Exile and the kingdom: integration of an exiled family

 

 

Bráulio Porto

Psicólogo (USP), especialista em psicologia analítica (Unicamp), psicanalista junguiano (C.G. Jung-Institut Zürich), membro da International Association for Analytical Psychology (IAAP). e-mail: <brauaporto@gmail.com>

 

 

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ABSTRACT

The subject of exile is one of the ubiquitous themes in the World. It insinuates itself into events that affect people's daily lives and the course of countries. Beyond politics, a psychological reading enables us to reflect on this impact, not only on the individual or collective, but also on what relates to the exiled family. The notion of a mythical or archetypal family would help to clarify what emerges from the contact between two communities and the challenges of their integration. The study of a specific case - Portuguese families, adjusting to life in the French-speaking region of Switzerland - reveals a pattern reproduced elsewhere. The cultural shock brought by an approach of distinct dynamics results in psychological resistance on both sides. The work with Portuguese adolescents under analysis allows us to glimpse the intertwining of this query with personal psychologies, pointing to its creative solution through the resolution of conflicts and openness to diversity, carried out by the new generations.

Keywords: Family, Immigration, Exile, Integration, Archetypal.

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1. Families in exile

Reading the newspapers and watching the news reports on television appears to leave no doubt: one of the omnipresent topics on the global scale is the issue of exile.¹ The result of multiple factors, such as persecution and war, economic bankruptcy of countries, the search by individuals for better living conditions - and nowadays, pandemics -, the displacement of human groups has been the source of similar phenomena in different places. Its presence in the background - even if often hidden - can be seen concerning topics such as terrorist attacks, xenophobia, economic protectionism, laws to limit the circulation of people, racism, social security, unemployment, ghettoization, and construction of walls, among others. Parties on the right and left take advantage of this emotional theme to justify their proposals, and the alleged reality of the problem gains truly dangerous ideological layers.

It is impossible to deny that many of these issues are tragic consequences of global geopolitics, directly or indirectly involving governments and their interests. It is left to the political analysts to clarify the country's responsibility in fostering what we can describe as a crisis of exiles, especially those impacted by terrorism, even though the perspective of an extremist is not easy to explain. This matter, in particular, requires considering not only those related to politics but also other dimensions of the problem, especially the study of the psychopathology of these individuals and groups. On this topic - one of the most acute aspects of the issue -, we can find fundamental reflections coming from the field of psychology, and it is evident that a psychological reading also contributes to an understanding of the events related to the phenomenon in its other aspects.

The theme of exile is commonly analyzed from the perspective of two extremes. On a macroscopic scale, through the impact of the presence of a group of people of a particular nationality on another country, bringing their own culture, religion, habits, and customs along with them. At the opposite microscopic end, there is a concern with the exiled as an individual, and reflection on people's idiosyncrasies and reactions to the cultural environment. However, between these two positions, it is necessary to consider a midpoint that maintains an intimate relationship between the individual and the collective: the family. The exiled figure reveals the importance of this word, strongly represented in the human psyche and quite symbolic for this reason.

In proposing a psychological focus on the theme of the exiled family, it is essential to establish the difference between the way the subject has been addressed on one side by family and systemic therapies, and on the other by Jungian analytical psychology.²The heart of the matter that separates these approaches is the abandonment of the individual and sociological bias, impregnating the notion of family in a systemic reading. At the same time, it finds in Jungian analytical psychology consideration of what can be called the mythic or archetypal family.³ This difference establishes a relative distance between these approaches. It is interesting to observe that accepting this discrepancy does not imply affirming that this also means a judgment of value concerning its quality. We are all subject to our fantasies in any circumstance, and thus, what we are dealing with here is a question of perspective.

