Speaking the unspoken and unspeakable: Living with the aftermath of sibling abortion under china's one-child policy

Ying Liu

Speaking the unspoken and unspeakable: Living with the aftermath of sibling abortion under china's one-child policy

Ying Liu

School of Psychology

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference contribution

Abstract

This is an autoethnographical paper on the experience of living with the aftermath of an abortion in my family due to China's One-Child Policy. My paper shows how the loss of a younger sibling has affected my personal life and how it is like to bring the unconscious grief into awareness. Moving between theories and personal experience, I seek to understand my experience of being a sibling abortion survivor under China’s One-Child Policy through the psychodynamic concept of melancholia, drawing particularly on conceptual resources offered by Freud, Leader and Kristeva. Links are made between the experience of losing an unborn sibling and melancholia which involves loss and grief that are unspeakable and unknowable. By presenting this paper, I seek to give voice to the Chinese generation that is affected by the One-Child Policy and whose voice is seldom heard.

Original language	English
Title of host publication	Speaking the unspoken and unspeakable: Living with the aftermath of sibling abortion under china's one-child policy
Publication status	Published - 29 Feb 2020

Cite this

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abstract = "This is an autoethnographical paper on the experience of living with the aftermath of an abortion in my family due to China's One-Child Policy. My paper shows how the loss of a younger sibling has affected my personal life and how it is like to bring the unconscious grief into awareness. Moving between theories and personal experience, I seek to understand my experience of being a sibling abortion survivor under China{\textquoteright}s One-Child Policy through the psychodynamic concept of melancholia, drawing particularly on conceptual resources offered by Freud, Leader and Kristeva. Links are made between the experience of losing an unborn sibling and melancholia which involves loss and grief that are unspeakable and unknowable. By presenting this paper, I seek to give voice to the Chinese generation that is affected by the One-Child Policy and whose voice is seldom heard.",

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AB - This is an autoethnographical paper on the experience of living with the aftermath of an abortion in my family due to China's One-Child Policy. My paper shows how the loss of a younger sibling has affected my personal life and how it is like to bring the unconscious grief into awareness. Moving between theories and personal experience, I seek to understand my experience of being a sibling abortion survivor under China’s One-Child Policy through the psychodynamic concept of melancholia, drawing particularly on conceptual resources offered by Freud, Leader and Kristeva. Links are made between the experience of losing an unborn sibling and melancholia which involves loss and grief that are unspeakable and unknowable. By presenting this paper, I seek to give voice to the Chinese generation that is affected by the One-Child Policy and whose voice is seldom heard.

M3 - Conference contribution

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