Being White in the Helping Professions: Developing Effective Intercultural Awareness

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Being White in the Helping Professions

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Spirituality, Ethics and Care Simon Robinson ISBN 978 1 84310 498 8

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The Art of Helping Others Being Around, Being There, Being Wise Heather Smith and Mark Smith ISBN 978 1 84310 638 8

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Being White in the Helping Professions Developing Effective Intercultural Awareness Judy Ryde

Foreword by Colin Lago

Jessica Kingsley Publishers London and Philadelphia

First published in 2009 by Jessica Kingsley Publishers 116 Pentonville Road London N1 9JB, UK and 400 Market Street, Suite 400 Philadelphia, PA 19106, USA www.jkp.com Copyright © Judy Ryde 2009 Foreword copyright © Colin Lago 2009 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any material form (including photocopying or storing it in any medium by electronic means and whether or not transiently or incidentally to some other use of this publication) without the written permission of the copyright owner except in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 or under the terms of a licence issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency Ltd, Saffron House, 6–10 Kirby Street, London EC1N 8TS. Applications for the copyright owner’s written permission to reproduce any part of this publication should be addressed to the publisher. Warning: The doing of an unauthorised act in relation to a copyright work may result in both a civil claim for damages and criminal prosecution. Mental Flight by Ben Okri reproduced by kind permission of The Marsh Agency Ltd. Copyright © The Marsh Agency 1999. Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Ryde, Judy. Being white in the helping professions : developing effective intercultural awareness / Judy Ryde ; foreword by Colin Lago. p. cm. ISBN 978-1-84310-936-5 (pb : alk. paper) 1. Human services personnel--Training of. 2. Medical personnel--Training of. 3. Whites--Attitudes. 4. Race awareness--Study and teaching. 5. Multiculturalism--Study and teaching. I. Title. HV40.5.R93 2009 361.3089'09--dc22 2008033743 British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library ISBN 9781843109365 ISBN pdf eBook 978 1 84642 730 5 Printed and bound in Great Britain by Athenaeum Press, Gateshead, Tyne and Wear

Acknowledgements

I have been very supported in the writing of this book by many people. As much of my research for the book was carried out for my PhD thesis, I would like to acknowledge my supervisor, Donna Ladkin, whose enthusiasm and support were invaluable. My colleagues, particularly Tricia Scott and Whiz Collis from the Bath Centre for Psychotherapy and Counselling have helped me with my thinking as have others including Chris Mills, Kunderke Kevlin, Janey Elder and Susie Brown. Also my colleagues in the Centre for Supervision and Team Development, Robin Shohet and Joan Wilmot, who accompanied me through much of my life and taught me so much; and others who engaged with me in dialogue throughout my inquiry including John Kirti Wheway who introduced me to the intersubjectivists, authors whose books enlightened me, particularly Robert Stolorow, Donna Orange and Lynne Jacobs from the Institute of Contemporary Psychoanalysis in California. My dear friend Brenda Goldstein selflessly proof read my drafts for which I am very grateful. I particularly want to thank my students who taught me more than I taught them and my clients who taught me most of what I know about this work. My children, Adam, Daniel and Katherine have been very supportive as has my son-in-law to be, Andrew Jubb, with whom I have had many interesting and useful conversations about racism. Most of all I would like to thank my husband, Peter Hawkins, who always gave me love, encouragement and a good dose of often uncomfortable, but always useful, challenge. I also wish to acknowledge my debt to Ben Okri whose poem Mental Fight I have used as chapter headings and in other places within the text. I used this poem as it repeatedly came to my mind as I wrote and then found that it spoke beautifully to each of my chapters. Maybe it is ironic, or maybe it is fitting, that, in writing a book about racializing whiteness, I should find inspiration in a poem written by someone who was born in Nigeria.

Contents

FOREWORD BY COLIN LAGO

9

INTRODUCTION: LOOKING IN THE MIRROR

13

Part 1 Experiencing Whiteness in a Racialized Context Chapter 1

Being White

33

Chapter 2

Discovering Whiteness Together

56

Chapter 3

Shame and Guilt

76

Part 2 The Practice of White Helping Professionals within a Racialized Context Chapter 4

The Core Beliefs that Underpin Our Work

111

Chapter 5

Practising with White Awareness as Professionals

126

Part 3 White Organizations within a Racialized Context Chapter 6

Organizational Considerations: Working in a Racialized Context 145

Chapter 7

Training for White Awareness

167

Chapter 8

Whiteness in Supervision

183

Conclusion: This is the Best Time to Dream the Best Dream of them All

195

REFERENCES

207

SUBJECT INDEX

214

AUTHOR INDEX

218

Foreword

I remember discovering two books on this same subject in a bookstore whilst on holiday some years ago in the United States. I was immediately struck by the sheer obviousness of exploring this subject whilst recognizing the courage and indeed commitment of the authors in embarking upon such a journey. Immediately upon writing this, I note that my use of the term ‘obviousness’ in the last sentence could be seen to be disparaging. That clearly is not my intention, for it takes a unique insight to look at the ‘everyday’, the apparently obvious and to ask ‘What is this? Why is this?’ It is like the air we breathe. It is there, it works, and it is automatic. So why bother to understand it? But this is exactly what those earlier American writers had done and Judy has continued that scientific endeavour here. Historically, of course, one could see the various antecedents to this development, both within the American and British cultural contexts. There have been many writers and practitioners in both countries since the 1960s who have endeavoured to inform, to stimulate debate, to sensitize helping professionals to the complexities of intercultural helping relationships. ‘Multicultural education’, ‘trans-cultural counselling’, ‘anti-racism training’, ‘anti-discriminatory practice’ and ‘diversity training’ have all been important stepping-stones on this emerging journey. Particularly significant milestones on this specific aspect of the journey (i.e. with particular reference to exploring whiteness), for me, have been Judy Katz’s book White Awareness – A handbook for anti-racism training (first published in 1978), and a video programme made around the same period on ‘Whiteness’ by Albany in London. More recently, Richard Dyer’s text White, written from the perspective of the analysis of constructions of whiteness in the fields of photography and film, has been influential, as has the work of Bonnett, Dalal and Dominelli (all referenced in this book). This book by Judy Ryde makes a significant contribution towards a deeper understanding of the concept and nature of ‘whiteness’. One specific aspect of this emerging process has been the theoretical development 9

10


of the various ethnic identity development models over the last two to three decades; and within these, the specific development of a ‘white racial consciousness model’. These have had a considerable impact upon the training of helping professionals and Gill Tuckwell’s milestone text, Racial Identity, White Counsellors and Therapists (fully recognized by Judy in this book), published in 2002, was the first to have direct relevance to the British cultural context of counselling and psychotherapy. In this text, based upon her doctoral research, Judy has embarked upon a serious metaphorical speleological, or diving, expedition to discover, uncover and recover the multifarious constituents of ‘whiteness’. She has dared to dive beneath the surface of that which is frequently assumed to be the ‘norm’, to be ‘opaque’, to be there but not there, to be enigmatic. Inevitably, this research has, in the words of a famous beer advert, touched the parts that other beers don’t reach! This book charts the author’s and her co-researchers’ journeys into scary and dangerous places (psychologically, emotionally, interpersonally, philosophically and politically), in order to comprehend better the nature of whiteness and how it impacts upon the helping relationships. She has dared to indwell the complex sub-strata of the multiple mechanisms and phenomena of power, coloniszation, history, categorization and so on. Her specific focus has been upon the experience of being white, a phenomenon that is ‘difficult to really know and understand’. She writes in her introduction how her original impulse ‘had been to look into intercultural considerations…but the more I went into it the more I questioned my own motivation… I decided to turn the endeavour on its head and look into the experience of being white within a racialized environment.’ Several paragraphs later she writes: ‘It [the book] explores what that means for white professionals who tend not to see themselves as having a race and how that perpetuates the racialization of society, and, in particular, the professions within it.’ In the early chapters, the author examines a wide array of associated causal factors and phenomena that link into whiteness including: •

The unconscious: moving here beyond Freudian and Jungian views to those of the intersubjectivists, Stolorow and Atwood, from whom ‘racism may be understood as not something personal in us but rather more a matter of the way our organizing principles are embedded within society and flow from it.’

•

Denial, guilt and shame.

Foreword

•

11

Racism: ‘Today’s racism is hard wired into our consciousness from the prejudices of the past’ (as Judy writes on p.35).

Later in the book, Judy devotes chapters to the implications of white awareness within professional practice, organizational settings, training endeavours and professional supervision. Each of these contribute significantly to a canon of ideas and resources that might be employed by trainers, managers and supervisors to enhance white awareness within those in the helping professions. In Chapter 1 Judy notes that an American survey recorded that it had found that only 7 per cent of that which had been written about race in the last 30 years had been about white people. This book therefore represents a timely and significant contribution to the emerging literature within the transcultural field. I particularly value Judy’s very pertinent and relevant inclusion of poetry by Ben Okri, featured at the beginning of each chapter, some lines of which I reproduce below: You can’t remake the world Without remaking yourself Each new era begins within. This book certainly summons us ‘white professionals’ to begin within and promptly. I feel most honoured to have been invited to write this foreword. This book is the result of a long and dedicated journey of exploration, commitment to social justice, high aspirations for psychotherapeutic practice and scholarship. I do hope Judy will be recognized and valued for this significant contribution to the helping professions. Colin Lago Fellow, British Association for Counselling

Introduction

Looking in the Mirror

Everyone loves a spring cleaning. Let’s have a humanity cleaning. Open up history’s chamber of horrors And clear out the skeletons behind the mirrors, Put our breeding nightmares to flight Transform our monsters with our light. From Mental Fight by Ben Okri

14


This book is for ‘white’ people in the ‘helping professions’.1 It may seem quite shocking to write a book for ‘white’ people. It could seem racist at first sight. Maybe I think it is about time that ‘white’ people were considered important again. Maybe I consider ‘black’ people to have had all the running in recent years. Nothing could be further from the truth. I actually think that we as ‘white’ people are privileged in ways we are not normally aware of. ‘Black’ people have reclaimed the word black as if to say, ‘Okay you call us “black” – well “black” is beautiful.’ I use the word ‘white’ in such a bald way in contrast to this. It draws attention to our arrogance in so naming ourselves. Within a ‘racialized’ society (I shall say more of what I mean by this below) we consider ourselves to be the norm from which others deviate. As Dyer (1997, p.2) says, ‘there is nothing more powerful than being “just” human’. So this book is for ‘white’ people who work in the ‘helping professions’ within a racialized context. It is a book to help us understand who we are in this context and to work within a diverse world. This book grew out of my research (Ryde 2005) which originally focused on being ‘white’ as a psychotherapist. I have now broadened this focus to include anyone who works in a ‘helping’ capacity with people. I embarked on my research because I was concerned that psychotherapy as a profession had very little diversity and I felt disturbed by this observation. This is true of many others of the helping professions to a greater or lesser extent. Even in professions where there is more diversity, in nursing, for instance, ‘western’ values, norms and assumptions predominate. The theorizing within these professions, both about theory and about practice, have tended to make assumptions based on ‘white’, western attitudes and values though there has more recently been an increase in the number of authors with a more insightful and non-racist approach to the work. Many authors who write about diversity, anti-racist and antioppressive practice have the same basic stance as myself (Dominelli 1990; Tomlinson 2002; Dominelli 2006; Lago 2006; Dominelli 2008). However my approach is a little different as these books speak directly to ‘white’ people and my focus is on the experience of being ‘white’, as I think 1

I am using the term 'helping professions' here in the sense used by Hawkins and Shohet (2006) in their book Supervision in the Helping Professions. It is not a strictly delineated group but consists of those who work, usually within the public and voluntary sector, to provide services for those in need. Professions could include medicine, psychology, social work, counselling, psychotherapy, occupational therapy, speech therapy etc.

Introduction: Looking in the Mirror

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it is difficult to really know and understand this experience. This difficulty in understanding what it is to be ‘white’ is likely to lead to difficulties in ‘white’ people really shifting often unconsciously held racist attitudes. My original impulse, when I started my research, was to look into intercultural considerations for my work but the more I went into it, the more I questioned my own motivation and the validity of my stance which focused on ‘white’ people meeting the needs of black people. I decided to turn the endeavour on its head and look into the experience of being ‘white’ within a racialized environment. This started a life-changing process for me as I gradually realized the extent of my blindness to the implications of my own ‘whiteness’. I use the term ‘racialize’ here in the sense that Frankenberg uses it (Frankenberg 1999, p.6) to denote society being seen in racial terms, mostly by ‘white’ people, who do not include themselves as having a race (Frankenberg 1999, p.4). Even though ‘race’ is ‘unstable’ (Donald and Rattansi 1992, p.1) and unhelpful as a category, as biological differences are superficial and often created in the imagination (Adams 1996), we cannot dismiss the fact that the idea of race is deeply held within society and therefore deny that we all live within a racialized society. Because I do not want to seem to imply that ‘race’ is a ‘real’ category and that the category of ‘white’ and ‘black’ are anything but prejudiced constructs, I have put them in inverted commas so far, thus implying ‘so-called’ every time they are used. However, because it makes the text awkward to read I have not used inverted commas for ‘white’, ‘black’ or ‘race’ from now on, though I do not mean to imply by so doing, that I think these words, used in a ‘racial’ sense, have any validity. Although race is not a category which has much meaning, we do live in a society which has a discourse of race and therefore is racialized. Other terms prevalent in our racialized society can be problematic too, such as the term ‘ethnic’. This term can seem to imply that some people ‘have’ an ethnicity whilst others do not. We do not talk about craft work carried out by white people as being ‘ethnic’, for example. So this book is about how those who work within the helping professions are influenced and affected by the racialized environment in which we live. It explores what that means for white professionals who tend not to see themselves as having a race and how that perpetuates the racialization of society and, in particular, the professions within it. When I started my research I noticed how hard it was to focus on ‘whiteness’ as it seemed like looking at nothingness. I discovered that

16


others who write in the area of White Studies have found the same phenomenon (Dyer 1997; Frankenberg 1999). I decided to look more closely at whiteness to see if more would emerge. In doing so further questions arose such as: •

Who am I as a white person?

•

What is the nature of my privilege as a white person?

•

How does being white affect my ability to relate to people who are not white?

•

What is the nature of race?

•

Who am I in a racialized environment?

In making this inquiry I discovered a prevailing sense of guilt and shame in myself regarding how privileged I am as a white person. I wondered how far my feelings were neurotic and how far they could be useful or appropriate. I decided to explore the nature of guilt and shame, per se, before looking at how far they may be signposts on the road to changing the consciousness of privilege, the understanding and acceptance of which might lead to real and lasting change in racist attitudes. A further question thus became: •

Can guilt and shame be useful in drawing attention to the privilege of whiteness and part of a real process of changing consciousness?

Race Insofar as my exploration is about being racially white, I need to understand what I mean by the word race. At the start of my research I regarded race as an essentially constructed category in which peoples with different skin colours are thought to belong to different ‘races’. I understood ‘racial prejudice’ to be a term that describes prejudiced attitudes between peoples of these different ‘races’ but that ‘racism’ arises when prejudice and discrimination occurs in an interaction between someone of a more powerful race (usually white, western people) towards those of a less powerful race, causing disadvantage to the less powerful group (Dominelli 1990, p.6). Since then my understanding of the concept of race has not so much changed as deepened. I have come to understand it more as a systemic, societal phenomenon and less as an individualistic one, as I show in more


17

detail in Chapter 1 and elsewhere in the book. Several authors have said that racism can be divided into personal (or individual) racism and institutional or cultural racism (Dominelli 2008). As I will show below, my own belief is that personal racism arises from institutional and cultural racism and therefore is not as useful as a concept. My inquiry has also led me to understand that people, like myself, of European origin,2 have racialized the world in the course of processes of colonization. In doing so we have declared ourselves to be a white and ‘superior’ race whilst naming other ‘races’ as inferior (Bonnett 2000). In more recent decades, white people seem to have ‘forgotten’ this ‘naming’ of ‘races’ and tend to see themselves as ‘neutral’ within a racialized environment (Dyer 1997; Bonnett 2000, p.120). I discuss this further below and in Chapter 1 as well as in other places throughout the book.

Being a white person We have seen how we of the white, European diaspora have declared ourselves to be a superior race of white people and other ‘races’ as inferior (Bonnett 2000). As the whole racialized environment was created by white people, through their naming of ‘races’, the terms we use in association with it like ‘black’, ‘ethnic’, ‘race’, or even ‘west’ and ‘east’ become illegitimate because they are imposed by colonizers. The very fact that Europe and America are to the west of the globe when drawn on a flat page is because it was represented in that way by Europeans. Sometimes the best that can be done is to put these terms in inverted commas to indicate that it is problematic. It is this racializing process, and the cultural differences which are embedded within it, as well as the impact of this racialization on us in the helping professions, that I explore in this book. In Chapter 1 I look at the way in which white people have colonized the world, and how they still do in more subtle ways, by using their economic and cultural power to privilege their own agendas (Young 1992). It is important to understand how we, as helping professionals, partake in this cultural colonization and I address this, particularly in Chapter 4.

2

In Chapter 1 I show how white people as they are understood in today’s world are in reality a European diaspora.

18


The interface of race and culture In the course of my research I have come to understand the differences between the terms race and ‘culture’ and this has helped me to become clearer about my own ‘cultural’ position as distinct from myself as a person of race – one who exists as a white person within a ‘racialized’ environment. The term ‘culture’ refers to groups who share similar norms and assumptions, usually unquestioningly (Trompenaars 1993, pp.21–22). These groups may be very large such as national groups or very small such as families. Cultural groups do not have firm edges. There are innumerable cultural groups and subgroups throughout the world with different assumptions and attitudes embedded within their interconnected consciousness but they each have fluid, semi-permeable boundaries. Particularly in recent times, people can, and most often do, belong to several overlapping cultures that may hold different norms and assumptions. There may be a completely different culture at home, for instance, to that at work. This is particularly true of second generation immigrants who may live at home in a very different culture to the one in their wider lives. The concept of race is not the same as culture, as culture cuts across ‘racial’ differences (black people may be British, for instance), so conflating the two may imply a legitimization of the idea of race (Frankenberg 1999, p.19). Nevertheless, I show how cultural issues cannot be ignored when exploring the effect of racialization in any context. Relating within a racialized environment often involves a dialogue with people who do have differences in culture, as I will explore particularly in Chapter 1. In the course of my study I became more and more clear that racism is better understood if we do not see it as individualistic, but as a culturally determined belief system which is woven into the fabric of society and is therefore manifest in the attitudes and assumptions of individuals. In exploring this I wondered if being white or being ‘English’ was most primary for me. I decided in the end that being English was part of my white identity, but that being white was more important because much of what I wanted to say was true because I am white and not just because I am English. However I did discover a discomfort in myself about being English and that is partly what led me to write about shame and guilt. In a piece about being English I wrote: In pushing past my feeling that being English has a nothingness about it, what do I find? My first thought is John Major’s attempt at describing a culture involving warm beer and cricket in country vil-


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lages! I feel rather repelled and hurry to find something else, aware that anything that sounds self-congratulatory about being English is immediately rejected by me. I try to make a tentative step towards a cultural experience. I have a view from my window that has often been described to me as ‘very English’. I can see 20–30 miles of rolling hills and two or three distant villages. Middle-sized fields surrounded mostly by stone walls cover the hills in various shades of green and brown. There is a wood in the middle ground of deciduous, broad-leafed trees such as oaks and ashes. Hedges surround the smaller fields in the foreground as the land falls away to a deep valley. Birds of prey and sea gulls swoop and glide below me from my elevated position whilst smaller birds fly around in front of the window. Two large Douglas firs and a Wellingtonia tree dominate the immediate foreground, reminders of a confident Victorian/Edwardian past. This view does not allow me to forget the days when people were proud to be English and brought their plunder from foreign lands to grace their English gardens. What I can see constantly changes by the minute, hour, day, week and year as the light, the visibility, the seasons, the work of the farmers and the weather changes it. As I gaze at this view for hours each week, walk in it and put my hands in its soil, it becomes part of my inner landscape. Is my soul learning to know a sort of Englishness, one that is connected to the land?

I felt that in some way I had come to terms with this ambivalence but found that I felt just as disturbed on reading, more recently, a paper called English National Identity and the English Landscape. Having read that I wrote the following in my notes: I have just read a paper called British National Identity and English Landscape by David Lowenthal (1986). I wanted to capture a feeling I have about it. I am struck by the sense in the paper of the unacceptableness of English people loving their landscape – or of loving being English. I heard an African woman (can’t now remember which country) on the TV saying how she loved her country and the people of it and there was no sense of shame or inappropriateness about it. In this paper (which was hard to read, not just emotionally, but because it is a very bad photocopy!) the author was saying that there was something arrogant about English people’s love of the landscape. It was anyway not as timeless as we

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thought as it had changed over the last two centuries and it had become prettied up and nostalgic and made into ‘heritage’. Very tidy and neat with nothing out of place as if people could not inhabit it. I know there is truth in that but it isn’t the only truth. I think a sense of inhabiting a landscape that has been walked on and worked with for generations is fine and genuinely moving. Of course all peoples of the world feel like or may feel like that about the landscape they inherit. My sense though is that it has become shameful for thinking people to identify with anything English because it invokes a self-satisfied, over-confident, arrogant past (and possibly present if this paper is correct) where others were unthinkingly subjugated and were told they ought to be thankful about it because we know best. It’s as if this also has soaked into the landscape so that it becomes shameful to love it. I feel it as a deep wound. I guess I could be savage about it too like David Lowenthal, but it isn’t really what I feel. I feel hurt by it. I would like to be able to love England without the shame of the British Empire being part and parcel of it. As I pointed out in my paper on Englishness, I can actually see from my window trees that were planted by people who brought them back from parts of the Empire or parts of the world they wanted to plunder like China. I would like to be able to admire their indomitable nature in an uncomplicated way but I also feel ashamed of their arrogant self-satisfaction and blinkered view.

This shows how my focus on race may be grounded in being white but my sense of being English is also of necessity an important part of my experience. When I started this research I was already aware that difficulties with diversity were not just a problem ‘out there’ for black people. If we are really to tackle the problem that our society does not properly represent its diverse communities, then a good place to start is with one’s own position in colluding to keep the status quo. However, it is easier to say this than to really engage with it when one is part of a cultural majority that has as much power as the white, western culture. Most of what we read and see and experience takes for granted that this cultural view-point is a base line from which others deviate. Moving from this position is like being strongly magnetized to a position and having to heave yourself away from it. The magnet is always in danger of dragging you back. The more I resist


21

this magnet the less power it seems to have over me so that I feel that a less ‘white-centric’ view has become somewhat more natural to me over time, though I can still feel the old magnetic pull.

Working with unconscious processes Although the unconscious is something most often thought about and worked with in the psychological therapies, it is relevant to any of the helping professions, as we all work with people and need to understand ourselves and our clients in order to work well with them. I have found this to be the case in my work with all those across the helping professions in training for supervision. Certainly it is important when working in the area of diversity and white awareness. As I show below and throughout the book, if we are to be effective in making fundamental rather than superficial changes, then we need to understand unconscious processes. In Chapter 4 I look at the power these unconscious processes have in influencing underlying thoughts and attitudes. I have found within my inquiry that, if I am to really understand the assumptions that underlie my experience as a white person, I must be prepared, as far as I am able, to inquire into this level of experience. I have done so in order that genuine rather than superficial shifts in my own and others’ awareness could take place as beliefs and assumptions are held in place unconsciously (Adams 1996, p.153). I show how beliefs that underlie our attitudes to our work and our patients/clients can be vital to changing our awareness of our whiteness. WHAT ARE UNCONSCIOUS PROCESSES?

My way of understanding the term ‘unconscious’ differs from the traditional Freudian or Jungian way. To Freud individuals ‘have’ a ‘psyche’ that is an individual rather than a relational phenomenon. He understood the unconscious to be a structure within the psyche and the psyche to consist of the Id, the Ego and the Superego. He saw the Id, and to some extent the Superego, as unconscious, with the Id as consisting of a cauldron of instinctive desires (Freud 1973, p.106). It therefore had to be kept in check by the Ego which mediated with reality. Unacceptable feelings and thoughts were ‘pushed down’ into the unconscious and would then re-emerge in various symbolic ways such as with ‘slips of the tongue’ (Freud 1938, p.103), bodily ailments or inexplicable behaviour such as

22


forgetting appointments (Freud 1938, p.74; Freud 1973). Jung suggested a ‘collective unconscious’ (Jung 1959, p.42; Samuels, Shorter and Plant 1986, p.155) that we all can tap into as a source of spiritual nourishment. For Freud the unconscious was something each individual ‘possessed’. For Jung it was partly personal but partly also transpersonal, maybe not found ‘between’ us, as the intersubjectivists would see it (Stolorow and Atwood 1992), but ‘around’ us. My own understanding of the unconscious is that it exists in the spaces within and between us, as that which cannot be acknowledged or symbolized. I have found the intersubjectivists, Stolorow and Atwood, very helpful in understanding this. They suggest three types of unconscious – the dynamic, the unvalidated and the prereflective (Stolorow and Atwood 1992, p.33). The ‘dynamic unconscious’ consists of the ‘experiences that were denied articulation because they were perceived to threaten needed ties’ (Stolorow and Atwood 1992, p.33). In other words experiences which may seem to threaten our bonds with others – particularly primary care-givers on whom our very existence, both physical and emotional, relies. This is more like the Freudian unconscious in that it consists of that which we as individuals cannot accept, such as hateful and destructive feelings and impulses that we would rather deny. The ‘unvalidated unconscious’ consists of the ‘experiences that could not be articulated because they never evoked the requisite validating responsiveness from the surround’ (Stolorow and Atwood 1992, p.33). Stolorow and Atwood say that our potential is present at birth, but needs what they call ‘validating responsiveness’ to come into being. This idea is common in psychotherapy theorizing. Winnicott, for instance, suggested that we are born with potential that is only brought out by a ‘facilitating environment’ (Winnicott 1965, p.300; Winnicott 1971, p.105). We are therefore unconscious of what we have never known but might still know if we are given more conducive circumstances. The ‘prereflective unconscious’ consists of the ‘organizing principles’ that unconsciously ‘shape and thematize a person’s experience’ (Stolorow and Atwood 1992, p.33). This idea ‘fits’ with an understanding of culture, as Stolorow and Atwood suggest that our experience is shaped by these ‘organizing principles’ (Stolorow and Atwood 1992, p.33) of which we are largely unconscious, and which act as a sort of ‘blueprint’ (Stolorow and Atwood 1992, p.35) for life. These principles are soaked up naturally from


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our cultural milieux as we grow up. Learning to understand this ‘blueprint’ can free us from the assumptions that inevitably arise from it. How far can these ways of understanding the unconscious help us to comprehend forces that give rise to racism? The individual’s unconscious process in relation to racism has been discussed by psychotherapy theorists in terms of ‘splitting’ and ‘projection’ (Kareem and Littlewood 1992, p.137; Adams 1996, pp.132–133).3 This theory understands racists as people who split off unacceptable parts of the self and project them onto black groups or individuals. As black is often associated with ‘darkness’ and ‘evil’ (Adams 1996, p.20; Dalal 2002, p.153 and Chapter 4), it is an easy target for this sort of projection. Although this theory no doubt has a lot of validity, it rests on the idea that we are all completely separate units, not part of a cultural mix. The intersubjectivists’ way of understanding the unconscious helps us to understand that racism is not something personal to us. It is more a matter of the way our organizing principles are embedded within society and flow from it. UNCONSCIOUS PROCESSES AND INSTITUTIONAL RACISM

The terms ‘institutional’ or ‘cultural’ racism can easily be linked with intersubjectivity theory as they are terms in current usage which suggests that racism is entrenched within institutions or within society (Dominelli 2008). This term is used to describe the way in which racist attitudes can run through the fabric of groups in an endemic and largely unconscious way and seems to be much more intractable than personal racism. Institutional racism was famously brought to public attention in the Macpherson Report (1999) on the murder of Stephen Lawrence. Institutional racism is as prevalent in the helping professions (and indeed any other profession) as it is in the police force. In his report Macpherson uses the terms ‘unconscious’, ‘unwitting’ and ‘unintentional’ racism without defining them and it is implied that they mean something similar. The terms ‘unwitting’ or ‘unintentional’ imply to me that there is something accidental in the 3

The term ‘splitting’ is often used by Kleinian psychoanalysts (Hinshelwood 1991) and those influenced by them as Klein talked of ‘schizoid’ mechanisms in which unacceptable parts of the self are split off and denied. These are often then ‘projected’ onto others rather than owned as part of the self. Klein particularly introduced the idea of the paranoid/schizoid ‘position’ (Klein 1946; Hinshelwood 1991) which is held by the infant in relation to the mother so that the ‘good’ mother (or breast) is phantasized to be different from the ‘bad’ mother (or breast). The complexity and anxiety of ambivalence does not then have to be experienced.

