Phantom Narratives: The Unseen Contributions of Culture to Psyche

by Samuel L. Kimbles

In Phantom The Unseen Contributions of Culture to Psyche, Samuel Kimbles explores collective shadow processes, intergenerational transmission of group traumas, and social suffering as examples of how culture contributes to the formation of unseen, or phantom, narratives. These unseen narratives bundle together a number of themes around belonging, identity, identification, shadow, identity politics and otherness dynamics, and the universal striving for recognition. These dynamics enter the superego of our collective consciousness long before we are conscious of how they contribute to the shaping of our attitudes toward self and others, us and them (significantly contributing to scapegoat dynamics), emotionally generating fascination, possessiveness, disavowal and entitlement, and shame and fear. Also included in this book is an elaboration of Bion’s work on groups in the context of thinking about cultural complexes that helps to flesh out how human groupings generate processes that support and hinder the development of consciousness in both individuals and groups. Kimbles argues that the awareness that can come through an understanding of cultural dynamics as manifested through cultural complexes and cultural phantoms in combination with the development of cultural consciousness can lead to an understanding of how groups can develop and individuals in groups can individuate.

146 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2014

Reviews

[Geoffreyjen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Samuel L. Kimbles has written a remarkable book here, and one I wish was much more widely read. It addresses a whole slew of questions that are bound up into the dilemmas our society is facing today, be these issues of racial justice and gender equality, the ecological crisis we are now facing, the recognition and management of trauma in our lives, or simply how we may move individually, as well as collectively, beyond the impasses that characterize much of modern life. Not only are these questions grounded in a fascinating theoretical framework, that of "cultural complexes", but also the book offers a practical approach to moving forward through the recognition and expression of what he calls "phantom narratives", that is, stories about the multi-generational ghosts that haunt us collectively and individually, often locking us into reactive modes of behaviour, regardless of the groups to which we belong. Furthermore, he does this without falling into the tropes and caricatures often bound up with discussions of oppression and liberation, even though his book is very much concerned with freeing humans from their behavioural locks and acknowledges explicitly the ways suffering is propagated via power.

The only downsides are no doubt an inevitable focus on Jungian analysis and a tendency to use the terminology of that community, which, however, he always defines and provides context, given that the book is a kind of collection of texts related to Jungian analysis, and a rather dense, verbose style of writing. The presentation of dreams and case studies provided welcome specifics to tie down some of the abstractions. Only the second to last chapter presenting a detailed clinical analysis went over my head, but even there the book had given me enough background that it wasn't complete nonsense. The final chapter, ostensibly about the difficulties faced by the analytical community today, I thought was relevant to provide context for any cultural institution in today's world, for shining a light on the way through paralysis increasingly felt in today's rapidly changing world. Highly recommended.