Past as Prologue: How History Becomes Psychologically Present

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/111916/1/josi12106.pd

Psychology, History, and Social Justice: Concluding Reflections

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/111999/1/josi12118.pd

Dismantling the Master\u27s House: Epistemological Tensions and Revelatory Interventions for Reimagining a Transformational Family Science

Using Audre Lorde\u27s The Master\u27s Tools as an epistemic guide, we propose two practice interventions for family science (FS) transformative praxes. The first, inspired by the thought of philosopher Charles Mills, challenges FS practitioners (research, practice, and policy) to explore differences in peripheral and positivist & post‐positivist (P&PP) ideologies responsible for differences in beliefs regarding the salience or non‐salience of power differentials within FS. The second, inspired by the thought of philosopher Rudolph Carnap, encourages FS practitioners to consider differences in peripheral and P&PP practitioners\u27 understandings of what FS is at its core, and the beliefs and actions guided by their divergent core understandings. Both revelatory practices are intended to transform FS in such a way that its praxes are informed by these ways of practicing, and so that embodied understandings of the importance of pursuing anti‐racist and social justice objectives within FS become manifest

Transformational Family Science: Praxis, Possibility, and Promise

We advance a transformational family science as an engaged practice that may serve social justice and an anti‐racist project. Our companion paper proposed epistemic revelatory interventions through which family science may re‐imagine itself. We highlight pillars of a transformational family science that (a) build with epistemological and paradigmatic stances of peripherals; (b) infuse an ethic of reflexivity, accountability, and responsibility in the pursuit of knowledge claims, and their validation; and (c) engage a critical interrogation of difference and power relations and the disruption of systemic and structural inequalities in which they are aligned. Informed by epistemic praxes, transformational praxes include inquiry, knowledge production, theorizing about structured inequalities, power differentials, and differences bound to social categories and social identities, as well as pedagogy and professional training. Transformative applications that are compensatory, reformative, restorative, reparative, and transformative may be used in multiple ways to advance social justice, anti‐racism, and social transformations

Transforming Caregiving: African American Custodial Grandmothers and the Child Welfare System

Growing numbers of African American grandmothers are raising grandchildren under the auspices of the child welfare system; however, little is known about the manner in which child welfare policies and practices impact custodial grandparenting. Based on focus groups with African American grandmothers who are raising grandchildren as formal kinship caregivers, this study explored the ways in which the new formalized relationship between the child welfare system and African American custodial grandmothers is transforming the meanings and practices related to intergenerational caregiving in African American families. Drawing on cultural and historical traditions, grandmothers forge a transformative partnership with child welfare that embodies the inherent tensions in the grandmothers\u27 private-public role as formal kinship caregivers. Implications of an intergenerational approach to child welfare policy and practices are discussed in this paper

Private Pain, Public Choices: Influence of Problems in the Family of Origin on Career Choices Among a Cohort of MSW Students

This study draws on a survey of 126 graduate social work students from a large school of social work in the United States to investigate the impact of family problems on career choices. Sixty-nine percent of the students indicated they had a family history of problems related to substance abuse (44%), psychopathology (43%), compulsive disorders (17%), and/or violence (35%). Students who report more indicators of psychopathology and violence were more likely to see their family history as influential in their career choice. These students were also more likely to select mental health/health as a practice area. However, no differences were found between students without a family history of problems and those who did not see their family history as influential. Students' history of family problems and their perceptions of its influence on career choice did not affect the likelihood of selecting a practice method. The authors discuss the implications of these findings and conclude with a series of recommendations for social work education

Feminist Attitudes Among African American Women and Men

Research on the intersection of race and gender suggests that for African Americans, racial inequality is more salient than gender inequality. However theoretical perspectives on the multiplicative effects of status positions and "outsider within" models suggest that minority group membership can be a catalyst for the development of feminist attitudes. This article examines three issues central to feminism: (1) recognition and critique of gender inequality, (2) egalitarian gender roles, and (3) political activism for the rights of women. The authors found that support for feminist ideology was common for both African American women and men, although the level of support varied depending on the issue and by gender Factors predicting the endorsement of feminist ideology also varied depending on the issue and by gender The authors found partial support for the race saliency hypothesis, but there was also evidence of the multiplicative effects of status positions on African Americans feminist attitudes

Racial Socialization of Biracial Youth: Maternal Messages and Approaches to Address Discrimination

We explored how mothers of biracial youth prepare their children to navigate diverse racial ecologies and experiences of racism and discrimination. A qualitative thematic analysis was used to identify racial socialization messages mothers used and emergent racial socialization approaches. Mothers of biracial youth engaged in the full range of racial socialization discussed in the literature, including cultural, minority, self-development, egalitarian, and silent racial socialization. These messages varied by the biracial heritage of the youth, such that mothers of biracial youth with Black heritage were more likely to provide self-development racial socialization messages, whereas mothers of biracial youth without Black heritage were more likely to provide silent racial socialization. On the basis of the array of racial socialization messages mothers delivered, we identified three emergent approaches: promotive, protective, and passive racial socialization

Teaching classics in family studies: E. Franklin Frazier’s The Negro Family in the United States

This paper (a) reintroduces E. Franklin Frazier's 1939 book, The Negro Family in the United States, to family scholars and graduate students and highlights its importance as a groundbreaking and classic text, (b) provides both an introduction to the major thesis of this monograph and a reading of the text, and (c) discusses the challenges of reading classic works and suggests strategies that can be used to guide graduate students in a critical reading of classic works

The Other Breadwinners : the Mobilization of Secondary Wage Earners in Early Twentieth-Century Black Families

This study examines black families' reliance on secondary wage earners in Atlanta, GA during the early twentieth century (1900 and 1936). In periods of economic prosperity and decline, two-parent black families routinely relied on the employment of mothers, children, and extended kin to supplement the family income. These other breadwinners had different positions within the black family economy, and families' reliance on them was affected by diverse, albeit complementary factors. The employment of mothers and children was affected by economic need and the demands associated with the family life cycle. The presence of working relatives in extended family households was affected by the age of relatives, household size, and, to a limited degree, the ages of the host families' children