I speculate that imbued in interdisciplinary cross cultural perspectives of mythical, socio-economic, literary, pedagogic and psychoanalytical representations, two archetypal, creative, developmental inheritance laws interact as 'twins': Eros (fusion containment/safety) and Thanatos (division/separation/risk) as dividers, multipliers and mixers of cultural heritable forms. By 'twins' I include the intra-psychic domain. ยท1 hypothesize these 'twin' laws as matrilineal (Eros) and patrilineal (Thanatos): matrilineal as communal/horizontal inheritance belonging to earlier kin clan forms; patrilineal, hierarchical/conical inheritance, coinciding with the Genesis Creation Myth c. 3000 BCE in the Middle East to rationalize the onset of primogeniture. Primogeniture gave the exclusive right of the first born male to protect property from diminution and 'fixed' gender properties, specifying 'masculine' as territorial dominance. 'Feminine' specificity became subjugated, losing all heritable value. I show how a study of 'twins' on macro and micro levels reveals why cross-cultural forms including gender traits are not fixed but influenced by earlier flexible matrilineal forms. I argue that implicit in inheritance laws is a psychological 'twin' dilemma which developed specifically under primogeniture, namely, how can one inherit as 'first' without betraying that original source (including matrilineal) and not be blamed for treachery as inheritance passes through the generations? I suggest that this double bind is symbolically re-enacted by splitting one 'twin' aspect into 'good/safe' and the other into 'bad/divisive,' depending on cultural developmental requirements. Twins personify this dilemma so well because one twin can be saved, the 'other' damned without anyone noticing any vital loss or having to acknowledge the subtle, splitting mechanisms at play. With the movement away from the importance of patrilineal primogeniture, cultural forms have been re-defined to fit a modem landscape that now acknowledges earlier matrilineal inheritance. The study of twins offers a unique forum to show how each inheritance law competes for primacy as the 'first' and the 'other(s)': although one twin has been sacrificed, this twin simultaneously overlaps and usurps the 'first' by bringing taboo disassociated traits into the realm of conscious cultural acceptability. Index words:
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:654453 |
| Date | January 2014 |
| Creators | Brodersen, Elizabeth |
| Publisher | University of Essex |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
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