What must be considered with this differentiation is that it seems possible to understand, based on the notion of the mythic or archetypal family, both the connections and disconnections that occur in contacts between two different peoples and the challenge of their cultural integration. The existence of distinct qualities in this particular backdrop, dominant in the fantasy of what is understood as family, is established as a determining factor for the insertion of groups in a new territory, exercising influence both by those exiled and those who receive them. The importance given to this psychological pattern will allow the understanding of its influence in themes such as cultural resistance, whose expression and psychopathology manifest in the intimate lives of the individuals involved, as well as in the understanding of the role of new generations in the resolution of these conflicts and appreciation of diversity.

This reflection's focus is on a single population in one specific country, in the case of groups coming from Portugal's countryside and their adaptation to life in Switzerland. During the years that I worked as a psychotherapist in the alpine country, in the city of Fribourg, seeing a considerable number of exiled children, adolescents and adults of Portuguese origin, I realized that the status of a foreigner played a central role in the complaints of those who have come to French-speaking Switzerland in search of a new life. A consideration of the particularities of their cultural integration process allows us to establish a model that is reproduced in other places, even though separated in time and space.

 

2. The myth of the return

Understanding the Portuguese character has been an essential concern of many thinkers in the country and one of its highest expressions is in the works of its poets. Fernando Pessoa (2000) - the greatest Portuguese poet alongside Luís de Camões -, in his poem Message, dedicated himself to the recovery and praise of Portuguese identity by means of its heroic deeds in the period of ocean exploration and discovery of new worlds.

The second part of this work called "Portuguese Ocean," refers to the most important event in the country's subsequent economic disaster, which was the death of King Sebastian in the Battle of Alcazar in 1578. This defeat meant the loss of the country's independence and maritime supremacy, and was the genesis of a messianic movement called Sebastianism, characterized by the mystical belief in or prediction of the king's return and a consequent restoration of lost glory.

Portuguese Ocean

Salt-laden sea, how much of all your salt
Is tears of Portugal!
For us to cross you, how many sons have kept
Vigil in vain, and mothers wept!
Lived as old maids how many brides-to-be
Till death, that you might be ours, sea!

Was it worth while? It is worth while, all,
If the soul is not small.
Whoever means to sail beyond the Cape
Must double sorrow - no escape.
Peril and abyss has God to the sea given

And yet made it the mirror of heaven (PESSOA, 2000, p. 28).

In this poem, which has the same name as the second part of the composition, Pessoa glorifies the honor, greatness and triumph of these expeditions, as if he is trying to awaken the ancestral Portuguese soul; throughout the work, these events are tied to the image of King Sebastian's return. While this figure takes on a metaphorical character in this poem, in the imaginary of the Portuguese population analyzed this cultural complex⁴ finally found a concrete expression. This archetypal thematic content also migrated to and has been manifest in other cultures, sometimes without much change. In Brazil, for example, Antônio Conselheiro, the messianic leader of a resistance movement against the Republican government, called Canudos, attracted a large number of followers in the 19^th century, with the belief that King Sebastian would return from the dead to restore a monarchy in the country (CUNHA, 1983).

As a specific expression of a living myth with this historic dressing in its presentation, the existence and dominance of this archetypal theme can be seen in the psyche of most of those Portuguese in exile today, and in its expression and reproduction in how their families live. While coming from smaller cities and predominantly rural zones - and thus, removed from the influence of other cosmopolitan psychological dynamics - these groups have kept alive the fantasy of embodying, through their members, the recovery of a glorious past.

In times when success or social value is measured by material possessions, these families have dedicated themselves to the main objective of financial gain, intending to return in the future to their country of origin. A very small number of these individuals try to dishonestly take advantage of gaps in the laws to obtain advantages, either trying to work less, retire early or obtain social aid they do not need. Meanwhile, the vast majority of families dedicate themselves body and soul to working in the land they chose to immigrate to. Nevertheless, although different, both groups are subject to the same psychological dynamic, recovery of a noble identity based on material enrichment.

