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Enduring Migration through the Life Cycle

Editor : Arturo Varchevker, Editor : Eileen McGinley

Reviews and Endorsements

'By encompassing both external and internal migration, Varchevker and McGinley have opened up an important space for exploration by many distinguished authors, all informed by psychoanalytic ideas but each with a particular and individual point of view. Varchevker and McGinley have chosen to include in their study not only the life-threatening situations and the concomitant unbearable states of mind often found in people seeking refuge in exile, but also pathological internal states which can lead to a failure to thrive – that is, a failure in the normal, expectable developmental migrations towards maturity. Thus, the chapters in this book make for very interesting reading: the reader will travel long distances as the focus of the studies moves from a baby’s experience of exile in the presence of her gaze-avoiding mother, through the terror of in-between states in autistic children and in traumatised refugees; from the developmental personal crisis of facing death as the ultimate personal migration, to the horrors of genocide, and from inner catastrophe to working through trauma and hence to creativity.'
- Ignes Sodre, Fellow and Training Analyst, The British Psychoanalytical Society

'At present, it has been estimated that over 200 million people are considered to be migrants. The reasons for having left their homes are wide-ranging: escaping from war, persecution, discrimination and exploitation, at one extreme; seeking better living conditions and opportunities for work, at the other. Some migrants end up having to perform jobs that are dirty, dangerous and degrading. For others, migrating can become a positive and creative experience, contributing to the economic growth of the new country and enriching societies through cultural diversity. In all cases, the changes profoundly affect individuals, couples and families. Varchevker and McGinley have put together a collection of papers dealing, not only with external migration, but also with the consequences of internal migration. The individual’s life cycle is here used as a valuable frame for the understanding of those changes and their sequels. From a broad psychoanalytical perspective, the different authors included in this book describe the multiple problems presented by migration in its complex contemporary dimension.'
- Gregorio Kohon, Fellow and Training Analyst, The British Psychoanalytical Society