Watching with a third eye – reflections on learning from infant observations in Taiwan

Abstract

Based on eight randomly selected initial interviews with families who agreed to be visited by an observer in Taiwan, this paper illustrates the way in which repressed guilt underlies the hospitality shown by the family, and the inhibition of both the fulfillment of the baby's needs, and of the bonding between the baby and his/her parent. Using a Chinese legend, the last part of the paper illustrates how the study of infant observations in Taiwan has revealed how a kind of triangle formed in the context of the Chinese family structure may interfere with ordinary Oedipal developmental processes.

Keywords:

• infant observation Taiwan
• Chinese myth
• unconscious guilt
• Oedipal processes

Acknowledgements

The author appreciates the infant observers who generously offered their observation notes, and Mrs Margaret Rustin who offered very useful thoughts in the preparation of this article. Without their generosity the completion of this article would not have been possible.