This would not be surprising if one considers the economic crises experienced in the country in previous decades, seen as a "traumatic" element in their collective lives. However, this is not simply healthy establishment in a new place, but rather accumulation of a respectable patrimony in Portugal, where they can also be recognized (and sometimes envied) by their peers. Almost a general rule, families can be found living hard lives in their destination countries - in the sense of this "double sorrow" of the poem -, while they construct comfortable residences in their native land. Pragmatism is also apparent in the objective they foster in their children: work, regardless of the educational level they are able to attain, that provides economic security in their adult lives.

The choice of Swiss Romandy as a location to settle, in this case, appears purely circumstantial. While there is a quite numerous Portuguese community, support of relatives and ease of communication - many never learn the French language -, the main reason is absolutely pragmatic: the economic health of the region and, consequently, its opportunities.

 

3. The Portuguese psyche on Swiss soil

It is not hard to imagine what the results would be of the establishment of exiled families with a particular archetypal dominance in any other environment in which the psychological dynamic of native families is simply different: a pessimistic prognosis with regard to cultural integration, often seen as simply impossible.

This idea can be understood in the case of these Portuguese families that move to French-speaking Switzerland. Previously resistant to integration, as discussed above, they appear essentially established as heterosexual couples with children, with a primordial dynamic of strong attachment to the mother, whose ubiquity is imposed in decisions of an affective nature in the group and in activities such as caring for the health of the children, meals and domestic services. In general, the wives supplement the salary of their husbands, engaging in predominantly physical labor, whether cleaning homes and offices or in tiring work in medium and large companies.

The father, though relegated to a secondary role in the affective order, is primarily a figure of moral and economic authority, who is expected to provide for the family and ensure material security. The rigidity and crystallization of these positions is due to the strength of the machista standard, which expects boys to assume the role of provider, while girls gradually take on the same maternal functions, such as family care and income supplementation, anticipating a "good marriage" in the near future. In this region, these men occupy themselves primarily with services related to civil construction, also offering their physical services to companies and factories.

The development perspective of descendants of Portuguese families does not follow the family separation model. The new families that result from the affective relationships of the children tend to continue to orbit around the parents, transformed into grandparents. This dynamic of honoring ancestors is not limited to the family, but expands to the native land, reflected in the desire to maintain its customs. This attachment is reflected in the Portuguese word saudade, which hardly can be translated into other languages. For the Brazilian poet, Olavo Bilac, it is "the presence of those absent" (BILAC, 2002). Machado de Assis, one of the greatest Brazilian writers, wrote in one of his novels that "it is the living and reliving of old memories" (ASSIS, 1994). One can think of this term as a type of nostalgia in the present, the emotional lack of a dynamic that is distant, both in time and space.⁵

The Swiss Romandy family, however, generally reflects a fully different archetypal configuration (PORTO, 2015). Although one can see the political pressure (based on economic reasons) for one of the parents to take responsibility of caring for the children - often tending to be the figure of the mother -, there is greater equity in the roles played by the couple, whether hetero or homosexual.⁶ There is no expectation in the family that the children remain tied to the parents in adulthood; in fact, it is often discouraged. Consequently, the mother will not necessarily play the main role as the affective center of an extended family, and there is joint encouragement for the children to establish their own families.

With a family culture focused on the autonomy of its members, and in this sense, promoting independence as well as separation, the context for heterosexual couples in the country allows fathers and mothers to occupy more homogeneous positions in the labor market - although still far from desired -, with opportunities given to women being one of the most emphasized aspects of any contemporary hiring proposition. However, this is a privilege specifically focused on Swiss individuals, not serving for other nationalities, particularly those who occupy inferior positions on a scale of cultural or economic importance in the ideological context.⁷

Pressured by the manpower needs of the country, focused specifically on work for which they either do not have professional or knowledge qualifications or that they feel is beneath them, those Swiss welcome (often reluctantly, reflecting fears of Überfremdung)⁸ the mass of Portuguese families in their territory. What can be concluded from this circumstance is that the archetypal dominance of Portuguese families ends up not finding the same expression in Swiss families, therefore remaining without their psychological soil. In this way, already predisposed to preserve a connection with their land of origin and facing the perception that they are not welcome, the reaction of exiles tends to be to close themselves off into their own groups, feeding and reinforcing their specific tendencies.

