Kairos of the Trickster: Intimations of America’s Emerging Archetype

Abstract

This hermeneutical study provides an analysis of contemporary events and trends in modern America through a depth psychological lens, particularly analytical and archetypal psychology. Building upon the theory of archetypes postulated by psychologist C. G. Jung, this study focuses upon a particular archetype known as the trickster. Present in virtually every culture’s mythology, the trickster archetype is characterized by a cluster of psychological qualities such as irreverence, humor, subversion, adaptability, metamorphosis, and the tendency to challenge societal norms. This study explores America as unconsciously gripped by the trickster archetype. This investigation therefore involves an analysis of mythological texts, cultural content, as well as historical context in relation to 21st-century America. By examining these elements, this qualitative study aims to uncover both the therapeutic insights and the hidden motives of the trickster archetype in contemporary American life. Due to the worldwide prevalence of the trickster motif, this study focuses upon its appearance in three mythologies relevant to the modern American psyche: Greek mythology, Native American mythology, and African American folklore, in order to hear what these tales might say about America’s various cultural pathologies. Finally, this study uses the Greek idea of the καιρός [kairos], the opportune moment, to reframe said pathologies as potentially constructive expressions of this increasingly dominant archetype in the Western psyche.