative or herstory, which includes extracts of childhood, professional experiences within forensic mental health services, and in relation to group analytic roles. Reflections are underpinned by two theories; Freud’s seminal theory of trauma as an unlaid ghost and Foulkes’s group analytic premise that human beings are permeated to the core with social context, including that which is transgenerationally transmitted. Thus, it is proposed that racial trauma may be thought about as an unlaid ghost of Empire, the dynamics of which are continuously re-enacted during interactions between people and, it is suggested, can be understood as internal working models laid down at an unconscious level and arguably integrated within our attachment systems. Hence, the emergence of racist attitudes and behaviour during intense attachment experiences, whether personal, group or societal in origin.