ABSTRACT

The present paper explores the “immigration crisis” both in the United States and in countries around the world. Consideration is given to what is typically absent in public discourse—that is, that immigration is inflected with race, class, ethnicity, religion, and language. Drawing on the work of several leading scholars in philosophy and linguistics, with particular attention to how metaphor shapes thinking, the “immigration problem” is unpacked to examine the issues embedded within its characterization as a “crisis” and for whom that might be so. Examined as well are the larger sociopolitical issues beyond the worldwide public outcry about securing borders. The paper rests analysis of both how the immigrant “other” is characterized and the larger sociopsychological significance of that characterization within the idea of the social unconscious. Finally, the paper explores the role of the group analyst as “citizen therapist” in expanding empathic engagement among groups affected by the huge migration flows. Included are recommendations for the role the group analyst may play in addressing the issue of immigration in our groups and communities.

摘要

本文探讨了美国和世界各国的“移民危机”。考虑公共话语中通常不存在的内容，即移民受到种族，阶级，种族，宗教和语言的影响。利用哲学和语言学领域的几位著名学者的著作，尤其关注隐喻如何塑造思维，将“移民问题”解开，以考察其被归类为“危机”的情况下可能存在的问题。除了全球公众对确保边界的强烈抗议之外，还审查了更大的社会政治问题。本文主要分析移民“他人”的特征以及在社会无意识的观念中这种特征的更大的社会心理学意义。最后，本文探讨了群体分析员作为“公民治疗师”在扩大受巨大移民潮影响的群体之间的移情交流中的作用。其中包括对小组分析师在解决我们的小组和社区中的移民问题中可能扮演的角色的建议。