ABSTRACT
When Jung first spoke about African Americans in his writings, particularly in “The Complications of American Psychology,” he referred to “a white complex” and “a Negro complex.” There are very few American Jungian psychology writings that have addressed our understanding of Jungian thought as related to “Negro”/African American/white racial complexes. What exactly are our racial complexes? What is the relationship between these particular complexes and dissociation—the disconnection between the ego and the Self? There are questions about racial complexes and associated elements such as dissociative trauma that are yet to be explored as related to our multicultural American collective and Jungian psychology. This chapter discusses American racial complexes and the possible resulting characteristics of dissociation that may be a result and/or feature of such complexes. It seeks to develop a deeper understanding of the psychic nature of racial complexes, dissociation, and archetypal influences.
