“The Thing Happened as He Wished”: Recovering an American Indian Cultural Psychology

One of the chief questions confronting mental health professionals who serve American Indian communities is how best to offer genuinely helpful services that do not simultaneously and surreptitiously reproduce colonial power relations. To ensure that counselors and therapists do not engage in psy‐colonization, it is crucial to recognize the sometimes divergent cultural foundations of mental distress, disorder, and well‐being in “Indian Country.” In this article, I will consider four excerpts from a research interview undertaken among my own people, the Aaniiih Gros Ventres of north‐central Montana. At a superficial level, these excerpts seem to reinforce reigning sensibilities that are readily familiar within the mental health professions. And yet, closer analysis of these interview excerpts reveals several tantalizing facets of an indigenous cultural psychology that may well continue to shape life and experience among tribal members in this setting. I recover this distinctive cultural psychology through archival representations of cultural and community life, including analysis of an important tribal myth. This analysis makes possible an alterNative interpretation of these interview excerpts, grounded in an aboriginal cosmology, that yields important implications for conceiving a more inclusive knowledge base for psychology that only robust community engagement can reveal.     

Spirituality and mental health status among Northern Plain tribes

Spirituality measures often show positive associations with preferred mental health outcomes in the general population; however, research among American Indians (AIs) is limited. We examined the relationships of mental health status and two measures of spirituality – the Midlife Development Inventory (MIDI) and a tribal cultural spirituality measure – in Northern Plains AIs, aged 15–54 (n?=?1636). While the MIDI was unassociated with mental health status, the tribal cultural spirituality measure showed a significant relationship with better mental health status. Mental health conditions disproportionately affect AIs. Understanding protective factors such as cultural spirituality that can mitigate mental health disorders is critical to reducing these health disparities.     

Creativity Research and Cultural Context: Past,Present, and Future

Creativity research has always been linked to its social and cultural context. In this essay, I give two examples of how creativity research has changed from the 1950s to the present, and I argue that these two changes are driven by social and cultural factors. First, I discuss a transformation in U.S. society from a 1950s emphasis on conformity, to a contemporary valorization of radical entrepreneurship that rejects the status quo. Second, I discuss a shift from a focus on creative forms associated with elite cultural groups, to a broader focus on universal creativity.     

Tribal aspects of postmodern consumption research: the case of French in‐line roller skaters

Tribes constitute a research focus for postmodern consumer research and an alternative way of targeting marketing action. Consumers are supposed to value the goods and services which, through their linking value, permit and support social interaction of the communal type, products or services that support AB and not the fact of being A or B. This paper seeks to explore current developments in postmodern consumer research in terms of methods used to identify tribes and in terms of approaches used to elaborate an offer which is capable of supporting tribal rites and to capitalise, at a brand image level, on these tribal phenomena. Copyright © 2001 Henry Stewart Publications.     

Cultural Differences in Targets of Stigmatization Between Individual- and Group-Oriented Cultures

This research investigated cultural differences in stigmatization of out-groups representing Goffman's distinction between “tribal stigma” and “blemishes of character.” We hypothesized that “group-oriented” (vs. individual-oriented) cultures would be more likely to stigmatize nonnormative groups, including tribal out-groups (people of a different race, immigrants/foreign workers) and out-groups with blemishes of character (homosexuals, heavy drinkers, drug addicts), because of higher value of behavioral conformity and/or lower value of uniqueness. Country-level analyses with nine individual-oriented and four group-oriented countries supported our hypotheses and revealed that the cultural value of uniqueness played a more influential role than behavioral conformity. We discuss implications and directions for future research.     

Exercising the Body,Exercising Citizenship: On the History of Scouting in Saudi Arabia

ABSTRACT

Scouting was one of the first modern ‘sports’ to reach Saudi Arabia, with the first boy scout troops dating back to 1943. Yet scouting has largely escaped the attention of historians and social scientist who study the Arab Gulf states, since this uniformed youth movement does not conform to the ‘tribal modern’ identity that is today propagated and researched within the region, as found, for example, in the discourse on heritage sports. How did a Saudi scouting movement take root, importing what is still largely perceived to be a Western cultural practice, identified with a white British-North American middle class? The research demonstrates that the scouting movement was able to take hold in the region by negotiating the universal ideals of modernity and internationalism of the scouting movement with more particular understandings of nationalism and social reform. Following the trajectories of the early Saudi scouting movement, the analysis traces how the conception of what constitutes ‘modern’ evolved from an understanding that emphasizes universal traits, toward a negotiated and particularised interpretation of what ‘modern’ means and should mean in the local context of Saudi Arabia.     

