Cultural Crossings, Critical Dialogues and the Emergence of Hybridity¹

Cultural crossings hold special significance in analytical psychology given C. G. Jung's interest in alien cultures. Jung's journey to India preceded analytic contacts between India and Zurich and the first analytic training of an Indian. The phenomenon of crossings signifies initiation through experience of the Other. The alien Other evokes tensions in the psyche, the dissent and divergence between two sides producing, sometimes, ideas that are hybrid in character. This paper looks at a transcultural encounter against the backdrop of Jung's journey to India and the larger colonial environment in which depth psychology emerged in India. It describes the intricacies of crossings and the way they shaped the development of psychology in India, in its early years.