ABSTRACT
While psychoanalytic perspectives on immigration have contributed significantly to understandings of affective and relational processes involved in the migration and post-migration context, less attention has been directed toward intersectionality as it relates to the intrapsychic and interpersonal experiences of immigrants and the children of immigrants. Immigrants face both challenges and opportunities in developing a sense of identity that reflects their authentic experiences of acculturation and a sense of belonging within multiple sociocultural contexts in the United States. Further, mourning of loss associated with immigration is closely connected with the intersections of multiple social locations and identities, and privilege and marginalization, in pre-migration and post-migration contexts. For example, a racial minority immigrant woman may negotiate divergent messages about gender roles in her pre-migration context and in the U.S. context, which then may influence her U.S.-born daughter’s perspectives on women and girls. These cross-generational experiences may further be influenced by experiences of racialized sexism in the U.S. This chapter explores ways in which racial minority immigrants and the second-generation experience intersects, and the implications of these experiences for relational life, conflict, and identity. The chapter underscores the importance of recognizing unconscious processes that underlie complex identifications associated with immigration and sociopolitical contexts and oppression. Emphasis is placed on intersections of race, immigration, and gender and their implications for the therapeutic process, including enactments and impasses. Clinical case material is provided to illustrate related theoretical points and the role of transference and countertransference.
