The Handbook of Chicana/o Psychology and Mental Health

Roberto J. Velasquez, Leticia M. Arellano, Brian W. McNeill, Roberto J. Velasquez, Leticia M. Arellano, Brian W. McNeill

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2004
• Print ISBN: 9780805841589
• eBook ISBN: 9781135637019
• Topic: Medicine
• Subtopic: Psychiatry & Mental Health

Mexican-Americans now constitute two thirds of what has become the largest and fastest-growing minority group in the United States, Hispanics. They have distinct cultural patterns and values that those who seek to serve them competently as clinicians and educators, and those who attempt to study them, need to understand. This is the first comprehensive overview of the psychology of the Chicana/o experience since 1984.

Solidly grounded in the latest theory and research, much of which is relevant to other Latina/o groups as well, The Handbook of Chicana/o Psychology and Mental Health is an indispensable source of up-to-date information and guidance for mental health and education professionals, their trainees and students; and for social and behavioral scientists interested in the impact of cultural differences in multicultural settings.

I
Being and Becoming a Chicana/o: General Issues

1
Mestiza/o and Chicana/o Psychology: Theory, Research, and Application

Manuel Ramirez III
University of Texas, Austin

The purpose of this chapter is to discuss the history of and recent developments in Chicana/o psychology and to point out new directions for theory and research. The concept of mestizaje (multicultural-multiracial world view) and the seven basic tenets of Chicana/o psychology are introduced.

WHAT IS CHICANA/O PSYCHOLOGY?

Chicana/o psychology is a psychology grounded in the tradition of the famous African American educator and civil rights leader, W. E. B. DuBois, and the first Chicano psychologist, George I. Sanchez. It is also a psychology based on the work of many subsequent Chicana and Chicano psychologists whose research has been devoted to they study of Chicanas and Chicanos as well as other multiracial-multicultural peoples in the Americas. The principal objective of Chicana/o psychology is to develop new concepts and strategies for understanding the struggles, trials, and tribulations of persons of Mexican descent as well as those of all of the cultural and genetic Mestizo peoples living in the United States.

Chicana/o psychology is a multicultural-multiracial field of study illuminated by the mestiza/o world view that has challenged the restrictive and exclusionary perspectives of North American and western European psychology. The first to articulate this world view was the Mexican philosopher-politician-educator Jose Vasconcellos. In his major works entitled La Raza Cosmica (1925) and Indologia (1927), Vasconcellos extolled the advantages offered by the synthesis of racial and cultural diversity through the amalgamation process of “mestizoisation.” He argued that the genetic and cultural amalgamation of different races and cultures in Latin America offered the promise of a more enlightened way of life for all the peoples of the world. Vasconcellos believed that the Mestiza/o, the product of the synthesis of the Native American Indian and European groups in the Americas, was the end result of the intial stages in the development of the ideal citizen of the world: “Our major hope for salvation is found in the fact that we are not a pure race, but an aggregation of races in formation, an aggregation that can produce a race more powerful than those which are the products of only one race” (1927, p. 1202).

Taking Vasconcellos’s perspective, the pioneers of Chicana/o psychology have questioned and changed the concepts, theories, and strategies of the larger field of psychology—and reached out to other fields, including sociology, anthropology, history, education, theology, political science, and Chicana/o studies—in an effort to create a more inclusive and socially responsible psychological science that is reflective of our new global society. This new psychology seeks to liberate those who are disenfranchised in society by eradicating stereotypes and denigrating images and other negative influences on people who are considered to be different, freeing them from feelings of inferiority, insecurity, uncertainty, and dependence. Chicana/o psychology seeks to produce research that is methodologically sound, but also congruent with and useful to those who need it most, la gente “the people.”

Chicana/o psychology also aims to address societal problems—racism, sexism, and ageism—that affect those who feel different and who are alienated from mainstream American society. Other objectives include empowering individuals, families, and communities to combat poverty, crime, lack of education, and internalized racism and improving ethnic pride and self-esteem.

WHAT CHICANA/O PSYCHOLOGY IS NOT

It is not merely a subfield of psychology, nor is it based solely on Anglo or western European models of behavior and development. While recognizing that some mainstream psychological concepts and constructs may be useful in understanding multicultural-multiracial people, Chicana/o psychology emphasizes that all conceptual frameworks need to be carefully scrutinized before they are applied. The new multicultural-multiracial psychology is not a psychology of racial and cultural superiority; it offers new perspectives on reality that can enhance and enrich mainstream psychological theory and research.