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behaviour. This suggests that the behaviour would stop if it were pointed out to the individual. They would become more careful in the future. If the racism is unconscious then it will not so easily be dealt with as it implies that the individual is driven by unconscious motivation and forms of thinking. This is important because, if racism is ‘unconscious’ rather than ‘unwitting’, it implies a different and much more difficult path to bringing about change. In fact, for me, the term ‘institutional racism’ implies that the racism is embedded in the ‘organising principles’ (Stolorow and Atwood 1992) of organizations and society in an endemic way. UNCONSCIOUS PROCESSES AND ‘POLITICALLY CORRECT’ BEHAVIOUR

An alternative to working with unconscious processes may be to apply ‘politically correct’ behaviour and principles. These principles have grown up, more or less informally, and provide a convention that, if followed ‘correctly’, will ensure that you will not be seen to behave in a prejudiced way. My own way of inquiring into conscious and unconscious awareness is an alternative to this as I allow thoughts and feelings which are unacceptable to this ‘politically correct’ code. Rather than ‘correct’ my behaviour I reflect upon it to discover more of its meaning. For instance, when an African client sits on the floor rather than a chair I notice that I think that he is probably not used to chairs and a sense of being ‘primitive’ comes to my mind. In order to be politically correct I should bat these thoughts away. Instead I wonder about both his sitting on the floor and my own response and allow them to be there without an immediate conclusion as to what it means. I sense that some unconscious assumptions or beliefs have been triggered between us, but I do not rush to try to understand or correct them. I allow them to be wondered about. Having said that, I do consider that ‘politically correct’ ideas have been successful in changing many behaviours and attitudes. It is almost unheard of now to refer to black people as ‘coloured’ or ‘negro’, for instance or, indeed, the word ‘chairman’ rather than ‘chairperson’ or ‘chair’. It provides a simple code of behaviour that is relatively easily followed and can be taught in a straightforward way. However feelings towards those one regards as having a different race may be very complex and not readily dealt with by prescribing a simple formula. Racism awareness training has been mixed in its effectiveness and often only seeks to change the rational


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understanding and behaviour of individuals (Dominelli 1990, p.73). The reception of ‘politically correct’ behaviour in society has often been derided as being absurd, such as its embargo on the use of the word black in any circumstances, for instance. Although change is not as easy as the use of ‘politically correct’ language and behaviour implies, I do also think from my personal experience that changing our habits of speech can effect a change in attitude as well. The main difficulty with this approach to racism is that it can encourage racist thoughts and feelings to go underground. I am not suggesting that the hiding of racist attitudes is necessarily unconscious. An individual may make a conscious effort not to use offensive language when in certain situations (such as at work where it is required that they do not show racist attitudes) whilst knowing quite consciously that these are not their real attitudes. This was clearly shown on a BBC programme and reported in the Guardian (Carter 2003) in which a reporter joined the police force under cover in order to show the real racism that is found there. Although the police in this case were conscious of their racism, it is my contention that the reason for their racism is, at least in part, unconscious, much of it held within the organizing principles (Stolorow and Atwood 1992, p.33) of individuals and groups. In fact, the unconscious, endemic racism in the police force shows itself by the very fact of providing courses which tell policemen and women how to behave, as a change in behaviour can thus be learnt compliantly, leaving basic attitudes and assumptions untouched. If these basic attitudes are to be changed it would be necessary to open up the unconscious, implicit assumptions operating in the police culture from which racist attitudes spring. It is too easy to think that getting rid of obviously racist officers will ‘get rid’ of the problem, rather than see it as being embedded in the culture. The early 1990s saw the peak of anti-racist training after which time a backlash has occurred (Dominelli 2008, p.77). This backlash has ridiculed and trivialized attempts at encouraging an anti-racist culture through trying to change language and mind-sets. My contention is that many of those who underwent anti-racist training at the time felt shamed by the experience and became defensive and angry as a result. No doubt some trainers were more able to deal with the difficult feelings that arose than others. Most people do not change by being shown the error of their ways, and often this can be counterproductive. ‘Politically correct’ behaviour on the surface with hidden racist attitudes can lead to more subtle and

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insidious racism being enacted, which maybe we see today in government pronouncements on such matters as asylum policies. CHANGES TO CLIENT WORK THROUGH WORKING WITH UNCONSCIOUS PROCESSES

For this reason I have wanted, as far as possible, to work with, rather than avoid, unconscious racism in myself, so have sought not merely to apply politically correct behaviour and principles, but to understand it. I was determined that I would allow myself to think thoughts only caught at the edge of awareness to try to catch my own unconscious racism, as well as reminding myself to pay attention to the feedback of others. As time went on, and particularly by the emphasis placed on this in a peer learning group (see Chapter 2), I became more and more sensitized to catching thoughts that are just on the edge of consciousness, such as seeing a black person in an expensive car and wondering how s/he could afford it. This is uncomfortable and painful work and it is easy to retreat into a ‘politically correct’ position. I wanted to be more honest than to retreat in that way by acknowledging, if possible, any feelings and thoughts that arise out of what I feel rather than just acknowledging the acceptable ones. In starting this research I was interested to see if my work with clients from non-white groups would improve or change. The kind of changes which I hoped to see would indicate a greater ability in myself and my clients to talk about the difficult feelings that arise when white and black people meet within our racialized environment, and a greater sense of trust resulting from this. I often find it hard to get beyond a client’s flattering feeling that I am ‘not like the others’ (see Lynne Jacob’s (2000) remarks in Chapter 1, p.9) when I try to approach this area – a feeling that no doubt emanates from the patronizing, ‘lady bountiful’, colonizing position. In order to address this I might say to clients, for instance, that I guess they feel they need to be polite to me as I seem to want to be helpful. It feels like delicate ground, particularly as being ‘rude’ to someone who is a professional and evidently trying to be helpful is ‘bad manners’ in most cultures. Getting beyond this is often difficult. I try to pick up on ways in which ‘intersubjective disjunctions’ (Stolorow and Atwood 1992, p.103 and see Chapter 6) are evident; in other words where the differences between my own and my client’s ‘organizing principles’ have led to misunderstanding. I say how I have experienced this misunderstanding in order to show that I welcome it being explored between us.


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The following extract is from my notes of a client who was brought up in an Islamic country and is an example: We talked of what she called being ‘human’ rather than a ‘person’. She was using the word ‘person’ to mean something like ‘less than human’. She said she was often treated as a ‘person’ here and gave an example of a dentist who didn’t want to treat her. She also said that women were treated in this way in Islam. I asked how she felt treated by me. She said I treated her as ‘human’ and that if she felt I didn’t she would immediately leave. I asked her about not feeling a sense of belonging when treated like a ‘person’ in England. She didn’t understand my use of the word ‘belong’ and we tried to understand each other. I suggested this didn’t feel like her ‘place’ and made a sort of downward gesture with my hand. She said of course she did not feel that here. I wondered if, although I seemed to treat her as a human, that she might have feelings about me being part of a country in which she didn’t feel she belonged. She seemed to dismiss this. Now I am thinking about it, I may not be from her country, but I am a woman. Solidarity with women seems very important to her. No doubt there are other feelings to contact here.

Although this client no doubt generally felt that I was on her side, her feelings may well be more complex than that. I noticed for instance the sharpness with which she told me ‘of course she didn’t feel that here’ (i.e. with me). I try to stay alert for any disjunctions between us while allowing that I may also provide her with a relatively safe place within a hostile environment.

An outline of the book The book is in three parts. The first part is called Experiencing whiteness in a racialized context. It has three chapters. The first is called ‘Being white’: this chapter includes a new model for white awareness. The model shows a process of development from lack of white awareness to full understanding of one’s own complicity in white privilege. Having described this process, the chapter goes on to explore in more detail what it is to be racially white in a historical, sociological and psychological context and how this is played out within the helping professions. In it I draw on both my own experience of having a white racial identity and the experience and thoughts of others, both known to me personally and authors of books and papers on this subject. These include books from the academic

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discipline of White Studies as well as key texts, ‘For whites only’ by Lynne Jacobs (Jacobs 2000) and Racial Identity, White Counsellors and Therapists by Gill Tuckwell (Tuckwell 2002). Besides these key texts, I also explore the work of various theorists, particularly those of the Intersubjectivist School from the Institute of Contemporary Psychoanalysis in Los Angeles (Stolorow and Atwood 1992; Stolorow, Atwood and Orange 2002); Dialogic Gestalt therapists (Hycner and Jacobs 1995); Dominelli (Dominelli 2002, 2008) who has done much to sensitize the profession of social work to these issues, as well as the work of Dalal, whose book Race, Colour and the Processes of Racialisation, has been particularly influential for me (Dalal 2002). His understanding of the concept of race and racism as constructed rather than real categories and his nuanced appreciation of the meaning of racism within western society have been very influential. In Chapter 1 I start the process of discovery about what it means to be white and western4 in a diverse world. In this chapter, I show that it is very hard to challenge well-worn pathways of the mind and see my own assumptions as being just that, assumptions, and not a basically correct position from which others might deviate. Chapter 2 of the first section is called ‘Discovering whiteness together’. Here an account is given of a group of white professionals whom I gathered together in order to explore what it is for us to be white. I wanted to see if my experiences were similar to or different from theirs, to spark off new thoughts and to bring some challenge to my ideas. I therefore sought out others to join with me in my research. This chapter is an account of how the inquiry was set up, what occurred when we met and the learning that sprang from it. In the course of the exploration within this group I was confirmed in an idea that feelings of guilt and shame were endemic in white people. This led to the third chapter in this section which is called ‘Shame and guilt’. This chapter explores the nature of guilt and shame and whether or not they play a part in bringing changes to individuals and groups. It explores how feelings of guilt and shame arise in white people as they become aware of the part whiteness plays within endemic racism. It looks at how far guilt and/or shame may be useful in alerting us to our racism or merely self-indulgent and irrelevant to those on the receiving end. I use my own experience and that of my co-researchers as well as others through the use of questionnaires and follow-up interviews in order that my own thinking 4

For a discussion about the term ‘western’ in this context see Chapter 1.


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can be stretched and challenged through creative dialogues (Chisholm 2001, p.329). These experiences are supplemented by an exploration of various texts about guilt and shame from sociology and psychotherapy. The chapter also shows how I gradually come to understand that racism is largely an intersubjective phenomenon, embedded within the fabric of society. This has a profound effect on how I understand guilt and shame in the context of racism as I become more interested in the way that guilt and shame are experienced in regard to institutional rather than personal racism. The second part of the book is called The practice of white helping professionals within a racialized context. The purpose of this section is to look more specifically at the practice of white helping professionals. It shows the effect that being white has on our practices within a racialized environment. There are two chapters in this part. The first is called ‘The core beliefs that underpin our work’. This chapter takes a critical look at the theories and core beliefs that underlie our practice and the experience of being white within the helping professions, including some new theoretical formulations. The second chapter in Part 2, ‘Practising with white awareness as professionals’, concentrates more on the actual practice of our work, particularly the application of intersubjective systems theory to working with white awareness. I have discovered that intersubjectivity theory is helpful in understanding white awareness, particularly power differences. This exploration includes a review of the literature that has influenced me, especially the intersubjectivist systems theorists, and I also refer to those who write on the subject of intercultural therapy such as Sue and Sue (1990), Lago (2006) and Kareem and Littlewood (1992). The third part is called ‘White organizations within a racialized context’. The first chapter of this section concerns organizations within the helping professions and is called ‘Organizational considerations: Working in a racialized context.’ This chapter explores organizational dynamics which lead to white privilege becoming endemic within it. In particular I describe my work within one particular organization to improve its diversity as well as its understanding of race and racism. This includes work within management and training programmes. I explore three areas where I made initiatives for change: (1) to bring more tutors and students into the organization from black and minority ethnic groups; (2) to set up an introductory course called Counselling in a Multicultural Setting; and (3) to set up a counselling and psychotherapy service for asylum seekers and refugees.

PART 1

Experiencing Whiteness in a Racialized Context

Chapter 1

Being White

You can’t remake the world Without remaking yourself Each new era begins within. It is an inward event, With unsuspected possibilities For inner liberation. From Mental Fight by Ben Okri

Introduction White people tend not to consider themselves as having a race. In fact there is often an implicit understanding among white people that they are racially neutral. So what would white people’s experience be if they did consider themselves to be racially white? This chapter is an exploration into racial whiteness and, in particular, what it is to be a white helping professional. Some of my own exploration was undertaken in a co-operative inquiry1 research group and this is discussed in the next chapter. In this chapter I draw on the psychological and sociological literature including White Studies and postcolonial theory. It is theorists in these disciplines that alerted me to the apparent ‘neutrality’ of whiteness. This neutral attitude of white people to their own race – that being white is not considered in racial terms by white people – is inevitably present among white helping professionals. When I first embarked upon research for a doctoral thesis, my focus was on how I related to others of different cultures and races. When I later began to understand that my stance ignored the fact that I also ‘had’ a race, I decided to give more emphasis to myself as situated within a racial 1

Co-operative inquiry is a form of collaborative research methodology. 33

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environment. So I will start with an exploration of what it means to be a part of the white, dominant culture. This is not an easy undertaking. As I will show, whiteness is so around and within myself and other white people that it is hard to stand back from it enough to ‘see’ it and reflect upon it. I find that when I do so it elicits feelings of guilt and shame which are not easy to ‘stay with’ and I explore this further in Chapter 3. In spite of those of European origin being scattered throughout the globe, it seems to be custom and practice to refer to the parts of the world which are predominantly inhabited by white people as ‘western’ or ‘the west’. Bonnett (2000, p.18) has shown that Europeans have appropriated the use of the word white to describe themselves, so that white people now found worldwide are the result of a European diaspora that occurred through colonization. Although many white people live in North America and Europe which are towards the west of the globe as it is commonly drawn on a flat page, this does not geographically describe the entire group. Australia, which is in the south east, for instance, was colonized originally by Europeans. Although a cursory glance at this subject suggests that white people are those who have what is commonly called white skin, there are many people who have roughly the same colour skins as Europeans who are not counted in this group. (The colour of European skins can also be of various shades.) This includes people such as those from the Middle East and Far East, Roma people, South Americans, Native Americans etc. Even the Irish have not always been counted as white (Bonnett 2000, p.35). Whether these, on the whole, non-European people are ascribed a ‘colour’ by white people seems a more confused area. Those from the Far East have been called ‘yellow’ and Native Americans ‘red’. People with skin that is clearly more brown than is generally the case for Europeans, such as those from the Asian sub-continent and Africans, sometimes assert that they are black in order to make the political point that they are discriminated against by white people (Brah 1992, p.127). Others whose skin is roughly the same colour as Europeans often do not describe themselves as white. I found an example of this in a book that provides an opportunity for Thai refugees to tell their stories. It includes one who talks about white people behaving in a discriminatory fashion towards him (Refugee Action 2003). Although it seemed quite possible to write in theory about a white western hegemony, I found it almost impossible to ‘feel’ what being part of that was like. It is clear, however, that, as a white woman, I cannot go about the world without being immediately identifiable as a western person

Being White

35

because of my whiteness. Two things immediately struck me about this. One, that I felt guilty and two, that it was almost impossible to think about. Whiteness seemed a ‘nothingness’, an absence of a something, the ground from which other things appeared. This made me wonder if white also seems to imply an absence of race. I am aware, for instance, that when questions of race are raised in a professional context, people tend to turn to a black person, if one is present, as if they must be experts on this subject. So I began to think that race is not just a matter of culture and identity, but a politically constructed concept (Gilroy 1992, p.50; Lago 2006, p.19). As I began to read White Studies literature this began to make more sense to me. I discovered that race has also been called an ‘unstable’ category in that it is based on assumptions that have been shown to be spurious since it was first used (Donald and Rattansi 1992, p.1; Appiah 1994, p.149; Adams 1996, p.8). In the past black people have been thought of as closer to animals than white people when they first came to the west (Dalal 2002, p.201). It was assumed that there were different ‘races’ and that white people (Adams 1996) were the most intelligent and capable (Lago 2006, p.18). The 200-year anniversary of the abolition of slavery was recently commemorated. Painful reminders of the way that Africans were packed into boats as ‘cargo’ were everywhere to be found, together with images of black people in chains being sold to the highest bidder. The question of whether Britain should apologize for these atrocities has been suggested, which seems to result in complex and varied responses. Many feel that they were not personally responsible so shouldn’t be held to account and that ‘a line has to be drawn somewhere’. Although it is generally acknowledged that the conspicuous wealth of the 18th century is in large part due to slavery, that too is felt to be in the past. My own view is that our present wealth is based on the wealth of our ancestors and the poverty of blacks is also an inheritance they carry. Today’s racism is hard-wired in to our consciousness from the prejudices of the past.2 As I discuss below, much of our response to race is unconscious, so conscious rationale does not make much sense. Differences between ‘races’ have been shown to be insignificant and mostly based on superficial matters such as skin colour (Acharyya 1992, p.84; Donald and Rattansi 1992, p.1). Genetic characteristics of this sort have evidently been handed down 2

I discuss Kevin Rudd, Prime Minister of Australia’s famous apology to indigenous Australians in Chapter 3.

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the generations, resulting in the various appearances of people in different parts of the world. Cress Welsing interestingly turned the whole notion of white superiority on its head by suggesting that white people were originally born to black African parents, but had genetic deficiencies. She suggests that they were rejected by their black parents and found their way to Europe (Cress Welsing 1991, p.4).

A whiter shade of pale Gradually, as I have started to look at it, whiteness has become less neutral and more figural for me. It is as if, through staring at a blank page, I have begun to notice contours and shades that were not at first apparent. So what have I seen? I have noticed that I am advantaged by being white in many subtle ways. This was brought home to me in a paper written 20 years ago by McIntosh (1988) who found 46 ways in which she benefited by being white in all spheres of everyday life, most of which still hold true. I take for granted that I have a rightful place where I live and work and where my children went to school. Like McIntosh, I take for granted a privileged standard of living that includes electricity and electrical goods; motor transport; plentiful and tasty food with much variety; a range of entertainment, both at home on TV and in the community; a criminal justice system that does not discriminate against me, including a friendly and polite police force and an educational system which is embedded in my culture. (I am aware that some of these privileges involve class and age as important factors. They may not be afforded me if I were young and working class.) My material wealth is gigantic compared to most people in the world. Once I have really understood this I am almost bound to feel guilty. One of the first things of which I became aware when contemplating my whiteness, was my guilt at being white. This led to much discussion in my white co-operative inquiry group (see Chapter 2) and, because of its central importance, I have devoted a chapter to the subject (see Chapter 3).

White Studies At the start of my quest I was not aware of a body of knowledge about whiteness as a racial identity. I have since discovered that, during the last three decades, the discipline of White Studies has grown up in America, but is little found in the UK. Alistair Bonnett (2000), an Englishman who

Being White

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traces the way that white identity was formed historically, considers the area of ‘White Studies’ to be an analysis of whiteness from a North American standpoint. He shows how whiteness has been used in several societies – particularly in the Middle East and China – to denote purity and nobility (Bonnett 2000, p.16). However, in the process of colonialization, Europeans asserted that they had white skin in contrast to those in the colonized countries (Bonnett 2000, p.17). He asserts that ‘white identities are, if nothing else, global phenomena, with global impacts’ and that no part of the globe has avoided the impact of this. He describes the way the concept of whiteness is used by Europeans thus: Modern European white identity is historically unique. People in other societies may be seen to have valued whiteness and to have employed the concept to define, at least in part, who and what they were. But they did not treat being white as a natural category nor did they invest so much of their sense of identity within it. Europeans racialised, which is to say naturalised, the concept of whiteness, and entrusted it with the essence of their community. Europeans turned whiteness into a fetish object, a talisman of the natural whose power appeared to enable them to impose their will on the world. (ibid., p.21)

Bonnett shows that, in identifying themselves as a white and ‘purer’ race, others were identified as black and inferior (Bonnett 2000, p.18). This idea, though now understood to be racist by all but a few extreme rightwing groups, does not so easily disappear. Although 30 years ago the Kerner Commission (Themstom and Woodson 1998) identified racism as a ‘white problem’, the Centre for the Study of White American Culture (n.d.) carried out a survey in which it found that only 7 per cent of that which is written about race in the last 30 years focused on white people. It seems that white people find it hard to think about themselves as having a race, thus making it seem as if race is the problem of those who do ‘have’ one – the ‘ethnic’ minorities. Certainly those who are not white feel the effects of racism enough to want to theorize about it as well as act politically in other ways. Of course, theorizing about a societal issue is a political act as it focuses attention on the issue and legitimates a call for changes. Besides Bonnett, British authors writing in the field of equal opportunities in England do also point out the implicit assumption of white dominance in the literature and in practice (Dominelli 2002; Trew 2002; Dominelli 2008; Lago 2006).

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THE ‘NEUTRALITY’ OF WHITENESS AS SHOWN BY WHITE STUDIES THEORISTS

The issue of the apparent ‘neutrality’ of whiteness, an idea that whiteness is ‘just normal’ (Dyer 1997; Frankenberg 1999), is a central theme for White Studies theorists and seems to be pre-eminent in the experience of whiteness, as I show below. As I said above, this apparent neutrality was something I have found in myself and it was much commented on in my white co-operative inquiry group (see Chapter 2). The idea that whiteness is the normality from which others deviate is such an insidious and subtle idea that it may well be the biggest single factor that keeps white privilege in place. It is both the source of the problem and, in that it sets up a blindness to the moral and ethical situation, it sets in train ways of maintaining that privilege, as I will show below. I have taken some examples from various White Studies texts to illustrate this and followed them with my own comments: Whites alone can opt out of their own racial identity, can proclaim themselves non-raced. (Kincheloe and Steinberg 1998)

When ‘whites’ are together, then race is very rarely mentioned except in discussing other racial groups. It seems to be irrelevant. It is interesting to consider if this is a recent phenomenon. A poem by Rudyard Kipling, A Song of the White Man, clearly does refer to the ‘white race’ which is very rarely named in this way in the last few decades. Up until the early days of the 20th century white people were not shy about declaring their race superior to other ‘races’ (Dalal 2002, p.12). More recently, since white people have apparently accepted the iniquity of this stance, they have, maybe defensively, withdrawn to the ‘neutral’ position of the ‘un-raced’. In the eyes of the ‘neutral’ white it can seem that ‘non-whites’ are shadow boxing when they accuse ‘whites’ of racism or can be accused of having a ‘chip on their shoulder’. But the idea of whiteness as neutrality, as that which is not there, is ideally suited for designating that social group that is to be taken as the ‘human ordinary’. (Apple 1998, p.10)

As an example of this, I heard a discussion on the Radio Four programme Start the Week about whether or not it was important to try to save beautiful artefacts that had been made in the past, but were endangered by war or natural disaster. Adam Philips, a white psychotherapist, was present but did not speak until the end of this discussion. He then remarked that a

Being White

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certain consensus seemed to have been taken for granted in the discussion and pointed out that for many people these objects might be offensive or irrelevant, adding that in a truly pluralistic society such assumptions could not be made. There was a stunned, long silence following this remark, after which the chairperson gave a nervous laugh and suggested moving on to the next subject. It seemed to me that these highly intelligent people had no way of responding to a suggestion that another perspective was possible. There is no more powerful position than that of being ‘just’ human. (Dyer 1997, p.2)

No doubt the people who took part in the Radio Four programme, above, were people who considered themselves to be ‘just’ human. They were stunned because they could not see outside their ‘normative cultural practices’ (Frankenberg 1999, p.228). An unmarked marker of others. (Frankenberg 1999, p.16)

White people, from their neutral position, can designate or ‘mark’ others. What a powerful position to be in: to be the one that describes ‘reality’. All future discourse is carried out in the light of this marking. It is very striking to me that almost every author I have come across in this field has remarked on the way that whiteness seems to be a neutral category and that it is in this way that white privilege is so successfully maintained. White people ‘name’ or ‘mark’ others. The identities and boundaries of ‘racial’ groups are decided upon by white people. A predominant construction in American literature is undoubtedly whiteness as ‘unraced’ or racially neutral. (Aanerud 1997)

In her chapter ‘Fictions of whiteness: Speaking the names of whiteness in US literature’, Rebecca Aarerud foregrounds whiteness by exploring how the whiteness of characters in American literature is used to evoke certain characteristics such as purity and vulnerability in women and strength and rationality in men. If a white person is the protagonist of a book, the fact of their being racially white is rarely remarked upon. This is hardly ever true of anyone who is not white. However the whiteness of their skin is sometimes mentioned without reference to race, particularly in women, to mark these characteristics (Aanerud 1997, p.36). The apparent ‘neutrality’ of white people is so little grasped by them that there can be a sense of outrage if this position is challenged by

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‘non-whites’. For instance, attempts, often through equal opportunities policies, to encourage ‘non-whites’ into areas of life that have in the past been closed to them often result in white people feeling themselves to be an ‘endangered minority’ and that ‘white culture’ must be preserved. I certainly came across this view myself when I was in South Africa. This calls into question whether it is possible to talk about ‘white culture’ or, indeed, ‘black culture’. In fact ‘culture’, usually defined as the underlying values, norms and assumptions held in groups, is a complex and fluid phenomenon and it is clearly erroneous to think of there being a white culture or a black culture as both categories have much diversity within them. Frankenberger (1999, p.19) is very critical of using the word ‘culture’ in relation to whiteness. She points out that this idea ‘evades and mystifies the positioning of whiteness in the racial hierarchy’ and that ‘such constructions reify and homogenize whiteness’. In other words the idea of a white culture encourages collusion with the idea that there is something ‘real’ about whiteness even if a biological basis for it is not accepted. It suggests that being white is just another racial category rather than a construction that has been used to assert privilege for those with white skins. Whilst I understand these objections, I also think that white people do impose an insidious culture on others which is regarded by ‘whites’ as self-evidently ‘good’. It includes the imposition of political systems, types of food, consumer goods, attitudes to the family and child rearing etc. There are many cultural manifestations among white people, but they do also represent a larger cultural consensus. Along with asserting privilege and dominance, there is a pervasive homogenizing of the world that is promulgated by white westerners which can be understood as a sort of pervasive cultural as well as racial colonization.