We therefore have a meeting between extroverted and introverted affection; speaking loudly and discrete expression; close physical contact and a removed, careful touch; flexibility in terms of time and punctuality. Presented this way, these aspects reveal a simple matter of differences; however, heated by the unconscious furnace of cultural complexes, with the blindness characteristic of unilateral points of view, this meeting becomes a battle, with its undesirable consequences.

Paraphrasing C. G. Jung (2014, par. 420), when establishing a spectrum in which each culture occupies one of the poles, we have on the Swiss ultraviolet end discomfort with an excess of affection and loud discussion, the feeling of physical intrusion, impatience with lateness, all this criticized in a polite and elegant manner, albeit vile. On the Portuguese infrared end, we find the feeling that there is a lack of affection, terror resulting from unbearable silence in the streets, the coldness of hugs and kisses and rigid schedules, points commented on openly and unfiltered to anyone willing to listen.

 

4. Pathology or diversity

Facing a reality in which the term culture shock appears to be the best expression, one might believe that integration of these exiled families would never really be achieved. The differences that emerge from the approximation of such unique archetypal dynamics, promoted by the foreign and native families, end up promoting cultural and psychological resistance on both sides.

Considering that the pioneering individuals changing countries tend to remain strongly tied to their original culture, it is in the second generation of exiles that these issues tend to emerge and it is not uncommon to find high rates of mental illness and psychopathological behavior in this population. These individuals face personal psychological issues related to specific exile situations, such as attachment to an archetypal model that cannot be sustained in the new environment, the feeling of non-acceptance by colleagues, and the resistance of their exiled family to assimilate what is new into their lifestyle due to a different psychological background. Briefly, I would like to present two cases in which this description can be envisioned.

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The first one is of a twelve-year-old Portuguese adolescent, whose family lived in Switzerland for four years. The reason for their arrival had been due to a stroke suffered by the father, forty-six years old, during previous work in Switzerland. One of his sequelae was a progressive loss of cognitive abilities, aggravated three years later by another incident, the fall from a high ladder. At this time, he had a head injury, and he was immediately operated. His balance was shaken, and therefore he was assessed as entirely unfit for work for an indeterminate period.

His forty-year-old wife worked during the week "in the cleanings" to supplement her husband's incomes paid by the Swiss Accident Insurance Fund (SUVA). Meanwhile, the father was being subjected to a series of medical tests to evaluate his degree of physical and psychological impairment, waiting for his pension and payment of compensation by the Swiss government, considering the idea of maybe being able to return with his family to Portugal.

Their son had been diagnosed for at least two years earlier with Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, predominantly inattentive type (F90.0), and had been treated with Ritalin 10 mg and Concerta 36 mg/daily since then. However, his main complaint was not the problems of concentration at school, but the lack of defined objects for his fears. This last question would prove to be the essential theme of his process, establishing later his diagnosis as an Anxiety disorder, unspecified (F41.9). Our sessions took place once a week for 18 months, with breaks on holidays and school vacations.

It became evident that the break lived through exile had been doubly disturbing to him, whether the shock caused by the father's post-traumatic state or the sudden moving country. He had diffuse fears that were a constant source of anguish. One of them concerned the existence of the Bigfoot, whom he feared would arrive in the evening in his bedroom while listening to sounds coming through the window. Three months before he started psychotherapy, he used to sleep in his parents' bed. He slept attached to one of them.

