Culture, ambivalence, and schismogenesis

Abstract

This article offers a comparative analysis of two ethnographic case studies on double bind interactions within the mother–child relationship. In-depth interviews with, as well as participant observation among Cape Verdean and Indo-Mozambican migrant families settled in Portugal provide insight into the way in which mothering double bind interactions influence the dynamics of change and resistance involved in the gendered identities of their adult sons and daughters. In the analysis, we draw upon Bateson’s dynamical theory about communication, as well as on theories of Psychological Anthropology that reiterate an intersecting dialectic of levels at which ambivalence exists and structures human experience. We argue that confusing or conflicting messages in the mother–child communication are an integral part of a differentiation process (schismogenesis) structured by socio-cultural contradictions that are yet amplified in a context of migration.