Postcolonial theory Postcolonial theory is another important arena in which theorizing about race takes place. This is mostly engaged in by those who are not white, unlike White Studies, and provides an analysis of colonization. It is of interest to this book, but not as central as White Studies as I am writing from a white perspective. The term ‘postcolonial’, as used by postcolonial theorists, does not have a simple definition, but tends to include an analysis of past colonization by European countries as well as a complex critique of the present situation in which former colonies find themselves. Bhabha says:

Being White

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the term postcolonial is increasingly used to describe that form of social criticism that bears witness to those unequal and uneven processes of presentation by which the historical experience of the once-colonized Third World comes to be framed in the West. (in Mongia 1997, p.1)

One of the most important analyses of postcolonial theory is similar to that of Bonnett (2000) as I showed above which is that the ‘west’ not only colonized the world, but framed its identity by a process of naming. Not only was the map of the world drawn by white people, but the descriptions and namings of peoples, ‘races’ and nationalities were carried out by them. Their identities have been ‘colonized’ in a process that still exists for them today. It is hard to find other descriptions that are not either compliant with western ones or made in reaction to it. As most writers of postcolonial theory are not white people, they tend to speak from the position of having suffered colonialism themselves. This tends to make the perspective of the two disciplines rather different, although there is some cross-fertilization between the two. Both offer similar analyses of white privilege and hegemony and the extremely distorting effect on people who are not deemed to be white. Postcolonial theorists are more likely to use the term ‘western’ (Christian 1997, p.152) or ‘Anglo-American’ (Mongia 1997, p.12) than white, but their analysis of colonization describes important ways in which White Studies theorists would say that white people have ‘performed’ their whiteness on black people (Frankenberg 1999, p.3). It seems to me that one of the ways that whiteness is ‘performed’ on black people is by the giving of services such as those carried out by helping professionals (Gilbert 2005). Their theory and practice has been carried out in a white, western context, largely without that context being acknowledged as I show below.

Whiteness and the helping professional Having explored the meaning of whiteness in a general way, I will now explore what this means to those who are helping professionals. I turn first to an exploration of the literature on this subject. I have found only three pieces written specifically by helping professionals on the subject of being white as a helping professional and they are all written by counsellors or

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psychotherapists.3 Possibly this is because counsellors and psychotherapists are used to focusing on their own experience to understand unconscious processes. This does not mean that it is not relevant to others in the helping professions who want to understand and shift their own unconscious racist attitudes. Failure to do so may account for the backlash against training for anti-racist and anti-oppressive practice that began in the early 1990s (Dominelli 2002, p.77). The three sources I found are a paper by Lynne Jacobs (2000) ‘For whites only’. Another is a book by Gill Tuckwell: Racial Identity: White Counsellors and Therapists (2002). The third is by Colin Lago called ‘You’re a white therapist: Have you noticed?’ (Lago 2005). The second edition of Colin Lago’s book, Race, Culture and Counselling (2006), also has several other chapters about being white including one by Tuckwell and explores the position of white counsellors within a racialized context. (Lago also has a chapter in Politicising the Person Centred Approach (Lago and Haugh 2006) which explores white racial identity and the impact that a lack of awareness of their own racial identity has on white counsellors and their clients.) I will explore the first three of these and also, in this context, some of the work of Dalal (2002) as, in his book Race, Colour and Processes of Racialisation, he deconstructs the word race and challenges its existence as a concept. In the course of this he explores the meanings of the word white as well as the word black. These books and papers have been very useful in helping me, not only to think about whiteness per se, but also about whiteness within the field of psychotherapy and the helping professions more widely. JACOBS

Lynne Jacobs is an American dialogic Gestalt therapist who has also trained as an intersubjective psychoanalyst at the Institute for Contemporary Psychoanalysis in California. She describes her paper as a ‘stream of consciousness’ and that ‘a graceful paper would be a lie’ (Jacobs 2000, p.10) though it seems to me to be much more coherent than this implies. Maybe her feeling about the roughness of her paper says more about the disturbed feelings that she is aware of when she writes. I can certainly 3

Dominelli’s book, Anti-Racist Social Work (2008) and others including Tomlinson (2002) focus on the racism of white people and have an important poltical, social and psychological analysis which I have found very useful, but they are not written from inside the white experience in the way that these authors do.

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identify with this. In fact I found her paper passionate, but very well thought-through and expressed. She says she wrote this piece in the hope of healing both the racial divide and herself (Jacobs 2000, p.1). She encourages white therapists to be cognizant of their dominant status and see that ‘unfortunately deeply embedded “whites only” constructs of thought and ideology…permeate our culture, largely outside of ordinary everyday awareness.’ She looks at why she is passionate about the issue as she says she is often asked to justify it. Her parents were against the ‘colour bar’, ‘and yet being asked to explore where [her] interest comes from it seems to [her] to be a way of participating in the very racial insensitivity [she is] attempting to overcome’ (Jacobs 2000, p.1). And yet ‘the more intriguing question for [her] is why so few “whites” are even aware of and distressed by, the extremity of the racial divide in the US.’ She asks: How is it that an interest in one of the most cancerous problems of American culture is viewed as unusual and in need of explanation when a white person expresses interest and yet is viewed as self-evident – if overwrought, from the perspective of many whites – when expressed by a person of color? (ibid., p.1)

Much of this is of interest to me as it addresses some of the questions I began with. I came from a similar background, with politicized parents who were ‘against the colour bar’, but who had their own blind spots to their prejudice. Her question about why she should have to explain an interest in her race perpetuating such a ‘cancerous problem’ also reminds me of the hostility that has been shown to me for attempting to explore this subject as it is thought to be more rightfully the province of black people. Whilst I acknowledge that the challenge to focus more on myself is the most fruitful way of proceeding (also acknowledged by Jacobs), I feel a little encouraged by her question. I hear an encouragement and a support in her assertion that this inquiry is important for me as a white person to pursue. She quotes McConville as saying ‘any system of privilege not only oppresses the disenfranchised, but poisons the spirit and diminishes the humanity of those who are advantaged’ (McConville 1997). Jacobs also comes to similar conclusions to myself about a way forward in terms of working in the area of diversity in psychotherapy which may well hold true for all helping professionals. For example, she regards ‘self reflectiveness and openness to correction by the patient [to be] the best safeguards against ignorant abuse of our power’ (Jacobs 2000, p.6). Jacobs feels that she must always initiate race-based discussions with a client as

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she recognizes that clients may well feel that she will not see the necessity for this. Interestingly she also chides herself for wanting to seem different to ‘those other whites’ (Jacobs 2000, p.7). I also recognize this in myself as a shadow side of ‘trying to get it right’ as a white therapist. This same dynamic was noticed by members of my white co-operative inquiry group (see Chapter 2) and also in a similar group set up by European-American Cooperative Challenging Whiteness (2004) who comment on the irony of wanting to be better than a group you are critical of because they think of themselves as superior! As Jacobs shows, this attitude can encourage a client to leave their feelings about white people outside the room for fear of hurting the ‘nice’ therapist. Maybe one of the most important aspects to acknowledge in working across cultures as a white professional is the power within the room – how it is understood and how it is distributed (Lago 2006, pp.46–52, see also Chapter 4). Jacobs asserts that when we are ‘willing to be changed by close engagement’ the power balance changes. Then experiences and perceptions are welcomed, not just tolerated (Jacobs 2000, p.16). Much of the problem here concerns the difficulty of not ‘meeting’ as professional and client as the two cultural worlds are not so much in danger of being incompatible, as being unrecognized and denied. Jacobs suggests that a paradoxical notion of ‘meeting-by-seeing-where-we-cannot-meet’ (Jacobs 2000, p.13) as one way through. It is often found in practice that paradoxically, when immersed in this work and really feeling the difficulties, greater ease with the situation is discovered (Jacobs 2000, p.17). I am particularly interested in her comments about how a constructive relationship can develop when issues of power and culture have been well identified and acknowledged. She says: ‘when race issues have been well attended to we can be “busy with another way of relating”’ and she is ‘keenly sensitive to the times when [her] patients want a chance to just talk as if we can know each other very well, way under the skin where those categorical differences do not live.’ (Jacobs 2000, p.16) At those times the therapeutic atmosphere is a ‘play space’ (Winnicott 1971). ‘The therapeutic process involves continual co-construction and deconstruction of various meanings, including the meanings revolving around racial identity’ (Jacobs 2000, p.17). Having shown how we might, at least for a time, transcend cultural difference she also warns that it is important to ‘keep in mind the different worlds we enter when the session ends’ (Jacobs 2000, p.15).

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Jacobs pushes her thinking further to encompass her work with white clients from this point of view and says that ‘racial thinking is rarely figural when [she is] working with a white client’ (Jacobs 2000, p.17). She does not draw any conclusions from this, but it is interesting to reflect on this reluctance to consider talking about being white. My fantasy is that, if one brought it up, most clients would think one was on a politically correct hobbyhorse. In my own practice with white people, I can think of a few times when racism or feelings about black people were raised and worked with but not specifically feelings about being white and that we are both white people. As I write and contemplate so doing, I feel awkward and embarrassed as if I would infringe a social code of conduct that could show me up as naïve or on a wrong-headed campaign. In summary, Jacobs encourages white professionals to have a thorough knowledge of their own whiteness and cultural privilege as a basis from which to meet others whatever their ‘colour’ or ‘culture’. She is not politically neutral, but passionately wishes to find ways of addressing this ‘cancerous’ problem. TUCKWELL

Gill Tuckwell is a British counsellor, supervisor and trainer. I find, in turning to her book, Racial Identity, White Counsellors and Therapists, that it is much less personal than Jacob’s paper, but it does bring up very important issues for understanding the consciousness of white people in a racial context as well as looking at issues that are pertinent for white therapists, which again I think holds true for other helping professionals. Tuckwell explores both biological and social theories about race, a subject that has been tackled in several other books (Sue and Sue 1990; Lago 2006; Tomlinson 2002; Dominelli 2008). What makes this book different is her emphasis on white as well as black experience. For instance she says: From a socio-political perspective, race has been seen as a signifier of relative power and status in society. This in turn has left a legacy of social experiences and memories for black populations and white populations collectively. These experiences have had a profound cumulative effect on the intrapsychic world of black people and white people. From their respective positions across the social divide, each group has developed beliefs, attitudes and feelings about self and other, and these operate at both a conscious and

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unconscious level. The interaction between socio-political events and psychological development is thus highly significant in understanding the meaning of race. (Tuckwell 2002, p.19)

Tuckwell goes on to explore the meaning of race in the individual’s inner world and recognises here the way in which whiteness becomes invisible in a racial environment such as that mentioned above. She says: The dominant group seldom needs to speak its name: it is defined in contrast to the more explicit naming of marginal and subordinated subjects. (Tuckwell 2002, p.71)

and goes on to say: Historically the silence about white representation and white identity was part of the internalised assumption that white values, customs, traditions and characteristics were the exclusive standards against which other peoples and world orders must be evaluated and perceived. (Tuckwell 2002, p.71)

This accords with my experience and reading, both of my own attitudes and those of people I have spoken to. She quotes Dyer (1997) as very powerfully suggesting that white people, by their silence, take up a position of authority, claiming to speak for the human race rather than only for white groups. He says ‘there is no more powerful position than that of being “just” human. The claim to power is the claim to speak for the commonality of humanity’ (Dyer 1997, p.2). Tuckwell has an interesting list of ways in which people tend to be resistant to acknowledging their whiteness in training events that she has run. These are: •

Focusing on experiences of gender or culture rather than race.

•

Focusing intellectually on structural issues such as racism.

•

Challenging the concept of race at an intellectual level.

•

Referring to relationships with neighbours or friends who are black.

•

Wishing to ‘protect’ black people from hurt.

•

Wishing to identify with black people in the group.

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She considers these to have the effect of ‘shifting the focus away from the vulnerability of looking at self and the experiences of whiteness’ (Tuckwell 2002, p.8). What strikes me about this list is that I can identify with all of them! No doubt the less I use these defences myself the more able I will be to encourage others not to do so in training events and structure these events in ways which will challenge these resistances. Even in a training event in South Africa I can see that some of these were employed by myself and the group. In a later chapter called ‘Race and white identity’, Tuckwell explores the complex interaction between inner and outer-world development including the insidious and all encompassing effect of the way white groups ignore whiteness. She shows how racial identity is an evolving process (Tuckwell 2002, p.76), much of which is unconscious and transmitted to children as they grow up and identify with family and those around them. However it is also a ‘lifelong activity’ as each individual interprets the messages received about race, and modifies these in the light of their own experience. She says the ‘process of racial identification centres initially on superficial characteristics such as skin colour, which takes on a symbolic meaning in which certain belief systems and feelings about race are internalized.’ Tuckwell also explores the meanings that whiteness has taken on, much of which come to us very powerfully from the Bible. Meanings of purity, forgiveness and redemption are examples. She also points out that the Islamic tradition also associates ‘blackness’ with sin and whiteness with purity (Tuckwell 2002, p.80). In summary, Tuckwell shows how white people tend to see themselves as culturally and racially neutral and that this also applies to white therapists, including students and trainers. She explores in detail how attitudes to race and culture, both in oneself and towards others, are developed in complex ways, through inner and outer pressures and influences. LAGO

Colin Lago (Lago 2005) has written and lectured in the area of intercultural therapy for many years but has recently turned his attention to whiteness. His paper ‘You’re a white therapist: Have you noticed?’ is something of a wake-up call to therapists and reviews the area of White Studies to reveal to white therapists how they take their whiteness for granted as a ‘neutral’ category. He comments that he recently offered a workshop on

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this subject and that this had a very low take up. As he is a well-known speaker and would usually have no difficulty in filling a workshop, I thought this was very interesting and accords with my own experience – in attempting to find interest in my white co-operative inquiry group, for example, and other workshops on this subject that I have offered. It is also interesting that he had experienced difficulty in finding a publisher for this paper. His chapter in Politicising the Person Centred Approach with Sheila Haugh (Lago and Haugh 2006) also males a valuable contribution in bringing whiteness to the attention of white therapists. DALAL

Farhad Dalal is a British group analyst of Indian origin. I have included an exploration of his work at this point as he explores the issue of the meaning of whiteness in some depth. With the help of Cruden’s Complete Concordance (Cruden 1769), he looked at every usage of the words white and black in the authorized version of the Holy Bible (Dalal 2002, pp.142, 143). He has much to say about the word black as well, but I am confining meanings here to the word white. These mostly concerned goodness and, in particular, purity, though there were two mentions of white as a cover up as in a ‘whitewash’. (It occurs to me that a ‘whitewash’ implies that something is made to seem good even though it is not.) He is very struck by the consistency of the symbolic meanings of the word white which is seen as symbolizing not people, but ‘good’. Dalal analyses the way that the word white has evolved to have the symbolic meanings it has today with the help of the work of the sociologist Norbert Elias. Elias’ book The Civilising Process (Elias 1994) is a compilation of two other books (The History of Manners and State Formation and Civilisation written in 1939 and translated into English in 1978 and 1982 respectively) and is a history of the way in which western culture was made. He shows that, during this process, the symbolism of whiteness with its implication of goodness and purity was identified with white people so that others, who are not identified in this way, could be cast out and identified with what is sullied, evil and sinful. As described in Chapter 2, my co-operative inquiry group asked about five people to give associations to the word white without telling them why the question was asked. On considering the responses, we saw that many associations had a neutral or even negative meaning. I had an opportunity to ask Dalal what he thought of this. He felt quite sure that it showed

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resistance to owning to racism on the part of those who responded to our question, as he thought most people’s first association with the word white was to that of white skin and therefore race. Of course the truth of this is impossible to ascertain, but it is interesting nevertheless. This assertion was rejected by the co-operative inquiry group who thought that their respondents had not had white skin in mind, even unconsciously. We hypothesized that, with a change in the general culture and the reduction in the importance of the Bible in the education of children, the word white no longer has so consistently a symbolic meaning of ‘good’ and ‘pure’ (see Chapter 2). Nevertheless, in summary, his work has helped me to see that, although whiteness seems so completely unremarkable that it is not even noticed by myself and other white people, it is reinforced by cultural messages about goodness and purity.

A model for the development of white awareness We can see from the exploration in this chapter that the development of white awareness is a process that involves the whole person. It is not something that can just be understood and accepted intellectually. White awareness involves our emotional responses to unconscious prompts that have developed, not only over our lifetime, but in the cultural consciousness of the society in which we live. I have developed a cyclical model showing the process which can lead to white people becoming more aware of their white privilege. This cycle may go through several turns during our life as over and again, and at different levels, we deny the issue of the effect of our whiteness in society. If we are at all sensitive to issues of race, the issue of the responsibility of white people for race tensions, both in the present and historically, is likely to become evident. Feelings of guilt may follow which can lead to a more internal exploration – ‘how am I responsible?’ A struggle to make sense of these feelings and to own our part in white privilege can lead finally to a sense of integration in which we fully own and accept our part in this privileged position and naturally act in the world in a way that, as far as is possible, does not perpetuate the situation. Diagrammatically this cyclical model looks like the one shown in Figure 1.1 below.

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2. Struggle to understand other

1. Denial

5. 3. Guilt and Shame

Integration

4. Struggle to understand self

Figure 1.1: Cycle of white awareness

I have devised the model as a cycle, because this is not a once-and-for-ever process but one that recurs and the learning deepens through every turn of the cycle. The model builds on two other models. One is the Helms White Identity Model (Helms 1995) and the other is van Weedenburgh’s Intercultural Sensitivity Model (van Weedenbugh 1996; Brinkman and van Weedenbugh 1999). Like mine, Helms’ model shows a period of ignorance or acceptance of the status quo, a period of struggle and disintegration followed by a more thorough understanding which she calls ‘autonomy’. Van Weedenbugh’s model is not specifically about white awareness, but shows a similar process for understanding intercultural working that goes through denial, defensiveness, acceptance, cognitive adaptability and behavioural adaptability. Neither of these models includes feelings of guilt or shame as part of this process. These feelings, as I show in Chapter 3, are often important to a deepening of understanding and a genuine sense of acceptance. It is quite possible and probably quite common, to be stuck at the different stages which lead towards ‘integration’. So what happens if one is stuck at any of these stages?

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DENIAL

Maybe most of the population is in a state of denial about the responsibility white people have for racism. It is quite common to hear a white person say, ‘I am not racist but…’. As there is now more pressure on the borders of western countries from people who wish to immigrate, either for economic or political reasons, racist views have become more prevalent with an accompanying tendency to deny them. For instance, there is a debate in Britain as to whether it should encourage (or even force) minority ethnic groups to integrate into British mainstream culture or whether ‘ethnic’4 communities should be encouraged to keep their identities within British society. This issue has become very ‘hot’ and words are chosen carefully so as not to inflame the situation. The word ‘culture’ is more often used than race, but issues of race seem to be present as non-white groups seem to be most feared in this regard. This whole debate looks different if white western people see themselves as also having a race, but one which is privileged. A more complex view of the interrelating of cultures becomes possible when white people are not seen as the ‘normal’ ones. This issue is further inflamed by white British people who live in poverty, feeling that they have been forgotten in the priorities that are set by local and national government. All these pressures can lead to racist views emerging whilst also being denied. STRUGGLE TO UNDERSTAND OTHERS

Many people, maybe helping professionals in particular, who desire to work well within this complex intercultural environment, are stuck at this stage. There is a tendency here to keep the understanding at a cognitive level so that ways of behaving in a ‘politically correct’ manner can be taken on board. A rational understanding of the issues can be present but the full implication of being white is not deeply understood and feelings of guilt and shame are resisted. GUILT AND SHAME

As I show in Chapter 3, a sense of guilt or shame can warn us that something is amiss and can deepen our understanding. It alerts us to how we are 4

The word ‘ethnic’ is also usually applied to black groups as if white people have no ethnicity but ‘black people do’.

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complicit in white privilege. However being stuck in a guilty or ashamed position can lead to feelings of impotence and helplessness and in no way improves the lives of those that one feels guilty or ashamed about. In fact it can lead to black people feeling that they should absolve the people who feel guilty and ashamed in order to put them out of their misery! This is explored in more detail in Chapter 3. STRUGGLE TO UNDERSTAND SELF

Insofar as the meaning and effects of whiteness are far reaching and run deep in the psyche, maybe it is not such a bad thing to be stuck at this stage. However if we are to engage in our racialized society in a way which fully owns our complicity in white privilege, then coming to an understanding from which it is possible to relate and act with integrity is a powerful and political act. Just staying in a place of struggle may absolve us of a need to do this and our actions will be less graceful because they will not be fully integrated. INTEGRATION

This may seem like the Shangri-La of white awareness, but it can lead to complacency and its own sort of denial – a denial that further understanding is possible. Another turn of the cycle may lead to an even deeper understanding.

Integration understood systemically Those who have fully integrated an awareness of their whiteness with all that means in terms of their privilege, are able to step back from an over-identification with whiteness and understand the situation within its systemic and intersubjective context. As I show in Chapter 4, if we understand the world in a systemic or intersubjective way, we see the interconnectedness of everything and understand that we take part in a complex web of relationships. This deep understanding of the whole picture including one’s own complicity in racism, can lead to a more authentic and less defensive way of relating within a racialized environment. This is not easy and, typically, defensive denial in the face of ridicule or hostility from others can return. In this case a further turn of the cycle might occur. There may be an understanding that racism occurs within an

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intersubjective context but it is hard not to be personally reactive when put under pressure. A further turn of the cycle might look like Figure 1.2:

2. Struggle to understand the other within their context

1. Denial of the systemic context under pressure

5. Fully understanding one’s participation within a web of relationships

3. Guilt and Shame about their different context

4. Struggle to understand self within an intersubjective context

Figure 1.2: A further turn of the cycle in white awareness

Conclusion In writing this chapter I have engaged with questions that arose for me when I first started considering these issues, particularly the following: •

Who am I as a white person?

•

What is the nature of my privilege as a white person?

•

How does being white affect my ability to relate to people who are not white?

•

What is the nature of race and who am I in a racialized environment?

I have become clearer about these questions, particularly through developing a model for understanding the process through which we go in order to come to a better understanding of white consciousness. These questions are further explored in later chapters before I turn more specifically to questions which relate to how being white affects our work as helping professionals.

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Through my inquiry so far I have come to see that, in a racialized environment, I, along with other western people, have a race as much as anyone else, whatever their ‘colour’ or ‘ethnic’ group. Although race is an ‘empty’ category it exists in the popular mind – we live in a racialized environment. Having had this realization the question that arises is ‘how do I respond to being complicit in western institutional racism?’ This question seems to me to have two parts: ‘can I notice and challenge my own racism?’ and ‘can I notice and challenge institutional racism in my own culture?’ The first question: ‘can I notice and challenge my own racism?’ is an ongoing matter. It means being prepared to notice my own behaviour and inner dialogue and listen to the challenges of others. As I explore in Chapter 3 and have suggested in the model I proposed above, maybe it involves taking notice of feelings of guilt and shame when they occur. To some extent I think I have been able to do this, but I can see that it is not something that is ever completed. In many ways the second question is more challenging as institutional racism is embedded firmly in every nook and cranny of western society. It is many years since Stephen Lawrence was murdered by white young men. Imran Kahn, who acted as the family’s lawyer at the time, spoke on the television at the ten year anniversary of his death to say that, while some progress had been made, particularly in police practices, it seemed to him that institutional racism is still endemic. It seems just as true a few years later. Although, as Dalal (2002) says, there is no such thing as race, we human beings do form ourselves into groups. We identify with the groups we ‘belong’ to and project ‘badness’ on to groups which are outside their boundaries (Hellinger and Hovel 1999). In the course of this, western society (or the European diaspora), with its particular history of undergoing a ‘civilizing process’ in the terms Elias describes (Elias 1994), has colonized most of the rest of the world in various ways over several centuries. More recently this colonization has been a cultural one in which the colonizers make use of political and economic pressure. Much of this has been achieved by asserting a superiority of the ‘white race’. This sense of superiority is kept in place with the help of the human tendency to project negative qualities on to other groups (Hellinger and Hovel 1999). ‘Non-white’ groups being thought of as black encourages this projection to include what is considered primitive, dark, mysterious and dangerous (Adams 1996; Dalal 2002). We therefore now live in a ‘racialized’ (Dalal

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2002) environment in which white, western people seem to have ‘forgotten’ their assertion that they are a ‘white race’ and now tend to see themselves as being racially neutral (Bonnett 2000). This ‘colour coding’ of ‘non-whites’ means that the situation is perpetuated over time which makes it hard to challenge or rectify.