TENETS OF CHICANA/O PSYCHOLOGY

The fundamental tenets of Chicana/o psychology were derived from the knowledge and experience of the mestizo peoples in the Americas. They reflect the developmental forces that influenced the cultures of Native American Indian, African American, Asian American, and European peoples. There are seven principles of underlying the Mestiza/o world view:

1. The person is an open system. In the Mestiza/o world view, the person is inseparable from the physical and social environments in which he or she lives. Traits, characteristics, skills, perceptions of the world, and philosophies of life evolve by meeting the environmental challenges the person encounters. Information and knowledge derived from others and the environment is regarded as modifying, incorporating, and influencing the dynamics of the person. The individual modifies and affects others and the environment as he or she interacts with these elements. In this ecological context, person-environment fit is the primary criterion for determining the quality of human adaptation.

2. The spiritual world holds the key to destiny, personal identity, and life mission. In addition, spiritualism serves to link the individual with supernatural forces in the cosmos from the Mestiza/o perspective and can influence individual and group or collective destiny. The developmental emphasis is on achieving control over the supernatural by attaining self-control and self-knowledge as well as on enlisting the help of a person or spirit who can mediate between the supernatural and the individual. A strong identification with the group to whom the individual belongs is also important because the group can provide access to knowledge concerning the maintenance of a proper balance between the individual and the supernatural.

Persons believed to have special knowledge, access to supernatural powers, or possession of these powers play an important role in personality development and functioning. For example, wisdom is highly valued in Chicana/o culture and is often sought from “special persons” within the community, including curandera/os, espiritistas, shamans, and clergy. These individuals all assist people in their search for self-knowledge and identity, provide treatment, and advise individuals experiencing personal conflicts, existential crises, or adjustment problems. In many communities, contemporary Chicana/o psychologists take on the role of such special persons and are frequently sought out for consultation regarding such issues. It is also important to note that the community is likely to view the Chicana/o psychologist as a person who has many powers, often magical, spiritual, or psychological.

In addition, some aspects of the Mestiza/o world view have been influenced by the belief that, through achieving communication with the spiritual world, a person can experience a vision or a dream that may provide an adult identity, a life mission, and a spirit-helper to facilitate the attainment of life goals. For example, it is very common among Chicana/os to talk about their deceased relatives in the present tense and to find solace and comfort in honoring the presence of these relatives in everyday life. Spirituality is also perceived to play an important role in achieving harmony with and protection from negative supernatural forces. Not only does religion provide models with which to identify and codes of conduct that facilitate the achievement of meaning in life and death, it also provides confession as a means of achieving reconciliation with the self and the supernatural.

3. Community identity and responsibility to the group are of central importance in development. In the Mestiza/o world view, the individual is socialized to develop a strong sense of responsibility to the group, whether it is the family community or ethnic group. Individuals come to feel that they are always representative of the group. In contemporary times, this is especially the case with Chicanos and Chicanas who have obtained high levels of education and who are highly valued and esteemed by their respective communities. The statement “I am the people” is often used by members of Native American Indian groups because identity cannot be separated into individual and group levels. LaFramboise (1983) observed that a central value of Native American cultures is the importance of close ties to the homeland and extended family. She reported that this value is inculcated in children because the entire community participates in the socialization and parenting processes. Commu- nity socialization is familiar to Chicana/os, who are socialized not only by the immediate family, but also by the extended family and the community. Identification with family and community is encouraged through extended family involvement in modeling and instruction in cultural traditions and rituals. This mode of socialization among Native American Indians is most evident in the powwows (Parfit & Harvey, 1994) that are held regularly by the Indian nations of North America. Powwows serve to maintain a sense of community by teaching and reinforcing traditions and values to the young and by keeping the culture alive.

From the Mestiza/o world view, the individual is seen as embedded in the context of the family group. Recognition of the important role of family identity, or familism, within the social sciences and helping professions has been one of the major contributions of the Native American Indian cultures of the Americas and the world. For example, as much as a Chicana/o may attempt to separate from family, this can never be fully accomplished because of built-in psychological mechanisms that keep that person joined to the family.

