The Phenomenology of Rhythm in Early Mother-Infant Interactions

This paper investigates the phenomenon of rhythm in the case of early mother-infant interactions. To accomplish this task, I will first draw on phenomenological and psychoanalytical sources that address the issue of rhythmicity. Therefore, Henri Maldiney’s comprehensive interpretation of rhythm will represent a building block for my thesis, alongside theories from certain psychoanalytical authors, such as Donald Winnicott, Frances Tustin, and Daniel Stern. Marc Richir’s theory of the exchange of gazes between mother and infant will be also presented, because in Richir’s thematization, one could link the issue of rhythm with that of the sublime and the phenomenological awakening of the infant to the world. In his phenomenology, Marc Richir connects the issue of the sublime with that of the abyss. In contrast, Henri Maldiney states explicitly that rhythm is the structure that renders possible the encounter with chaos without falling forever. This will lead me to Frances Tustin’s theory of the “rhythm of safety”, under which I will be trying to demonstrate that rhythm is the essential feature of the infant’s feeling of basic security. Nevertheless, Daniel Stern’s theory of affect attunement and the dynamic forms of vitality will prove to be crucial for our argumentation, because these core concepts, which he proposed throughout his work reveal once again that rhythm is a pervasive feature of virtually every authentic intersubjective encounter.