Chapter 2


We can all re-dream the world, our lives. But the conception must begin now. The birth must begin now. We should consecrate ourselves To prepare ourselves for a new air, For a fuller future. The preparation would be rewarding, For we are each one of us saviours And co-makers of the world we live in. But we should begin now, here, Among one another And in solitude. From Mental Fight by Ben Okri

Introduction Having decided to explore the issue of my own racial identity as a white person, I felt that I needed the help of colleagues if I were to challenge my thinking more fully and deepen my inquiry. This chapter shows how I set up a ‘co-operative inquiry’ for this purpose. A co-operative inquiry group is a form of collaborative research developed by Action Researchers (Heron 1981, p.19). Action research is based on the philosophical idea that researchers are bound to part of the ‘field’ of inquiry so are unable to research into others in an ‘objective’ way. In co-operative inquiry groups all participants are ‘co-researchers’, not just the person who initiated the research. The structure of the group is mostly founded on repeated cycles of ‘action and reflection’ (Reason and Bradbury 2001). In this chapter I describe the themes that emerged within this group and explore the impact it has had both on myself and other members of the group. 56


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Setting up the group I wanted this co-operative inquiry group to provide a place where I could discuss my thoughts and ideas with others who work under similar conditions and were also interested to find out more about what it is to be white. The kinds of questions I had in mind for the group to explore were: What do I feel when I meet people who are not white? Do I have different responses when I meet white people to when I meet black or ‘non-white’ people? No doubt if human beings all had the same colour skin, some other way of finding hierarchical differences would be found. However, within this racialized environment, black people experience a lack of privilege and are very aware of it, whilst white people are often unaware of their privilege, merely taking it for granted. I did not, for instance, immediately think of asking ‘how does it feel to be a privileged person in a racial context?’ I do not hear black people saying that they cannot think about being black without thinking about white people whereas, in my experience, the obverse of this comment is nearly always made by white people. I explore this more fully below.

Membership and attendance of meetings To find my co-researchers, I put out a notice to various local psychotherapy organizations as, at that time, my research concerned psychotherapists. There was not a huge response to this advertisement. I could guess the reasons for this and it is fairly safe to assume that the question of what it means to be white is not of burning importance to most white people, possibly due to their unquestioned identification with the normality of their whiteness. In the end five people joined the group. There were seven meetings over 16 months.

Recording the group I decided to write an account immediately following the group from memory (and a few notes taken at the time) and send it out to members for any thoughts or emendations. The group, and particularly one member of it, preferred not to have it taped. This means that my record of it is not a verbatim account, but is endorsed by group members. I encouraged others to give their accounts, either from scratch, or in response to mine and examples of both of these are given below.

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When recording the group I was concerned to ensure that all themes were included and, as far as possible, all the thoughts and reflections of different group members. I also included any interactions between group members that affected or reflected the group process.

The group process When I embarked upon the co-operative inquiry group I had thought that we would engage in experimental activities such as noticing our feelings about black people and then bringing them back to the group. However there was some resistance to proceeding in this way as group members were not keen to do ‘home work’. Most of the actions we took were therefore more focused on ideas and experiences brought to the group. The discussion that ensued was not abstract, but was based in our own lived encounters. This seemed to be important to us all. When each person spoke at the beginning, they did so in a way which described their own experience rather than opinions and this set the tone for future meetings. We wanted the group to touch us personally and for our discussion to be connected to lived experience and not just abstracted thoughts which emanated from a political or social stance. Examples of the kinds of topics discussed included: •

Reflections on what in our personal lives drew us to the subject.

•

Whether and how we felt guilty about being white.

•

The meaning that the words white and black held for us.

We reflected on any changes we found in further ‘action’ that we took after the discussion. My circulation of an account of the group provided an aid to re-focus attention on the issues that arose and helped us to notice how feelings and attitudes changed over time. The desire on the part of group members for the group to reflect our feeling responses rather than rational opinions, reflects the priorities of psychotherapists who tend to hold the value that change grows out of a connectedness to our felt responses rather than rational decision-making (Rogers 1942, p.132). The quality of listening was usually good as is borne out by members’ post-group reflections (see below). Everyone reported that their experiences and opinions were well respected and related to.


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Sometimes there were misunderstandings, but when these were picked up and articulated not only were they heard but we tried to learn the lessons from them. Several examples are given below, the most striking of which is the way in which I ‘blanked out’ one member’s remarks about the universal nature of the meanings of the words black and white. As psychotherapists we tended to feel that the more intimacy there was between group members, the more profound the learning. I tried to foster this kind of atmosphere by being as open as possible myself. I suggested at the beginning that we all tell the group about any impulse or thoughts that had led us to come to the group. The level at which we were able to share intimate information in this first group was significant and set the tone for subsequent meetings. By speaking first I was able to model openness about my past experiences and ways I was perturbed by my present ones.

Dialogue I had in mind that the group would benefit by adopting a method of speaking together that can be called ‘dialogue’. Several authors have used the word in this sense including Bohm (1996) and Buber (2004). Dialogue involves us in listening and understanding what is being communicated, even if we think we disagree, even if we think the speaker represents something we thoroughly disapprove of. We listen without forming a riposte or even a reply. We listen in order to understand thoroughly. In order to really do this we may need to check out that we have understood correctly or deeply enough. When we respond, we do so by giving our thoughts and feelings to the speaker, thoughts that have been sparked by what has been said. We are prepared to be hesitant or wrong or foolish because we are more interested in our questions than in finding answers. We think, can my question be deepened by hearing what this person has to say? And can my understanding be deepened? While we are in dialogue we notice what is going on in ourselves while the process of the dialogue is happening. If we find that we have a judgement about that, we notice that too. We bring a sense of witness to what is said, so we have no expectations of a particular outcome. We want to have learnt more. We don’t mind if our point of view doesn’t ‘win’. I was keen that we should be able to confront each other and not collude with unexplored assumptions. Modelling this approach was one way I encouraged a culture of openness. I welcomed challenges when I received them myself, such as discovering that under my politically correct stance I

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felt that black professionals would not be as good as white ones (see below). I was keen that we found a balance between confronting assumptions and racist attitudes in each other whilst not treading so heavily on sensitive areas that it would be hard not to withdraw. I have discovered that this balance is found by remaining dialogic in the sense that I described above. My wish to ‘confront assumptions’ may be based on my own assumptions, so I remained as open as possible to hearing the other point of view whilst also giving my own responses. This ensures that those on both sides of the dialogue feel heard. An example of this occurred in our second meeting. On this occasion a group member said that he thought it was impossible to talk about being white without thinking about ‘blackness’. He thought the group would have been more interesting if black people had been present. Although the group had been formed on my own premise that it was good to think about being white without involving black people I stayed open to his idea. He then ‘had a go’ at talking about being white in an experimental way. This remained an issue for this group member for much of the group and we engaged with it at various times. When the group ended he reflected on his previous lack of awareness of the impact of being white on black people (see below).

Inquiry questions As I initiated the group and had been considering the question of what it is to be white for some time, many of the initial questions were my own. However as we progressed, questions arose in the group although they were often implied rather than explicit. Having examined the reports of each group, I can see that the questions which arose in the group were: •

Is guilt useful in exploring racism?

•

Can we find a way to talk about our racist thoughts?

•

Can we talk about whiteness without talking about ‘blackness’?

•

Is it racist to find black people ‘interesting’?

•

What meaning does white have?

I will take each question one at a time in order to explore how the group engaged with them.


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IS GUILT USEFUL IN RELATION TO RACISM?

The subject of whether guilt was neurotic or healthy in relation to racism was much discussed in the group. I will not say much more about it here in a specific way as a whole chapter which includes thoughts and feelings of group members is devoted to the subject (see Chapter 3). However, looking back I think that guilt and shame were important issues in the group process. My notes show that we were more tentative at first when talking about being white than later in the group life, maybe for fear of being thought racist and also for fear of discovering this in ourselves. It was always possible that we might have shamed each other by our responses to any possible racism discovered in the group. It was vitally important to remaining dialogic when exploring these feelings and assumptions. By listening well to each other in a respectful way (and thus being dialogic), no-one reported feeling shamed within the group (see below). CAN WE FIND A WAY TO TALK ABOUT OUR RACIST THOUGHTS?

An awareness that we had racist thoughts, and that they disturbed us, was a strong motivating factor in the group coming together. In looking at my notes of the first meeting I see that: Richard said that he was ‘aware of having feelings about people of other races and cultures that were disturbing to him’. Sue said she had been led to do the group by an experience of a conflict with a black colleague at work. She felt that unconscious feelings may have driven this response and had joined the group to explore this. I gave as an example of my own hidden racism that I was ‘frustrated’ by a black friend’s lack of need for ‘help’.

In the first group that Anna attended she said: she was aware that one of her prejudiced attitudes was of finding black people ‘interesting’ in a rather academic, objectifying way.

In the following group we noticed that, although we had personal experiences of competent and clever black people, we carried, usually just out of awareness, a sort of hierarchy of cleverness in relation to race. Exploring in this open way was quite difficult as we were owning to prejudiced

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thoughts and feelings that we would normally keep to ourselves. As time went on it seems to me that we became more confident to talk in this way as it became clearer that two conflicting fears would not be realized: we were not going to be shamed by describing racist feelings, nor would such explorations lead to a confirmation of racist attitudes. Instead, naming what was real would lead to an increased ability to understand otherness as enriching. Although I had not consciously become aware of these two fears before the group started, I think on reflection now, that they did influence me but that they seemed not to be founded as the group continued. As we became less fearful we were able to take attitudes out of the cupboard and look at them, such as ‘is it okay to find black people “interesting?”’ This was founded on an open, dialogic process in which we responded rather than reacted to other people’s thoughts. Although we did not all come to the same conclusion about this, it is clear, from my conversations with people after the group, that they found it helpful to explore responses which are normally kept under wraps. Cycles of action and reflection, as normally happen in co-operative inquiry groups, helped to structure our experience – action (taken outside the group as well as talking about our experiences within it) and reflection (on these experiences) led to further action (opening up awareness and potential new action in the light of this awareness). CAN WE TALK ABOUT WHITENESS WITHOUT TALKING ABOUT ‘BLACKNESS’?

I engaged with the quandary of whether we can talk about whiteness without talking about ‘blackness’ in Chapter 1 where I look at the meaning of the word white. It was also explored in various ways within the group and, as I mentioned above, became a matter of disagreement between us. As the group had been formed to think about whiteness without the presence of black people I was aware that I could be defensive as the whole question could challenge the raison d’etre of the group. After several groups in which this was touched on and I struggled with the possibility that I might have led the group into a foolish endeavour, one group member, Richard, wrote an email which included: Personally I’m looking forward to the day when we can admit that being white has no ‘meaning’ – it’s just a physiological quirk resulting from the evolutionary process.


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I replied: The thing I think is missing from what you said is that we do live by the benefits of being white and on the whole don’t do a lot about it… You say you feel ‘anxiety, disappointment and fear at the human tendency to split and project’, but you don’t include yourself as culpable in any way for the way ‘whites’ have done this to ‘blacks’.

Having thought hard about Richard’s challenge I felt able to say something from the heart which was a challenge to him, but I knew from the robustness of the dialogue between us that he could ‘take’ this kind of challenge. Although Richard thought that it was not possible to think about being white without thinking about being black, he seems to have changed his mind about this (see below) after the group disbanded. Later in the same email Richard also drew an interesting parallel between white people and heterosexuals. Heterosexuals are in a similar position to white people as their sexuality often seems to be the norm rather than somewhere along a spectrum of different sexualities. For me there has been a ‘drip, drip, drip’ effect of talking about whiteness so that it has become more and more natural. Getting used to speaking in this way in the group was a significant factor in this shift. IS IT RACIST TO FIND BLACK PEOPLE ‘INTERESTING’?

The question of whether it is racist to find black people ‘interesting’ was one that concerned us. Some thought that showing this interest revealed a natural and inevitable curiosity about anything apparently different to ourselves whilst others thought it was objectifying. At the start of the group I had an uneasy feeling that finding black people ‘interesting’ was racist, without really being able to put my finger on why, as objections about ‘natural curiosity’ were evident too. Factors on both sides of this dilemma were explored and it was not so much resolved as better understood. I told the group that I had previously facilitated a women’s group of which I was a member, in exploring how childhood experiences of ‘difference’ may affect them now in adult life. Several group members reported touching accounts of innocent curiosity concerning differences between their own bodies and those of others. There were also clear examples of fear of difference in quite young children, particularly of smells and tastes.

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Of course curiosity and interest in someone who is different from oneself is fine. We came to the conclusion that what is not fine is when, through fear or for any other reason, we do not relate to or acknowledge the essential humanness of another human being in a meeting with them. WHAT MEANING DOES WHITE HAVE?

The question of what meaning white has for white people led on from the dilemma of trying to think about being white without thinking about our relationship to black people. We decided to ask a few people of our acquaintance to associate to the word white and see how they viewed it. The answers given to me are shown in Table 2.1. Table 2.1 Associations with the word ‘white’ Interviewee 1

Interviewee 2

Interviewee 3

Blank

Sheet

Snow

Pure

Hair

Spiritual

Clear

Snow

Paper

Chef

Cloud

Heat

Paper

Leeds United

Clear

Interviewee 4

Interviewee 5

Interviewee 6

Blank

Bright

Wall

Black

Colour

Clouds

Skin

Nothing

Wallpaper

Pale

Cat

Blank

Snow

Sky

Wash

Interviewee 7

Interviewee 8

Interviewee 9

Yellow

Green

Black

Blue

Sky

Paper

Green

Space

Chalk

We can see that the answers do not show a clearly positive view of white. (The only mention of specifically ‘positive’ words were given to us by interviewees 1 and 3, as I have shown above. One person mentioned ‘pure’


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and another ‘spiritual’.) In his book, Dalal (2002, p.135) insists that the colour white symbolizes purity and goodness in western culture whilst black symbolizes ‘evil’ (see Chapter 1 regarding Dalal’s research (Dalal 2002, pp.142, 143) on the meaning of white in the Bible). When I was able to talk to Dalal himself about this phenomenon at a lecture in which it was discussed, he expressed the view that people who had been asked were defending against their racist associations (see above). This was refuted in the White Group. Several people within the group thought that the colour white had some negative associations such as ‘wishy washy’ and the colour black had positive ones such as being intense and mysterious. We were aware that Dalal would regard these as rationalizations and finally a member of the group, Anna, said something which cut below this. My notes taken at the time said: that she thought our bad feelings about being white [because it might be wishy washy] were nevertheless built on a basic sense of confidence that comes from being part of the dominant race. Judy was very taken by this and said she could feel in herself what that meant. We also went on to speculate that the opposite was also true – that black pride may be built on a less secure base.

This last point seems very important to me and fundamentally shows the effect of the power difference between black people and white. Whatever we might say about different attitudes to the words black and white, it remains that the words are likely to impact more on black people as they experience being in the less dominant position. I described my discussion with Dalal to the group and this is what I wrote about it in my notes following that group: Judy had said she had thought about [his contention that those who responded to being asked for associations to the word white were defending against more racist responses] but a context for asking the question had not been given. Farhad [Dalal] had said that most people would immediately have thought of white having to do with being white skinned. We explored this a bit and were not so sure about it. It had definitely felt as if that had not occurred to the people we had asked. [Of course if you decide that this thought is unconscious there is nothing else one can say!] We wondered if associations to white were changing in today’s culture. [As I am writing this I am thinking that people today often have a more

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complex response to the idea of being ‘good’ in any case. Maybe there is a more questioning attitude to splitting good from bad in a definite way and that ‘good’ is often hypocritical. If that is the case then the way white was seen in the past as being pure and unsullied doesn’t have quite such a hold.]

The questions that arose from the group from this aspect of my inquiry are as follows: •

In today’s western society are the words white and black losing the associations that they have had to the words ‘good’ and ‘evil’?

•

If this is the case does it say anything about racist attitudes?

•

May it also have something to say about a more ambiguous attitude to ‘good’ and ‘evil’ as concepts?

It seems to me that an action that would, in the past, have been categorized as ‘good’, may now be seen as being more ambiguous. Postmodern thought tends to accept more complexity (Hebdige 1996, p.176) and, in spite of tabloid journalism and some politicians who seem to divide the world very clearly into ‘good’ and ‘bad’, maybe this attitude is more prevalent in today’s white western society than in the past. For instance a woman who steals to feed her child would not be judged as harshly as one who steals to feed her heroin addiction. When we talk of holding extreme attitudes on either side of a dilemma it is often said that the attitudes are ‘black or white’. I have always understood this to mean that the attitudes are opposite to each other, just as black and white are opposite. The question of whether skin colour is also evoked when we use this term is also one to consider. I certainly find myself not using the term ‘black and white’ to indicate opposites because of its possible racist implication. In order to explore this further, and to provide another cycle of action and reflection, I decided to ask some of the respondents to my questionnaire what they thought about the colour white. In this context I spoke to Alice whom I interviewed following her responses to my questionnaire on the subject of shame and guilt in relation to racism (see Chapter 3): J:

I wonder if you have any associations to the word white?

A:

If you say whiteness to me it tends to say to me brightness and light. I am very interested in photography and white is the spec-


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trum that includes all colours, so whiteness is an image of brightness and light. J:

Right yes that is interesting. There is also a thought that in our culture whiteness means purity and goodness and truth. Does it have that sort of association for you?

A:

I think less so now than it used to. I think as a child the phrase ‘whiter than white’ seemed to be around but I think that has faded now.

J:

Do you know what that is about, that fading?

A:

I think possibly it might just me maturing.

J:

If you’re maturing then…

A:

Then I’ve realized that there is probably no such thing as whiter than white. Everything is just varying shades of grey.

It is interesting that in this conversation Alice talked about a development in her thinking from seeing white as indicating or symbolizing goodness and purity to more ambiguous meanings and that she thought this might be about how she herself is maturing and/or a change in the culture. I also find it interesting that in a later part of the same conversation she said that blackness was ‘obviously’ associated with darkness. She is seeing black in the way a physicist or a photographer might here as being ‘a complete absence of light’. Dalal who says that a physicist would describe the colour black as being an optical event when no light is present, takes issue with this point saying that: The word black automatically conjures up a picture in the mind of the colour black. Similarly, the sign dark signifies the absence of light, and so the sign dark is now full of the meaning ‘absence of light’… As we have seen, absolute darkness is beyond imagination [italics in original], for how can one ever imagine an absence? Even as we try to imagine it, the associations of the word lead us to create something dark-like in our minds, that is something black. (Dalal 2002, p.139)

He goes on to say that ‘black is the symbolic representation of darkness’ (italics in original). His point is that we associate evil with darkness, darkness with black and black with black people. Alice seems to have provided an example of the association of dark with black. However, even if we do, perhaps

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naturally, conflate black and ‘dark’, a point made in my conversation with Alice seems more satisfying to me: that absolute blackness and whiteness do not in fact exist. We can think this thought because we have become more able to think about ambiguities. This same thinking, and not because there is any real connection between the meanings we give to blackness and whiteness and the different colours of human skin, allows the projection of these meanings on to black and white people. This greater ability to think about ambiguities frees us to find a variety of associations to the word white that were not connected with purity, goodness and brightness. These thoughts about the meanings behind the words black and white were again thrown up in the air when I came to interview members of the White Group after it had finished (see below).

Postgroup reflections with group members Having explored the different questions that arose within the White Co-operative Inquiry Group I decided to ask them for further reflections on questions that arose for me out of the group exploration. I had follow-up conversations with all four of the other participants in the group. Two of these were taped interviews, another was written up from notes after the meeting as this person did not agree to a taped interview and the fourth was conducted by email. ANNA

It was my conversation with Anna that put a new light on our associations to the words black and white. She had read through a draft of this chapter and was very struck by the way that I had completely missed out one of the points she had made in the group. This was that, contrary to the apparent opinion of Dalal (Dalal 2002, Ch. 8), the words black and white have similar associations across many cultures to those often found in western culture. She also thought that my apparent refusal to acknowledge this point was evidence of prejudice on my part. She said: I do think there is a prejudice in here. The prejudice is about how we in western society associate white with good and black with evil and it’s part of our heritage. Dalal makes a very strong point of it being about western society. The point I made is ‘come on, this is not just western society. These are universal associations, including among Africans.’


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I was very struck by the fact that, not only had I not included it in the account of the groups, but that even now I had no memory of her telling me this. The fact that I had not taped the session and therefore been forced to see this omission is maybe regrettable but if I had taped the session, the extent of my reluctance to see it would not have been revealed. Anna was an anthropologist so knew from field studies that the words black and white held similar meanings in African settings. She also showed me various passages from books on relevant anthropology so I have been able to study them since then. Jacobson-Widding (1979) showed that people in the Lower Congo regard the colour black as ‘definitely connected with evil-doers’ (Jaccobson-Widding 1979, p.187). He said that the colour white, on the other hand, is connected with ‘right, righteousness, innocence, justice and social order’ (Jaccobson-Widding 1979, p.218) as well as ‘the means of attaining right and justice’ such as ‘reason, intelligence, understanding, clear-sightedness, capacity for investigation etc.’ (Jaccobson-Widding 1979, p.218). These qualities belong to the world of social order and with the matrilineal principle. They are all considered to be ‘good’ and ‘socially approved’ (Jaccobson-Widding 1979).1 Turner (1966) shows some comparative data about the associations of different peoples to the words black and white across various cultures worldwide. In Madagascar black is associated with what is ‘inferior, unpleasant, evil, suspicious, disagreeable and undesirable’ and white with ‘light, hope, joy and purity’ (Turner 1966, p.72). For the Yoruba (in Nigeria) ‘black is associated with night and night with evil’ (Turner 1966, p.73). In the Malay Peninsular a midwife puts a strip of black pigment from the eyebrows to the tip of the nose ‘for the protection of women against ‘the Blood Demon which stops a woman’s courses and so prevents her bringing healthy children into the world’ (Turner 1966, p.74). He goes on to say ‘White is generally an auspicious colour, among the Sakai and other Malay peoples’ (Turner 1966, p.74). For the Cherokees (Native Americans), ‘black is the colour of sorcery or witchcraft’ and white ‘represents peace and happiness’ (Turner 1966, p.75). I was shocked at having apparently completely blocked out Anna’s input to the group in which she showed these associations to the words white and black. She asked me why I thought I had done it. I said I was not 1

Red is also considered by Jacobson Widding and other authors, but I will only consider the meanings surrounding the words black and white here.

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sure but wondered if it was because it muddied the waters. Maybe I had thought that it might be more straightforward to think that these associations were purely western. Using only western sources shows white society in a bad light with black people clearly victims of our prejudiced assumptions. Two thoughts emerge on further reflection. One is that the source of this information comes from anthropologists working in the 1960s and 1970s when there was less understanding of the slant that western people might put on information about other cultures. Whereas I am sure this does not completely invalidate these data, I would feel happier with it if I had been told about it myself by members of those particular nationalities and cultures. My other thought is that, if the significance of these colours are similar throughout the world, this makes the use of the words black and white to describe people with different skin tones even more significant. Anna’s understanding was that these are universal, archetypal symbols for evil on the one hand and goodness or purity on the other. It is shocking to think that the world is divided into black people and white people when these words evoke deeply held, archetypal associations, not just for those in the west, but for all peoples. It makes me wonder whether deciding to say ‘black is beautiful’ or ‘white is wishy washy’ has anything but a most superficial effect. ELEANOR

My postgroup meeting with Eleanor did not face me with similar challenges. I found it very moving, particularly the way in which she had allowed the learning from the group to touch her. She had started by thinking the group might be intimidating but actually found it ‘inclusive, nurturing and supportive’. In particular it helped her with her work in an inner city school. In her words she said that she had begun to: realize how far I am trying to get a grip on my students’ world when in fact I need to stay even more with who I am and when I get things wrong it is done with a good heart and with the best will in the world and somehow it is going to be okay because it is ‘respect’ [she used the vernacular hand gesture].

Eleanor must be doing something right as young people queue outside her room to see her for counselling.


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RICHARD

Richard sent me responses by email to my questions which gave his answers specific focus. He had originally not understood how the group could be of value without black people in it. He reiterated that during the group and commented on it in our email correspondence (see above). He now said that: Since the group disbanded, I have increasingly seen that my inability to elucidate on the experience of my own whiteness is itself a manifestation of a complacence so deep that I am only just recognizing its existence. In a multiracial context I suppose this sense of belonging to the group that has a confident certainty of its own acceptability is what I would bring, consciously or otherwise. This does not seem a particularly honourable or helpful legacy.

And At the time I often felt an essential weakness of the group was that it had no non-white members. I’m quite astonished at how far my sense of this has shifted. I now see how the shadow of whatever racism I may carry would have been conveniently covered up by the interesting dialogues that would no doubt have arisen in a mixed-race group.

It is interesting and encouraging for me that insights about this have continued since the group stopped meeting. Richard said that he did not generally work with non-white clients. However one client: was a highly educated Indian who had been married to a white man and had lived a culturally white life as an adult. I don’t know whether her life experience might have de-emphasized the skin tone difference in the intersubjective field between us.

I thought this was an extremely interesting point. I have found myself in a similar position with a client who had an Indian father. I did know that race could be an important theme for her, but my knowledge of that was a little theoretical. When she denied its importance I let it drop until she became full of rage at a bus driver who called her a ‘black bastard’. Unpicking the delicate threads of race in a situation like this is not easy but no doubt very important.

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SUE

Sue preferred that the interview was not taped and so I made a note of the meeting directly after it finished. She has read and concurred with this. The first thing she mentioned was that she thought the theme of guilt and shame had dominated the group. She noticed that we tended to go round in circles with this theme, but had interestingly thought that this tends to happen when one feels guilty or ashamed. She remembered saying, ‘Awareness good – wallowing bad’ and my saying that I must write that down. She asked if it had not struck me that way before. I said that I thought that the important thing was to learn from it rather than simply wallow in it and Sue agreed with this. I said that I remembered how she had pointed out at the end that she had felt ‘different’ to others. Sue said that this ‘difference’ involved feeling less ‘intellectual and affluent’. This led us to discuss our own experience of being with others when we feel ‘different’. We both agreed that it is not enough, and does not really help, to be told one is ‘accepted’. We need others to recognize the difference too. We thought it was interesting, in view of the subject of the group, that what happened to her was a parallel process to black people in white society and yet this was not picked up until the end of the group. In concentrating on our similarity – our whiteness – we did not see or acknowledge the differences in other dimensions of felt identity. Talking about our own difficulties when we have felt ‘different’ led us to reflect that the group, in spite of not at first recognizing this parallel process, was very tolerant of different opinions and people owning to ‘unacceptable feelings’. Although the group could be quite challenging at times, it was also allowing and accepting. We also spoke of the relevance of this to difficulties Sue had had with a black colleague in a multiracial environment. We reflected that her present work place was very white and we wondered why that was. We thought that maybe, as the town was traditionally very white, work needed to be carried out to encourage the black communities that did live there to make use of resources to which they were entitled. Reflecting now on my postgroup discussion with Sue, I am struck again that a parallel process occurred under my nose, as it were, and, in spite of usually being sensitized to this phenomenon, I did not notice it. Although, in theory, Sue could have mentioned feeling different herself earlier in the group’s life, it is understandable that she did not do so as her


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position of ‘difference’ also led her to feel more vulnerable. There were clues that I or other group members could have picked up on – Sue was quieter than others and was not known to any other group member before we started to meet. Maybe my own focus on our whiteness and my anxiety to make sure that the group was researching this issue was a factor in leading me not to having more lateral vision. From my conversation with Sue (and others) it seems that we did achieve a group where feelings could be expressed to a large extent, and she did bring up this issue before the group finished. However, in not being alert to Sue’s sense of ‘difference’ before the end we limited the wholehearted way in which she could participate and, amongst other things, lost some valuable information for the group by not recognizing a parallel process.

