Phenomenology of the trickster archetype,U.S. electoral politics and the Black Lives Matter movement

This paper examines the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement in cultural, historical and relational contexts at the intersection of the U.S. Civil Rights movement, U.S. Civil Rights legislation, the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and reforms thereto in the recent U.S. Supreme Court decision of Shelby County v Holder, 570 U.S.529 (2013). The intergenerational relations between the BLM movement and these ongoing movements for civil and human rights is underscored. In the wake of protests about the sadistic murder of George Floyd, an unarmed African American man, by a Caucasian police officer, the BLM movement has been mischaracterized as an affront to law and order by the Trump-led U.S. administration. The mischaracterization was a re-election campaign effort designed to ignite ‘white fear’, ‘white rage’ and to defend police brutality and systemic racism. Analytical psychology and the phenomenology of the trickster archetype, as amplified from the African-centric perspective in the Yoruba deity Esu-Elegba, are employed to interrogate partisan obstructionist behaviours that assault multicultural democracy in both contemporary U.S. electoral politics and the political economy. The paper concludes with a brief note on the social activism of Fair Fight Georgia and the integration of its agenda into the BLM movement.     

A Phenomenological Study on the Experience of Syrian Asylum-Seekers and Refugees in the United States

Violence in Syria has displaced an unprecedented number of people from their homes. While couple/family therapy (C/MFT) scholars have explored migration experiences, particularly among refugees, there is still limited research using a bioecological framework. This exploratory study examined the experiences of Syrian asylum-seekers and refugees living in the United States using a qualitative phenomenological approach. Twelve Syrians (n = 8 men, n = 4 women) between 20 and 52 years of age (M = 35.8, SD = 10.7) were interviewed about their experiences across three stages of resettlement: (1) pre-resettlement, (2) resettlement/migration, and (3) post-resettlement. Findings suggest that the effects of conflict-induced displacement and resettlement permeate across multiple ecologies. These range from the individual and his or her interpersonal relationships to their larger community and society. C/MFTs should account for contextual factors while becoming familiar with the sociopolitical impact of displacement and resettlement in their clinical work with this population.     

The Family Resilience Inventory: A Culturally Grounded Measure of Current and Family-of-Origin Protective Processes in Native American Families

The purpose of this article is to introduce the Family Resilience Inventory (FRI) and present findings on initial efforts to validate this measure. The FRI is designed to assess family resilience in one's current family and in one's family of origin, enabling the assessment of family protective factors across these generations. The development of the FRI was the result of many years of ethnographic research with Southeastern Native American tribes; yet, we believe that this scale is applicable to families of various backgrounds. Items for the FRI were derived directly from thematic analysis of qualitative data with 436 participants, resulting in two 20-item scales. Due to missing data, eight cases were removed from the 127 participants across two tribes, resulting in an analytic sample size of 119. Conceptually, the FRI is comprised of two factors or scales measuring distinct dimensions of family resilience (i.e., resilience in one's current family and resilience in one's family of origin). The results of the confirmatory factor analysis supported the hypothesized two-factor structure (X²(644) = 814.14, p = .03, X²/df = 1.10, RMSEA = .03, CFI = .97, TLI = .96). Both the subscales and the total FRI scale (α = .92) demonstrated excellent reliability. The results also provided preliminary evidence of convergent and discriminant validity. This measure fills a gap in the absence of community-based, culturally grounded, and empirical measures of family resilience. The examination of family resilience, which may occur across generations, is an exciting new contribution of the FRI.     

Economic Disadvantage at the Intersections: Contemporary Stereotypes in the Headlines

Effective multiculturally competent treatment of economically disadvantaged clients requires an awareness of the stereotypes and biases that these clients and their families face in contemporary culture—stereotypes that are so pervasive that they can subtly influence counselors’ thinking about poor and working‐class individuals. In this article, the authors apply an intersectional perspective to profile current stereotypes and biases that exist regarding low‐income groups at the intersections of race, religion, and immigration status. Implications for educators and counselors are suggested. Un tratamiento efectivo y multiculturalmente competente de clientes e conómicamente desfavorecidos requiere una conciencia de los estereotipos y prejuicios que estos clientes y sus familias enfrentan en la cultura contemporánea; estereotipos tan arraigados que pueden influir sutilmente en la forma de pensar de los consejeros sobre las personas pobres y de clase trabajadora. En este artículo, los autores aplican una perspectiva interseccional para perfilar estereotipos y prejuicios actuales que existen acerca de grupos de bajo nivel económico en las intersecciones entre raza, religión y estatus migratorio. Se sugieren implicaciones para educadores y consejeros.     

Influence of Efficacy and Resilience on Problem Solving in the United States,Taiwan, and China

This study explores factors that influence problem‐solving coping style across cultures. There was no significant difference in applying problem solving across U.S., Taiwanese, and Chinese samples. The effective predictors of problem solving in the U.S. and Chinese samples were self‐efficacy and trait resilience, respectively. In the Taiwanese sample, predictors were self‐efficacy and trait resilience. Trait resilience was found to mediate the effect of self‐efficacy on problem solving in the Taiwanese and Chinese samples. Practical implications are discussed. Este estudio explora factores que influyen en el estilo de afrontamiento a la resolución de problemas aplicado a distintas culturas. No se halló una diferencia significativa en la aplicación de resolución de problemas entre muestras estadounidenses, taiwaneses y chinas. Los predictores efectivos de la resolución de problemas en las muestras estadounidense y china fueron respectivamente la autoeficacia y los rasgos de resiliencia. En la muestra taiwanesa, los predictores fueron las autoeficacia y los rasgos de resiliencia. Se halló que los rasgos de resiliencia mediaron el efecto de la autoeficacia sobre la resolución de problemas en las muestras taiwanesa y china. Se discuten las implicaciones prácticas.     

Scaling Up Family Therapy in Fragile,Conflict‐Affected States

This article discusses the design and delivery of two international family therapy‐focused mental health and psychosocial support training projects, one in a fragile state and one in a post‐conflict state. The training projects took place in Southeast Asia and the Middle East/North Africa. Each was funded, supported, and implemented by local, regional, and international stakeholders, and delivered as part of a broader humanitarian agenda to develop human resource capacity to work with families affected by atrocities. The two examples illustrate how task‐shifting/task‐sharing and transitional justice approaches were used to inform the scaling‐up of professionals involved in each project. They also exemplify how state‐citizen phenomena in each location affected the project design and delivery.