Social Functions of Dreaming
Psychoanalytic perspectives on foreign cultures
What did I say about dream function theories being culturally embedded? Is it really possible to do a cross-cultural examination of what dreams mean to the people who dream them? Well, of course a psychoanalyst would try. In an ethnography I found written in 1927 on the African Ashanti culture by C.G. Seligman throws out this attitude: "Modern advances in psychology indicate the value, it might even be said urgency, or recording the dreams of non-Europeans, especially of the more primitive races." This attitude colors the entire ethnography. Seligman went on to write that it has come to light recently in Europe that dreams are not accidental but rather express emotional conflicts the dreamer is currently having, and they almost always reveal an unconscious wish fulfillment. Therefore, examining dreams could tell us whether the "unconscious of savages is greatly different from our own." The writer also suggested testing Jung's hypothesis that there are archetype symbols that are expressed in all people regardless of race or culture. This author concluded that the dreams the Ashanti people have are produced by the same dream mechanisms that operate in Europeans, and some dream symbolisms appear to be universal, such as flying dreams and tooth losing dreams. Also, the Ashanti consider their dreams to possess symbolic meaning. (Rattray 1927)
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Ashanti dream interpretation
If you dream about fish, your wife will become pregnant
If you dream about a house without a roof, some one in your house will die
If you dream that you fall into a latrine, you will receive money
If you see someone covered with sores, he or she will live a long time
If you dream someone has died it is good, that person will be blessed
If you dream that you see your ancestors coming home followed by sheep, you know you have to sacrifice a sheep for them
If you dream about losing a tooth, there will be a death in your family (Rattray 1927)
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Fifty years later, Stephen recognized that "psychoanalytic approaches presuppose a particular position of authority in relation to the dream, making it difficult for the ethnographer to acknowledge that any valid knowledge might be achieved by the dreamer without the benefit of psychoanalytic guidance." In other words, psychoanalysis distorts the cultural uses of dreams. However, Stephen wrote that the use of dreams in the Mekeo culture could lend itself to a psychoanalytic view because interpreting dreams directs attention on to the dreamer's inner worries and beliefs. Applying meaning to dreams is part of a conscious self-reflection to gain insight and perhaps to allay personal fears about the uncertainty of the future. (Stephen 1995)