My own further reflections My own reflection on the process of the group is that it provided me with a place in which my ideas could be held and discussed with others who were interested in the same area. We were able to approach some difficult territory such as our own prejudice and explore it in a way which was new for all of us. It was possible to speak about our prejudices without having to hide them, so that the underlying feelings and attitudes could be explored. At the same time we usually did not collude with these prejudices as we could disagree, such as over the meaning of white, without attacking each other. When we started we thought that it might be impossible to talk about whiteness without talking about ‘blackness’, but this became more and more possible as we continued. Certainly we went through a process which, at least for some, led us to feel much more conscious of being white and what that means within a racialized environment. We do not readily ‘take positions’ without questioning them and we allowed ourselves to own negative or shameful thoughts whilst trusting that they will be received in the spirit of inquiry rather than blame. From the beginning I tried to model this mode of being by being open myself and inviting others to do likewise and modelled non-shaming responses. In the beginning I invited everyone to share what had led them to come and started by owning my own sense of shame and guilt about being white, citing some ways in which I could see my own racial prejudice.

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Certainly the questions we had at the beginning were preoccupations of the group right up to the end. Although questions of this nature are never completely answered I did, for myself with the help of the group, reach tentative conclusions. Here are these conclusions followed by further questions or wonderings in italics: CAN WE TALK ABOUT OUR RACIST THOUGHTS?

I discovered, by engaging in exploratory dialogue, that we can talk about racist thoughts without becoming more racist, particularly when we share an understanding that we do so in order to learn more about ourselves and our racism. I still wonder how far they can be resolved by voicing them. CAN WE TALK ABOUT WHITENESS WITHOUT TALKING ABOUT ‘BLACKNESS’?

In that these terms only exist in relation to each other, of course we cannot. We did find that we could talk about being white without reference to black people if we understood ourselves to exist within a racial context. How can I continue to be sensitive to my whiteness within a racialized environment and talk to others from this sense of awareness? IS IT RACIST TO FIND BLACK PEOPLE ‘INTERESTING’?

When this interest does not come from a ‘superior’ position in an institutional sense there is nothing wrong with finding anything ‘interesting’. Insofar as it is impossible for a white person not to come from a superior position, maybe this is at the root of our discomfort with it. Could black friends benefit by my ‘interest’? What would happen if I allowed myself to be interested? WHAT ARE THE MEANINGS BEHIND THE WORD ‘WHITE’?

There were some differences of opinion in the group about meanings that lie behind this word, but it seems to me that positive associations do lie behind the idea of whiteness and it does seem that these associations hold good across many cultures. I am still not clear about whether or not the word white is always unconsciously associated with white skin as Dalal suggested.


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Conclusion This chapter has shown what I learnt by joining with others to understand more about my racial identity as a white person in the context of the journey that we all took together. Forming a co-operative inquiry group was certainly productive as it has helped me to become more conscious of my racial identity as a white person. Working with others helped me in two ways. The first is that it provided me with support in a task that can otherwise be a lonely undertaking. Not many white people consider this issue and, I suspect, may even ridicule it as ‘politically correct’ nonsense. The second is that it provided me with people who challenged my assumptions and ideas so that I was obliged to look at them more closely. One example of this was my assumption that black and white were symbolized as ‘good’ and ‘bad’ only in the west. This is clearly not so as anthropological evidence shows (Turner 1966; Jaccobson-Widding 1979). However, through robust dialogue in which contrary points of view were raised, I was confirmed in my notion that guilt and shame could be productive feelings for white people. As this is the subject of the next chapter I did not cover much of this in this one. So the next chapter picks up on this major theme that came out of the group. My explorations concerning this area were present for me before setting up the group and were concurrent with it. The group provided one context for this inquiry.

Chapter 3

Shame and Guilt

The sooner we admit our crimes to others, To other peoples, creeds, genders, species, The better and lighter the human Future will be. The more we deny, the greater will be the horrors And vengeances of time That wait silently in the wings Of the bloody drama of our future From Mental Fight by Ben Okri

Introduction In the previous chapter, in which I describe a group which got together to explore the experience of being white, the question of feeling guilty and ashamed became so evident that I am devoting a whole chapter to it here. I wondered how far these feelings may be productive or useful and whether they are commonplace among white people in relation to racism. It occurred to me that understanding guilt and shame could be useful in understanding the position of white people or could be irrelevant and are indications of an obsession with their own feelings of guilt. This leads me to the question: Can guilt and shame be useful in drawing attention to the privilege of whiteness? If I am to engage with this question, I must first understand the nature of guilt and shame in any context and their function for individuals and society. In this chapter I therefore introduce the area of guilt and shame in relation to racism, and briefly explore the place that shame and guilt have in personal psychology, in particular how they affect our sense of self, as well as in society, and what generative functions they may serve, if any.

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I then go on to think in more detail about how guilt and shame’s place within individuals and in society is relevant to shame and guilt in relation to being white, particularly the function that guilt and shame play as a response to white supremacy and racism. My questions as I started this inquiry are: •

What role do guilt and shame play in my life and those of other people?

•

Can guilt and shame be generative – in other words can they further my learning about myself and lead to more creative and fulfilling lives and relationships?

•

Can the guilt and shame that I feel about racism be generative?

•

Can the ways that other people feel guilt and shame (or not) about racism enlighten me about the place that shame and guilt about racism plays in my own life?

•

Can writers in the fields of psychotherapy, counselling, psychology and sociology help to enlighten me about how I might use shame and guilt about racism positively or negatively in my life?

Before describing and exploring the inquiry that attempts to engage with these questions, I will follow the path I took that led me to inquire into this in more depth. I suspected that white people, including myself, tend to project unwanted destructive and inadequate parts of themselves on to black people. It became clear that I tended to want to show how I had learnt the lessons of racism before fully owning my guilty feelings. Altman explores this by considering how white people avoid a sense of guilt: …on one hand the defensive need to deny that certain unacceptable psychic characteristics are indeed part of me, as I have just described. On the other hand is the need to ward off guilt: the pain of knowing that damage has been done to human beings like myself, by me, or in my name, or with my collusion, or passive consent. Avoidance of guilt is a powerful force motivating continual reinforcement of racist attitudes, for to the extent that we experience black people as ‘me’, as people with feelings just like mine, realizing the suffering to which they have been subjugated could generate an intolerable level of pain. (Altman 2003, p.97)

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In struggling with similar feelings of guilt whilst on the equal opportunities committee of my professional body, I wrote a letter to its journal in which I said: I also have an emotional response which is very familiar to me in working in this field. It is one of pain and shame and guilt. The feeling is very special to ‘getting it wrong’ in the area of ‘equal opportunities’. My responses include wanting to protect myself, to hide, to defend myself, to punish myself. Then I tell myself that all this is unnecessary and that debate and dialogue are healthy and lead to a deepening understanding.

I know from speaking to people in the helping professions, including to colleagues in the white group described in the last chapter, that others tend to have similar feelings. Maybe it makes sense of the painful interactions endemic in this area. A white social worker, for instance, spoke of the guilt she felt when faced with black working class colleagues. They confronted her about her inability to understand or be effective in her work with black people. She saw that they were not privileged in the way she was, but felt powerless to do anything to change the situation or find a way to communicate effectively with them about it. I say this in the hope that an open acknowledgement of this state of affairs may help us to move forward with the important task of working across difference in this field. In remembering past work I am very aware of how much easier it is to jump straight into the active mode of righting wrongs whilst missing out the stage of owning to guilt which is far from comfortable. It is also easier to try to make an identification with black people by stressing areas in which I have been on the receiving end of prejudice. In doing so I am possibly perpetuating a subject/object split by ‘joining the other side’ and seeing myself as ‘oppressed’ rather than allowing myself to feel the guilt of the oppressor.

The experience of guilt and shame How are guilt and shame used more generally by individuals and in society? Engaging with this question may help me to look at how this might apply to white people in relation to racism. In my research I came across many who thought that shame and guilt were useless emotions and burdensome for those we feel guilty towards. In the light of this thought I decided to undertake an inquiry into the

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phenomena of guilt and shame to begin from first principles, rather than start with ideas that have been written in the literature. Having gained that perspective I look at what some theorists have to say about shame and guilt.

An inquiry into the phenomenology of shame and guilt In first approaching this subject I wanted to know more about the felt experience of guilt and shame in order to hear about others’ experience from an embodied rather than a cognitive place. I thought that the more the responses were grounded in actual felt experience, the more I would learn about how people really experienced guilt and shame rather than how they understand them as intellectual concepts. I therefore emailed 65 people with a questionnaire (Ryde 2005). My first impression was that my respondents found the experience of both extremely painful, with shame possibly being the more painful of the two. On analysing the replies I found that, in answers to where shame and guilt are experienced in the body, there is some similarity between the two although guilt was reported to be experienced in the heart and chest and shame in the face, neck and chest. The descriptions of the two feelings, as opposed to the place they are experienced in the body, tended to be more dissimilar although there was some similarity in feel. My question about what made people feel guilty and ashamed revealed that my respondents felt ashamed of what was perceived as a fault in themselves and guilty about hurting others, though they might have felt ashamed because they judge themselves to be guilty. This leads me to tentatively wonder if guilt is in fact a cognitive idea. The feeling is of shame because of the guilt – albeit with a certain tint – as this time shame arises from guilt rather than other reasons for feeling shame, such as being over-exposed. We could call it ‘guilt-shame’ as opposed to ‘exposure-shame’. If this were the case, guilt would be simply a matter of doing something that transgressed an ethical, social or legal code. We may accuse ourselves or be accused by others of this transgression. In either case there may or may not be agreement between ourselves and others as to whether or not we are in fact guilty. If we do think that we are guilty then we feel ashamed. If we do not think we are guilty then we do not feel ashamed.

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I asked my respondents what it would be like never to feel ashamed. The answers ranged from feeling that it would be inhuman never to feel ashamed and feeling that it would be liberating. About never feeling guilty at all, there was a divide between those who feel they would be immoral and those who would feel lighter and happier. Taking both shame and guilt together the split goes something like this: if I never felt guilty or ashamed I would be (1) inhuman and immoral, or be (2) liberated, light and happy. CONSIDERATIONS ARISING FROM THIS QUESTIONNAIRE REGARDING BEING WHITE

The questionnaire brought to light two ideas in particular which were interesting in my wider inquiry into being white. 1.

That guilt may in fact be guilt-shame – shame about being, or thinking oneself to be guilty, rather than shame which exposes our supposed inadequacies. This is relevant to my inquiry because in regard to being white, there is nothing intrinsically wrong with the colour of anyone’s skin but we may feel guilt-shame about how white people do treat or have treated black people (more about this below).

2.

That there is a dilemma between the importance of acknowledging guilt on the one hand and becoming weighed down by unnecessary guilt on the other which can lead to injuries to our sense of self and/or be a burden to the people about whom one feels guilty. All of this is taken further below.

Some ideas about shame and guilt from psychotherapy and psychology theorizing In white western psychotherapy, concepts of shame were not much explored until relatively recently, although notions of guilt were central in classical psychoanalysis. Freud stressed its role in the resolution of the oedipal conflict (Freud 1924). Klein (1946, p.176) understood babies as coming into this world full of destructive phantasies that could only be tolerated by splitting the mother into a good one and a bad one. Becoming mature enough to understand that their attacks on the bad mother also hurt the good as they are one and the same, led to what she called the

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‘depressive position’ where the child feels guilt and the need to repair the damage that had been done to the mother. This same ‘position’ was called the ‘stage of concern’ by Winnicott (1988, p.73) who took a more benign position about the emotional experiences of babies. In the 1960s, guilt, which requires the internalization of an apparatus of self-repression, seemed to play a less important part in white western society generally as can be seen in childcare practices which stressed the original innocence of children. Individuals tended to become more flexible and adaptable to rapidly changing encounters and social circumstances. The mores of western society were changing in many fields. They were becoming more secular and childcare practices were now being informed by psychotherapists like Winnicott (1964) and Bowlby (1953) who tended to be more child-centred. They promoted the approach of supporting the growing child’s sense of him/herself as loved and welcomed. In that context the harm that shaming children does to their sense of self became more evident and the use of shaming mechanisms in socialization processes became questioned. A more individualistic society requires flexible, self-supporting individuals with a positive sense of self, enabling them, as individuals, to respond and adapt to changing circumstances without relying on group support. In the light of this, it is unsurprising that none of the white theorists I have come across has much to say about shame and even less about a positive value of shame as a self-regulating mechanism. There are two exceptions to this that I will come to later. Most theorists understand shame to be connected to a sense of self, as in feeling ashamed of oneself, thus seeing shame as a feeling with no external referent. Shame is experienced as a narcissistic injury so that the sense of oneself as good disappears as is acknowledged by some of the respondents to the questionnaire. Guilt, however, is felt in relation to someone else. Guilt is about transgressions, and shame is about shortcomings. This is also borne out by my respondents’ answers to the questionnaire. However, as I pointed out above, one can lead to the other, as in guilt-shame, as we can feel ashamed because we are, or think ourselves to be, guilty. White psychotherapy theorists tend to concentrate on the roots of shame and guilt in childhood where the pointing out of shortcomings and transgressions are probably most painfully felt and are often used by adults to control children. A child’s sense of shame frequently arises from a parental failure to show the child that s/he is loved unconditionally. Kohut writes about the mirroring function of parents for whom the child is a ‘gleam in the eye’ (Kohut 1984, pp.192–193).

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The child looks into the eyes of the parent or carer and knows that s/he is beautiful and loved. If s/he looks and sees that s/he is disregarded, s/he feels ashamed. Mollon (1993, p.52) says that shame ‘seems to be associated with a sudden, disruptive awareness of separateness, of self and other’ (italics in original). In his view, shame is associated with a devastating loss of a cohesive sense of self which is slowly emerging in the child and leads either to a shame-prone adult or one who defensively becomes shame-less. Mollon (1993, p.44) mentions two defences against shame – the avoiding of exposure to risks so as not to be shamed, and what he calls ‘countershame’ or what Lewis (1971) calls ‘bypassed shame’ where feelings of shame are cut off and nothing is felt at all. This is borne out in the responses to my questionnaire by the prevalence of the desire to hide in the face of shame. No doubt white people hide in the face of shame, as we will see below. Stolorow and Atwood (1992), from the Intersubjectivist School (see Chapter 4), develop further the need to support the growing sense of self of the child through a process of mirroring and correct affect attunement so that the child is received and validated. Without much needed mirroring they say that the child: may ‘conclude’ that his own unmet needs and emotional pain are expressions of disgusting and shameful defects in the self and thus must be banished from conscious experiencing. (Stolorow and Atwood 1992, p.55)

Jacobs (Jacobs 1996), a Gestalt therapist who also trained with the Intersubjectivisists (Stolorow et al., 1992 and see Chapters 1 and 4), points to the way that feelings of shame may lead people to enter therapy and this is compounded by feeling ashamed of their very need for this. Her point may well be similar for clients/patients who seek the help of any professional. She says that shame is a ‘gatekeeper’ and interferes with our ability to feel our feelings and thus our capacity for contact and self-regulation. She suggests that successful therapy is contingent upon the therapist’s capacity to tolerate a risk of shameful exposure and shows resilience in the face of shame (1996, p.1). She points out that it often feels shaming to the client that the therapist is more important to the client than vice versa, but that this can be resolved more easily if a person’s sense of self is not ‘coloured by shame’. For those whose self-image is ‘laced with shame’ this differential can be exquisitely painful (Jacobs 1996, p.2). When a therapist is white and a client is black, feelings of shame may well be very complex and

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often remain unexplored, with both therapist and client experiencing shame in different ways. She stresses that if the therapist can show real sensitivity to the client’s sense of shame and resolve the disruption that takes place when there is shame in the dialogue between them, then a truly transformative process has occurred. In my own work with psychotherapy clients I have been aware of the need to walk very carefully with the fragile sense of self of some of my clients. During the therapy some of them have come to an understanding that they are good enough as human beings to be loved, and I have felt that they have come to accept my care of them. Others have come with genuinely harmful things they have done to others and I have had to struggle with my own sense of judgement about that. Together we have managed to work back to the fragile and tenuous sense of self that can be loved and accepted. One asylum seeker client lied to me about the basic story of her life and, although her actual experiences made this very understandable, facing up to telling me that she had lied was so shameful that she could not bear to come again in spite of my encouragement. I now wonder whether my very understanding of her need to lie was in itself shaming. No doubt my own sense of shame about my relative good fortune made the interaction between us hard to reflect on adequately. Jacobs also says that shame can be positive in that, because we as human beings feel shame, we are able to empathize with others’ sense of shame. She acknowledges that it is human to experience shame and, in our humanity, we know others’ shame and can develop a sensitivity to know how we might avoid shaming them.

The experience of guilt and shame in white people about racism With the background of these thoughts about guilt and shame I now turn my attention to the experience of shame and guilt in white people. This emerged as a theme in the white group. Views about guilt in this context held by members of the group ranged from ‘guilt is “useless” in that it is a burden to others who are expected to absolve us’, to ‘I often feel wracked by guilt which is probably neurotic’ to ‘as white people we ought to feel guilty’. Some of these themes I explore below as well as further material that arose in the group. While the group was current I immersed myself in an exploration of the part that guilt and shame play as a response to both personal and

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institutional, endemic racism. I take my inquiry into guilt and shame in this context further by: •

discussing it in the group

•

devising and sending out another questionnaire and

•

exploring various theorists and papers (Dyer 1997; Brandyberry 1999; Dalal 2002) which caste some light on this subject.

I start here with the questionnaire. A QUESTIONNAIRE REGARDING SHAME AND GUILT EXPERIENCED BY WHITE PEOPLE IN REGARD TO RACISM

Having had many interesting responses to my questionnaire on guilt and shame per se, and feeling that responses in the white group were throwing up further questions, particularly about the usefulness or not of guilt and shame in white people, I decided to ask the same group of 65 people (as those approached to answer my last questionnaire) for responses regarding racism. I devised a questionnaire as follows:

Inquiry into guilt and shame felt in regard to racism 1. Did you fill in the questionnaire A Little Inquiry into Guilt and Shame sent to you in November? Yes/No 2. Do you consider yourself to have, consciously or unconsciously, racist attitudes or beliefs? 3. To what extent do you feel ashamed or guilty about having racist attitudes? (Mark yourself from 1–5 on a scale which has 1 as very guilty and 5 as not guilty at all. If you feel that shame and guilt have different marks then give yourself a mark for each making clear which is which.) 4. Do you consider yourself to be a beneficiary of endemic racism in society? 5. To what extent do you feel guilty or ashamed about this? (mark yourself on a scale from 1–5, see question 3).

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6. If you do feel any shame or guilt do you think these form any purpose, useful or not? 7. To what extent do you feel shame or guilt about racist manifestations that your own country perpetrated in the past such as the colonialization of other countries? (mark yourself on a scale from 1–5, see question 3). 8. Would you like to expand on any of your answers or do you have any other comments that you would like to add?

There were 14 respondents to this questionnaire, nine of whom also answered the first one (Question 1). I have considered the responses below and will describe how I followed up some responses with in-depth interviews which in turn opened up further reflection. As will be seen, reflecting on my own responses to their answers helped to reveal interesting avenues for further inquiry. Here follow the ways in which I have pursued the question further. RACIST ATTITUDES AND BELIEFS

To the question: ‘Do you consider yourself to have, consciously or unconsciously, racist attitudes or beliefs?’ 12 answered ‘yes’ and two answered ‘no’. One of the ‘nos’ was a white person who did not regard herself as a racist and therefore did not answer subsequent questions. The other one was black. This has brought up an interesting issue for me. He was the only black person I asked to engage with this inquiry and I had clearly not thought about the questionnaire from this point of view. It reveals, however, my automatic white consciousness by assuming that all those that I did contact were white. This respondent answered my previous questionnaire without his being black emerging as an issue. I find his answers are nevertheless an interesting counterpoint to the others. One respondent, called Alice, had a particularly interesting response to my second question about whether she had racist attitudes or beliefs: Yes, though I wish I didn’t. But I do feel nervous of black people, without any good reason. Also, I couldn’t really fancy a Negro, so there is some fundamental sense of difference there. On the other hand, I do have one or two Negro friends, and once I get to know them my nervousness disappears. My nervousness is fundamentally

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of all strangers, and I think is accentuated by the enhanced ‘strangeness’ of Negro appearance and body language. This is much more true of black people than of Asians, and definitely comes from some unconscious promptings.

My reflections at the time on this answer to the questionnaire were as follows: It is interesting that she uses the ‘politically incorrect’ term ‘Negro’. My sense is that this does not in her case show disrespect to black people. All her responses here and in the rest of the questionnaire are thoughtful, own her own racism and show that she knows that her feelings about black people reveal herself rather than say anything about black people. Her response here shows that she considers the ‘strangeness’, maybe the not-like-herness, of black people to be at the root of her fear.

This reflection led me to interview her to push forward my inquiry further. Here is an extract from that taped conversation: J:

The other thing I wanted to talk to you about was the use of the word ‘Negro’ which you have used just now and you used in your…which you…because that is often thought of as politically incorrect as a word to use and I wondered if you used it as a…

A:

[interrupting] I’m using it in a very specific biological sense as a racial type. The Negro races who…I mean not all black people are Negroes.

J:

Yes, I think these days there is a question about whether we can make that kind of distinction.

A:

Probably, yes, but people with certain racial characteristics which…

J:

These days the usual word is African. Do you mean African with a broad nose and woolly hair?

I cringe at myself for saying that and then wonder why. Is a sense of shame alerting me to something amiss? On reflection maybe it is because it betrays my underlying assumption that a thin nose and straight hair is the norm or even that it is more beautiful. The nervousness about talking about this issue is evident in the hesitation with which we speak of it. The clarity that I am beginning to develop, and which now normally alerts me to a

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western-centred way of thinking, had deserted me. The conversation continues: A:

Of course not all Africans are of that type. Most North Africans are not for example. So that’s really an unclear word, but yes if we are talking about sort of Africans with curly hair and large lips…

J:

[interrupting] I think the reason why these words have that kind of frisson to them is that they are often used as pejorative but also the whole thing about race as a concept is questioned as well – that there is any significant difference between them other than genetic variations that come out…

A:

That’s right. And I wouldn’t question the equality of that but we have to acknowledge that people do have different genetic structures.

J:

But of course when they start intermarrying with other people it starts dissolving.

I wonder, as I write this, why it is necessary to make these distinctions at all, but then remember that we are talking about what frightens Alice. She perceives people she calls ‘Negroes’ to be the most different and therefore the most fear provoking. She knows this is not a rational feeling. She is brave to talk about these feelings which I imagine are often too shameful to be admitted. A little later in the conversation I say: J:

Just to say then…in using the word Negro you are saying that they are the people who look the ‘most different to me’ on the face of it.

A:

On the face of it yeah.

J:

And therefore of the ones that…[pause]

A:

It is superficial…[pause]

J:

Yes, but it has an effect that is based on something unconscious in you – that fear of strangers so that is what you are talking about really. One of the questions is ‘are you afraid of other sorts of differences’ but you are saying ‘that is the most different’ and therefore the most fearful?

A:

I think I am yes.

It does seem then that it was Alice’s sense of guilt that alerted her to an understanding that her fear of black people was irrational. She says she

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does ‘work well with “black people”’ when she gets to know them and manages to get over her fear through gaining familiarity. At one point I asked her about guilt: A:

Well very probably I felt that this should not be. I had been brought up to believe that there was absolutely nothing wrong with, for example, mixed marriages if the two people were in love with each other and therefore I suppose, yes, there was some sort of educational process here then that meant that when I actually tried to put it into practice – well just saying yes when someone asked me out instead of no. Theoretically there should not have been a problem. In practice there was, so that I felt in some way I had not lived up to what I believed in.

In other words Alice felt that her espoused values and those she lived by were not congruent with each other. Alice was struggling with difficult feelings and was prepared to share these with me however difficult this process was. I continued to wonder about her use of the word Negro, which after her explanation still did not seem rational. I decided to inquire further by asking Rotimi Akinsete, my black respondent to the questionnaire, what he thought of the word. For him this word evoked a time when ‘Negroes’ were thought to be like animals. In answer to my query he said: That is really interesting because it reminds me of the pseudo-scientific theories about Africans being like animals. They were so unlike us that they must be different and the word ‘negro’ was used to describe people in that way. Language is very important because language is power. Because Negro was used then and is still used now people are still in that way of thinking.

Rotimi thought that by facing up to the way this idea is evoked it might help to dissolve the fear: R:

If people used the name of countries where these people come from I think she would start thinking differently about them. She would know that Africans have a history.

J:

It might mean that she feels less fear?

R:

Yes very much so – that is what these scientific theories are about – Africans are like animals and we should be afraid of them.

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He also pointed out that black people hadn’t chosen the way they are described and this was compounded by the colour black that has negative associations of darkness and evil: Since slavery people of African descent have not been called something they have determined themselves: slaves, niggers, then from niggers to Negroes to coloured and coloured to African American and in this country, coloured, black British, Afro/Caribbean. All these names that have not been determined by Africans themselves. Even the word black I have problems with. Black is always associated with the negative whether you like it or not.

No doubt at one level Alice was far from thinking that Africans were like animals. She was aware that her fear was irrational, but maybe Rotimi touched on something important when he said that certain words evoked past fears and kept them alive. They were imposed by others in order to facilitate imperialist domination of indigenous peoples. There is a conflict between Alice’s insistence that the word ‘Negro’ is merely a straightforward description and Rotimi’s rejection of the word as it has often been used pejoratively and was not chosen by African people themselves. It may be a good example of the kind of difficulty that can arise when considering politically correct language that I discussed in the Introduction to this book. Although Alice may be consciously unaware of the complex dynamics behind the use of this word, it does carry these resonances whether she intends them or not. I draw from this that it is important to take into account, not only what we think we intend by our communication, but the meaning it may hold for others.

Shame and guilt about racist attitudes The third question was: ‘To what extent do you feel ashamed or guilty about having racist attitudes? (Mark yourself from 1–5 on a scale which has 1 as very guilty and 5 as not guilty at all. If you feel that shame and guilt have different marks then give yourself a mark for each making clear which is which.)1

1

I asked the question in this form so that it would be easy for people to give a sense of the extent of their feelings. I thought that busy people may be able to indicate how much they felt using this scale. This contrasted with asking them to write in more detail or give a yes or no answer. I also welcomed and encouraged further writing by asking for this in question 8.

