The Psychology of Place: An Archetypal Perspective

Maxwell, A. (2008). The Psychology of Place: An Archetypal Perspective (Doctoral dissertation, Pacifica Graduate Institute, 2008).

ABSTRACT

This production dissertation questions what we know about the psychology of place and place attachment, and the ways that we know about this subject. The study uses the lens of archetypal psychology to broaden our understanding of the territory of New Mexico, a region rich in history and diverse cultural syncretism. Greek and Christian mythologies represent the perspective of Western culture, while Dine mythology represents the perspective of one First Nations Peoples from this region. This study assumes that place is fundamentally archetypal in nature, manifested by way of the imagination through image, story, and myth.


Place is a multi-disciplinary topic with relevance to many fields of study. Scholars from diverse disciplines have studied the subjects of place and place attachment. The existing body of research is not easily synthesized into theory because of the variety of philosophical underpinnings and methodologies involved. This study contends that the archetypal psychological perspective should be considered as a theoretical umbrella under which the disparate perspectives of the psychological experience of place can be unified. The archetypal psychological perspective finds value in all methodological approaches, embraces ambiguities, and deserts the notion of dichotomous judgment.


The literature review demonstrates ways in which place has been displaced. The reduction in the value of place flourished in a world whose fabric also produced the age of reason, the age of science, colonialism, and industrialization. Over time, as the located experience was diminished, artisan crafts, a creative category that broadly expresses the located experience also lost status while its counter part, high art, was elevated (Shiner 13). The split between art and craft was accompanied by a revised view of who was judged capable of truly representing the generative human imagination. By acknowledging the significance of place in the psychological experience, we reinstate insights derived from located knowing, and we grow our appreciation for the variety of creative expressions produced by the ubiquitous human imagination.