JOURNEYS TO FOREIGN SELVES: Asians and Asian Americans in a Global Era

by Alan Alan Roland

Drawing upon author's long-term psychoanalytical practice, research, and actual clinical data, this book examines the psychological ramifications of transnational immigration to Western countries and the continued influence of indigenous cultures on South Asian Diaspora. It explores new ways
of understanding the psyche of migrants from the diverse cultures of South Asia and the universal norms applied in Western practice. To this end it embraces and critiques the categories that are more specific to this region, such as the magic-cosmic world of private destiny, reincarnation,
astrology, and palmistry. By using more informed ways of understanding this exodus of people, the book attempts to find a new paradigm fusing spirituality with psychoanalysis.

300 pages, Hardcover

First published April 18, 2011

Reviews

[Swami Narasimhananda · Rating 5 out of 5]

So people change when they are in a cultural setting other than their own? Th is century has witnessed inter-culture movements like never before. Th at has had its share of psychological imbalance. Roland does an excellent job of locating the psychology of the selves at the familial, cultural, and individual levels in a changing cultural backdrop. Drawing from the results of various case studies conducted in India, Japan, China, Korea, and New York, he focuses on the cultural interplay of Asian and American individualities. Th is century has also witnessed barbarous acts of terrorism. Taking the partition of India and Pakistan and the 9/11 tragedy as his points of departure, Roland traces the trauma and dissociation these events entailed. He also shows us how the Western understanding of psychology has clouded and hindered a true assessment of the spiritual and mystical traditions of the East and how over and again psychologists have resorted to a ‘very pathologizing and regressive analysis of spiritual aspirations and experiences’ (121). He questions as to ‘what extent primary-process thinking and the id constitute spiritual knowing’ (122). He locates ‘spiritual longings’ to ‘follow from an appreciation of issues of the self, especially a self driven by intense spiritual yearnings, rather than seeing all motivation as deriving from unconscious psychic conflict … anxiety and depression’ (125). Roland’s vast clinical experience and his deep insight makes this volume an appealing read to all concerned with the modern human mind.