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Most scored guilt and shame with the same mark but three didn’t. Two felt much more ashamed than guilty and one felt more guilty than ashamed. Generally the respondents felt more guilty than ashamed with one person putting 4 and another 5 (towards the not ashamed end) under shame. There were some interesting comments including: I feel guilty about my nervousness of black people, knowing that it is totally unreasonable, but on the other hand I do not consciously espouse common myths about them, e.g. that they have lower IQs or are more inclined to crime. That is just nonsense.

And: I find this a very difficult differentiation. I think I feel more ashamed about doing as little as I do to address the issue, e.g. I would not challenge every single racist attitude I came across in another person and within myself. I only realize this when I’m asked to fill in this sort of questionnaire. So I would put ashamed: 1. Guilt – this is difficult for a different reason – I was born white and British so that gives me a cultural inheritance that I would sometimes like to disavow but can’t. I feel guilty that I don’t do more even when this isn’t observed by anyone else, at about a level of 3.

The first response brings out how we may know something intellectually but have a different emotional reaction. In the second response I wonder about the way that guilt can drive us to have unreasonable expectations of ourselves such as challenging every racist remark we hear. The complex feelings about wanting to disavow a cultural inheritance is also painfully clear here, and one I can identify with. BEING A BENEFICIARY OF ENDEMIC RACISIM

Question 4 was ‘Do you consider yourself to be a beneficiary of endemic racism in society?’ Of the 13 respondents, one said that she was not a beneficiary without elaborating on this. All the rest felt that they are such beneficiaries including the black respondent who interestingly said: Yes – only in the sense that I have been ‘allowed to advance’ as a member of the minority black middle classes.

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This brings up an important class issue which is entangled with that of race. I ask myself whether he feels that if he behaves like white people and in a ‘good middle class way’ he will be ‘allowed to advance’. I decided to interview this respondent, Rotimi, and this verbatim report comes from the same interview that I reported above. He felt that there were both class and race issues mingled here: R:

As far as race is concerned I often think about the issue of tokenism whereby the ‘powers that be’ want to see black people in the right places – so as to fulfill racial quotas etc.

J:

Then they can’t be accused of racism?

R:

Yes exactly. [He goes on to describe what happens in institutional racism and the way he feels used.]

J:

That must feel pretty awful.

R:

Yes, but at the same time someone said to me, maybe it was yourself, ‘think of yourself as a pioneer.’ So yes, whether I like it or not I am a member of the middle classes because I am in a well paid job. (February 2004)

He was clear that the issues of race and class were intertwined and that, while he can feel guilty about advancing where others cannot, ‘stepping on them’ to get to where he wants to go, he is also a pioneer who is ‘standing on the shoulders’ of others, such as his parents, who have willingly paved the way for him. Another of the respondents thought that, although she benefited by endemic racism, she was also on the receiving end: Yes and no, as a white person yes, as a Jewish person I suffer from endemic racism.

Two others further illuminated areas in which endemic racism is shown up: I think we all are indirectly – many black and Asian people do the grotty jobs that we don’t want. A lot of that starts with them not getting enough encouragement at school, and not having enough successful role models. (My cousin teaches in a largely Asian school in Bradford, and despairs of persuading her pupils that there are higher aspirations than taxi driving.) [respondent’s brackets]

And:

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Yes as I am part of the white majority I know that I must have/will have benefited in a wide variety of areas…employment, education etc.

Guilt and shame in endemic racism Question 5 is: ‘To what extent do you feel guilty or ashamed about this [endemic racism]? (mark yourself on a scale from 1–5, see question 3).’ Although the great majority felt guilty to some extent, the weight of the answers had slipped further towards the ‘not guilty’ end though there were hints of awareness in their comments that maybe they should feel more guilty than they do. Here are some comments which reflect this: Not very guilty or ashamed – except perhaps of not doing enough to change things, but I am not really in a position to. Classic get-out, of course. Actually more angry than guilty or ashamed and wanting to blame my parents for not giving me a better attitude. Regarding being a beneficiary, 3 (which I immediately feel guilty about writing; I think it is easier to be out of touch about noticing how white people benefit).

It is interesting that there seem to be two levels of responses. There is a response to the question and then a reflection on that response – ‘I don’t feel very guilty…maybe I should feel guilty about not feeling guilty.’ PURPOSE OF GUILT AND SHAME

Question 6 asks: ‘If you do feel any shame or guilt do you think these form any purpose, useful or not?’ Of the 13 who replied, one had a quite neutral response in terms of whether or not shame or guilt were potentially useful as follows: I feel that shame might come from exposing to myself and you the feeling of racism that I feel I ‘shouldn’t have’. I guess this might be a primitive response to ‘showing’, which from a cultural point of view might be viewed as letting the side down and appearing weak in front of the enemy. The guilt might be a result of turning inward a feeling of (not sure what of ? anger maybe? possibly hatred) ‘them’ being different to me. I think this may also be a primitive re-

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sponse which may be a readiness to engage in combat/defend my family from attack from outsiders/generally be ready to defend.

Of the others, eight thought shame and guilt were useful. There were several helpful elaborations on this as follows: Yes, I think so. I have always thought of both feelings as a wake-up call. Guilt is useful as it encourages you to do something about it. Yes, for me they do as they make me question what has given rise to these feelings which in turn makes me question my beliefs, or make them conscious. Sometimes I’m guilty of lazy self-interest and do nothing further; other times I compensate almost in a condescending way by acknowledging a stranger because he/she is different from me in a way I know is often discriminated against…this one I definitely feel ashamed of, as I think it’s stronger and more subtle/insidious than primary racism. Yes, might help me not act like that. It is worse to feel shame but not act on it. I think they are essential feelings otherwise how would anything ever change? It serves the purpose of heightening awareness and spurring to rebalancing action… Guilt and shame might give us some idea about how and why we do things and whether we are fundamentally responsible.

One thought guilt and shame were not useful: I think these feelings can have quite unhelpful consequences, such as making me feel angry and defensive.

And three thought that there are useful and not useful aspects: Well, they could make me more receptive to social change that improved opportunities. On the other hand, guilt and shame can make one very resentful towards the cause of those feelings, and feed the original antipathy, so I am not sure whether these things cancel each other out.

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I think both feelings could get in the way of making a relationship in the present, but they are important in staying aware of my potential racism. Could be useful, could be not – depending on whether it translates into action and to what extent it is simply self-blame for being born white. I have experienced both these. SHAME AND GUILT RELATING TO NATIONAL IDENTITY

Question 7 asked: ‘To what extent do you feel shame or guilt about racist manifestations that your own country perpetrated in the past such as the colonialization of other countries? (mark yourself on a scale from 1–5, see question 3).’ One did not score herself but made the following comment: I feel less shame or guilt about this; as given my heritage, England doesn’t feel like ‘my’ country (given that my ancestors weren’t British).

Of the people who scored 5, one was the black respondent. He said: I don’t feel at all responsible as I am a member of a minority group whose country was colonized and still endures neocolonialization.

There were some interesting comments from others: Very ashamed – what the hell did we think we were doing? Lack of respect for indigenous cultures is cringe-making. So probably 1 on that. But I don’t feel that much guilt, because it was done by others, who had a different set of values, without my consent (cf. modern Germany and Nazism). Where I do feel guilt is that we do not do enough now to repair the damage we did. We should be making more amends. Having recently visited India for the first time I feel strongly about this; the colonial wealth; the slaughter of thousands in the interest of commerce…the third world trade issues/sweat shops. The person I was with felt that ‘we’ had done much to benefit the country…infrastructure, education etc. …some of this also feels insidious as if the end justifies the means…I also read Arundati Roy for the first time and she verbalized the depth of this kind of damage where a culture does not know itself enough due to suppression/oppression to claim its identity consciously.

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Shame 1, guilt 1, because the legacy of the past still means that I benefit from colonialization because of beneficial trade agreements etc. I think the past is very much alive in the present.

It feels to me that some of the most heartfelt responses were in answer to this question. However I wonder if two questions have been confused here. One is ‘Should I feel guilty or ashamed about abuses perpetrated by my ancestors?’ and the other is ‘Do I benefit by the results of these abuses?’ I will come back to this below. FURTHER COMMENTS

Question 8 asked for further comments. Six did comment further as follows: Guilt carries responsibility to do something about it, but not shame as it would imply you want to hide this. I think racism stems from fear, and the more people can be helped to understand others and empathize with them, the less fear and therefore the less racism we will have. As I haven’t aided endemic racism I don’t feel guilty. Feel guilty as a member of society but not personally. I think I hold different qualities of shame or guilt depending on how general or how particular the manifestation of racism is… for example, can feel intense shame over an incident where my action betrays a racist assumption, but less acute guilt over, say, the English colonial exploitation of Ireland/my ancestors in colonial Africa and India. I feel appalled by what western culture has done to other cultures, but I don’t feel it is helpful to judge myself harshly for being born into this culture and being affected by it. There was a time when I did do that, but now I feel that I want to extend compassionate understanding also to myself. I did in the past feel terribly ashamed of Israel’s actions towards Palestinians; in fact it came as rather a cathartic revelation when I identified this feeling. I expended much energy campaigning for Palestinian rights, and, clearly, there is a connection to be made here. Now I feel less identified with Israel, and have been able to separate out being Jewish from being a Zionist, and, whilst still

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having strong opinions about Palestine, am no longer driven in the same way by feelings of shame. And, I think it was more shame than guilt that was the motivator.

Difficult and uncomfortable feelings about endemic racism are most evident in these further comments. Many people feel that they should not feel responsible for society’s wrong-doings but have nagging feelings of shame or guilt nevertheless.

Discussion of questionnaire outcomes with reference to relevant literature and aspects of the group exploration I am interested to see that, from the comments above, less shame and guilt seems to be felt about endemic racism than personal racism. It is very easy to feel helpless, uninvolved and not responsible for underlying cultural assumptions in our own society. Of course these are very hard to change as an individual, but my own sense is that we are all contributors and help to maintain it if we do not try to become conscious of our assumptions and do something about them. The question remains whether or not shame and/or guilt – or guilt-shame – are useful in helping us respond well to this situation. Altman (2000) suggests that our embeddedness within an institutionally racist society leads inevitably to unconscious racism in a white person whilst dualistic thinking is in place, and feels that the best we can do is to be reflexive with our clients. My feeling is that, through being alive to a sense of guilt about racist attitudes, we can tackle our own patterns of dualistic thinking and the racist attitudes that result. That way we can work towards a change in societal attitudes. In thinking further about whether shame or guilt are useful, I come back to my realization that in question 7 (regarding the racism perpetrated by our own country in the colonization of others) there were two different questions and some of my respondents had replied to one and some to the other. One question was: ‘Should I feel guilty or ashamed about abuses perpetrated by my ancestors?’ and the other: ‘Do I benefit by the results of these abuses?’ I think there is an important distinction here. The first question is often, in my experience, one that people object to in its suggestion that they should be held responsible. They ask, ‘How could I be responsible for something that was done without my knowledge or consent?’ One

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answer to this is the subject of the second question. We feel guilty because we are still benefiting. Some of these ways I show later in this chapter, including the 46 ways that McIntosh (1988) found that she benefited by being white. We also benefit in many other ways including by protectionist trade agreements which benefit the west at the expense of the ‘developing’ world. The racism that is endemic in society is ‘fed’ by images and assumptions handed down to us by our colonial ancestors. Benjamin Zephaniah reflected on this when he turned down his OBE (Zephaniah 2003). He says: I get angry when I hear that word ‘empire’. It reminds me of slavery, it reminds me of thousands of years of brutality, it reminds me of how my foremothers were raped and my forefathers brutalized. It is because of this concept of empire that my British education led me to believe that the history of black people started with slavery and that we were born slaves, and should therefore be grateful that we were given freedom by our caring white masters. It is because of this idea of empire that black people like myself don’t even know our true names or our true historical culture.

He points out that the British establishment are still living off the spoils of empire and still using black people when it suits their ‘image’: I’ve never heard a holder of the OBE openly criticizing the monarchy. They are officially friends, and that’s what this cool Britannia project is about. It gives OBEs to cool rock stars, successful businesswomen and blacks who would be militant, in order to give the impression that it is inclusive.

So what about acts perpetrated by our ancestors that do not apparently directly benefit us in the present? I concur with some of those in my white group in feeling that guilt or shame can prompt us to take responsibility for the actions of our ancestors and heal the wounds of the past. Wounds from the past are still felt by those who inherited them as can clearly be seen by Bejamin Zephaniah’s comments. The black respondent to my questionnaire like wise expressed the pain of colonialization and neocolonialization. ‘Unfinished business’ will continue to cause conflict until it is acknowledged and amends are made. Following the exploration above I have identified four stances my respondents take on racism prompted by feelings of shame and/or guilt:

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1.

I feel guilt/shame about my own personal racist feelings, responses and actions or inaction.

2.

I feel guilt/shame about the way I benefit by racist policies which have been put into effect both currently and in the past.

3.

I feel guilt/shame about the institutional, endemic racism within society.

4.

I feel guilt/shame about the racist actions that have been committed by my forefathers both in this country and in other countries.

My respondents in the questionnaire tended to feel guilty about all four but less acutely about them in descending order. Although this makes sense to me in that one’s own personal responsibility becomes less direct as we move from 1 to 4, I find myself to be more interested in and concerned about the last three. As I understand that the world is relational and that ‘watertight’ individuals do not exist (see Introduction), I am becoming more interested in racism as a relational phenomenon which comes out more in numbers 2 to 4. I therefore want to understand the place that guilt and shame may take within relational/societal setting where there has been some ‘wrong-doing’.

Issues concerning guilt and shame that arose in the white group Distinctions between personal racism on the one hand and institutional, endemic or cultural racism on the other, may be behind a dialogue that I had with a member of the white group. I was concerned to show that I think that we do have responsibility for racism within society. This group member felt that even if we are responsible for abuses through colonlialization, we should not feel guilty or ashamed as in doing so we made an assumption that this guilt and shame were of ‘some use or interest to “non-white” people’. He thought their primary function was to comfort ourselves. He went on to say that he thought that abuses that white people carried out in relation to black people were no different to the abuses that many groups carry out in relation to others such as Nazi over Jew and Protestant over Catholic. He was therefore not clear whether the issue was about whiteness and ‘blackness’ or just about abuse of power. He therefore saw engaging in ‘generalized shame’ as a defence. He said he felt:

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anxiety, disappointment and fear at the human tendency to split and project, but I don’t relate these feelings only to issues of skin colour. I also feel sickness and horror when I think of such atrocities as slave trading, the ghettoizing of native Americans by European settlers, apartheid in South Africa, the theft of aboriginal land in Australia, and any other abuses carried out on the basis of skin tone difference. But isn’t skin tone just one of many convenient hooks to hang hatred on in the pursuit of tribal/ethnic/cultural dominance? Why aren’t we looking at all of these instead of using just skin colour as the demarcation line in our discussion?

At the time my reply on the email included the following: I would just like to say that I have never thought that being white as a ‘racial’ identity has any thing really to do with skin colour any more than black has. They are just signifiers.2

I explained that the fact that these are signifiers is important as we are able to ‘hook’ our prejudice on to them and I felt it was appropriate to do so. I went on to say that I thought that: both feelings [of guilt and shame] might alert us to something being amiss. If we rush to make ourselves feel better by asking someone to ‘absolve’ us we are just using them. It is interesting in my questionnaire how often people said they immediately want to feel better if they feel guilty. (Many also said that if they never felt guilty they would be inhuman or psychopathic.) I think there is a mature response to guilt and an immature one. The thing I think is missing from what you said is that we do live by the benefits of being white and on the whole don’t do a lot about it.

I now feel that something was not fully grasped in this correspondence. Although abuses of power happen in other situations I think those carried out by white over black is of such a large scale and so endemic in society that it deserves special attention. Certainly I feel strengthened in my belief that only feeling ‘anxiety, disappointment and fear’ does not take into account our own culpability. At the end of the white group process, this

2

The word ‘signifier’ is a sign of something other than itself and often holds meaning beyond the obvious. In this case black and white are not really the colour of skin at all, they just signal the meaning given to darker and lighter skin tones and is a short-hand for all the complex ideas and feeling that surround the notion of race.

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member of the group did agree with this point (see Chapter 2). Psychotherapists and psychologists often see one feeling as ‘avoiding’ another (e.g. we might feel anger to avoid sadness or sadness to avoid anger). In this correspondence a similar substitution was being suggested but were anxiety, disappointment and fear masking shame and guilt or vice versa? This correspondence led to further discussion in the group. Eleanor described being ‘wracked with guilt’ about her relative good fortune when working with asylum seekers and refugees and this led to a discussion of whether women were more prone to feel guilty than men. Richard said that he did not think it was necessary to feel guilt in order to know that reparation was necessary and that feeling guilt was narcissistic. I said that I thought that guilt alerted one to something being amiss and that a reparation was needed. However I did become aware through the continuing dialogue with Richard of a danger in feeling guilty, particularly as guilt can put you at the centre of what has happened and can thus reveal a sense of omnipotence. I felt challenged by this dialogue: how much is the feeling of guilt merely narcissistic as it puts ourselves and our feeling at the centre of the frame? Maybe a lot turns on how the guilt is held. If the guilt is seen as an end in itself it could be damaging. We might expect others to absolve us, feel too debilitated to act or be angry about being ‘made’ to feel that way, all of which could be seen in the reactions of respondents to my questionnaire. After the group I came to the conclusion that guilt-shame potentially has a range of negative implications and consequences: •

Unconscious (or conscious) resentment to the subject of the guilt (as was mentioned in the questionnaire).

•

Depression leading to a difficulty in acting.

•

Making a show of one’s guilt as something to be proud of.

•

Creating a subtle pressure on those about whom one feels guilty to absolve us.

•

Expecting the subject of our guilt to be interested in and pleased by our guilt.

I accept all of these as genuine difficulties in which guilt is used as an indirect form of communication which white people and, no doubt, myself, frequently engage in. I do not think, however, that these factors invalidate

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the place shame and guilt play in bringing to us an awareness of our racism and its being a spur to action. If we have been shamed and made to feel guilty in painful ways as children then it is hard not to be overwhelmed with these feelings when an adult (Mollon 1993, pp.43–45). We are then more likely to resent those about whom we feel guilty or fall into a depression. If guilt and shame are hard to bear because we were not as children helped to see how reparation mends and deepens relationships, then it is going to be harder to learn this as adults. Sometimes counselling or psychotherapy or experiences of a counselling nature with helping professionals can give adults something of this kind of emotional learning, though the ordinary course of life’s encounters can bring this kind of learning in its wake as well.

Review of literature regarding guilt in white people concerning racism To help explore this matter further I turn to various authors who throw light on this matter. Tuckwell (2002) has some very useful thoughts in considering guilt and shame. She points to the importance of white people facing the feelings of guilt in order to relate fully to those who are black. This is a contrary view to those in my questionnaire who thought that shame and guilt prevented them from relating to black people. Maybe the important point here is ‘facing’ the guilt rather than just feeling it, however. She talks of the double bind often experienced by white people who have not asked to be born white, but nevertheless enjoy the privileges accorded white people in our society. The subject of the guilt felt by white people about being white is more often explored in American publications. These include an edition of the Journal of Counseling and Development on Racism, Healing its Effects (volume 77, issue 1) in which 17 people of different ‘races’ give their story of finding a way through racism. The white people among them reiterate the guilt they feel at their privilege. One of these says: The process of acknowledging what was meant by ‘us’, of owning my own racial heritage, included owning all the history that goes with being White. During this process, the only part of that history I could see was its shame: slavery and genocide of Africans, American Indians, Asians, and Mexicans. There didn’t seem to be any

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horror that wasn’t committed in the name of the ‘manifest destiny’ and superiority of European Whites. My reaction was to feel an incredible amount of guilt and shame; I didn’t want to be White, didn’t want to belong to this group, didn’t want to be part of this ‘us’. (Brandyberry 1999, p.8)

Brandyberry’s story shows succinctly how painful the full realization of the implications of white privilege is and how it involves feelings of guilt and shame. As a backdrop for illuminating and exploring white privilege, McIntosh (1988) writes that she found a list of 46: special terms and conditions I experience that I did not earn but that I have been made to feel are mine by birth, by citizenship, and by virtue of being a conscientious law-abiding ‘normal’ person of good will. I have chosen those conditions that I think in my case attach somewhat more to skin-color privilege than to class, religion, ethnic status, or geographical location though these other privileging factors are intricately intertwined.

It is a sobering list of day-to-day circumstances like ‘I can if I wish arrange to be in the company of people of my race most of the time.’ and ‘I can be sure that my children will be given curricular materials that testify to the existence of their race.’ It is interesting that McIntosh does not specifically mention feeling guilty or ashamed of this, but it does seem to be implied. The overt message of her paper is not ‘you ought to be ashamed of yourself ’, as it very specifically talks about each circumstance as benefiting herself. The message is nevertheless very challenging to others with white skin as they obviously benefit by the same advantages. It seems to me to point to shame as McIntosh owns her own culpability. For me it brings the accusation closer to home because McIntosh is prepared to take responsibility herself for the situation. She does not say ‘white people are privileged in this way’, she says ‘I have noticed that I, as a white person, am privileged in this way.’ These sentiments are echoed by Marilyn Frye in her paper ‘On being white’. My being on the white side of racism leaves me a different variety of options than are available to a woman of color… It becomes clearer why no decision I make here can fail to be an exercise of race privilege. (Frye 1987, p.113)

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And her question is: Does being white make it impossible for me to be a good person? (p.113)

This clearly implies a sense of shame and guilt. Jacobs (2000) gives a heartfelt account of feeling guilty in her paper ‘For whites only’ in which she says: Probably better known to most of us than our race-based anxieties is our race-based guilt. Many of us feel guilty about the history of slavery and inequality that is so inherently contradictory to our democratic aspirations. The ugly and self-defeating combination of anxiety, guilt, shame and ignorance makes it all but impossible for even the most minor of cross-race interactions to proceed with the natural grace that is common in white–white interactions. That is partly why this paper, as I write, is so graceless. I am strongly aware that a graceful paper would be a lie, of sorts, a sanitized and careful tiptoe through a highly charged, incredibly complex and tangled emotional landscape. My guilt is part of what fuels my passion to try to set things right. (p.11)

Jacobs is here showing that guilt provides her with the motivation to fully understand what is amiss and the energy to make amends. In the light of my research I ask myself the question, can shame and guilt in any way play a useful role in society? Could guilt and shame, in relation to white people’s racism, make a useful contribution in curbing destructive behaviour and attitudes? Maybe an ability to experience guilt and shame can contribute to a sense of group cohesion and group forming. Hellinger (Hellinger and Hovel 1999) points to this in his notion of ‘conscience’. He uses this to signify that which binds group members together. What he calls ‘conscience’ ensures that we behave well within the boundaries of the groups to which we belong. Those beyond the boundary of our own groups can be seen as ‘fair game’. Racism might flourish if, without a ‘willingness to assume guilt’, we ensure social cohesion in our own group by making others ‘bad’. So, in order to see beyond our own group, we have to go beyond conscience. He says: Each group develops an internal conscience that encourages everything that will serve their group and damage others. The most horrible things are done to members of another group with a perfectly clear conscience. (Hellinger and Hovel 1999)

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He is pointing here to the way in which societal groups form according to specific criteria for inclusion and exclusion. He emphasizes the beneficial role of guilt: Without a willingness to assume guilt, one is incapable of action. Those who try to remain innocent remain weak, and in their attempts to avoid guilt, they bring additional suffering to others. (Hellinger and Hovel 1999)

Dalal (2002) comes to similar conclusions. As a group analyst who follows Foulkes and Anthony (1957, p.46), he has an understanding of what is called the ‘social unconscious’. He sees the socio-historic as ‘embedded at the deepest levels of the unconscious’ (Dalal 2002, p.217). He writes specifically about the way ‘races’ are formed as a way of ‘colour coding’ in-groups and out-groups. He points out that the socio-historic aspects of the relationship between ‘blacks’ and ‘whites’ are often unconscious and therefore denied. When it comes to therapy the therapist is often ‘avoiding something that is painful and unresolved in them’. He suggests that our reason for avoiding these feelings is because of our sense of guilt. He says: By virtue of his colour the white, given other things as equal, does have it easier than the black in this society. To face this is to face guilt and the pain of that. If this area has not been addressed in the therapist’s own therapy then it lies within – too hot to handle and so will be unconsciously avoided. The white therapist in this scenario is avoiding remembering that he or she does occupy a more privileged position than the black patient. (Dalal 2002, p.218)

This is further confirmed by Robert Altman (2003, p.105) who says: White racial unawareness is a function of white guilt for having oppressed black people through particular actions or through collusion. To the extent that we are unwilling or unable to bear the pain of guilt, we do not want to know about what we have done individually or in the collective as white people. We have a vested interest in being unaware of what we have done, and thus who we are.

We can see then that guilt (or shame) is useful if it draws our attention to our culpability but not if we are ‘unwilling or unable to bear the pain’ of that guilt. Relatively recently there have been two striking examples of governments making a move on behalf of their people to bring reconciliation

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through reparation. One is the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in South Africa (Tutu 1998) where white people apologized for their personal part in perpetuating white majority rule and apartheid policies. Although, as one might expect, this did not lead to complete reconciliation, it has done much to ensure that South Africa was not completely torn apart by the extreme sense of injustice experienced by the vast majority of the population. Maybe this failed to be as effective as it might have been because true owning of guilt and culpability was not always felt and, maybe more importantly, the perpetrators of the injustice continued to live more privileged lives. This government intervention nevertheless caught the imagination globally and 16 other countries have set up Truth and Reconciliation Commissions. The other is much more recent and the full outcome is as yet unknown. It is the Apology given to the indigenous people of Australia by the Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, as his first act in that role (Rudd 2008). His intervention is very striking as it is the only example of such an apology given by a white government for racism perpetuated over the centuries. It is also striking because there was little sense of ‘going through the motions’ about it. The apology was unambiguous, detailed and specific. Rudd acknowledged that this apology was only a first step toward the ‘healing of the nation’ and that Australia’s racist policies, that included the forcible removal of indigenous children from their parents, were a ‘stain on the nation’s soul’. He fulsomely acknowledged the pain caused by giving specific examples. He said that the aim of this strategy had been to get rid of ‘native characteristics’ in order to bring about a ‘complete disappearance of the black race’.3 He pointed out that the policy was still being carried out in the early 1970s, so not lost in the mists of history. He goes on to lay out policies designed to reverse these effects and said that the Australian people ‘embrace with pride, admiration and awe these great and ancient cultures’. In order to put new policies into effect he invited the opposition to join him so that party wrangling did not undermine their efforts. He also joined with the leader of the opposition in a ritual of reconciliation that had symbolic meaning for the indigenous peoples. In so doing he overturned the normal conventions of parliament – another way in which the genuine and serious intent was signalled.

