Race and the Unconscious

Freud is often accused of eurocentrism—of making unjustifiable generalisations on the basis of European family structures. Although French Caribbean intellectuals such as Fanon, Césaire and Glissant have joined in these criticisms, they have also made strikingly positive use of psychoanalysis.

Much intellectual energy has been invested in notions of repression, the Oedipus complex and the psychoanalytic cure, while at the same time Freudianism has been no less vigorously criticised for its political quietism and its potential as a means of social control. Thus, Freudian theory, and the controversies it arouses, remains a surprisingly persistent cultural element.

The crucial issue is the link between the unconscious and race. In this groundbreaking study, Britton looks at the different ways in which Freudian psychoanalysis has been incorporated into arguments about racial identity and difference in the French Caribbean.

Discover how Race and the Unconscious explores these complex interactions and maintains its relevance in cultural discourse.