Exile, identity, and artistic creation: an arts based phenomenological study with immigrant women: a dissertation PDF
Preview Exile, identity, and artistic creation: an arts based phenomenological study with immigrant women: a dissertation
Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2010 with funding from Lesley University, Sherrill Library http://www.archive.org/details/exileidentityartOOvera Lesley U 30 Mellen Street Cambridge, MA 02138-2790 REFERENCE FOR OoNCra^romTMsBoo* EXILE, IDENTITY, AND ARTISTIC CREATION A DISSERTATION Submitted by VERA HELLER In partial fulfillment ofthe requirements for the degree of Doctor ofPhilosophy in Expressive Therapies ~\ LESLEY UNIVERSITY GRADUATE SCHOOL OF ARTS & SOCIAL SCIENCES May 21 2007 v \ff II DISSERTATION ABSTRACT Vera Heller May 21, 2007 Exile, Identity, and Artistic Creation: An Arts Based Phenomenological Study with Immigrant Women This arts based phenomenological study with immigrant women explores the migratory and creative processes from the perspective ofthe Hero's archetype, viewed by Jung as a template for individuation. Its objective is to gain further insight into the contribution ofart therapy to healing the fragmentation ofidentity inherent in the transition between two - often radically different - cultures. A feminine variation on the Hero's myth, the tale ofInnana, the Goddess ofthe upper world who descended into the underworld to meet her shadowy sister, is evoked in relation to the participants' journey. The process ofre-constructing identity through thejoint approaches of narrative story-telling and image-making are examined. The participants' chronological and "imaginal" narratives are organized into six case studies, which uncover the contribution of the aesthetic experience and creative process to healing, defined as the achievement ofa sense ofself-cohesion and growth, or as the union ofopposites in the psyche. The emerging finding ofthis research concerns the role ofcollage-painting in facilitating the integration oftwo or more cultures into a new, hybrid identity. By assembling fragments of images through collage, and then by creating linkages between them through painting, the participants are brought to integrate disparate life experiences into a new whole, thus achieving a higher level ofcoherence within their life-stories, and therefore, in their psyches. Ill ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I have many thanks to offer, for many people participated in the process ofwriting this dissertation. First ofall, I wish to thank the members ofmy doctoral committee - my senior advisor Dr. Julia Byers, Ethne Gray and Dr. Susan Spaniol - who provided me not only with sage advice, but also with their encouragement during the moments I needed it the most. Through their humanism, wit, extensive commentaries and editing suggestions, they contributed to enriching both my thinking, and the content ofmy dissertation. I also wish to thank Caroline Heller, Vivian Speiser, Philip Speiser and Mariagnese Cattaneo from Lesley University, and Deidre Meintel, from the Antropology Department at the Universite de Montreal, for having inspired me through the courses and seminars they offered, which eventually led me to developing this specific project. Thanks also to Michele Forinash, Gilda Resmini-Walsh, Sandy Tulipano, Marie Gannon, Jane Bess and Fabrizia Chiampa, for having helped me to undergo the various stages that led to the completion ofthis process. Thanks to all the immigrant women who participated in this research project; through their dedication to the process, theirunique images and reflections, they enriched my perspectives on both the migratory and creativejourneys. Thanks to the Canadian Research Funds (FCAR: Fonds Canadiens pour la Recherche), for having provided the additional financial assistance that permitted me to complete my project. I wish to warmly thank my friend and colleague, Gony Halevi, and her husband, Shmuel Halevi, for having opened their home, hearts, and thoughts to me; without their welcoming presence, my commuting to Cambridge would have never been the same. Thanks to Hadass Harel for her companionship, and our exchanges about our doctoral projects, to Susy Veroff, for having so thoroughly read my last draft and having provided me with helpful commentaries from an artistic perspective, and Anne Van Den Boschelle, without whom the art therapy workshop at the CLSC Park Extension would have been hard to organize, and complete. Other people took part in myjourney at different moments in time, providing me with emotional support, concrete help and participation, and insightful comments: Claudia Bernal, Martin Duckworth, Eveline Heller, Louise Dessertine, Boualem Zidi, Francoise Gagnon, the administration and social workers of CLSC Park Extension, Eleanor Duckworth, Danuta Berger, Paul Wise, Hafedh Mili, Amel Delaggi, and Eve Shapiro. It is difficult to express in words the importance ofmy husband Luis'contributions; his listening capacity, his intellectual and emotional support, his patience and his love rendered possible the completion ofthis project. I'm deeply grateful for his presence in my life. This dissertation is dedicated to my husband, Luis Alberto Lopez Herrera, who emigrated from Peru to Quebec, Canada; my father, Ernest Heller, who, quite late in his life emigrated from Romania to Israel; and my mother, Steliana Diana Firanescu, who stayed in her native Romania, only to witness its profound transformation as a result ofthe failure ofthe "iron curtain" that used to isolate the Eastern European countries from the rest ofthe world. Their uniquejourneys inspired me and gave me the courage to undertake mine.
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