3

He was quoting here from the policy of the Northern Territory Protector of Natives.

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It seems to me that this apology was both evidently genuine and psychologically appropriate in that it went through important stages in the owning and fully acknowledging guilt by being detailed and precise about the harm done. He demonstrated an understanding of the pain caused and showed a genuine intention to effect reconciliation. He attempted to take doubters with him, inviting them to identify with indigenous peoples by imagining having their own children torn away from them. This was a very significant first step in reconciling a nation but, as Kevin Rudd says in his speech, ‘it will be hard – very hard’ partly because racism has not been magically eliminated. He did not promise monetary reparation to individuals and just how the measures he mentioned will turn out when they are put in place is as yet unknown. It is nevertheless an impressive first step which lays out a relatively unambiguous path to equality for all Australians.

Conclusion As a result of my complex exploration through questionnaires, interviews, group exploration and in the literature, I feel strengthened in my belief that it is fruitful for guilt to be faced or ‘remembered’ (Bollas 1992, p.216). My stance at the beginning was very similar to that of Hobson (1985, p.134): a sense of shame and guilt will bring us back, as it were, to our ‘better nature’. I could see that we need to develop a strong and flexible sense of self which can ‘take’ the narcissistic knock of understanding the harm we have done to others. A strong sense of self enables us to feel the pain of the guilt, gives us the ability to ‘stay with’ it, reflect on what it means to those harmed and the humility to own our culpability. Where a sense of self is fragile the pain is too much to bear, and is likely to result in an attacking response to those who ‘make’ us feel guilty. Paradoxically, the more basic self-esteem we have, the more able we are to respond usefully to guilt. Without it we may either deny our guilt or be compulsively guilty which can lead to unproductive hand-wringing or a desire to be prematurely absolved. These aspects of how individuals respond to guilt-shame do not take into account that we all exist within a social context, so shame and guilt have to be seen in this light also. As human beings we tend to split into groups and define ourselves by feeling that those within our boundaries are ‘like us’ and those without are ‘unlike us’. Because of this Altman

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regards racism as inevitable and irredeemable (Altman 2000). I agree with Altman that we are inevitably part of our societal context, caught in ‘black and white thinking’. We can use the racist attitudes we ‘catch’ within ourselves to inform our work with non-’whites’. But beyond that, I think it is possible to transcend this dualistic way of thinking and the racist attitudes that result by applying focused awareness to those issues and allowing our feelings of guilt and shame to alert us to the complex dynamics of anger and guilt underlying intercultural encounters. As Hellinger and Hovel (1999) say, terrible crimes are committed more easily against those outside our own group. In today’s world with fast communication and ease of movement around the globe it becomes more and more important that we own our complete humanity and recognize and repair the harm we do. At the same time we cannot expect those whom we have harmed to forgive us. In the west, institutional racism is endemic and as ‘whites’ we are inevitably complicit: it seems to me that the 46 advantages to being white that McIntosh (McIntosh 1988) found are as true today as they were more than 20 years ago. Working with groups or cultures to make a difference is a difficult undertaking. The question I therefore need to ask here is: can the mobilization of group shame and guilt be useful in changing consciousness about the dangerous and destructive nature of western power? An American peace-worker pointed out that widespread feelings of shame following ill treatment of prisoners in Abu Ghraib have changed American opinion about the war in Iraq and may well influence events (Amidon 2004). Sadly, those in charge try to characterize the situation as a few bad people behaving in an ‘un-American’ way thus attempting to maintain the split of ‘us, good/them, bad’. If the American people (and others) reject this splitting I think there is good reason for optimism as their sense of shame may lead to a preparedness to reflect and eventually to make amends. My inquiry into guilt and shame has shown me that dialogue across cultures is important, but not sufficient if power differences are not taken into account. Dialogue needs not only to lead to a sense of ‘interest’ in the difference, we need also to own the culpability that white people have in assuming a privileged position and how this inflicts harm on black people. However, an empathic engagement, in which white people face the reality of the advantages they have, is likely to lead to a sense of guilt and shame (or, possibly, guilt-shame) thus sharpening awareness and willingness to change in racial encounters. This process is hard to stay with and may lead

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to demoralization or denial. It can also lead to something much more generative; a sense of acceptance and embodied engagement resulting in reparation and clear-sighted political action as I show in my model of the white awareness cycle in Chapter 1. My inquiry has led me to believe that guilt and shame can play a positive role in working towards resolving the power imbalance between white and black people.

PART 2

The Practice of White Helping Professionals within a Racialized Context

Chapter 4


The air must be altered The underground must be understood For the overground to be different. From Mental Fight by Ben Okri

Introduction As white helping professionals, we inevitably bring with us the attitudes and assumptions of the white world and these will necessarily affect our practice. The emphasis so far has been on our identities as white people. This chapter focuses more on the basic core beliefs that underlie the theories which guide our work as white helping professionals, particularly the dualistic thinking which captures our ability to think without prejudice. I also propose an intersubjective approach to working across difference in race and culture, since I believe it provides the best framework for accommodating a diversity of clients whilst acknowledging our own place within the racialized field. If we are to understand ourselves as white westerners within our working environment, it is important to appreciate something of the basic manner in which we view the world and the core beliefs that underlie it. Fundamental ways of understanding the world can seem so self-evident to us that we do not imagine that it is possible to view it differently. Many of the tensions that arise between ‘races’ and cultures are found as a result of misunderstandings made in the light of our cultural differences. I will show how various approaches have influenced me and contribute to my way of working as a white professional. These include: •

Theories regarding cultural difference. 111

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•

Non-dual awareness.

•

Intersubjective systems theory.

•

Dialogic Gestalt therapy.

•

The ‘participative worldview’ of action research.

Theories regarding cultural difference There are numerous differences between cultural groups and these are often pointed out by authors from the helping professions who write about cultural difference (Donald and Rattansi 1992; Lago 2006). The focus in the professions is often on a description of ‘other’ cultures with a base line of the white, western culture as the norm. Focusing on differences in this way lies at the heart of a great deal of the frustration that black people feel in relation to white people (Hall 1992, p.257). It is similar to the way ‘received’ pronunciation is considered the norm so that others ‘have’ an ‘accent’. In fact Trew (2002, p.164) has pointed out that if we use the term ‘different’, which is often used in the field of diversity training, there is an implication that there is a norm to be different from, though this is never acknowledged or articulated. Of course it is useful to think about ‘other’ cultures – those that are different to our own – and this has been very instrumental in making people aware that cultural difference is an important factor when working in a diverse world. However, I am stressing the importance of focusing on our own cultural assumptions here because I am trying to get behind how we, as white professionals, see the world. This is for three reasons. One, because the western worldview is not the only or best way of understanding how to live, two, the white western culture predominates globally and is assumed to be the best way and three, because the white western way is problematic when it comes to taking diversity on board, as I will show below. I will also show how some contemporary philosophers are usefully challenging our dualistic thinking in a way that helps us in our work in a diverse, racialized environment. Of the many dimensions of cultural difference that have been identified (Hofstede 1980) there is one which I think is particularly important and pertinent to difficulties white westerners have in understanding many other cultural groups. It concerns the importance afforded to the individual over the group. In the white, western world it is generally taken for


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granted that the unit of society is the individual. As we will see below, the philosophers who have most influenced the west, such as Plato and Socrates and more recently Newton and Descartes, have encouraged this view of society or taken it as read (Zohar and Marshall 1994, p.67). Our most dearly held values are built on the rights and responsibilities of the individual and we, as westerners, have a clearly defined image of ourselves as complete units, boundaried by our skin. This view is by no means universal. Although I am not suggesting that western culture is the only one to take this view, many cultures understand the family or the community to be the unit of society so that responsibility is held communally and individuals do not have rights over the common good (Pederson 1998, p.79). Our attachment to our individuality has encouraged a narcissistic attitude in which our own sense of self is understood as all important. This difference has many ramifications pertinent to our work as white professionals, beyond the relatively simple one of misunderstanding our clients who may see the world in a dissimilar way to ourselves. In this sense my point is a cultural rather than ‘racial’ one. Not all black people have culturally different backgrounds to white people.1 Some black people are steeped in a western philosophical worldview just as white people are, but many of our black clients will be culturally different as well, or will be second or third generation immigrants for whom these cultural tensions may be the backdrop of everyday life as they live in several cultures simultaneously. Their entitlement to individual rights and freedoms may not seem a simple matter to them. Seeing the unit of society as the individual also affects our understanding of how we know things and this is another factor that may be taken for granted by white people. For instance, how do I know something is true? This may seem to be a strange question as we tend to think that our own, individual, experience shows us what is true. We talk about something being ‘our’ truth and will even fight to ensure that we have the right to make decisions based on it. The trouble with deciding that our own truth has this kind of primacy is that it is then hard to allow for other people’s truths. This is particularly important when exploring working professionally across cultural difference. For this reason the kind of truth I am particularly interested in is not based on an assertion of my own truth. Nor am I 1

It could be argued that black people’s experience of racism is a cultural experience thus giving them a different cultural experience to white people whatever their background.

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pressing for a postmodernists’ idea of truth. Postmodernists have recently questioned the idea that truth is something definite and that can be ultimately discovered (Butler 2002). They assert that truth is merely relative – apparently true for a time, but should be held alongside other truths that are just as valid. To resolve this apparent dilemma I have become more interested in a ‘non-dual’, intersubjective way of understanding truth. This is one in which truth emerges between myself and others. For me that kind of truth has a rightness about it, even if it shifts and changes in different circumstances. It is a truth that arises in the space between us, thus belonging to both of us and neither of us at the same time. This idea provides a way of resolving the dilemma of whether I ‘own’ truth or it is merely a relative concept.

Dualistic and non-dualistic thinking I have found this non-dualistic perspective useful in my work. The stance of understanding truth to be emergent in the spaces between us has become more embodied in my practice and has led me to understand my work as an inquiry process in which the subjectivity of both myself and my client is acknowledged. This can be true of any human relating, including that of any helping professional with their clients. The process of allowing a sense of what is ‘true’ to emerge in the spaces between us seems to uncover what feels to be a basic truth whilst not denying its relational rather than ‘objective’ nature. Although this may be a central idea for professionals who work specifically therapeutically with clients (as many helping professionals do, not only psychologists, counsellors and psychotherapists), all helping professionals have to develop good working alliances with their clients and this way of understanding their relationships can be helpful, particularly when there are differences of race and culture. Stolorow et al. say: We must attend to truth-as-possible-understanding and not truth-as correspondence-to-fact. (2002, p.119)

If we are to discover the knowledge that arises in the space between people, it is often necessary to experience and acknowledge the differences that we find within that space. Skating over differences and rushing to find commonality can make the contact much more superficial, as the values and assumptions that underlie our attitudes will be hidden. Questioning


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these values and assumptions becomes all important – particularly when exploring differences in ‘races’ and cultures. As we engage in dialogue across difference, ‘our’ truth – that which arises between ourselves and our clients – emerges, even if it contains conflicting ideas. For example, a community psychiatric nurse (CPN) reported that one of her immigrant patients had a damaging and conflictual relationship with her 16-year-old daughter, as the patient felt she should not mix with boys. That was not a view held by the CPN for her own daughter but they sat with their different cultural values on this subject and the uncomfortable clash that they felt between those held in the patient’s culture and those held in the dominant British culture. The CPN nevertheless could empathize with her difficulty with the clash and with having a stroppy teenage daughter. Finally, by thoroughly exploring the issues, the patient found a way forward which allowed her daughter to make friends with boys in a way which the patient felt was safe, thus allowing the close relationship between mother and daughter to resume. In working in this way, we first have to question the way that we think when faced with differences so as to allow ourselves to just sit with a dilemma rather than try and rush to a solution. Making sense of the world from an individualistic stance implies seeing it in a dualistic way. For this purpose it is simplest to understand dualistic thinking as ‘either/or thinking’ (Hawkins 2005, p.29) or what Dominelli (2008, p.23) calls thinking in ‘binary dyads’. As such, non-dualistic thinking is similar to the intersubjective way of understanding relationships described below. The most fundamental way of understanding non-dualism is to see reality as the mystics from all religions view the world – as interconnected and undivided – not therefore divided into opposing units. Dualistic thinking, on the other hand, views the world as divided into conflicting camps – something is either black or white, right or wrong, male or female etc. This dualistic thinking has informed western philosophy over many centuries, as I show below, and eventually allowed the west to proceed with a project of colonization which is justified by seeing the colonized as an inferior type of human being (Dresser 2007, p.56; Ennals 2007, p.140). Dualistic thinking allows this kind of certainty and results in splitting the world into ‘good and bad’, ‘us and them’. (I am not suggesting that non-western thinking is always non-dual.) The philosopher, psychologist and anthropologist, Gregory Bateson, has been one of the most influential people in questioning dualistic thinking in the west. Describing it as an ‘epistemological error’ (Bateson 1982, p.454) in western thought, he says that this error occurs when we

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understand individuals to be the basic unit of society, as we saw above. He suggests that it is more accurate to think of the ‘organism plus environment’ (Bateson 1982, p.459, italics in the original). His notion arises out of a philosophy in which the subject is not seen as separate from the object. Newton and Descartes established the modern ‘scientific’ attitude that legitimates this way of cutting off mind from matter and body from soul and sees ‘man’s’ (sic) place in the world as separate from nature. It is a stance that sees ‘mankind’ as dominant over nature and the individual ‘soul’ as more important than the body which is part of nature. The individual mind is thus supreme. Western society is so steeped in these dualistic notions that we cannot avoid but be part of it. White helping professionals tend to give value to the flourishing of their individual client, rather than the individual in the context of their environment, as the aim of their work (Sue and Sue 1990, p.35), thus reinforcing a split between the individual and society. Here is an example. A social work supervisee had an Asian client who rejected her mother’s insistence on her having a marriage arranged by her family. Her mother was so worried by her having a European boyfriend that she was constantly on the phone to her daughter. Her supervisor asked how she felt about this situation and the supervisee said that she thought the mother was very intrusive and that her client had a right to find her own way in life. This revealed a white-centric, individualistic way of seeing her predicament. The supervisor felt that it was likely that the client felt ambivalent about her situation with her boyfriend and her mother’s concerns and that holding the dilemma between them for a while to be thought about might be a more useful way of finding a way forward than just encouraging an individualistic solution which would no doubt cut her off from her family and culture. It resulted in a less reactive stance to her mother and they were able to understand each other better. ORIGINS OF DUALISM

So how did a dualistic stance originate in the western world? According to the philosopher and social scientist, Elias (1998, p.279), it came part and parcel of what he calls the ‘civilizing process’. This, he says, brought about thinking that makes artificial dualistic separations. I have found it useful to understand how this dualistic attitude arose as it helps to show how, for westerners, dualisms which include self/other, male/female etc. also include civilized/primitive, black/white, us/them etc. and lead to people


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identifying with one group whilst rejecting those they perceive to be on the opposite pole. This way of creating dualisms is important to notice because this splitting process affects relationships across difference in race and culture. Before Descartes and Newton articulated a rational place for ‘man’ in the universe, a dualistic way of thinking was already present within western culture (Elias 1998, p.280). It has been an integral part of our ‘civilization’ for thousands of years, and is clearly seen in the texts of ‘western’ religions – Judaism, Christianity and Islam – where God chose ‘man’ to rule the earth. Elias (1994, p.47; Mennell and Goudsblom 1998, p.30) showed how the ‘civilizing process’ has gradually put constraints on our ways of thinking and acting so that ‘acceptable’ behaviour distinguishes the ‘correct’ from ‘incorrect’ and edits out of our thinking that which we consider to be ‘animalic’ (Elias’ word). This ‘civilizing process’ has provided the building blocks of the dominant western culture which prevails globally today as it has for many hundreds of years (Elias 1998, p.68). The ecologist, Abram (1996, p.145), takes us even further back, to a period in pre-history when language stopped being onomatopoeic, to find the roots of dualism. Onomatopoeic language (such as ‘bang’ and ‘splash’) connects us more fully to the ‘things’ we name thus helping us to be more connected to our direct experience. The process of symbolization was very much part of a ‘civilizing process’ and has taken the western world further and further from the ‘natural world’. Words now stand for something else, thus making a separation between our speech and our experience. The psychoanalyst and child psychologist, Daniel Stern (1985, p.162), who researched infant development, was of the opinion that the developmental achievement of language creates an inevitable separation between ourselves and the immediacy of our experience. He described four ‘senses of self ’ (Stern 1985, p.26) – the emergent, the core, the subjective and the verbal. Before the verbal sense of self is acquired, the baby develops a sense of its own subjectivity and learns that it is possible to share this with others in a direct way through the mother’s (or other carer’s) attuned responsiveness. The ability to know the other in a direct way tends to be lost when the facility to symbolize comes concurrent with the development of a verbal sense of self. Stern does not consider that each sense of self is superseded by the next one, but that each one is added to the last; thus our emergent, core and subjective senses of self are still available to us even after the verbal sense of self is developed. He points out, however, that the verbal

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sense of self is so powerful that it tends to dominate the others and cuts us off from more direct experiencing (Stern 1985, p.177). EFFECTS OF DUALISTIC AND NON-DUALISTIC THINKING

The sociologist, Plumwood (1993), shows how dualistic philosophy subtly ensures that dominant ideas are kept in place by associating the more powerful side of dualistic structures with each other. Dualisms tend to have a weaker and stronger side and those on the weaker side are grouped together, as are the stronger. These keep the female on the weaker side of this difference (as ‘female’ is perceived as less powerful than ‘male’) but also puts those outside western culture in this same weaker group. She says: in systematized forms of power, power is normally institutionalized and ‘naturalized’ by latching on to existing forms of difference. Dualisms are not just free floating systems of ideas; they are closely associated with domination and accumulation and are [western culture’s] major cultural expressions and justifications. (Plumwood 1993, p.42)

If we think in a non-dualistic way, we can constantly question the way we live in the light of experience rather than accept dualistically fixed ideas. We are less likely to leave dualistic assumptions unexamined. Once we begin to accept a non-dualistic way of thinking, ways of knowing are freed from their binds. This helps us to challenge the simple dualisms that can dominate our thinking and which lead to us projecting our uncomfortable feelings and experiences onto others – ‘black people are lazy or stupid’, for example. If we think dualistically we do not have to own these faults in ourselves, we project them onto people we perceive as belonging to the weaker group. Maybe this manner of splitting ourselves goes some way to explain the way in which the west seems to be so unquestioning about how it dominates globally. Plumwood points out that: by means of dualisms, the colonized are appropriated, incorporated, into the selfhood and culture of the master, which forms their identity. (Plumwood 1993, p.41)

In other words the colonizer puts the colonized into the weaker side of their dualistic categories, therefore not needing the respect and consideration they give to those on the stronger side.


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INTERSUBJECTIVIST SYSTEMS THEORISTS

The intersubjective systems theorists like Bateson regard contemporary western society as suffering from an epistemological mistake – that of believing in the ‘Myth of the Separate Mind’ (Stolorow and Atwood 1992). These theorists view the self as only existing within a co-created relational context. Their understanding implies a way of thinking which relies on what Reason and Bradbury (2001, p.4) call a ‘participative world view’ in which all in the human (and more-than-human) world exist within a web of co-created relationship (see below). Stolorow et al. (2002) understand intersubjectivity to be an ontological state – a universal ‘given’ rather than a developmental achievement as Stern suggests (Stern 1985, p.28). Stolorow et al. have been explicit about their philosophy in these terms. They make it clear that they position themselves as phenomenologists counter to traditional psychoanalysis: The assumptions of traditional psychoanalysis have been pervaded by the Cartesian doctrine of the isolated mind. This doctrine bifurcates the subjective world of the person into outer and inner regions, reifies and absolutizes the resulting separation between the two, and pictures the mind as an objective entity that takes its place among other objects, a ‘thinking thing’, that has an inside with contents and looks out on an external world from which it is essentially estranged. (Stolorow et al. 2002, p.1)

Intersubjective systems theorists understand their relationships with their clients to be co-created and regard the very nature of the self to be understood only within relationship. They challenge the view that the professional has special knowledge of the client that is only available to them. Instead their work involves an exploration of what is discovered when the two meet. My own experience is that this intersubjective stance is helpful when working in a diverse society although this has not been discussed specifically by intersubjectivists. Only Jacobs, who is a member of the intersubjecivist school as well as being a dialogic Gestalt therapist (see below), has written about being white as a psychotherapist (Jacobs 2000; and see Chapter 1). DIALOGIC GESTALT THERAPISTS

As I indicated above, the intersubjectivists’ view is closely allied to dialogic Gestalt therapy which came to a similar view independently. The

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intersubjective perspective opens naturally from Gestalt psychotherapy because of its espousal of field theory (Lewin 1935; Lewin 1952, p.42). Clarkson and Mackewn describe the ‘field’ as: all the coexisting, mutually interdependent factors of a person and his environment… All aspects of the person and of his field are interrelated, thus forming a whole or a system. (Clarkson and Mackewn 1993, p.42)

And Yontef says: The field is a whole in which the parts are in immediate relationship and responsive to each other and no part is uninfluenced by what goes on elsewhere in the field. (Yontef 1993)

And Parlett: The essence of field theory is that a holistic perspective towards the person extends to include the environment, the social world, organizations, culture. The more assiduously we can navigate the various field theory maps, the more we are likely to perceive and recognize the indivisibility of people from their surroundings and life situations. (Parlett 1991)

Dialogic Gestalt therapists, such as Hycner and Jacobs, built on field theory and the philosophy of Martin Buber (1958). In The Healing Relationship in Gestalt Theory: A Dialogic/Self Psychology Approach (Hycner and Jacobs 1995) one of the authors (Richard Hycner) says: At the heart of this approach is the belief that the ultimate basis of our existence is relational or dialogic in nature: we are all threads in an interhuman fabric. (Hycner and Jacobs 1995, p.6)

As I have shown above, it seems to me that both intersubjectivists and dialogic Gestalt psychotherapists see the self as existing within relationship and that their work entails understanding what arises in that meeting. This understanding is not a merely intellectual exercise, but is grounded in allowing deeper and deeper awareness of subjective experience. PARTICIPATIVE WORLDVIEW

A holistic way of understanding experienced reality and our place within it has been described by Reason (1994, 1998) as a ‘participatory worldview’ and is similar to the non-dual, intersubjective stance shown above. The


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usual boundaries between different activities in our lives tend to break down when viewed in this way. In particular those who accept a participative worldview know that I cannot view any part of the world without myself affecting it. Reason and Bradbury say: Within this perspective, human persons are centres of consciousness both independent and linked in a generative web of communication, both with other humans and with the rest of creation. (Reason and Bradbury 2001, p.8)

When reflecting on my own work, I view it in this way so that I know that any experience I have is profoundly affected by my own presence and perspective. I cannot view my clients ‘objectively’. Our relationship is instead understood to be dialogic and intersubjective – one in which the subjectivities of both meet in the space ‘between’ (Hycner and Jacobs 1995, p.119). In acknowledging my own whiteness I understand myself to be ‘participating’ in the cultural and ‘racial’ milieu and know that I cannot be separate from it. Because of the non-dogmatic nature of this approach, it is suitable for work across difference in culture, even if one culture is more powerful than the other, particularly as it requires us to question our own assumptions. Of course we can never stand back entirely from these but the more we are able to notice them and stop taking our own outlook on life for granted, the more we are able to understand our own perspective and how it differs from others. This is also a perspective which is not blindly individualistic and helps us to understand people from cultures where the individual cannot be divided from the family or the community. NON-DUAL, PARTICIPATIVE AND INTERSUBJECTIVE WAYS OF UNDERSTANDING THE ‘SELF’

If we are to work within this non-dual, participative paradigm, we need to develop an intersubjective way of understanding the ‘self ’, one that sees the self, not so much as a ‘thing’, but as a process which is discovered in the meeting between people. Rather than ‘have’ a ‘self ’ we only exist within relationships and can only be described within a context. This challenges a notion we often hold in the helping professions, that difficulties reside within individuals, and that people have discrete internal worlds that have been caused by their life experiences. We do also know, through our knowledge of working with people, that context is important (Dominelli

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2008, p.23). This non-dualistic, intersubjective and participative approach makes sense of this knowledge and encourages us to make full use of it. A non-dual way of thinking can serve a double purpose as it helps us to work across cultures by challenging the way we split the world into good and bad etc. and, at the same time, gives us an insight into some non-western ways of thinking. As we have seen, non-western thinking is often less dualistic in its understanding of the nature of ‘self ’. For instance the southern African idea of ubuntu (Ryde 2005; Dominelli 2008, p.202), which can be translated as I am because you are, reveals a less individualistic cultural assumption than is usually found in the white, western world. But does this mean that our desire to be ‘true to ourselves’ or ‘authentic’ as human beings has to be abandoned? Rowan (2001, p.120) says that humanistic thought is fundamentally based on an idea that there is a ‘real self ’. He goes on to say that, if this idea is to be challenged, then it is not possible to honour the fundamental tenet of humanistic psychology that human beings are authentic, autonomous and self-actualizing. In my view we do not have to understand the ‘self ’ as either a unitary structure in which all indwelling and potentially meaningful experiences ‘belong’ to a discrete, bounded individual or the self to be fragmented and meaningless or just one possible discourse within a narrative context (Shotter 1993, p.4). If instead we understand ourselves to be embedded in a co-created, participative universe which ‘does not consist of separate things but of relationships which we co-author’ (Reason and Bradbury 2001, p.6) then authenticity, autonomy and self-actualization remain meaningful and exist within a web of relating rather than being situated within an individual. We ‘self-actualize’ (Maslow 1972, p.40) within and through relationships. This non-dual ‘web’ allows for differences amongst individuals and groups and is consistent with ‘non-white’ approaches such as the African notion of ubuntu and the non-individualistic way of understanding the world found in native American culture (Sue and Sue 1990, p.177). Although thinking within the social sciences tends, as we might expect, to take for granted positivistic, dualistic thinking, some, as we have seen, have developed ideas that question dualistic assumptions, such as Gestalt psychotherapists who have developed ‘dialogic’ ideas (Hycner and Jacobs 1995) and the intersubjectivists from the Institute of Contemporary Psychoanalysis in Los Angeles (Stolorow et al. 2002).


