For those who have lived the expat life, the challenges of adapting to new cultures,
environments and societies are all too familiar. While the experience of being an
expat can be exciting and rewarding, it also comes with profound psychological
demands and phases of personal growth. The theories of Swiss psychologist Carl
Jung offer a unique lens through which to understand the expat journey.
According to Jung, we all have persona – the masks or outward personalities we
present to the world. For expats, the need to develop new personas in their adopted
lands is paramount. The self they knew from their home culture no longer fits, so
they must explore and adopt new ways of being in order to function and gain
acceptance. Yet buried beneath these provisional personas lies the expat’s true self –
their core identity, values and unconscious impulses. Too often, expats get
disconnected from this authentic self as they go through cycles of persona shedding
and re-invention across cultures.
Jung’s concept of individuation – the process of self-actualization and becoming
whole – is highly relevant for expats. Expatriation by its very nature involves leaving
behind the collective consciousness of one’s home society. This forces the expat into
an intensely personal process of grappling with who they really are, what they
believe, and how they define themselves outside group-level norms and
expectations. For some, this journey towards psychological wholeness is liberating;
for others, it breeds profound disorientation, loneliness and existential angst.
The Jungian ideas of the persona, shadow, anima/animus and collective
unconscious represent the main psychic territories that the expat must navigate. The
persona is how we choose to present ourselves in new cultural contexts. The
shadow contains the parts of ourselves that we repress or reject across cultures. The
anima/animus symbolize how we project gender norms and roles across cultures.
And the collective unconscious reflects the universal human experiences that
transcend cultural boundaries.
Encounters with other cultures inevitably dredge up our shadows – those
uncomfortable traits and impulses that we’ve relegated to the unconscious. When in
a new cultural fish bowl, parts of our shadow self are likely to emerge, whether it’s
unrestrained emotions, unconscious biases or more primal instincts. Learning to
accept and integrate these elements is critical for psychological balance as an expat.
Similarly, our anima and animus – the feminine and masculine energies within – get
thrown into relief when we move between cultures with different gender norms and
role expectations. The expat journey involves an ongoing dance between embracing
new cultural scripts around masculinity and femininity while still staying true to our
core, psychic gender identities.
Bridging the chasm between one’s home culture and the new, adopted culture(s)
requires dipping into the collective unconscious – those primordial human
experiences and archetypal symbols that unite humanity across cultures. Finding
commonality despite cultural differences is a key part of gaining psychological
grounding and meaning as an expat.
The road of the expat is rife with opportunities for profound psychological growth and
self-discovery, but also considerable inner turmoil and fragmentation. The Jungian
depth perspective provides a rich framework for understanding and metabolizing the
intense psychic demands of life abroad. By attuning to the shadow, navigating the
world of personas, exploring the anima/animus, and honouring the collective
unconscious, expats can navigate their cross-cultural journeys in more conscious,
integrated and ultimately rewarding ways.