The mimetic nature of dream mentation : American selves in re-formation

Based on over a decade of research, this book connects dream studies to cognitive anthropology, to perspectives in the humanities on mimesis, ambiguity, and metaphor, to current dream research in psychology, and to recent work in economic and political relations. Traveling the dreamscapes of a variety of young people, Mimesis and the Dream explores their encounters with American cultures and the identities that derive from these encounters. While ethnographies typically concern shared social habits and practices, this book concerns shared aspects of subjectivity and how people represent and think about them in dreams. Each chapter grounds theory in actual cases. It will be compelling to scholars in multiple disciplines and illustrates how dreaming offers insights into twenty-first century debates and problems within these disciplines, bringing a vital theoretically eclectic approach to dream studies. Jeannette Mageo is Professor of cultural anthropology at Washington State University. Her work focuses on dreaming and the self, on child development, and on how subjectivity, identity, and emotion evolve out of cultural and historical experiences. Her manifold writings on dreams show that cultural models tie the most profound aspects of subjectivity to politics and public culture, inscribing relations of privileging and marginalization within the self that generate anxiety and resistances registered and negotiated in the imaginary realm Series Editor’s Preface 6 Acknowledgments 8 Contents 9 List of Figures 11 Part I: A Mimetic Theory of Dreams 12 1: Mimesis and Dreaming: An Introduction 13 Mimetic Dreaming 15 Dreaming Cultural Models 17 Dreaming the Self and Identities 18 Supporting Research in Psychology 20 Supporting Research in Anthropology 22 American Ethnography and Anthropological Orientations 23 The Place 25 Data Collection and Methods 27 References 34 2: Mimetic Strategies of Signification in Dreams 42 Four Signification Strategies 43 The Pinup Model of and for Feminine Sexuality 45 Clara 48 Indefinite Images/Altered Memories 49 Questions Posed as Something Missing 50 Finding Analogous Metaphors 50 Combining a Primary and a Secondary Cultural Model 51 Objectification and American Models 52 The Subject/Object Axis 57 Dream as Deep Play 61 References 63 3: Mimesis in the Theater of Dreams 66 Three Propositions 67 Dreams as Meta-communicative 71 Dylan 72 Left Behind, Scene #1: Forgotten 73 Left Behind, Scene #2: Memoirs 78 Left Behind, Scene #3: The Kiss 80 Left Behind, Scene #4: Climbing Upward 82 Dream Mimesis as Complex Cognition 84 References 86 4: Mimesis Makes for Ambiguity 92 Types of Dream Ambiguity 95 Clarence 101 On Dream Rumination 115 References 118 Part II: Competing/Complementary Theories 121 5: Mimesis Makes Metaphors 122 Julio 125 A Sensory Metaphor 126 Cultural Model Metaphors 126 Personal Metaphors 129 Identity, Abjection, and Internalization 133 Identities as Mobile Structures 138 Personal Metaphors and Personal Symbols 140 References 144 6: Nightmares, or Threat Simulation as Mimetic Commentary 148 Maria 150 A Divided Self 155 Alex 161 Nightmares and Bad Dreams 170 Nightmares, Development, and Anxiety Dreams 172 References 175 7: Beyond Continuity and Social Simulation 178 Lane 181 References 197 Part III: Mimesis and American Selves 201 8: The Close Family and American Cultural Psychodynamics 202 Four Close Family Features 203 Close Family Defenses 207 Ruby 209 American Porosity 220 Model–Defense Connections 223 References 224 9: Mirror-Phase Cultural Psychology and American Specular Selves 228 The Mirror Phase and Specularity 229 Specular Selves 230 Specular Morality 235 Charles 240 Specular Identities and Interpellation 243 Looking for the Inner Self 245 Choice and Specularity 246 Specularity and Cultural Theory 249 References 252 10: Dreams, Mimesis, and Consciousness 256 Model Clusters 256 On the Nature of Dream Mentation 260 Piaget and the Mimetic Faculty 265 Mimesis and Development 268 Stage #1: Sensory-Metaphor Dreaming 269 Stage #2: Cultural Dreaming 273 Stages 3 and 4: Identity Dreaming 274 References 277 Appendix: Cultural Methods of Dream Interpretation 280 Chapter 2: Mimetic Analysis 281 Chapter 4: Stage Analysis 282 Chapter 4: Ambiguity Analysis 283 Chapter 5: Metaphoric Analysis 284 Chapter 6: Identity-Threat Analysis 286 Chapter 7: Simulation Analysis 286 Chapter 8: Dream Play 287 Chapter 9: Dreaming Awry 289 References 292 Index 316