Multicultural Psychology - Understanding Our Diverse Communities
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Jeffery Scott Mio, 2023
ISBN10: n/a ISBN13: 9780197641279
"Throughout the years that we have taught courses on multicultural psychology and attended conference presentations and workshops on this topic, what has stuck with us are the stories people felt compelled to tell. In fact, the genesis of this book was a student's reaction paper that was so moving we felt it had to be published. Thus, we planned this book around stories (narratives or anecdotes) that illustrate important aspects of scientific studies and other professional writings in the field of multicultural psychology. The personal stories from our students have generally not been edited for grammar, although some markedly ungrammatical phrases and sentences were modified to make them a bit more grammatical. We did this to maintain the flavor of their stories from the heart, which seemed to illustrate the academic points we are trying to make. In general, science tells us that anecdotes are not sufficient evidence to prove one's point. Although we agree with that stance from a scientific perspective and do not substitute anecdotes for scientific investigation, we do use anecdotes as central points around which to build our case for multicultural issues based on science. In addition, multicultural psychology emphasizes the value of integrating quantitative and qualitative methods to accurately capture the richness of diverse cultures and communities. Thus, rather than substituting for science, our anecdotes are prototypes for scientific investigation. For example, science tells us that there are differences in the way in which men and women communicate. We illustrate those differences by presenting anecdotes highlighting the common experience women have of sometimes being shut out of conversations, particularly ones that are about "male" topics. Science tells us that there are various stages or statuses of racial identity, and we present some prototypical anecdotes that illustrate how those statuses of racial identity affect one's perceptions and life experiences. Science tells us that clients of color, now referred to as "BIPOC" for "Black, Indigenous, and People of Color," may have very different reactions to European American therapists, and we present an anecdote that conveys a typical reaction to a European American therapist who did not approach a BIPOC family of color in a culturally sensitive manner. Again, these stories are meant not to replace science, but to enrich science-to add texture to the clean (and sometimes sterile) lines of science"--
