Is it Racist? Addressing Racial Microaggressions in Counselor Training

This article describes a series of activities for educating counselors regarding a form of racism dubbed racial microaggressions. Meaning and impact of microaggressions are examined. Activities for responding to microaggressions can be applied to clinical and school contexts, and are useful for educators in professional and university settings.     

Jung in Africa: the historical record

Blake Burleson's ninety-minute presentation was part one of 'A Passage to Africa' moderated by John Beebe. Eight individual filmed sequences from home movies taken by Helton Godwin Baynes during Jung's 1925 expedition to East Africa were shown. In addition to placing these clips in their historical, geographic, and cultural context, Burleson introduced the following cultural complexes revealed in the film and in travelling companion Ruth Bailey's commentary on the film: romantic primitivism, 'going black', self-conscious élite, 'furor Africanus', the 'black man's burden', racial inferiority, and the 'curse of Ham'.     

Plato＇s Attempts at Defining Sophistry

In the Sophist, Plato offers seven definitions of a sophist. In this paper I will consider the relationship between these definitions, and examine how the first six definitions contribute to the final definition, and how the final definition, in turn, incorporates elements of the first six. Through this examination, we can also have a better grasp of Plato＇s method of division, and Plato＇s aporetic approach to philosophy.     

Exploring and Promoting the College Attendance and Success of Racial/Ethnic Minority Students

Using consensual qualitative research methodology and being mindful of both challenges and successes, the authors explored diverse students’ experiences with higher education. The authors used semistructured interviews with 7 students with racial/ethnic minority backgrounds to investigate the circumstances under which these students decided to attend college and experienced success. Multiple factors that were reported to contribute to students’ college attendance and success emerged, including individual factors, psychological factors, social factors, and cultural/environmental factors. Utilizando una metodología de investigación cualitativa consensuada y teniendo en cuenta tanto los desafíos como los éxitos, los autores exploraron las experiencias de estudiantes diversos en la educación superior. Los autores usaron entrevistas semiestructuradas con 7 estudiantes de minorías raciales/étnicas para investigar las circunstancias en las que estos estudiantes decidieron cursar estudios universitarios y tuvieron éxito. Surgieron múltiples factores reportados que contribuyeron a la asistencia y al éxito de los estudiantes en la universidad, incluyendo factores individuales, factores psicológicos, factores sociales y factores culturales/del entorno.     

What Do the AMCD Multicultural and Social Justice Counseling Competencies Mean in the Context of Black Lives Matter?

In this article, the authors discuss how the legacy of hypersurveillance and egregious anti‐Black vigilante violence and police brutality helped foment the Black Lives Matter movement. The authors consider how the Multicultural and Social Justice Counseling Competencies (Ratts, Singh, Nassar‐McMillan, Butler, & McCullough, 2015) can operate as an ethical professional framework counselor educators can use with counselors‐in‐training to increase their awareness, knowledge, and skills in relation to the state‐sanctioned violence Black people routinely experience. En este artículo, los autores discuten cómo el legado de hipervigilancia y la violencia brutal ejercida contra personas negras por parte de la policía y patrullas urbanas ayudaron a fomentar el movimiento Black Lives Matter. Los autores consideran cómo las Competencias en Consejería Multicultural y Justicia Social (Singh, Nassar‐McMillan, Butler & McCullough, 2015) pueden funcionar como un marco ético profesional que los educadores de consejeros pueden usar con sus consejeros en formación para aumentar su conciencia, conocimientos, y habilidades en relación con la violencia autorizada por el Estado que sufren con frecuencia las personas negras.     

Forum on teaching Asian religions in the American South

This series of three essays by educators from Georgia, Texas, and Alabama examines teaching Asian Religions in the American South. Through reflection on individual experience, each essay offers concrete strategies for the classroom that can be utilized by fellow educators working in the American South, but can also inform pedagogy in other North American regions. Introducing the idea of the “imagined student,” Esaki discusses teaching African American students and tailoring Asian religions courses towards their interests by producing positive buy‐in, while also acknowledging their potential isolation from White peers interested in similar topics. Mikles builds on Esaki's idea of the imagined student to discuss her own experience teaching Mexican and Vietnamese American students in Texas, while presenting specific strategies to overcome preconceived educator bias about students in Southern classrooms. Battaglia closes out the series by suggesting the use of a phenomenological approach for students to sympathetically enter into an Asian religious worldview. She offers specific exercises that can help students unpack their own assumptions – their “invisible backpack” – and approach Asian religions on their own terms.     

Relationship Distress as a Mediator of Adverse Childhood Experiences and Health: Implications for Clinical Practice with Economically Vulnerable Racial and Ethnic Minorities

Adverse childhood experiences (ACE) are interpersonal sources of distress negatively correlated with physical and mental health, as well as maladaptive intimate partner conflict strategies in adulthood. Economically vulnerable racial and ethnic minorities report the greatest disparities in exposure to ACE, as well as relationship distress and health. Yet, little is known about the connections between ACE, relationship distress, and health. We therefore tested a theoretical model for the mediating role of relationship distress to explain the ACE‐health connection with a sample (N = 96) predominantly racial/ethnic minorities (87%) with low income. We applied partial least squares structural equation modeling with bootstrapping (N = 500). Relationship distress strengthened the predictive relationship between ACE and health, and accounted for 42% of the variance in health. The results provide preliminary support for relationship distress as a social determinant of health disparities with implications for interdisciplinary health intervention.     

The influence of sharing on children's initial concept of division.

We report three studies that investigate young children's ability to solve partitive division problems when presented with a concrete model of a problem. In the studies, 5- to 8-year-olds were given problems about sharing "sweets" between dolls, and the sweets were grouped in one of two different ways. When the sweets were grouped by the divisor, the number of groups coincided with the number of dolls (divisor) and the number in each group was the answer (quotient). When the sweets were grouped by the quotient, the reverse was true. In all three experiments, children found it much easier to solve the problems in the Grouping-by-Divisor condition than in the Grouping-by-Quotient condition (although there was some evidence of a developmental improvement in the tasks). It is suggested that the Grouping-by-Divisor condition is easier because it coincides with the end point of sharing. The findings are discussed with reference to schemas of action in children's mathematical understanding.     

Racial Discrimination and Racial Identity as Risk or Protective Factors for Violent Behaviors in African American Young Adults

This study examined the influences of racial discrimination and different racial identity attitudes on engaging in violent behavior among 325 African American young adults. The contributions of racial discrimination and racial identity attitudes in explaining violent behavior during the transition into young adulthood while controlling for the influences of prior risk behaviors at ninth grade were examined separately for males and females. In addition, the buffering effects of racial identity attitudes on the relationship between racial discrimination and violent behavior were tested. Results indicated that experience with racial discrimination was a strong predictor of violent behavior, regardless of gender. The centrality of race for males and the meaning others attribute to being Black for both males and females were moderators of the influence of racial discrimination on violent behavior.     

Racial Identity, Parental Support, and Alcohol Use in a Sample of Academically At-Risk African American High School Students

This study examined racial identity and parental support as predictors of alcohol use in a sample of 488 African American adolescents. Two dimensions of racial identity were investigated: (1) racial centrality (i.e., the significance that one places on race in defining oneself) and (2) private regard (i.e., the extent to which one feels positively about Black people). In addition, perceived support from mothers and fathers was examined. Multivariate results showed that private regard and father support were associated with less self-reported alcohol use after partialling out the effects of age and gender. An interaction between the two racial identity dimensions was also found such that private regard was associated with less alcohol use for adolescents who reported that race was a more central part of their identity.