3. Electronic Theses and Dissertations (ETDs) - All submissions
Permanent URI for this communityhttps://wiredspace.wits.ac.za/handle/10539/45
Browse
2 results
Search Results
Item The fatherhood constellation: exploring the representational world of new fathers of pre-oedipal infants(2022-07) Berman, Sarah LouiseThis thesis represents a turn to the father himself, as a figure in his own right. It highlights the lack of research on fathers, as well as the tendency of the psychological and psychoanalytic literature to focus on the mother, and on the roles that fathers perform for their infants. In an attempt to cast light on fathers’ experiences of emergent fatherhood, this research study explored the representational world of new fathers of preoedipal infants. Semi-structured research interviews were conducted with seven white, middle-class, South African fathers of small children, and they were analysed through a psychoanalytic research technique. The research method undertaken in this study led to the collection of rich data about new fathers’ experiences of fatherhood; it also revealed how an analysis of the research method itself can offer insight into both fathers’ experiences of fatherhood and fatherhood research. These findings are presented in the form of a paper in the methodology section, together with the more general aspects of the research design. The thesis then proceeds with a paper that discusses how the father has been ‘forgotten’, not only in the literature, but also in his own mind. ‘Remembering’ the father or, more aptly, the ‘conception’ of the father takes place when the father sees himself in the eyes of his infant, and experiences his infant as being actively responsive to him. The process of reorganisation of the father’s representational world during his emergent fatherhood is then explored in two papers, which examine the possible nature of the fatherhood constellation and the fatherhood trilogy, drawing on Stern’s work on the motherhood constellation. Together, all three papers highlight that becoming a father is not a smooth process. It is characterised by feelings of exclusion, anxiety, self-doubt and uncertainty about one’s position in relation to the mother-infant dyad. Self-representation as a father is informed by conscious and unconscious intergenerational, intragenerational, matrilineal, patrilineal, Oedipal, social, cultural and historical facets of emergent fatherhood. The papers, therefore, suggest that fatherhood may be overdetermined and that the representation of absence may be a key step towards the father finding presence in his own mind. The project concludes with a discussion of the theoretical and clinical implications of an understanding of fatherhood which situates the father on the outside of the mother-infant dyad, and as having to struggle to find representation of himself as a father in his own mind.Item The paternal function: conceptual and therapeutic relevance(2016) Davies, Nicholas Charles Christopher: The construct of the ‘pre-oedipal’ paternal function, as distinct from the traditional ‘oedipal’ paternal function, is an important yet under-developed focus of study in both the field of infant development and psychoanalytic clinical practice. This thesis contributes towards the development of an integrated concept of the paternal function as well as to a deeper understanding of the different aspects of the construct and its application. A critical literature review of psychoanalytic literature on the ‘paternal function’ highlights an absence of recognition of the importance of the construct, as it is salient in the earliest period of infancy, and characterises it as fragmented and diversely understood when it is mentioned. Four aspects of the paternal function which appear to be the dominant aspects in the literature are identified and elaborated in some detail. Also noted is the tendency for the non-gendered nature of several aspects of the paternal function to be overlooked because of the regular conflation of the role of the father and the paternal function. Extending this theoretically based observation into the domain of therapeutic practice, the conceptualisations of the pre-oedipal paternal function and the extent to which it is employed as a clinical tool was garnered from a sample of self-identified psychoanalytic psychotherapists based in Johannesburg, South Africa. Interviews of the topic were conducted with eight experienced practitioners and subject to thematic analysis guided by existing theory. The findings articulated closely with the international literature which points to a nebulous understanding of the concept and a general absence of reference to it as relevant in clinical formulations. In addition, based on the interview data, some proposals as to why the paternal function poses such a definitional difficulty and why, furthermore, the paternal functionary is apparently persona non grata in the clinical setting, are discussed. Finally, the case for the usefulness of the pre-oedipal paternal function in clinical practice is elucidated through the discussion of four clinical cases, each addressing a particular aspect of the pre-oedipal paternal function. Based on both a critical review of the literature and empirical data in the form of interviews of psychotherapists, and case material, the thesis makes a cogent case for foregrounding and refining conceptual and applied understandings of the construct of the ‘pre-oedipal’ paternal function, highlighting the gendered and non gendered attributes associated with performance of a set of functions associated with the construct.