Having trouble socializing and suffering bullying by his schoolmates, he believed that his issues would end once he returned to his country of origin, shortly, even if his parents had no idea of whether and when this would occur. Without being able to count on the presence of a stable paternal figure, he established a transferential relationship with me, which oscillated between the affectionate meeting with a supporter and the subsequent clash against a rival, point in which he employed extreme aggressiveness.

At school, teacher's misunderstanding of his mental state began to harm him, pressuring to perform better and leading him feel more stressed and anxious. In our sessions, we ended up finding a way to work that pleased him, where we established a dialogue with his fear. Sometimes I incorporated his feeling, and other times he had this role. We also kept the shutters and our eyes closed, trying to create a similar atmosphere to what happened at night in his house. This experience was close to reality, and his imaginative work led him to a relaxed state close to sleep. We explored the awareness of different sounds, concluding that by nightfall, everything was more noticeable.

Finally, the pressure he felt was shown in all its intensity when school problems escalated. In one session, he brought me two printed photos, with scenes of a Portuguese river where he loved to fish. He worked with sandplay and built a very troubled and confused scenario, with messy sand and water in excess. He threw sandballs at the buildings he had set up. He described the scene as if they were meteorites hitting some of the touristic buildings of countries, such as the New York statue, the London Clock and the Eiffel Tower.

The apocalyptic atmosphere in that scenario impressed me. It was possible to understand that the attack on the phallic structures was linked to this boy's fear of life that opened with puberty, as a growth refusal. The challenges at school raised like an uncomfortable element, which forced him to move into a direction he did not want to go. His annoyance to live in Switzerland became even more evident, and the fantasy that a possible return to Portugal would solve all his problems raised in him. At the same time, the father's health condition created doubts about his effectiveness as a reference male figure, given his severe loss of vital energy. Although challenging, this moment became a point of no return in his analytical process.

After a few months of psychotherapy, the opening of this continent allowed an understanding of his social inadequacy as intrinsically linked to the condition of forced exile. This led to the change of his diagnosis and the withdrawal of the medication by his Swiss psychiatrist. His psychological improvement accompanied the acquisition of skills to cope with the situation lived at school, also being able to sleep alone in his bed.

Shortly after his father received a positive government's decision on his financial compensation, I discussed with the couple about the importance of a final definition regarding their future, to prevent this became a source of anxiety for their son again. Since they decided to return living in Portugal, the patient came to the next session bringing a fidget spinner. As soon as we got into my office, he asked me to close the curtains as we used to do in our first sessions. He wanted to show me his toy spinning and glowing in the dark. I understood it symbolized how he now could deal with the night metaphorically.

In our last sessions, we spoke about his fantasies regarding moving country. He was aware his new life would not be easy or idyllic, although his excitement was enormous. A desire for changes also opened a room to live adolescence in a new way, elsewhere, with original possibilities. Before leaving, he confided me he had a girlfriend in Portugal, and his appearance was no longer of a boy but of a young man full of enthusiasm.

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The second case is that of a fourteen-year-old Portuguese teenager. She moved to Switzerland with her parents at the age of two and a half. Her father, a thirty-eight-year-old worker, migrated to the country after getting a job, bringing his wife, of the same age. The latter, like many Portuguese, found herself in an occupation as "cleaning lady". Installed in the country, they had another daughter, who was eight years old. The patient had been followed for five years by school psychologists, due to a significant cognitive deficit.

During her mother's second pregnancy, she was overjoyed, but when her sister started walking, she revolted. Parents complained of her rebellion, alternating "sweet with difficult" phases. She had lost contact with her maternal grandparents the previous year, from whom she received attention for eleven years, after they decided to return to Portugal on retirement. The bumpy course in the studies had already been established in early childhood, with changes and conflicts, being enrolled at that moment in a particular school financed by Assistance for the Invalids (AI) of Switzerland.

