ABSTRACT
The recent exodus of emigrants to Turkey and Europe, desperate for refuge, fleeing from war, instability, persecution or poverty in their own countries, inflicted a palpable tension in the receiving communities. The unfamiliarity of the ‘others/outsiders’ is represented as a threat to the very identity, values and customs of the ‘insiders’. This chapter aims to address the unconscious psychodynamic interplay between the outsiders and insiders, illustrated by a problem play, Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice (1987 [1596–1597]). Othering and discrimination towards refugees, and factors disrupting social cohesion will be discussed from a psychoanalytic point of view through reflections on Turkey as the receiving society and its Syrian ‘guests’.
