Convergence of Race, Ethnicity, and Gender : The Multiple Identities in Counseling

by Robinson, Tracey L.

• ISBN13: 9780131186101
• ISBN10: 0131186108
• Edition: 2nd
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2005-01-01
• Publisher: Prentice Hall

Summary

For courses in Multicultural Counseling and Cross-Cultural Psychology. This text presents diversity from a much broader perspective than just race and ethnicity, exploring a broad spectrum of cultural and diversity issues and their impact upon the client-counselor relationship. The author, herself an African-American, examines the dominant cultural beliefs and values in the United States, and discusses how their nearly wholesale acceptance as "normal" and "better" can perpetuate feelings of inadequacy, shame, confusion, and distrust on both sides of the counseling "couch." Embracing feminist and diversity theories, methods, and techniques, while injecting humor and fascinating stories, she has created a genuinely insightful and thoroughly practical volume.

Table of Contents

Part One Imaging Diversity
Chapter 1 Multiple Identities: Defined
MULTICULTURALISM IN COUNSELING DEFINED	3	(1)
DIVERSE IDENTITIES: AN OVERVIEW	4	(2)
A, B, AND C DIMENSIONS	6	(1)
CONCEPTUALIZATION OF THE SELF	6	(1)
IMAGES OF DIVERSE IDENTITIES	7	(10)
Culture	7	(2)
Race	9	(1)
Ethnicity	10	(1)
Gender	11	(2)
Sexuality	13	(1)
Disability	13	(1)
Socioeconomic Class	14	(2)
Spirituality	16	(1)
IMPLICATIONS FOR COUNSELORS	17	(1)
CASE STUDY: NOT WANTING TO BE INSENSITIVE	17	(1)
SUMMARY	18	(1)
REFERENCES	19	(3)
Chapter 2 Multicultural Competencies and Skills	22	(18)
MULTICULTURAL COMPETENCIES: AN OVERVIEW	24	(5)
Counselor Awareness of Own Cultural Values and Biases	25	(1)
Counselor Awareness of Client's Worldview	26	(1)
Culturally Appropriate Intervention Strategies	27	(2)
DIVERSITY TRAINING IN COUNSELING: AN OVERVIEW	29	(1)
A MODEL FOR MULTICULTURAL COUNSELOR TRAINING PROGRAMS	30	(1)
ASSESSMENT AND DIVERSITY	31	(2)
IMPLICATIONS FOR COUNSELORS	33	(1)
CASE STUDY: ACROSS THE PACIFIC, HOME	34	(3)
SUMMARY	37	(1)
REFERENCES	37	(3)
Chapter 3 Statused Identities	40	(20)
IDENTITIES AS STATUS: THE CONTEXTUAL AND SOCIAL CONSTRUCTION OF DIFFERENCES MODEL	42	(2)
ASSUMPTIONS OF HIERARCHICAL SOCIALIZATION PATTERNS	44	(10)
Racism	44	(4)
Patriarchy	48	(1)
Sexism	49	(1)
Homophobia	50	(1)
Able-Body-ism	51	(1)
Class Elitism	52	(1)
Ageism	53	(1)
IMPLICATIONS FOR COUNSELORS	54	(1)
CASE STUDY: MULTIPLE AND TEXTURED IDENTITIES	55	(2)
SUMMARY	57	(1)
REFERENCES	58	(2)
Part Two Valued Cultures
Chapter 4 Native Americans and Alaskan Natives	60	(18)
HISTORY	62	(2)
DEMOGRAPHY	64	(1)
CULTURAL PHILOSOPHIES AND ORIENTATION	65	(2)
ACCULTURATION	67	(1)
SOCIAL, PSYCHOLOGICAL, AND PHYSICAL HEALTH ISSUES	68	(1)
