The Estrangement of Origin

Phenomenological and Psychoanalytic Reflections on an Unspoken Culture

Authors

  • Barbara Gabriella Renzi BSBI Berlin School of Business and Innovation Author

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.70042/eroth/1003252

Keywords:

Arbëresh identity, phenomenology, psychoanalysis, identity, cultural transmission, estrangement

Abstract

This paper examines the experience of discovering a cultural inheritance that was never fully transmitted through language, narrative, or continuous communal life, yet persists as an intimate and unresolved presence. Beginning from the belated recognition of an Arbëresh inheritance, it explores the paradox of an origin that feels deeply one’s own while remaining only partially accessible.

Drawing on phenomenology, the essay describes this condition as one of belated belonging, shaped by tensions between familiarity and estrangement, proximity and distance. What emerges is not the recovery of a stable identity, but an encounter with a cultural trace that survives as atmosphere, affective resonance, and fragmented recognition. From a psychoanalytic perspective, this inheritance is understood as psychically mediated by silence, interruption, and incomplete symbolization.

Rather than offering a general account of Arbëresh culture, the paper focuses on the subjective experience of discontinuous inheritance, arguing that belonging may persist precisely through rupture, and that origin demands symbolic elaboration rather than recovery.

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Author Biography

  • Barbara Gabriella Renzi, BSBI Berlin School of Business and Innovation

    Dr. Barbara Gabriella Renzi is a psychologist and academic with extensive experience across multiple countries, including Italy, Northern Ireland, and Germany.  Currently residing in Germany, Dr. Renzi is a Lecturer at Berlin School of Business and Innovation. She holds dual PhDs: one in Philosophy and Cognitive Sciences from Queen’s  University Belfast, specializing in cognitive metaphors, and another in Culture, Education,  and Communication from Roma Tre University, focusing on mediation in conflict zones and psychological interventions. 

    Dr. Renzi is a registered member of the Italian Order of Psychologists and the British  Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP). Her notable publications include her highly cited paper “Linguistic analysis of IPCC  summaries for policymakers and associated coverage” in Nature Climate Change, and her  book Evolutionary Analogies: Is the Process of Scientific Change Analogous to the Organic  Change?, co-authored with Giulio Napolitano. Additionally, she has authored books such as Irlanda del Nord: Conflitto e Educazione and I  Volti e le Voci del Conflitto: Sorry for yer Troubles. 

References

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Published

2026-07-30

Issue

Vol. 10 No. 3 (2026): Fire and Ash: The Poetics of Life and Death

Section

Academic Essay

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How to Cite

The Estrangement of Origin: Phenomenological and Psychoanalytic Reflections on an Unspoken Culture. (2026). Erothanatos: A Peer-Reviewed Quarterly Journal on Literature, 10(3), 1-14. https://doi.org/10.70042/eroth/1003252

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