May 9th 2026 10.30 am - 12.45 pm
Kevin Lu
Racial hybridity, third culture kids and the family unconscious in Vaughan and Staples’ epic space opera, Saga.
This lecture reflects on my paper on racial hybridity (published in 2020) while also affording an opportunity to continue a conversation with my colleague, Dr David Henderson, who sadly passed away in 2023. David published a paper (largely based on his own experience) on the theme of cultural homelessness in 2016, where he argued that third culture kids (TCKs) develop multiple egos due to the multifaceted and multicultural dimensions of their upbringing. While David and I gently teased one another – on occasion – regarding which concept would be most usefully mobilised in specific situations, we never had a chance to differentiate our understanding of the psychological significance of both racial hybridity and cultural homelessness, let alone explore symmetries and areas of cross-pollination. This lecture is an attempt to do just that.
Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples’ award-winning graphic novel series, Saga, explores both themes of racial hybridity and cultural homelessness, providing a fertile middle ground on which to continue the conversation that David and I never had, but should have had. I will work through points of convergence and divergence, while using examples from the graphic novel series to elucidate these. Where our interests intersect, I argue, is how experiences of racial hybridity and cultural homeless are initially held and contained, mainly, in the context of one’s family. The family unconscious, then, plays a significant role in shaping and transmitting experiences of racial hybridity and cultural homelessness, including those elements of experience that are ‘universally’ shared among cross-cultural and third culture kids and those memory traces that are specific to each individual upbringing.
Crucially, both concepts point to the increased prevalence of cultural mobility and international migration, which undoubtedly shape identity formation and the development of the psyche in profound ways. In a context of deep political polarisation and anti-immigrant sentiments, the themes explored in this lecture are both timely and necessary, signalling the vast potential of, and significant contributions made by, those raised in a world steeped in liminality.
Kevin Lu, PhD, is Professor of Applied Psychoanalysis and Head of Department (Practice) at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, London, UK. His research mobilises analytical psychology as a lens applied to an interdisciplinary exploration of cultural phenomena and societal processes. Two of his papers – on racial hybridity (2019) and archetypal thematic analysis (the latter co-authored with Ann Yeoman and published in 2023) – have been awarded the Scholarship Award for best article published in the IJJS. His co-authored book, (also with Ann Yeoman), Jung’s Collected Works: The Basics, was nominated for the 2024 Gradiva Award for Best Book.
