Examining the circle of attachment trauma, shame, and marginalization: The unheard voices of young Kutchi girls

This chapter offers a psychological understanding of the experience of social marginality as viewed from the perspective of young girls from the Indian province of Gujarat. Secure attachments are one of the primary ‘capabilities’ that have direct bearing on an individual’s sense of identity and freedom. Insecure attachments, particularly dismissing kinds, lead to inhibitions in personality development and build up layers of shame and self-doubt. The author examines how the psyche is tormented by repeated experiences of social marginalization in the form of dismissal at the hands of family, and how shame becomes an abiding emotion-creating further doubts, disenfranchisement, and alienation.