ABSTRACT

In contrast with Daniel Stern’s extensive work on the motherhood constellation, very little has been written about the fatherhood constellation. In an effort to explore emergent fatherhood and the idea of the fatherhood constellation, psychoanalytic research interviews were conducted with white, middle-class South African fathers of infants. The findings highlight two central themes which offer a way to begin thinking about the nature of the fatherhood constellation. Firstly, the fatherhood constellation is constituted by the father’s wish to protect and support the mother and baby. Secondly, the fatherhood constellation is characterized by what fatherhood is not, as opposed to what it is to be a father. Unlike the mother, the father does not get pregnant, he does not give birth and he cannot breastfeed, all defining features of motherhood. This paper subsequently suggests that the representation of absence may be a key step to the father’s presence in his own mind.

摘要

与丹尼尔·斯特恩关于母性星座的大量工作相比，关于父性星座的文章很少。为了探索新兴的父亲身份和父亲星座的想法，精神分析研究采访了南非中产阶级的白人父亲。研究结果突出了两个中心主题，它们提供了一种开始思考父亲星座本质的方法。首先，父亲的星座是由父亲保护和支持母亲和婴儿的愿望构成的。其次，父亲星座的特点是父亲不是什么，而不是父亲是什么。与母亲不同的是，父亲不怀孕、不分娩、不能母乳喂养，所有这些都是母亲的定义特征。