CASE STUDY: A WOUNDED SPIRIT	69	(1)
IMPLICATIONS FOR COUNSELORS	70	(1)
SUMMARY	71	(1)
REFERENCES	72	(6)
Chapter 5 Latinos 76
THE SPANISH, INDIANS, ASIANS, AND AFRICANS	78	(1)
DEMOGRAPHY	78	(2)
SOCIAL, PSYCHOLOGICAL, AND PHYSICAL HEALTH ISSUES	80	(1)
MIGRATORY PATTERNS FROM MEXICO	81	(1)
CULTURAL ORIENTATION AND VALUES	81	(3)
CASE STUDY: LA MUJER Y LA FAMILIA	84	(1)
IMPLICATIONS FOR COUNSELORS	85	(2)
SUMMARY	87	(1)
REFERENCES	88	(2)
Chapter 6 People of African Descent	90	(16)
DEMOGRAPHY AND THE DIASPORA	92	(1)
HISTORY, 500-1500 A.D.	92	(1)
THE SLAVE TRADE	93	(1)
RESISTANCE TO SLAVERY	94	(2)
DEMOGRAPHIC TRENDS	96	(1)
SOCIAL, PSYCHOLOGICAL, AND PHYSICAL HEALTH ISSUES	97	(1)
CULTURAL ORIENTATION AND VALUES	98	(3)
CASE STUDY: CHRONIC POST-TRAUMATIC STRESS DISORDER	101	(2)
IMPLICATIONS FOR COUNSELORS	103	(1)
SUMMARY	104	(1)
REFERENCES	104	(2)
Chapter 7 People of Asian Descent, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders	106	(18)
DEMOGRAPHY	108	(1)
MIGRATORY PATTERNS	109	(2)
ACCULTURATION AND EXPERIENCES IN AMERICA	111	(2)
SOCIAL, PSYCHOLOGICAL AND HEALTH ISSUES	113	(2)
CULTURAL ORIENTATION AND VALUES	115	(2)
CASE STUDY: DUAL DIAGNOSIS	117	(2)
IMPLICATIONS FOR COUNSELORS	119	(2)
SUMMARY	121	(1)
REFERENCES	121	(3)
Part Three Converging Identities
Chapter 8 Converging Race	124	(24)
RACE AND SCIENCE	126	(1)
ORIGINS OF RACIAL GROUPS	127	(1)
RACE AS A SOCIAL CONSTRUCTION	128	(1)
RACIAL IDENTITY DEVELOPMENT	129	(9)
Cross's Nigresence Model	129	(2)
Native American Identity	131	(1)
Multiracial Identity Development	131	(1)
Latino Identity Development	132	(1)
Asian American Identity Development	133	(2)
White Racial Identity Development	135	(1)
Additional Measures of Identity	136	(1)
Optimal Theory Applied to Identity Development	137	(1)
A BIRD'S-EYE VIEW OF THE RESEARCH	138	(2)
IMPLICATIONS FOR COUNSELORS	140	(1)
CASE STUDY: NOT WANTING TO BE RACIST	141	(2)
SUMMARY	143	(1)
REFERENCES	144	(4)
Chapter 9 Converging Gender	148	(20)
GENDER DEFINITIONS	150	(1)
GENDER AND BIOLOGY	151	(1)
THE SOCIAL CONSTRUCTION OF GENDER	151	(1)
SEX ROLE TYPOLOGY	152	(3)
SEX AND GENDER ROLES	155	(1)
GENDER AND EMOTION	156	(2)
GENDER-BASED IDENTITY MODELS	158	(2)
The Womanist Model	158	(35)
White Male Identity Development Model	159	(1)
IMPLICATIONS FOR COUNSELORS	160	(2)
CASE STUDY: I WISH	162	(2)
SUMMARY	164	(1)
REFERENCES	165	(3)
Chapter 10 Converging Socioeconomic Class	168	(18)
CLASS: AN IDENTITY CONSTRUCT	170	(1)
THE NEGLECT OF CLASS AS A STATUS VARIABLE	171	(1)
MIDDLE-CLASS BIAS AND COUNSELOR TRAINING	172	(3)
THE FLUIDITY OF CLASS	175	(1)
MIDDLE-CLASS BIAS AND ETHICAL STANDARDS	176	(2)
CULTURAL LINKS AND CLASS EFFECTS	178	(2)
RACE, GENDER, AND CLASS	180	(2)
IMPLICATIONS FOR COUNSELORS	182	(1)
CASE STUDY: CLASS DIVIDE	183	(1)
SUMMARY	184	(1)
