Transformations
of Gender and Race:
Family and Developmental
Perspectives
Transformations of Gender and Race: Family and Developmental Perspectives has been co-published simultaneously as Journal of Feminist Family Therapy, Volume 10, Number 1 1998.
The Journal of Feminist Family Therapy (An International Forum) Monographs/Separates
Feminist Approaches for Men in Family Therapy, edited by Michele Bograd
Feminism and Addiction, edited by Claudia Bepko
Expansions of Feminist Family Theory Through Diversity, edited by Rhea V. Almeida
Ethical Issues in Feminist Family Therapy, edited by Maryhelen Snyder
Cultural Resistance: Challenging Beliefs About Men, Women, and Therapy, edited by Kathy Weingarten
Reflections on Feminist Family Therapy Training, edited by Kathy Weingarten and Michele Bograd
Transformations of Gender and Race: Family and Developmental Perspectives, edited by Rhea V. Almeida
These books were published simultaneously as special thematic issues of the Journal of Feminist Family Therapy (An International Forum) and are available bound separately. Visit Haworth's website at http://www.haworthpressinc.com to search our online catalog for complete tables of contents and ordering information for these and other publications. Or call 1-800-HAWORTH (outside US/Canada: 607-722-5857), Fax: 1-800-895-0582 (outside US/Canada: 607-771-0012), or e-mail getinfo@haworthpressinc.com
Transformations
of Gender and Race:
Family
and Developmental
Perspectives
Rhea V. Almeida
Editor
Transformations of Gender and Race: Family and Developmental Perspectives has been co-published simultaneously as Journal of Feminist Family Therapy, Volume 10, Number 1 1998.
First Published by
The Haworth Press, Inc., 10 Alice Street, Binghamton, NY 13904-1580 USA
Transferred to Digital Printing 2010 by Routledge
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Transformations of Gender and Race: Family and Developmental Perspectives has been co-published simultaneously as Journal of Feminist Family Therapy , Volume 10, Number 1 1998.
1998 by The Haworth Press, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, microfilm and recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.
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Cover design by Thomas J. Mayshock Jr.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Transformations of gender and race : family and developmental perspectives / Rhea V. Almeida,
editor.
p. cm.
Co-published simultaneously as Journal of feminist family therapy, v. 10, no. 1, 1998.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-7890-0655-3 (alk. paper)
1. Feminist therapy. 2. Family psychotherapy-Political aspects. 3. Masculinity. 4. Child psychology. 5. Family-Mental health. 6. Minorities-Mental health services. 7. Discrimination in mental health services. 8. Sexism in mental health services. I. Almeida, Rhea V. II. Journal of feminist family therapy, v. 10, no. 1.
RC489.F45T7 1998
6l6.89-dc21
98-48952
CIP
Publisher's Note
The publisher has gone to great lengths to ensure the quality of this reprint but points out that some imperfections in the original may be apparent.
ABOUT THE EDITOR
Rhea V. Almeida, LCSW, DVS, is Founder and Director of the Institute for Family Services in Somerset, New Jersey. She developed the Cultural Context Model, an expanded model of family therapy, and has written numerous articles on Asian Indian families, cultural perspectives in domestic violence, mentoring, unexamined assumptions of social service delivery, child development, and the intersectionality of gender, race, class, culture and sexual orientation. Editor of Expansions of Feminist Family Theory Through Diversity (1994, The Haworth Press, Inc.), Dr. Almeida has received an award from the American Family Therapy Academy for her work with women of color.
Transformations of Gender and Race:
Family and Developmental Perspectives
CONTENTS
Virginia Goldner
Rhea V. Almeida
Rhea V. Almeida
Rosemary Woods
Theresa Messineo
Claudia Bepko
Rhea V. Almeida
Theresa Messineo
Yanella Stevenson
Robert-Jay Green
Roberto Font
Ken Dolan-Del Vecchio
Rhea V. Almeida
Elaine Pinderhughes
Evan Imber-Black
Lynn Parker
Sukie Magraw
Foreword
It is a risky, perplexing and interesting opportunity to be invited to write the foreword to Transformations of Gender and Race, a paradigm-shifting special issue of the Journal of Feminist Family Therapy. As a white feminist who has not made a significant contribution to post-colonial theory or to the clinical and political challenges of diversity, I have my doubts (as I imagine many of you do) about the appropriateness of my being positioned in this privileged place at the front of this radically unsettling volume.
Indeed, as the time to write grew near, I became increasingly uncertain as to how to proceed. When I asked Rhea Almeida, the Editor of this issue, to help me understand her thinking on the matter, she E-mailed the idea that she wanted to include (my) voice in an expanded consciousness of feminist thought. This phrase has stayed with me because inclusiveness is a core democratic value, often betrayed, and consciousness (raising)/expansion is the promise of every liberatory movement that brings news of (a) difference into awareness and conversation.
So taking these terms as book-ends for my response to this richly evocative material, I have found my voice in the idea that I am here in this place not as a writer, but as a reader-a reader who can reassure other readers that this is a volume that does indeed value inclusiveness and will not shut you out, although it may well disturb and distress you along the way.
And, on the CR front, if my own experience is any guide, the cumulative effect of these essays is to move and edify, no matter how much we all thought we really did get it about the cruel and pernicious workings of domination and oppression. Indeed, perhaps most important to this reader is the emotional shock many of these essays deliver, as they document just how much suffering has been produced right in our midst. As we take the measure of how our (white, middle-class, heterosexual) professional culture with its inevitable racism and homophobia have hurt and harmed so many of our colleagues, patients and friends, it is still hard to believe how ignorant and comfortable we have been for so long.