Aggression: Functions and control in social systems

This paper summarizes major research achievements concerning the understanding and control of aggression and destructive violence, seen in the contexts of evolution (both biological and cultural) and systems theory. Agonistic behavior, defined as behavior functional in situations of conflict between species mates, most probably evolved out of the function of defensive behavior but has since acquired a variety of other adaptive functions as well as the potential for destructive dysfunction. Recent research demonstrates the importance of culture in regulating human agonistic behavior, directing it toward either useful functions or destructive violence. Among advanced industrial nations, the United States has the most severe problems with violence as measured by homicide and murder rates. Similar but more extreme variation can be found among tribal societies. It is through cultural change that the available scientific information concerning improved methods for directing agonistic behavior into positive and beneficial channels must be achieved. Therefore, major emphasis should be placed on research dealing with human cultural evolution. The science of bringing about desirable social change is still in its infancy.     

Commentary: On the Wisdom and Challenges of Culturally Attuned Treatments for Latinos

In this commentary, I outline the common and distinctive components in the cultural adaptation studies in this special issue and compare cultural adaptations with universalistic and culture-specific perspectives. The term cultural attunement may be more reflective than cultural adaptation insofar as the cultural additions in these studies make the treatments more accessible by adding language translation, cultural values, and contextual stressors. These additions most likely enhance the level of engagement and retention in therapy for Latino families. The work ahead requires a deeper examination of the cultural theories of psychological distress and the cultural theories of change in therapy. A final proposal is made in this commentary for considering the bicultural aspects of the cultural adaptation or attunement enterprise, insofar as the clinical research encounters with immigrants are bicultural encounters. These encounters can reach beyond the notion of cultural "adaptation" of mainstream evidence-based treatments to ethnic minorities and present a unique opportunity for mutually enriching bicultural integration of theory, research, and practice.     

Remembrance of things past: Cultural process and practice in the analysis of career stories

Stories can be a valuable tool for the career researcher. Questions arise, though, about how best to approach stories analytically such that their insights can be fully realised. In this paper I apply cultural theorist Raymond Williams’ analysis of cultural processes as dominant, residual and emergent (1977) to the narratives generated in a recent study into the careers of research scientists. I examine how these overlapping meaning systems are elucidated in individuals’ career narratives and consider implications for developing understanding.     

Silence in context: Ethnomethodology and social theory

Ethnomethodologists (or at least many of them) have been reticent about their theoretical sources and methodological principles. It frequently falls to others to make such matters explicit. In this paper I discuss this silence about theory, but rather than entering the breach by specifying a set of implicit assumptions and principles, I suggest that the reticence is consistent with ethnomethodology's distinctive research 'program'. The main part of the paper describes the pedagogical exercises and forms of apprenticeship through which Garfinkel and Sacks aimed to develop ethnomethodology as a practice. These efforts were not entirely successful, partly because ethnomethodological 'practice' required an engagement with other fully-fledged practices. Aside from the difficulties of mastering such practices, it was unclear what an ethnomethodological study would add to, or take from, them. Whether successful or not, ethnomethodological research points to the specificity of discourse and action in any given practice which a general theory is bound to misconstrue. Current disputes about cultural constructivist versions of natural science illustrate the problems that arise when the terms of a general theory are used to describe and evaluate specific domains of practice. The paper concludes by recommending ethnomethodology as a way to dissolve an unbridgeable gap between cultural theories and socially located practices.     

Human Rights,Cultural Pluralism,and International Health Research

In the field of bioethics, scholars have begun to consider carefully the impact of structural issues on global population health, including socioeconomic and political factors influencing the disproportionate burden of disease throughout the world. Human rights and social justice are key considerations for both population health and biomedical research. In this paper, I will briefly explore approaches to human rights in bioethics and review guidelines for ethical conduct in international health research, focusing specifically on health research conducted in resource-poor settings. I will demonstrate the potential for addressing human rights considerations in international health research with special attention to the importance of collaborative partnerships, capacity building, and respect for cultural traditions. Strengthening professional knowledge about international research ethics increases awareness of ethical concerns associated with study design and informed consent among researchers working in resource-poor settings. But this is not enough. Technological and financial resources are also necessary to build capacity for local communities to ensure that research results are integrated into existing health systems. Problematic issues surrounding the application of ethical guidelines in resource-poor settings are embedded in social history, cultural context, and the global political economy. Resolving the moral complexities requires a commitment to engaged dialogue and action among investigators, funding agencies, policy makers, governmental institutions, and private industry.     

