Disputed Boundaries of the Self, the Group, and their Environment: What We Learn from Refugees about our Psychic Functioning1

Abstract

One of Jung’s most significant contributions concerns the mysterious, inexplicable and always out-of-reach nature of the self. In this paper, I will focus on the borders of the self and their nature, location and dynamics of maintenance and change in geographically, historically, and culturally situated subjects. Reflecting on the refugee experience, I intend to gain more insights into our psychic functioning and the dynamics of the self in relation to itself, the other and groups. The experiences of some refugees, marked bysignificant trauma and migration, shed light on how the boundaries of the self are frequently contested and perpetually negotiated with others, and how our subjectivity is shaped by ongoing dynamics of occupation, dispute and/or negotiation, conducted at various levels of our social and individual existence. My argument is that these processes occur at a specific site: the boundaries of the self, involving intrapsychic, interpersonal and group psychological dynamics, with reverberations in the socio-political and cultural spheres, and reciprocal influences between all these levels. This paper aims to concentrate on the shifts in these boundaries, illustrated through clinical vignettes.