4. The foundations of a good adjustment to life (mental health) are liberation, justice, freedom, and empowerment. The history of the cultures of mixed ethnic peoples is one of struggles against political, social, and economic oppression; the stories surrounding these struggles are important to the education and socialization of children. The heroes of these struggles are held up as models for young children and adolescents and also serve to pull the individual back home, especially when the person is alienated. Poverty, human misery, racism, linguistic barriers, repression of individual rights, state-sanctioned brutality, and equality of opportunity are all visible realities for people of mixed heritage. For example, if one is to study the effects of colonization on a Chicana/o community, one important factor that must be understood is that of police-community relations. These factors also affect the socialization of individuals; they are the principal reason for the pragmatic orientation of a Mestiza/o, multicultural-multiracial psychology. The Native American Indian nations of North America have influenced the development of Mestiza/o psychology because, unlike many European societies, Native American communities are free of rulers, slavery, and social classes based on land or materialistic ownership. Indeed, many early European ethnographers and philosophers frequently described American Indian societies as just, equitable, and democratic when compared to various European societies (Weatherford, 1988).

5. Total development of abilities and skills is achieved through self-challenge. A prominent Native American Indian belief is that self-challenge and endurance of pain, hardship, hunger, and frustration encourage the development of an individual’s full potential. Children are encouraged to seek out competitive situations and the goal of education is the full development of capacity. Lee (1976) observed that Native Americans were historically taught “to engage themselves in the elements—to meet them with an answering strength. If a torrential rain fell, they learned to strip and run out in it, however cool the weather. Little boys were trained to walk with men for miles through heavy snow drifts in the face of biting winds, and to take pride in the hardship endured” (p. 53). One of the principal goals of such self-challenge is to learn restraint and self-control. LaFramboise (1983) reported that, in Native American Indian cultures, respect is accorded those individuals who are self-disciplined.

In the Mestiza/o view, personality is the sum total of the experiences of coping with life’s challenges and problems—environmental, social, and personal. The life history of every person is a series of lessons resulting from successes and failures in meeting these diverse challenges. Specifically, the nature and quality of experiences with life challenges and change determine the degree to which the person is open to and accepting of pluralism and diversity in his or her environment. For instance, individuals who are open to, or accepting of, diversity view it as the key to surviving rapid and radical change. Conversely, individuals who are not accepting of diversity become protective, self-centered, and easily threatened by diversity and change.

6. The search for self-knowledge, individual identity, and life meaning is a primary goal. Both the Mayas and the Nahuatl-speaking peoples of the Valley of Mexico historically believed that an individual comes to earth without a face and without an identity. Identities were achieved through socialization and education. In order to develop an identity, it was believed a person had to have self-control and personal strength, which was believed to lead to the development of free will. What the Nahuas called “self-admonishment,” knowing for oneself what one should be, was the major goal of education. Leon-Portilla (1963) observed that the Nahuas, even more than the Greeks, recognized the relationship between identity and change of self-image through their conception of the self as being in constant motion and change.

7. Duality of origin and life in the universe and education within the family play a central role in personality development. The psychological concept of the duality of origin and life emerged from the cultures of Indian nations of Central and South America and the Caribbean. Polar opposites—male and female, religion and war, poetry and math—were often fused in the cultures of the Nahuas and Mayans. In the religion of the Nahuas, the god Ometeotl represents the dual nature of the culture. Ometeotl is androgynous—both father and mother of the other gods. (There many other male-female deities contained in the religion of the Nahuas.) Duality is further present in o...

Table of contents

• COVER PAGE
• TITLE PAGE
• COPYRIGHT PAGE
• CONTRIBUTORS
• PREFACE
• AN APPRECIATION OF DR. MARTHA E. BERNAL (1931–2001)
• I. BEING AND BECOMING A CHICANA/O: GENERAL ISSUES
• II. PSYCHOLOGICAL ASSESSMENT OF CHICANA/OS
• III. CONCEPTUALIZING EFFECTIVE INTERVENTION: LA MUJER Y EL HOMBRE
• IV. CONCEPTUALIZING EFFECTIVE INTERVENTION: LA FAMILIA
• V. RISKS AND PREVENTION
• VI. NEW DIRECTIONS