Women's empowerment: the insights of Wangari Maathai

Wangari Maathai of Kenya has written about empowerment, practiced it in many ways in her own life, and shared her reflections on it with many other women in the Green Belt Movement. Yet to date, no study has been devoted to her ideas on the topic. This paper will highlight Maathai's insights regarding empowerment, tracing several important themes in her approach, namely, empowerment's relationship to self-esteem, teamwork, and political action, its ambivalent relationship to formal education, and the role of cultural traditions in providing alternatives to colonial-era cultural impositions and current exploitative effects of neo-liberal capitalism. After reviewing Maathai's thoughts on each of these topics, I will briefly draw upon other East African thinkers and Africanists' studies of East African communities to present corroborating evidence for Maathai's views or for challenges to her position. Listening to the perspectives of Maathai and other East Africans provides several important correctives to current popular uses of the term ‘empowerment’.     

What counts as response and intervention in RTI? A sociocultural analysis

Response to Intervention (RTI) is being used in districts and states around the United States (U.S.) as a means to enhance learning opportunities and address the needs of struggling learners. Increasing attention to RTI in the research community and the recent creation of a large national technical assistance center reflect its growing visibility. Because equity issues for ethnic and linguistically diverse students are purportedly addressed in RTI models, we conduct a sociocultural analysis of its building blocks, namely the definitions and assumptions embedded in the notions of "response" and "intervention". We used interdisciplinary theoretical and empirical insights about the cultural nature of learning and development to inform our analysis. We discuss how the assumptions of RTI might unintentionally create blind spots for researchers and practitioners about how to design, conduct, and assess learning environments, particularly for diverse students. We conclude with reflections about future directions in this research area.     

Participatory action research with self-help groups: An alternative paradigm for inquiry and action

Conclusion I have not sought here to make a case for participatory action research as theonly mode for inquiry and action with self-help groups, but to raise issues that may help counter the dominance of the conventional model and encourage a more pluralistic scientific enterprise. Researchers must be competent in and free to use (or try to use) whatever paradigms and techniques best fit their own epistemological preferences, the phenomena they wish to understand, and the goals and resources they and their coparticipants have. In particular, the assumptions and operating styles associated with PAR seem especially relevant and useful for inquiry and action that can advance knowledge about, and contribute to the effectiveness of, self-help groups. Dogma about the proper scientific method may suit the current scientific establishment and governmental funding agencies, but it does not necessarily lead to good research, research that is valid and useful to the scholarly community and to the self-help movement.In preparing this paper I benefited enormously from the suggestions of David Bargal, Thomasina Borkman, Barry Checkoway, Thomas Powell, and Margaret Weigers. An informal version of this paper was presented at the Planning Session on Collaboration with Parent Groups, sponsored by the National Project on Self-Help Groups, funded by a grant from Maternal and Child Health (MCJ-009127).     

Reasons and psychological causes

The causal theory of reasons holds that acting for a reason entails that the agents action was caused by his or her beliefs and desires. While Donald Davidson (1963) and others effectively silenced the first objections to the theory, a new round has emerged. The most important recent attack is presented by Jonathan Dancy in Practical Reality (2000) and subsequent work. This paper will defend the causal theory against Dancy and others, including Schueler (1995), Stoutland (1999, 2001), and Ginet (2002).Dancy observes that our reasons are neither psychological states nor causes, and that our reasons can be both motivating and normative. I argue that these observations are fully compatible with the causal theory. According to the reductive version I develop for both cognitive and optative reasons, what it is for an action to be done for a reason is for certain beliefs and desires to cause the action in a particular way. Our reasons for action are the objects of some of those beliefs and desires. The causal process has two stages. This theory explains not only Dancys observations, but also many other facts about reasons that alternative theories leave unexplained. I argue against Schueler and others that the non-appetitive desires entailed by acting for reasons are no less distinct and independent causal factors than the beliefs entailed. I go on to rebut arguments that the relation between psychological states and actions cannot be causal because it is non-empirical, rational, normative, or non-deterministic, and that explanations in terms of psychological causes are incompatible with explanations in terms of reasons.I make no claim here about the precise adequacy of the theoretical definitions I present. My goal is to show that a systematic theory along these lines is the most promising and fruitful approach to understanding an important aspect of human nature.     

