About this episode

The episode discusses the unique cultural perspectives on the primal relationship between mother and infant in Japan and India, challenging Western psychoanalytic models.

In this episode of the New Books Network, I sat down with the contributors of Psychoanalytic Explorations into the Primal Relationship in Japan and India (Routledge, 2025) to discuss the profound psychic textures of the East. Moving away from the traditional Eurocentric focus on the Oedipal complex, this volume investigates the "primal relationship"—the foundational bond between mother and infant—and how it is uniquely structured within the cultural contexts of Japan and India. The authors challenge the universality of Western clinical models, proposing instead that the maternal matrix in these societies offers a different roadmap for understanding the self, intimacy, and dependency. Osamu Kitayama is a Training and Supervising Analyst at the Japan Psychoanalytic Society, Professor Emeritus at Kyushu University, and President of Hakuoh University. He served as President of the Japan Psychoanalytic Society from 2016–2019 and con tinues to work with patients in private practice. He has authored numerous articles on culturally oriented psychoanalysis and books.Jhuma Basak is a Training and Supervising Analyst at the Indian Psychoanalytical Society. She has published on culture and…

People in this episode

Host: Marshall Poe

Guests: Osamu Kitayama, Jhuma Basak

Topics covered

• Psychoanalysis
• Cultural Contexts
• Mother-Infant Relationship
• Japan
• India
• Oedipal Complex
• Self and Intimacy

Keywords

• Psychoanalysis
• Cultural Psychoanalysis
• Mother-Infant Bond
• Japan
• India
• Oedipal Complex
• Intimacy
• Dependency

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Japan Psychoanalytic Society, Hakuoh University, Indian Psychoanalytical Society, Routledge

Books & works: Psychoanalytic Explorations into the Primal Relationship in Japan and India

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