A severe intestinal problem, which occurred at the age of seven, made her need aggressive treatment, which her parents were not fully aware of. As the disease affected babies and adults, the hospital did not have adequate devices for her size, and she needed to undergo a procedure aimed to mature people. In the lying position, her intestine had to be filled and then emptied with a hot liquid. She felt terrible pain, and although she was treated for a short time, this experience was intense and painful, causing an impact related to everything that involved diseases and vaccines. Her diagnosis was Phobic anxiety disorder, unspecified (F40.9). Our sessions would take place once a week, for the following 22 months, with pauses on school breaks and holidays.

At the beginning of the therapy, she presented a withdrawn behavior, afraid of situations that affected her physically. She avoided dealing with the cleaning products at home, fearful of the possibility of poisoning herself. The relationship with the parents was permeated by friction, especially when she refused to follow the model of the duties demanded by her mother. She expected her daughter to take care of the house and learn her occupation, imagining that she could get a similar job. However, everything that involved that pattern displeased the patient. Even the occasional trips to Portugal to visit the extended family were unbearable, being comfortable with her Swiss identity.

The fundamental aspect that marked this perspective was related to the language she had chosen to use in therapy. At the first meeting, I felt comfortable communicating in our common language. In a moment, I realized that her intimate expression would only occur in French. As soon as she started answering the questions I was asking in Portuguese using the French language, I also began to communicate in the same way, never again stop using that foreign language.

In a phase of transition from childhood to adulthood, she feared her colleagues' judgment of knowing her taste in playing, something seen as inappropriate. She collected little animals, wanting to make a video and post it on YouTube. She showed me some of these productions, well-produced and narrated by French girls of her age, who created posts with toys manipulated by hands. I suggested that we make our homemade version, from a script written by her. For a while, she chose characters and set up scenarios, also using sandplay miniatures. Her stories narrated real events she went through, centered on a little cat named Angel, who was "passionate about technology and jealous of her younger sister."

The lines between the dialogues and situations revealed sensitive memories of a painful experience related to the attachment to her mother. Later, the mother would confess that, during the end of her pregnancy in Portugal, she had become estranged from her husband, who worked in Spain. He was involved in a moment of gambling addiction, while she took care of the newborn baby alone, unable to breastfeed due to her depressed state. Although the wounds of early childhood were still present, the patient's development towards the outside world began to take on more and more space. Abruptly, from one week to the next, she abandoned the puppet games she had dedicated herself to, bringing topics related to her group of friends. She seemed to have exhausted the need for those plays with toys, not being psychologically more relevant.

In the following months, genuinely adolescent subjects were the keynote of psychotherapy, beginning with the long-awaited menarche. Her physical change and personal appearance, interest in boys and the relationship with environments in which alcohol and cigarettes were offered became her focus. Situations experienced with friends that involved the risk of exposing their lives on internet were reflected in the sessions, while seeking a balance between her desires and reality. Finally, she began to demonstrate urgency in planning what would happen in the next two years, the time when professional internships began. She realized that her intellectual level would not allow her to dream about great things, envisioning what she could concretely achieve, thus escaping the expectation of a cohesive community that expected her adherence to the traditional female models.

An inception of a more tolerant channel with her parents was essential to create a peaceful time at home. They were oriented to be respectful of her intimacy, opening up to the way she positioned herself in the affairs of adult life, such as dating, autonomy and family participation. The psychiatric treatment of maternal depression also contributed to calm the fights, with a general improvement in her fears, which eventually still appeared. She started to give more efficient cognitive responses, calming down and finding solutions to certain annoyances.

Encouraged by the support offered in the therapeutic relationship, she found the strength to overcome her intellectual difficulties through an intense study routine, facing an evaluation that would allow her to leave the special school and access the regular school. After a few months, she received a positive result, which had the immediate consequence of reducing anxious events and conflict situations. She reported her joy of feeling part of a new group of friends, well placed and without being uncomfortable with the fact of being a foreigner. We stopped work when she was preparing to start the internship as a veterinary assistant.

