De-Colonialization of Body, Spirit and Mind in the Memoir of Deborah Feldman

Abstract

Conscious and especially unconscious God-representations play an important role in the development of the individual's psyche. God-representations can be the agents of colonialization. They make the individual consent to their own oppression. In the case of Deborah Feldman, they are part of the restricting context in the ultra-orthodox community where she grew up. But another God-representation helped her to find a way out of this suppressive system. In all of this struggles the body was a the place where the different God-representations showed their weight and meaning. Finally, Deborah had to decide in which God-representation she wanted to trust.