Imitation, pretend play, and childhood: essential elements in the evolution of human culture?

There is much controversy over what is needed for culture to flourish and what has led human culture to be different from "cultural" characteristics of other animals. Here I argue that the emergence of childhood as a step in the life cycle was critical to the evolution of the human cultural mind. My line of reasoning is built around two complementary features of childhood: imitation and play. When children imitate adults they routinely copy unnecessary and arbitrary actions. They will persistently replicate how an object is used, even when doing so interferes with their ability to produce the very outcome those actions are intended to bring about. Though seemingly maladaptive, this behavior provides for the faithful transmission of cultural ideas across generations. When children play together they commonly construct rules and meanings that exist purely because the players agree they "exist." Play thus provides the building blocks with which children rehearse the kinds of institutional realities that typify cultural practices. I argue that these forms of imitation and play represent a foundation upon which human culture flourished and that neither are prevalent in nonhuman animals. In light of these arguments evidence will be assessed suggesting that childhood emerged relatively late in human evolution.     

Where (who) are collectives in collectivism? Toward conceptual clarification of individualism and collectivism

In psychological research on cultural differences, the distinction between individualism and collectivism has received the lion's share of attention as a fundamental dimension of cultural variation. In recent years, however, these constructs have been criticized as being ill-defined and "a catchall" to represent all forms of cultural differences. The authors argue that there is a conceptual confusion about the meaning of ingroups that constitute the target of collectivism. Collectives are rarely referred to in existing measures to assess collectivism. Instead, networks of interpersonal relationships dominate the operational definition of "ingroups" in these measures. Results from a content analysis of existing scales support this observation. To clarify and expand the individualism-collectivism distinction, a theoretical framework is proposed that draws on M. B. Brewer and G. Gardner's (1996) conceptualization of individual, relational, and collective selves and their manifestation in self-representations, beliefs, and values. Analyses of data from past studies provide preliminary support for this conceptual model. The authors propose that this new theoretical framework will contribute conceptual clarity to interpretation of past research on individualism and collectivism and guide future research on these important constructs.     

Leadership in Boundaryless Organizations: Disposable or Indispensable?

The emergence of "post-bureaucratic" "boundaryless" organizations raises questions about the role of leadership in such organizational forms. In this article I analyse the basic characteristics of emerging organizational forms and offer a theory-guided speculation about the function and nature of leadership within such forms. The analysis exposes a basic dilemma: On the one hand, the temporary, adhoc and "virtual" nature of new organizational arrangements, in combination with greater tendencies toward equality and participation, seem to reduce the need and scope for traditional leadership in organizations. On the other hand, the weakening of both bureaucratic and cultural mechanisms of control and co-ordination seems to increase the need and scope for strong leadership. A related dilemma concerns the need for leaders to serve simultaneously as both agents of change and "centres of gravity" in organizations that cope with rapidly changing environments. These dilemmas pose practical challenges for leaders and theoretical challenges for leadership scholars. I discuss the appropriateness of current leadership theories to meet these challenges and offer directions for further theoretical developments.     

General education,cultural diversity,and identity

The issue of this paper is cultural plurality as a problem for public, general education and for (personal) identity. In order to examine this question, one needs to be clear about the meaning of the concepts of general education, on the one hand, and cultural diversity on the other. In the first section, we will fix the meaning of these concepts. A conceptual distinction between cultural diversity and cultural pluralism will be introduced. In the second section, it will be argued that open pluralism can only be maintained if there is a basic common culture apart from the cultural diversity that pluralism affirms. Therefore, there is yet an indispensable role for general education in an open, pluralistic society. In the third section we will look at two metaphors that give an opposite significance to the relation between identity and diversity: the conversational metaphor and the food metaphor mishmash. The final section expands on the conversational metaphor by way of an exposition of Ricoeur's hermeneutics of the self. It supplies us with a promising concept of identity that is not in complete opposition to diversity.