Machinic Unconscious Happy Hour Freud's Totem and Taboo
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Mar 30, 2024 Coop and Taylor discuss Freud's Totem and Taboo, examining ambivalence, Anti-Oedipus, repetition, sacrifice, and cannibalism. They explore the shift from totemism to the father as a religious symbol, societal dynamics, incest prohibition, and Freudian analysis of Eucharist and Communion.
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Totem Prohibitions Structure Society
- Totem prohibitions regulate tribal social flows by banning killing or eating totem animals and forbidding marriage within the tribe.
- This maintains balance by preventing property or desire hoarding and structuring alliances and exchanges within and outside the group.
Ambivalence Drives Incest Prohibition
- Freud argues incest is so obsessively prohibited because it is strongly desired unconsciously in "primitive" societies.
- Strong prohibitions and unconscious repression reflect an intense ambivalence where desire and horror coexist.
Cannibalism Creates Social Bonds
- After killing the primal father, tribes ritualistically consume parts of him, uniting the group through shared participation in the deed.
- This creates social bonds by transforming murder into a collective sacred act symbolized in totemism.