In the Spotlight
Effects of colonial slavery on the role of the father on Reunion Island

An article written by David GOULOIS, Doctor in Psychology, Clinical Psychologist, Psycho-pathologist.

Here we question the paternal function on Reunion Island. We think that the societal context of yesterday and today has shaped one “to be a father” which is not without psychopathological consequences on the family life: slavery will have caused the absence of the father and his law, both cause and consequence of a matrifocality transmitted trans-generationally. We propose a reading of the problematic from the ethno-psychoanalytic point of view.

Keys words:
slavely – paternity – matrifocality – violence – Reunion Island- ethnopsychoanalysis

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