article
Separation and indivduation in an African society: the developmental tasks of the Gusii married woman
Psychiatry • 45 • Published In 1982 • Pages: 61-75
By: LeVine, Sarah (Sarah E.), Pfeifer, Gary.
Abstract
In this article the authors apply a psychoanalytically informed perspective to understand psychosocial adaptation and self-development in a group of married Gusii women living in southwestern Kenya. LeVine and Pfeifer describe the institutional context of Gusii life, the psychological tasks of a woman's adult life course, and the progress of three particular women, each at a different stage in her childbearing career. The predominant theme running through the data concerns the process by which all Gusii women leave, forever, their natal homes and attempt to establish themselves in what they may initially perceive as a foreign and often inhospitable place -- their husband's homestead. The extremeness of their situation, however, provides an opportunity to explore a set of particular adaptations to what may well be a universal task in human development, the process of separation-individuation (p. 61).
- HRAF PubDate
- 2000
- Region
- Africa
- Sub Region
- Eastern Africa
- Document Type
- article
- Evaluation
- Creator Types
- Ethnologist
- Psychologist
- Document Rating
- 4: Excellent Secondary Data
- 5: Excellent Primary Data
- Analyst
- John Beierle ; 2005
- Field Date
- 1974-1976, 1979
- Coverage Date
- 1970-1979
- Coverage Place
- southwestern Kenya
- Notes
- Sarah LeVine and Gary Pfeifer
- Includes bibliographical references (p. 74-75)
- LCCN
- 40007255
- LCSH
- Gusii (African people)