Christopher J. Carter

The Feeling of Race

This article provides an African American-Native American analyst-in-training’s first-hand reflections on Jung’s firm depiction of Blacks of African descent and America’s First Nations People (the Red man) as inferior, through a theory of primitivity that unveils Jung’s belief in and support of White supremacy. With no intended disrespect or neglect intended toward America’s First Nations, this article focuses primarily on Jung’s apparent disdain for Blacks (the Negro). Utilizing writings from Frederick Douglass, W.E.B. Du Bois and Na’im Akbar, this article highlights ways in which Jung’s biases align with the White supremacist perspective of the Negro as a problem, detrimental to social order. The paper concludes with an Appendix which outlines a call to the International Association for Analytical Psychology (IAAP) to take corrective action and to publicly denounce those facets of Jung’s writings that diverge from the core of his theory and that promote toxic attitudes of bigotry, perhaps discouraging many people of colour from enrolling in analytic training. This article provides an African American-Native American analyst-in-training’s first-hand reflections on Jung’s firm depiction of Blacks of African descent and America’s First Nations People (the Red man) as inferior, through a theory of primitivity that unveils Jung’s belief in and support of White supremacy. With no intended disrespect or neglect intended toward America’s First Nations, this article focuses primarily on Jung’s apparent disdain for Blacks (the Negro). Utilizing writings from Frederick Douglass, W.E.B. Du Bois and Na’im Akbar, this article highlights ways in which Jung’s biases align with the White supremacist perspective of the Negro as a problem, detrimental to social order. The paper concludes with an Appendix which outlines a call to the International Association for Analytical Psychology (IAAP) to take corrective action and to publicly denounce those facets of Jung’s writings that diverge from the core of his theory and that promote toxic attitudes of bigotry, perhaps discouraging many people of colour from enrolling in analytic training.

Bio

Dr. Christopher J. Carter, PhD, MDiv, LP has near 30 years of leadership experience in the Greater New York area working with individuals, couples and families providing therapeutic care. Christopher has also worked extensively providing evidenced-based mental health services in the Greater New York region, including to youth aging out of foster care, the aging, persons with chronic physical impairments and to the chronically homeless. From 2017-2021, Christopher provided psychoanalysis to individuals through the Treatment Center of the Jungian Psychoanalytic Association (JPA; established in 2004), one of 2 organizations in NYS that centers its training on the theory/practices of Carl Gustav Jung. Christopher is the 5th African American (and the 3rd African American male) licensed as a Jungian psychoanalyst.

Christopher attended Princeton Theological Seminary/Princeton University (1988-1992), earning a Master of Divinity degree with dual concentration in Educational Psychology and Pastoral Psychology (1991), followed with a Master of Theology degree with a concentration in Bereavement (1992). He also attended Union Theological Seminary/Columbia University, earning a Master of Philosophy degree with a concentration in Developmental Psychology (2002) and a doctorate in Psychiatry & Religion with a concentration in Depth Psychoanalytic Theory (2007).

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