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These cases suggest the entanglement of issues of exile with individual myths, causing situations of conflict in the bosom of these families. In this sense, they are examples of pathology that can result when the theme is not reflected in depth. In this situation, one can again find a major difference between family therapies and Jungian analytical psychology: while the first focuses on the group and social roles, the later seeks the individual as its focus of attention.

Regarding this horizon, James Hillman says: "For all its emphasis upon the individualized soul, archetypal psychology sets this soul, and its making, squarely in the midst of the world" (2013, p. 34). Thomas Moore warns that "it is the troublesome family member that needs closer attention, not some other figure" (MOORE, in HILLMAN, 1989, p. 194). Therefore, the key lies in the subject for the pathological crisis to unfold creatively through the discovery of his own identity. This important and common phenomenon points to an interesting resolution of this conflict, having as a means of transformation the encounter between children and young people born both in families in exile and those established in their home country. Through their coexistence, the new generation ends up carrying the germs of a desired and viable cultural integration.

Embedded in a social environment extremely rich due to the existence of different cultures, result of a society formed in large part by foreigners, these developing individuals are characterized as having a psychology open to much broader multicultural values than their parents. Their still marginal position with regard to their individual role in the bosom of the family favors distancing from the cultural complexes of this group, and therefore flexibility in dealing with other identification models.

The teaching environment, whether the school or daycare, is the perfect place for this contact to occur. If on one hand, it can serve as a stage for psychopathological expression, on the other, its public and non-elitist access also fosters sociability, having its playful aspect as the main tool. Playing and games bring people together and tend to minimize differences. Good educators usually understand this and strive to create an atmosphere favorable to cultural integration in the school environment. They often have to deal with complex issues that involve religious beliefs and sensitive topics brought by exiled families from quite different cultures. In this case, it is not unusual to find a search for an intermediate solution that respects both parties involved.

In the battle over aspects of the senex, represented by the archetypal family and its determinism, the way to carry and reproduce its cultural complexes and resistance to change, and the features of the puer, symbolized by the desire for change and renewal, as identified in the psyche of members of the new generation, it should be recognized that cultural integration can only occur through a relationship between both. When one can maintain the tie to ancestors - without determinist rigidity and conservatism -, while being open to and curious about another cultural world.

 

5. Possible integration

Transformed into scapegoats in a single block of foreigners, in the face of the economy adversity sustained by the fantasy of being the worst of all times, exiles are paradoxically those who do not work and take advantage of the system, at the same time that they steal "our" jobs. While such ideologies, of global in scope and synchronized with the zeitgeist, support decisions such as control over the coming and going of people and their enclosure by walls, there is also everywhere a set of reactions against this trend, understanding that cultural integration is the only way out of the problems caused by exile. For example, in Switzerland, the approval of a facilitated naturalization process for the third generation of immigrants is symbolically significant in this regard (CUMMING-BRUCE, 2017). In a world radically transformed by the Covid-19 pandemic, such a wish should be one of the goals to be pursued by people and their countries.

However, the exile issue - especially the type that includes immigrants and refugees - affects populations most sensitive to the economic and health crises that accompany the development of the pandemic. After all, it is these people who are crowded in refugee camps alongside thousands, in a wait that may last for a few years; who encounter obstacles to access the minimum health service, with the additional difficulties of lack of documents and ineptitude in communicating the local language; and who suffer from the lack of support from relatives and a social assistance network, inserted in informality. Data from the International Organization for Migration (IOM) indicates that 25.9 million individuals were in this situation in 2018, out of a universe of 272 million international migrants (UNITED NATIONS, 2019).

Given this reality, what can be demanded is strict attention to international protection standards for these groups, concerning the fundamental rules of refugee laws. In a context in which human rights are put at risk, with the threat of tensioning racism, xenophobia, sexual exploitation, it is necessary to act with a collective conscience guided by empathy and ethical responsibility, which allows the approach of different groups on a level of equity.

