Racism in the Lives of Women: Testimony, Theory, and Guides to Antiracist Practice

This award-winning book touches the heart through its personal material as it engages the mind with its theoretical and practical approaches to antiracism in professional practice and in daily life. The authors are forthright and deal clearly with complex matters. Their insightful approach to anitracism earned the book the Distinguished Publication Award from the Association for Women in Psychology (1996).The scope of Racism in the Lives of Women ranges from historic and contemporary life among the first nations on this continent to migrant and immigrant experiences in Canada and the U.S. Many, if not most, subjects are explored from the dual perspective of minority group members and of members of the dominant culture. The result is a spectrum with particular but not exclusive relevance for those who work with women in the area of mental health and for those in other disciplines who seek to enrich their work with psychological insights and understanding.Both practitioners and advanced students of psychotherapy will find help in these pages for questions concerning racial and cultural differences and how to proceed without making matters worse. It is not merely a quick-fix book but rather a set of thought-provoking essays that can help well-meaning individuals turn good intentions into good behaviors.Racism in the Lives of Women is important to mental health professionals and the topics covered include:

• issues of racism arising in teaching, training, and supervision
• connections between racism and violence against women
• critical analyses of essentialist theories of psychologies of women
• white women’s efforts to be antiracist
• difficulty and necessity of maintaining an antiracist perspective in antisexist family therapy
• biracial and bicultural identity formation
• developing an antiracist norm as part of feminist ethics