REFERENCES	184	(2)
Chapter 11 Converging Sexual Orientation	186	(20)
DEFINITIONS AND TERMINOLOGY 188 NARRATIVE QUESTIONS	191	(1)
THE IMPORTANCE OF A FOCUS ON GAY, LESBIAN, BISEXUAL, AND TRANSGENDER ISSUES IN COUNSELING	191	(2)
DEVELOPMENTAL PROCESSES	193	(6)
Cass's Model of Gay, Lesbian, and Bisexual Sexual Identity Formation	193	(5)
Troiden's Homosexual Identity Development Model	198	(1)
Sullivan's Model of Sexual Identity Development	199	(1)
IMPLICATIONS FOR COUNSELORS	199	(1)
COUNSELING GAYS, LESBIANS, AND BISEXUALS OF COLOR	199	(2)
CASE STUDY: STAYING CLOSETED OR COMING OUT	201	(2)
SUMMARY	203	(1)
REFERENCES	204	(2)
Chapter 12 Converging Physical Attractiveness, Ability, and Disability	206	(20)
PHYSICAL ATTRACTIVENESS AS A STATUS VARIABLE	208	(1)
THE CONVERGENCE OF PHYSICAL ATTRACTIVENESS WITH GENDER AND RACE	209	(5)
SEX ROLE TYPOLOGY, BODY IMAGE, AND SATISFACTION	214	(2)
MEN AND BODY IMAGE	216	(1)
DISABILITY AND EXPERIENCES IN AND OF THE BODY	217	(3)
IMPLICATIONS FOR COUNSELORS	220	(1)
CASE STUDY: REDEFINING MANHOOD	220	(2)
SUMMARY	222	(1)
REFERENCES	222	(4)
Part Four Reimaging Counseling
Chapter 13 Diversity in Relationships	226	(20)
CASE STUDY: TWO WHITE MOTHERS, ONE BLACK MALE CHILD	228	(1)
DEMOGRAPHIC OVERVIEW OF LIVING AND FAMILY ARRANGEMENTS	228	(2)
THE ECONOMY AND RELATIONSHIPS	230	(1)
GENDER AND RELATIONSHIPS	230	(3)
COUNSELING THEORIES FOR FAMILY PRACTICE	233	(4)
Structural Family Therapy	233	(1)
Subsystems	234	(1)
Boundaries	235	(1)
Goals	236	(1)
MULTICULTURAL THEORETICAL PERSPECTIVES IN FAMILY THERAPY	237	(5)
Native American Indians	238	(1)
Latinos	239	(1)
Blacks and African Americans	240	(1)
Asian Americans	241	(1)
IMPLICATIONS FOR COUNSELORS	242	(1)
SUMMARY	242	(1)
REFERENCES	243	(3)
Chapter 14 Mutuality, Empathy, and Empowerment in Therapy	246	(12)
POWER AND POWERLESSNESS	248	(1)
POWER AND THE THERAPEUTIC PROCESS	249	(2)
GENDER, EMPOWERMENT, AND THERAPY	251	(1)
FEMINIST THERAPY FOR WOMEN AND MEN	252	(2)
IMPLICATIONS FOR COUNSELORS	254	(1)
GROUP CASE STUDY: FIRM GROUND	255	(1)
SUMMARY	256	(1)
REFERENCES	256	(2)
Chapter 15 Diverse Counseling and Healing Strategies	258	(15)
HEALTHY RESISTANCE	260	(2)
Umoja	262	(1)
CASE STUDY: UMOJA	262	(1)
Kujichagalia	263	(1)
CASE STUDY: KUJICHAGALIA	263	(1)
Ujima	264	(1)
CASE STUDY: UJIMA	264	(1)
Ujaama	264	(1)
CASE STUDY: UJAAMA	264	(1)
Nia	265	(1)
CASE STUDY: NIA	265	(1)
Kuumba	265	(1)
CASE STUDY: KUUMBA	266	(1)
Imani	266	(1)
CASE STUDY: IMANI	266	(1)
NARRATIVE THERAPY	266	(1)
ALTERNATIVE HEALING STRATEGIES	267	(3)
Effective Lay-Led Healing	268	(2)
Other Approaches	270	(1)
Creative Arts	270	(1)
Wellness	270	(1)
IMPLICATIONS FOR COUNSELORS	270	(1)
RELABELING AND REFRAMING	271	(1)
SUMMARY	271	(1)
REFERENCES	272	(1)
Epilogue	273	(2)
Name Index	275	(6)
Subject Index	281