This panorama indicates that establishing a horizontality dynamic is one of the fundamental points for the antagonisms to fade.⁹ When considered from a similar and non-hierarchical horizon, the presence of the other disfavors the constellation of a relationship based on power, allowing this meeting to take place under the rule of eros and the auspices of the archetype linked to fratria. In history, examples can be found in which these phenomena promoted the development of active solidarity between peoples, consolidating a type of successful cultural integration. One of them concerns the influence of the Japanese in the cultural development of the state of São Paulo (CARNEIRO, TAKEUCHI, 2010).

Arriving in Brazil in the first decades of the twentieth century, Japanese families were a fundamental source of labor in the São Paulo coffee economy. Although stigmatized as an inferior race and victimized by discriminatory state policies, these communities developed resistance strategies, surviving xenophobia and social barriers. Nowadays, it is impossible to deny its cultural influence in aspects such as architecture, cuisine, and plastic arts, even if the debate on the deconstruction of prejudices and stereotypes remains fundamental, guaranteeing the recognition of its contribution to the country's multiethnicity.

The insertion of a group of individuals in a new cultural environment forces the change in the archetypal dominance established and reproduced in their family collectives, affecting the psychological complexes of those who receive them. This intertwining can foster, in its creative bias, the valorization of the individual personality plurality, and the contemplation and respect for diversity by the community. ■

 

 

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Received on: 02/27/2019
Revised on: 07/14/2020

 

 

1 The choice of the term exile seeks to consider the different experience of being away from one's place of origin, either by individuals or immigrant groups, expatriates, those exiled or refugees.
2 Although specificities of different family therapy schools are considered, some common premises remain, such as the concept of the family as a historical and open system, the tendency of its self-regulatory function in favor of homeostasis, and the role of the symptom as an interpersonal element (COSTA, 2010, p. 97). As for these points, the analytical psychology approach is presented diametrically, with the family's understanding as a fictional entity where personal interrelationships are "unbalanced" by intimate desires and pathologies are expressed through remythologized individual emotions (KERÉNYI & HILLMAN, 1995, p. 73).
3 The notion of the mythic or archetypal family refers to identifying specific patterns independent of social expectations of their functioning as a group. With the idea of family defined as a fantasy, the psychological reading implies a metaphorical significance and, consequently, a particular meaning (MOORE, in HILLMAN, 1989, p. 193). The same author advocates the "archetypal recognition of family as the supreme metaphore for sustaining the human condition, whether you have a family or not" (HILLMAN, 1996).
4 The concept of cultural complex is based on the premise that "another level of complexes exists within the psyche of the group and within the individual at the group level of their psyche. We call these group complexes 'cultural complexes,' and they, too, can be defined as emotionally charged aggregates of ideas and images that tend to cluster around an archetypal core and are shared by individuals within an identified collective" (SINGER & KAPLINSKY, p. 22-37, 2010).
5 "[...] the memories of idyllic childhood, the desire to reencounter lost love, the lack of dear friends or images from the warmth and distant birthplace promote - to the longing person - the experience of a stranger in the present, 'exiling' her or him in the writing of past times" [free translation] (PALOMO, 2015).
6 Data such as the 80% "no" of the Zurich population on whether to define marriage as strictly heterosexual and the reform that allows homosexuals to adopt children support this affirmation (GESSLING, 2016).
7 For the historian Brigitte Studer, "if Switzerland has one of the strictest naturalization laws in Europe, this is also because it always saw foreigners as disposable manpower to use and abandon, and not as citizens to be integrated" [free translation] (SUMMERMATTER, 2017).
8 German term, which represents the fear of an excess of foreigners or their influence in the country.
9 "[…] the significant Other, defines my being in the world and my love for the world at levels beyond those of mother and father" (BARCELLOS, 2016, p. 19).