Overview

"People from Eastern and Western cultures have differences in their perception and understanding of the world that are not well represented by a collectivist/individualist distinction. Differences in worldview are inscribed in personal relationships and the ways in which people try to understand the ""other"" in relation to themselves. When people from the East and West encounter one another, these differences are brought to the fore in jarring moments of culture clash. Such encounters, seen through a contextualized narrative lens can offer insights for deeper cross-cultural knowing. In Narrative and Cultural Humility Ruthellen Josselson recounts her time teaching group therapy to Chinese therapists over the course of ten years and illustrates her own profound experience of cultural dissonance. For example, many of her students regarded her as what they termed ""a good witch"" seeing her as a transformative healer purveying something magical rather than a teacher of psychotherapy with theories and techniques that could be learned. At the same time, she was often mystified by their learning styles and organizational processes which were so different from her own experiences. In these instances, along with others chronicled in the book, Josselson confronts the foundational (and often unconscious) assumptions embedded in cultural worldviews (on both sides) that are manifest in nearly every interaction. This re-telling underscores the need for cultural humility when narrating one's experiences and the experiences of different relational cultures. While narrative is always rooted in culture-bound worldviews, it can also be a way of bridging them. Narrative and Cultural Humility ultimately tells the story of what it means to recognize our own unspoken assumptions to better connect with people of another culture. It also highlights the values and needs that are universally human."

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9780197512579

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Reviews

This honest, moving, and interesting account explains the difficulties of building a training program from scratch and - crucially - illuminates dramatic Chinese cultural themes that will interest psychologists, therapists, and students of modern China. * D. L. Loers, CHOICE * Narrative and Cultural Humility is an adventure story - and is any adventure more alluring than probing the depths of the human mind? In evocative, engaging prose, Josselson details the challenges of encountering the complexities of a widely different culture and inviting people to reflect on themselves. We can easily identify with her as she tries to find her way through the maze of interpersonal challenges. This highly readable exploration of teaching and practicing group therapy in the Chinese context will be illuminating to therapists in our own culture. We come away pondering the assumptions we make when we endeavor to know another person. -Irvin D. Yalom, author of Becoming Myself and A Matter of Death and Life

Narrative and Cultural Humility is an adventure story - and is any adventure more alluring than probing the depths of the human mind? In evocative, engaging prose, Josselson details the challenges of encountering the complexities of a widely different culture and inviting people to reflect on themselves. We can easily identify with her as she tries to find her way through the maze of interpersonal challenges. This highly readable exploration of teaching and practicing group therapy in the Chinese context will be illuminating to therapists in our own culture. We come away pondering the assumptions we make when we endeavor to know another person. -Irvin D. Yalom, author of Becoming Myself and A Matter of Death and Life

Author Information

"Ruthellen Josselson, PhD, ABPP, is a Professor of Psychology at the Fielding Graduate University and was formerly a professor at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and a visiting professor at Harvard University. She is a co-Director of the Yalom Institute of Psychotherapy, a Fellow of the A.K. Rice Institute, and has led and supervised numerous therapy groups as well as directing many group relations conferences. She presented a Special Institute at the American Group Psychotherapy annual meeting on ""How People Create One Another in Groups."" She has received three awards from the American Psychological Association: The Henry A. Murray Award, the Theodore R. Sarbin Award, and the Distinguished Contributions to Qualitative Inquiry Award. She is the founding and current editor of the APA Journal, Qualitative Psychology and the author of many books and articles on narrative approaches to psychology."

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