Dutch researcher studies dreams among Surinamese and Australian tribes

• Dreams prepare your emotions', is a comment that Mohkamsing-den Boer frequently heard during her research.
• This statement reaches to the heart of her study, namely the function of dreams during important changes in the lives of indigenous tribes in Suriname and Australia.
• The researcher carried out literature studies and fieldwork to determine the function of dreams.
• Mohkamsing talked to men and women about their dreams and presents various case studies in her thesis.
• One case study concerns a woman who struggles with the question as to whether she should allow herself to be initiated as a piyai, a religious specialist.
• One day an aunt gave her a few cuttings from some medicinal herbs.
• She planted these in her garden but failed to look after them.
• The spirits from the plants visited her in her dream.
• In the end she spoke to the plants as follows: 'I think you are beautiful but I cannot use you yet.'
• According to the indigenous Surinamese tribes, dreams allow you to see the consequences of ignoring the spirit world, but they can also provide help when a difficult decision needs to be taken.
• Other case studies concern coming to terms with the approaching death of a family member.
• Mohkamsing concludes that dreams have a facilitating and supportive role during important transitions in the course of life.
• She terms these 'transitional dreams' rêves de passage.
• Yet dreams are not only important for the individual.
• Dreams also say something about the relationships within the community and the role that religion plays in this.
• 'Freud calls dreams the royal road to the subconsciousness, but this study is the royal road to understanding the lifestyle and cosmology of indigenous, tradition-oriented Surinamese and Australian tribes' says Mohkamsing-den Boer.
• Elizabeth Mohkamsing-den Boer's research was funded by WOTRO.