Provocations from Amerindian perspectivism to psychoanalysis

Starting from a dialogue between Amerindian perspectivism and psychoanalysis—more specifically, concerning the conceptual pair nature and culture—the goal of this article is to outline a notion of cultural experience in psychoanalysis and highlight its consequences for the psychoanalytic clinic. In order to do that, we investigate the notions of nature and culture in Freud’s work and then present Viveiros de Castro’s (1996) considerations on the subject, in the context of Amerindian perspectivism. Based mainly on Winnicott’s considerations about potential space, we then elaborate on the concept of cultural experience in psychoanalysis. Our hypothesis is that it has a bearing on the analytical experience, especially with regard to the intentionality of other beings. Two clinical vignettes are presented in order to help define the analytical experience as a state of ‘between-ness’, a process in which analyst and analysand are engaged in the possibility of becoming more fully themselves.