Dreaming the Self: A Unified Approach towards Dreams, Subjectivity and the Radical Imagination

Abstract

This paper focuses on dream‐experiences and dream‐narratives as sites of creativity and agency. Through the ethnographic exploration of dreams recounted to me mainly by informants in Thessaloniki, Greece I will argue that dreams are means of making sense of the world in a relational and intersubjective manner, as well as instances of the human capacity to invent new forms and ëoriginal figurationsí.

Keywords:

• Dreams
• Greece
• Reflexivity

Notes

[1] In Greek mythology dreams, the oneiroi were the children of Hypnos (sleep) and they were three: Morpheus, Phobetor and Phantasus. Morpheus’s name comes from the word ‘morphe’, that is form, and his task was to provide shape, form to dreams. Phobetor’s name comes from the word ‘phobos’, fear, and he was responsible for the frightening images and instances of dreams. Finally Phantasus’s name comes from the verb ‘phantasio’ (to imagine) and he was believed to be the one who brings images to mind.

[2] For a thorough anthropological account of Asia‐Minor refugees. see Hirschon 1989.