Excerpts

As we learn to bear the intimacy of scrutiny and to flourish within it, as we learn to use the products of that scrutiny for power within our living, those fears which rule our lives and form our silences begin to lose their control over us. --Audre Lorde, Sister Outsider: Essays and Speeches In 1989, as a new Assistant Professor, I started talking about convergence. What I meant by convergence was the intersections of race, ethnicity, gender, and other primary identity constructs within the context of counseling. Each of these constructs is critical to a person's emotional and psychological development and each intersects with other human dimensions. Recently, these intersecting identities have been receiving greater attention in the multicultural counseling literature. Prior to this, much of the literature focused on individual aspects of identity (most often race, culture, or ethnicity) and their subsequent influences on a cross-cultural counseling event in which the client was a person of color and the counselor was not. A consideration of how multiple identities, visible and invisible, converge simultaneously and affect development, behavior, and the counseling event itself was missing. This new paradigm for imaging differences, both visible and invisible, allows each of us to engage in the unrelenting process of increasing self-awareness as gendered, cultural, racial, ethnic, sexual, and cultural beings influenced by class, ability, and disability That differences exist is not refuted nor regarded as problematic. The inequity promoted and perpetuated within a society in which immutable human characteristics hold rank is the problem. Multicultural counseling emphasizes an ecological framework in which person-environment interaction, culture, ethnicity, family, collective society, history, and spirituality are regarded as fundamental to understanding the client in therapy. Multicultural counseling also recognizes the way in which dominant cultural beliefs and values furnish and perpetuate feelings of inadequacy, shame, confusion, and distrust for clients in both the counseling process and the larger society The overall goal of this work is to engage in a dialectical, "both/and" discussion about how identity constructs operate conjointly in people's lives to affect personal development and problem presentation in counseling. The response to the first edition from colleagues and students has been inspiring and humbling. This second edition offers an updated format with new chapters, case studies, and storytellings. New and existing theories and research are discussed, and greater attention is devoted to the application of clinical practice. In a spirit ofUmoja(unity) andUjima(collective work and responsibility), 1 acknowledge and celebrate the good work that elders, colleagues, and students have done and continue to do in multicultural counseling. A MESSAGE TO STUDENTS The material presented in this book can provoke dissonance. Students often feel fatigued, guilty, and put off by their new feelings and the voices of others that they have never truly heard before, both within the book and within the context of the course where this book is used. Once the course is finished and you have your grade, it is easy to retreat to more comfortable pre-cross-cultural class experiences. However, if you are to become a multiculturally competent counselor, your thoughts, actions, behaviors, and beliefs about yourself and others need to "bear the intimacy of scrutiny and to flourish within it." The process of transformation moves you toward strategies and solutions to change the social structure and become an advocate and change agent for the long haul. I welcome you to this exploration. Please read the storytellings and case studies, and listen to other people's stories, and mine, and your own as well. Although growth cannot happen without disequi