DISSERTATIONS - 2010

DANGEROUS PASSAGE: THE CONSTRUCTION OF ADOLESCENTS' IDENTITIES IN SITUATIONS OF SOCIAL VULNERABILITY – AN ANALYTICAL PSYCHOLOGY PERSPECTIVE

Felícia Rodrigues R. S

Advisor: Liliana Liviano Wahba
Key words: adolescence, identity, persona, hero archetype, dreams, analytical psychology, Jungian psychology.

The constitution of one's identity and the formation of a persona that expresses it are tasks undertaken during adolescent development and part of the individuation process. This research seeks to understand the specific characteristics of adolescent development within the context of drug trafficking and street life, from an analytical psychological perspective. Based on interviews with twenty adolescents, the nature of the relationship involving street life and drug trafficking and the specific characteristics valued for the social adaptation within these contexts were depicted. These conditions influence the construction of the identities of these adolescent and their development towards adult life. Typical adolescent conflicts are experienced in conditions that reflect violent street life and drug trafficking, which operate under the influence of destructive matriarchal and patriarchal dynamics. These adolescents live in a state of psychic exhaustion and grow up in precarious conditions, which compromise the development of autonomy and independence and favor inclusion in collective life in marginal terms. They learn ways to relate and to adapt to these environments by constructing a persona that is appropriate for these circumstances of risk. Aggressiveness and intimidation are basic characteristics of a persona adapted to street life, whilst the world of drug trafficking requires that malice be aligned with aggressiveness to create a persona appropriate for crime. The dreams told by the adolescents present the consideration of psychic totality under conditions experienced within these contexts. The oneiric images illustrate situations of extreme risk and highlight the imminent danger, which they are often not aware of, and the possibility of tragic outcomes; frightening the dreamer. They demonstrate states of egoic inflation and the presence of violent aspects within these adolescents. At the same time, they indicate the potential to be discovered and the opportunity to reconnect with internal creative contents that are related to the matriarchal and patriarchal dynamics; they announce new ways and new possibilities of life. An understanding of the development of adolescence in situations of extreme social vulnerability reveals a heroic journey tainted by the quality of these violent contexts and illustrates the special conditions of the passage towards maturity, a dangerous passage.