An Evening With Lourdes Hernandez: The Trauma of Exile Through a Jungian Lens

This presentation will discuss the trauma of political exile, how it splits and shapes the psyche of displaced individuals, making their lives feel psychologically conflictual and incongruous. We will explore how Jungian theory can assist the exile in fashioning a new mythic center that grounds the uncentered, culturally diverse self-states that develop from acculturation. We will discuss how Jungian analysis is uniquely suited to working with the exile complex through the presenter’s own dreamwork, active imagination, the transcendent function of the symbol, and the transference container - ultimately bringing meaning to the suffering of exile.