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REFLECTIONS ON THESE APPROACHES

My approach to the work brings together various concepts which all regard the individual as being inextricably woven into the web of their culture and environment and, as such, the individual cannot be made sense of as a separate entity. What is more, the cultural milieu in which each of us exists is redolent with its history, the past and present experiences which give it shape and meaning. Because of this, a meeting between a white and a black person can be a very crowded space. White supremacy, racism, colonization, slavery etc. accompany them into that meeting within the intersubjective space. Field theory shows how past patterns and experiences are in reality still present as part of the ‘field’ (Parlett 1991). This is graphically illustrated to be true in the work of Bert Hellinger who, through ‘constellations’ workshops, shows how family relating is badly affected for generations by past traumas and unresolved relationships (Hellinger and Hovel 1999). These influences naturally have implications for me beyond my professional life, but of course have a profound influence on my work. I have come to see that there is a disciplined but free-floating ‘being with’ that which arises in the space between myself and my client. I consider this way of understanding my relationship with my client to be highly suitable when working within a diverse society for the following reasons: •

There is an attempt to examine prior assumptions as well as an openness to appreciating others, thereby creating a broader base for understanding different and comparable experience. This is similar to the approach to therapy advocated by the social worker, Dominelli (2006, p.86), in which she suggests that the therapist should open up ‘discursive spaces’ with their clients.

•

I understand that I am myself within the ‘field’ when working with my client so do not regard myself as being able to be ‘objective’.

•

There is an acknowledgement that the intersubjective ‘field’ includes the past and present cultural realities of both parties (Parlett 1991).

•

There is a natural loosening of the narcissistic idea of the importance of being right.

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In other words, I regard what arises between myself and my client as coming from or originating in an intersubjective field to which we both contribute. I listen both to the client and to my own responses in a way which brings the term ‘evenly suspended attention’ to mind (Freud 1912). I become interested in, and inquiring into, that which arises in this space. In this way the issues that do arise are not reduced to ‘problems’ found in the client which have nothing to do with my also being present. Clients, after all, experience their lives in a relational context and my experience with them more often than not seems to be similar to that experienced by other people in their lives. This is an intersubjective way of understanding what psychotherapists call a ‘transference’ relationship.2 Donna Orange has recognized the similarity but difference in this way of understanding the transference relationship by coining the word ‘cotransference’ (Orange 1997, p.63).

Conclusion In proposing a non-dual, intersubjective way of understanding our relationships with our clients I am suggesting a significant journey away from our individualistic dualistic assumptions which will profoundly affect us in every nook and cranny of our lives, not just in our relationships with black clients. Rather unsurprisingly, the epistemology which leads to racism also leads to a great deal of other conflicting and destructive behaviour in other areas of life. It is a view in which we naturally lose, not our individuality, but our attachment to our individuality and, in that sense, is of a spiritual nature. Elias Amidon, a Sufi teacher, has this to say about non-dual awarenenss: As we learn to open to non-dual awareness we start by noticing the vast field of our preferences and the thoughts, feelings, and actions that arise from those preferences. We just notice. Gradually our noticing them begins to reduce their insistence and reactivity. There comes more space around our thoughts, feelings, and actions. That spaciousness begins to be experienced as a greater and greater sense of equanimity. Serenity opens in our life. We no longer lead 2

Classically this is one in which the client ‘transfers’ feelings and attitudes originally experienced in relating to care-givers, usually the parents, to the psychotherapist (Hinshelwood 1991).


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with our likes and dislikes and opinions. We simply are present to what is. No clamoring for it, and no avoidance or denial of it. We accept what is because it is, including emotions. (Amidon 2007)

Non-dual thinking leads us to be interested in our experience rather than attached to it in a narcissistic way. If we find an assumption or prejudice we are interested in it. We do not hang onto it for dear life. We see our whiteness, for example, and think ‘what is this that we take so for granted?’ It helps us to loosen our hold on our ego identity and allows us to meet others afresh, without prejudice, including our clients – a way which recognizes our own attachments and assumptions. We do not then punish ourselves for failing to do this which merely creates another dualism. Instead of that we notice it and hold it more lightly. The next chapter explores in more detail what this means in practice.

Chapter 5


And at first we will seem adrift On a strange sea where fishes No longer resemble what they used to be, And where we are no longer What we were, Or thought we were. From Mental Fight by Ben Okri

This chapter explores the way in which non-dual, intersubjective thinking will help us to relate to our clients as helping professionals in a manner that fully acknowledges ourselves as white people. The question for this chapter is ‘how can we practise within the racialized environment in a way that takes our whiteness into account?’

Working within the racialized environment of a diverse society Understanding clients’ difficulties as purely internal, personal manifestations can be reductive and disrespectful. This attitude ignores the emotional effect of the failure to recognize racism. In order to honour the reality of the cultural and racialized context in which we work, I have found that it is particularly necessary to talk overtly about societal and political issues with clients from black and ‘minority ethnic’ groups as these issues often impinge greatly on their lives. Indeed, these issues are often explicitly brought out by clients from black and ‘minority ethnic’ groups in a way that other clients do not. These clients nearly always talk about the way government policies affect them, both in this country and 126


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their country of origin (if it is not Britain) and make political statements themselves. I find that they are also much more likely to talk about their religious views and practices, compared to western clients. One example that spans all of these is that of a gay, Muslim, African client who is extremely distressed about having lost his family, country and religion, all of which are of the utmost importance to him, because of his unacceptable homosexuality. He impresses on his GP the circumstances that have led him to experience these losses. Having gained indefinite leave to remain in this country he became more acutely aware of his sense of loss and this led to him feeling more rather than less depressed. Having this loss received and understood brings some relief and the possibility of re-finding a fulfilling life (Fox 2002, p.103). PROVISION OF PROFESSIONAL HELP FOR BLACK CLIENTS

When cultures were typically more separate from each other, as populations were less mobile and there was less immigration and migration within countries, it was more likely that each culture would have its own way of addressing social and health problems and responding to emotional distress which ‘fitted’ with its own cultural climate. Less individualistic cultures, such as those found in Africa, Asia and among Native Americans (Lago 2006, p.90; Maiello 1999), often use very powerful rituals which help the sufferer into a more harmonious place within their community. But those of ‘mixed race’ or those who live in the west but whose parents or grandparents came from non-western cultures, do not have access to traditional approaches and these approaches are now likely to be irrelevant as far as they are concerned (Littlewood 1992, p.8). They have a right to expect that services available in this country will respond to their needs. Sewell (2008, p.30) has quoted various research studies in which black people are shown to be disadvantaged in access to mental health services. He points out the complexity of responding adequately in this field and that many professionals tend to lump black people together, seeing their needs as identical. He also shows how services have become more ‘risk averse’ and therefore more formulaic in their response to clients (Sewell 2008, p.96), thus not engaging with their different needs in all their complexity. But how useful are western approaches to people who are not embedded in its culture? They may have come more recently to the west or live in

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communities which maintain a way of life outside the mainstream. Are our ways of ‘helping’ as professionals just another way in which whiteness is ‘performed’ (Frankenberg 1999; Gilbert 2005) on black people? No doubt this can be the case even if we ‘adapt’ our work for an intercultural situation. Various authors have asserted that culturally sensitive ways of working are needed and feel strongly that equality of access to services is deeply important for the well-being of all communities (Dominelli 1990; Sue and Sue 1990; Kareem and Littlewood 1992; Lago 2006; Sewell 2008). It is important to understand, though, that white, western approaches are not the only valid ones and that different cultural methods can be integrated or used alongside traditionally western methods. As Sewell points out, a knowledge of some of the ways that non-western cultures approach the problems of life helps the professional better understand their clients (Sewell 2008, p.162). Any first-hand experience is also useful. I have had an African Muslim client whose son had been diagnosed by an English psychiatrist as schizophrenic. My client wanted him to take part in an Islamic ritual, which I know in a Sufi context as zikr.1 She felt that this would provide the healing he needed and, having taken part in zikr myself, I could appreciate what she meant by this. In spite of the differences between us she seemed well-motivated to come and see me. I felt we made a significant connection, partly because I understood and validated her experience, not only by making a leap of imagination, but also by having personally experienced something she would not expect a westerner to know about. Even a client who knows that you know nothing of their culture and feels that western culture is very alien, can open up to white professionals if they show themselves to be alive to other approaches to life. I have several Muslim clients from various parts of the world – including Eastern Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia – who regard their cultures as very different to that which they find in the west. They describe them to me as ones where the family and ‘tribe’ are very ‘close’ so that dishonour to the family implies dishonour to the self. Conflicts within the family must not normally, therefore, be shown to strangers and to do so dishonours the family. Nevertheless, I find that clients who have no supports or few family members in England, particularly as they come in extreme distress, will often be 1

Zikr is a Sufi form of group meditation which incorporates rhythmic movement and speaking together the names of Allah.


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prepared to tell me about their difficulties. Even when families are together, the extended family will probably not be present and that, with the enormous pressures on family members to cope with trauma and loss, makes the usual ways of getting through difficulties impossible. I have the sense that they often also think ‘this is how things are done round here’ and are more prepared to do things differently than they would be at home, particularly in private and in the context of professional help. A black colleague has pointed out that in her country, Guyana, people would, and sometimes still do, use ‘family courts’ to help work out difficult problems and tensions (Benjamin 2001). In her view, since immigration has led to the break-up of families, counselling is something that could potentially take its place and is much needed, both for those who now live abroad and those in Guyana. If a Guyanese person who lived in a different country sought counselling, they would need to see someone who was sensitive to the impact that culture and cultural difference have on their new life experience. I have also come across the use of ‘family courts’ from the account of a Muslim client who told me that the way she had rebelled against custom would have led to her being put to death by her family were she still at home. This is a complex situation to respond to in a culturally sensitive way as the client is herself rebelling against established custom in her own country. I am shocked and horrified by what she is telling me about a very culturally different attitude to women to the extent of having them killed. Reducing this attitude just to an inevitable cultural difference is maybe also simplistic. It demonstrates that a straightforwardly prescribed response is not sufficient as any particular individual responds differently to cultural imperatives. I also found this client’s story a personally challenging situation to deal with as I was outraged on her behalf. To me she had not ‘sinned’ at all, having only dressed in western style and related to fellow students at a college without a chaperone. She had also courageously worked for women’s rights when in her own country. My comfortable, white, liberal stance of tolerance of ‘other cultures’ is severely challenged and troubled by this situation. There is a point of view among helping professionals that clients of any particular culture should ideally see someone from their own cultural background in order that they are understood from this standpoint. However Nafsiyat, a multicultural counselling centre, does not recommend that therapists stick solely to their own cultural group as it ‘diminishes the human element’ (Kareem 1992, p.23). Maybe having a culturally similar

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counsellor could lead to ducking a more pressing need to address societal issues which impinge on their relationship where there is a difference in culture. Similar issues are struggled within all the helping professions. Akinsete (2002), whose research explored why black men typically do not take up counselling, found that the black men he interviewed would only be prepared to see a counsellor who was black if they saw one at all.2 Sewell (2008, pp.30, 31) also points out that black and minority ethnic clients, and particularly men with an African or Caribbean background, are more likely than the average to access mental health services, but are less likely to be offered talking therapies. However, most authors who write in the area of culture and counselling or psychotherapy tend to focus on encouraging sensitization to cultural difference, and intercultural therapy is now fairly well recognized in the profession (Sue and Sue 1990; Lago 2006). My own opinion is that, while it is good policy to have the facility of a diverse group of people available to meet the needs of black people in all the helping professions wherever possible, I consider it, as a catch-all solution, to be problematic on three counts: •

If cultural matching is thought of as a complete solution it may not seem as necessary to try to ensure intercultural sensitivity in the training and on-going development of helping professionals.

•

In our society any individual’s cultural mix is hard to match, often making it difficult to carry out even when services follow such a policy (both parties are not white, for instance).

•

The services provided in the west tend in any case to arise from western assumptions so even black professionals are often acculturated in western attitudes thus ensuring that cultural matching may not, in itself, guard against prejudiced views.3

In the light of these considerations, I do not advocate that people from any or all cultures would or should find the interventions of helping 2 3

I am also very aware, as someone who used to be director of a counselling service, that most black people do ask to see a counsellor who is black. I had a psychotherapy supervisee who, when seeing clients from her own culture, wanted them to reject traditional values in the same way that she had done. The dialogue between herself and her clients, and herself and me as supervisor, not only led to a change in her practice, but helped her to move on in the way she understood her relationship to her culture of origin.


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professionals acceptable. I do, however, think that services should be openly available to all comers and sensitive to people of any or all cultures should they want to engage with them. It is the duty of helping professionals to address the difficulties that members of some communities have in accessing their services. My experience in working with refugees and asylum seekers shows that those who come from less individualistic cultures can value a relationship in which open inquiry becomes possible. My own approach, as I have explained above, is inquiring and does not reduce all to personal pathology, which helps me to find a ‘meeting place’ with such clients. Sewell has identified seven elements for strengthening practice when working in mental health with people from black and minority ethnic backgrounds which do not assume that all have similar difficulties but take an open, inquiring approach similar to my own. Although these are particularly applicable when working in mental health, it seems to me that the basis of any good helping relationship could be informed by these elements. They are: 1.

Be aware of possibilities.

2.

Own your own feelings.

3.

Be curious.

4.

Ask empathetically.

5.

Withstand and hold.

6.

Make sense together.

7.

Plan for progress.

Sewell advocates that these seven elements can be used by practitioners from all backgrounds and regards it as important that all professionals can respond sensitively (Sewell 2008, p.115)

The impact of power differences on our working relationships Differences of race or culture have significant ramifications for our relationships as helping professionals with our clients. As I have shown above, this is partly because difference in culture leads to difference in basic assumptions about life. On top of these disparities, there is often an unspoken power difference in the relationship between people from white,

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western and non-western backgrounds. This power difference is compounded if we are white and the client is black or non-western. (Lago 2006, pp.16–27; Ryde 1997, 2000). The white helping professional may be considered by the client, and, indeed, by herself and society at large, to be the one who is mentally healthy and who defines what ‘mental health’ is, as well as having the power to be ‘helpful’ (Sue and Sue 1990). The sociologist, Hofstede (1980), quoted in Lago (2006, p.45) discusses how different cultures regard small and large power distance. Power distance concerns how power is distributed within the culture. In some cultures rigid hierarchies of power are accepted as desirable, whilst others prefer relatively flattened hierarchies. This means that the power relationship between helping professional and client can have a particular meaning which may not be understood between them (Thomas 1992, p.136; Ryde 2000). For instance it could be unthinkably impolite not to give way to the opinion of a professional. This might lead a white practitioner to think that a patient/client is happy with the service they are receiving or understands what is being said when, in fact, the power difference perceived to be between them prevents more open communication. Although, as I have shown, various authors have written about different helping professions and cultural difference (Sue and Sue 1990; Kareem and Littlewood 1992; Adams 1996; Lago 2006; Papadopoulos and Bung-Hall 1997; Jacobs 2000; Dalal 2002; Tuckwell 2002), as we saw above, white, western psychological theory does not often address cultural difference, and certainly not the impact of power difference between a black client and white client. Freud and Jung regarded their theories as holding true across cultures though Jung famously thought that black people had not reached the same stage of evolution (Kareem 1992, p.10). He regarded western civilization to be a veneer that over-lays the ‘primitive’ which can still be seen in the cultures of, for example, Africans and Native Americans (McLynn 1996). Humanistic theorists have been much more liberal in their view than Freud and Jung but on the whole do not consider the question at all, thus taking the white view as the only one. White, western culture predominates economically, politically and culturally, so we tend, as we have seen, to see our own standpoint as white people as the base line from which others deviate. Critical theorists can help us to understand this situation. Habermas (1984, p.120) has shown that institutionalized power distorts communication because of the way that power is distributed and this is


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compounded because the most powerful group takes their power for granted – usually the white western one. Foucault shows how the most important way in which power is ‘held’ in institutions is through their assumed ‘knowledge’ which is generally accepted on both sides and taken for granted as ‘the truth’ (Shotter 1993, p.5). This is such a deeply held phenomenon that it is almost inevitable that this dynamic is present in our work. However, by holding our theories lightly, being alive to the power dynamics involved in the meeting and by remaining open and dialogic, it may be possible to mitigate some of these effects. One of my clients struggles with how to live a full life in the west in a way that honours her own culture. She said ‘We need more of these sorts of conversations,’ indicating me and herself. ‘ones in which we meet in this way’ and waved her hands indicating the space between us. I asked her if she meant that we struggle together to find what she wants to say and she agreed.

Intersubjectivity and non-dualism as a guide to practice As we saw in the last chapter, I have found that intersubjectivity theory is relevant to work within the helping professions set within a racialized, diverse environment. My starting point has not been to try to understand other people’s cultures, but to understand my own within my political and social context including my racial identity as a white person. From there I open a dialogue which I understand to be set within the racialized environment in which we find ourselves. For me, an encounter with a client is a meeting within an intersubjective field of two people with differently organized subjectivities (Atwood and Stolorow 1984, p.65). Because of that, we need to take into account our own ‘organizing principles’ (Atwood and Stolorow 1984, p.36) which are formed within our own cultural context when we attempt to meet our clients. Orange, Atwood et al. (1997, p.38) suggest that we need to: strive…in [our] self reflective efforts [for] awareness of our own personal organizing principles – including those enshrined in [our] theories and of how these principles are unconsciously shaping [our] understandings and interpretations.

I have found that when I do not reflect on myself in this way, my clients are likely to feel that I am not present for them. Sometimes they tell me this, but more often I sense it in their withdrawal. If I do sense this I might ask

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them if they experience it too, if I feel that our relationship is ready for this sort of exploration. This is particularly important as I have found that it is not being immediately understood that matters but the genuine and sustained desire to try to understand that is so vitally important (Orange 1997, p.129). Stolorow et al., in referring to the importance of a ‘sustained empathic inquiry’ (Stolorow and Atwood 1992, p.93; Stolorow, Atwood et al. 1994, p.45; Orange 1997) also demonstrate the importance of showing a sustained desire to understand. More often than not, both parties deepen their understanding of the meaning of their experience and of the process between them through ongoing inquiry. So how does this happen, particularly when an impasse is reached where no understanding seems possible? A willingness on the part of the helping professional to stay with the pain of this process whilst maintaining an inquiring attitude is of the utmost importance. One of the best descriptions I have read of an ‘inquiring attitude’ is by Joan Wilmot (2008, p.89). It captures something of the essence of an experience which is elusive and many layered. She writes: The ears of the cells of my body lean into the experience… I go into the depth, the breadth, the observation, the sensation, the dream, the anything and everything and the nothing… I am both carried along into the state, or the thought and at the same time I am observing it, gathering the gifts, the gold, the silver, the lead, like the caskets in Shakespeare’s Merchant of Venice, placing them carefully on the metaphorical shelves of the mind, sifting through and watching all this weave itself into a thought, a sentence, an illumination of the client.

This feels to me to be a good description of how I intend to be when with a client. It is being present with all one’s senses at the most subtle level and helps us move through the different stages of the White Awareness Model by encouraging awareness and discouraging defensiveness. This careful listening to ourselves within the context of being with a client can throw up times of over-confluence with them or times of an inability to understand. I have described some of these below. Stolorow and Atwood (1992, p.103) have written about therapeutic conjunctions where the client’s experiences and patterns are too similar to the therapist to be ‘seen’ and disjunctions where experience and patterns are so different that they cannot be understood. Disjunctions are more likely to happen in


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meetings between black and white professionals but ability to notice and comment on these can bring deeper understanding. So what would the cyclical White Awareness Model look like if it is applied to our work with black clients? My sense is the process towards a more intersubjective awareness will look something like Figure 5.1:

1. Denial of the difficulty in understanding

2. Struggle to understand black clients

5. Integration

3. Guilt and shame about our practice

4. Try to understand self within a non-dual context

Figure 5.1: White Awareness Model applied to work with black clients

Here the integrity of the white helping professional will involve the struggle to understand her black clients and is likely to lead to a sense of guilt and shame as we saw in Chapter 3. The development of a non-dual understanding can lead to an integration in which the reality of the assumptions based on a white worldview becomes clear. We become freed from making destructive dualistic dyads in our thinking and understand more clearly the thinking of non-dualistic cultures.

Examples from my practice with asylum seekers and refugees Refugees and asylum seekers have usually suffered extreme persecution and trauma caused by political decisions and actions both in Britain and in their country of origin (Dalal 2002, p.76; Tuckwell 2002). They often therefore suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Both their

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physical and mental health are often compromised and this brings them to the attention of helping professionals. When they come to this country they find themselves caught up in what has become a very hot political issue in which the government seems to wish to show the population that they are ‘tough’. It has become very difficult to achieve a positive outcome to a hearing or appeal for asylum. The Independent Asylum Commission has identified a ‘culture of disbelief ’ (Waite and Nawaz 2008, p.21) amongst decision makers which causes much pain and anger. Working with these clients is complex as they have been caught up in global events of immense importance, are often scapegoated within western society, and have been extremely traumatized by life-threatening situations to themselves and their families. All the issues relevant to black clients hold true for them, almost without exception, because they come from non-western countries and the traumatic events they have been caught up in are often more extreme than are normally seen by western professionals. I give here two longer examples from my own practice, the first of which shows the subtle interplay of power dynamics between us. The second shows the difficulty in working with a severely traumatized client in a way that is sensitive to our cultural differences. Although both examples are of therapeutic work, I give them here as the issues involved are pertinent to any professional who works with people and where the relationship between the two is highly significant. The example given above of the client whose family threatened to kill her shows the subtle interplay of power dynamics in my relationship with clients where their personal power has, I suspect, been enhanced by a dramatically difficult life. The client’s dilemma is that she questions and is angry about both western culture and her own. Both seem to her to be responsible for endemic global violence and abuse. On top of that she has lost family (both through being spurned by some for her rejection of Islam and by physical distance from others) and has experienced extreme physical hardship through privation, danger and illness. Her asylum claim was left hanging for more than two years. Often she seems angry with me for misunderstanding her. I find that responding adequately to her is extremely complex and challenging if I am not to reduce the political to the personal or the personal to the political. There is a fierce logic to her cutting analysis of western cultures and her own that leaves me wanting to cheer her on. At times like that I feel a sense of sisterhood with her which I suspect is somewhat self-indulgent as my life has not given me the same challenges as has hers. Then her, sometimes


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angry, rejection of my attempts to come alongside her are often quite painful and hard to understand. I am aware of feelings of guilt about how she has been treated in this country and also because I am putting myself up as someone who can help her when my experience of life is so different to hers. I wonder if I am disavowing my own power here and not meeting her in hers. In standing back from this I wonder if I have, through my embeddedness in western culture, completely misunderstood her. Have I trodden on something sensitive that she has to angrily disavow? Sometimes I withdraw, partly to lick my wounds but also to give myself time to think about what she has said. Sometimes I stay with the inquiry and I begin to see, often quite dimly, that she is referring to an area of experience that is outside my own, and it seems to me that this leads to my missing an important nuance of her experience. Other times she sees what I mean and we meet in an acknowledged moment of understanding. This is an example of the intersubjective nature of the work where what arises between us is misunderstanding (a disjunction) and I bring her attention to this. Rather than dig ourselves further and further into feeling misunderstood we can appreciate something about the pain of being misunderstood in both of us and sometimes meet in these moments of understanding. This is an example of the complexity of the work where nothing can be taken for granted and all assumptions need to be examined continually. A further example, in another session, was when I said that I thought her integrity was important to her. At the time that I said this I thought it was self-evident and supportive. She angrily showed me that she has no choice but to act with integrity when she can. My words were inadequate to meet her situation where she feels she has no choice but to act as she does. I began to see that the idea of having personal integrity is a very western notion. It implies a choice made as an individual. This client insists on her personal power within the sessions. I sometimes wonder if her insistence would not be so great if the role and cultural power did not lie with me. It seems to me, in trying to identify with her, that the pain of apparently being outside and rejecting both cultures is a hard road for her and may be untenable in the end. On the other hand the client herself insists that ‘culture’ is not a factor for her: her individuality transcends it. (This is in contrast to another client from a Muslim country who, in spite of acting against his culture in acknowledging to himself that he is gay, tells me that his culture is fundamental for his sense of himself.) This work is an ongoing

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exploration and both of us are committed to it. If nothing else I am there to hear her anger and her pain and I try to stay thoughtful in the face of it all. The second client, from a Middle Eastern country, had been very severely tortured in a way that felt fundamentally shaming to him. He had previously been an effective leader of his community and patriarch of an extended family. He was the provider, the person in charge. His sense of himself was based on these qualities, particularly as his father had died when he was young and he had fallen into these roles at a relatively tender age. Having spoken for his community to the authorities, particularly in representing their educational interests, his arrest and torture seemed to him to have ‘killed’ who he was, especially his manhood. Now he is often dissociated, he hears the sounds of police sirens in his head most of the time, he has raging headaches and he has unexpected and apparently unbidden explosions of anger in which he is apt to throw whatever comes to hand at the wall. He says he cannot learn English because he cannot concentrate and is unable to do the smallest thing to help himself or his family. He feels himself to be completely at the mercy of this state of affairs. He cannot conceive of a process towards change though he can imagine ‘snapping out of it’ if God wills it. His complete passivity in the face of these difficulties seems to me to be infuriating to all around him including his family and other professional helpers. He tells me that his long-suffering wife continues to help him because that is her job as a wife. I can certainly share the feelings that others in his life experience. All attempts to help him seemed blocked by his extreme passivity. I find myself being reactive to his apparently unquestioning idea that it is right that his wife should do everything that is to be done in his family because that is her duty as a wife. My frustration in the face of this leads me to redouble my efforts to ‘try’ various ‘approaches’ which I hope will help him. These are usually of two sorts, to help him to understand and come to terms with the trauma he received including what it means to him, and to find graded ways in which he can become more active in his life. However, any reference to the time of his arrest and torture seems to be severely re-traumatizing and any attempts to help him take more responsibility for his life are completely ignored. Every time I do so I suspect myself of needing to feel effective myself – that these moves are more about me than him. At these times I cannot bear his pain any more. I want him to stop it, to snap out of it, to show me that I am effective. And then I ponder on these things and notice a sense of guilt at, in effect, leaving him. I remember to allow the reality of what is between us to affect me – the hopelessness, the


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deadness, the despair, the anger and the grief for his lost manhood and for his father who died too soon. All this seems to lie in the space between us. I speak of these and I see he is moved. There are tears in his eyes, he is present, alive. I tell him that I see a good man who has been tried beyond endurance. Last week he said ‘Maybe one day I will be better, enshalah.’ Though I am aware he could be trying to ‘give’ me something, I felt a sense of hope between us. I have no idea what is best for this man or if my seeing him time after time is the best use of our time or if someone else could help him more. Much supervision time has been given to this. The tenuous hold he now has on life is lived in an alien culture that he cannot begin to engage with, except maybe with me. I am virtually the only English person he knows. But coming to see me is the one thing he does of his own volition in the week and I bear witness to his pain and the outrage he feels at how he has been used and abused.

Conclusion In both the examples I have given above, a shared humanity is important but an understanding of the racialized environment in which we live, as well as the different cultural assumptions that come part and parcel with it, is vitally important within such an encounter. In their chapter in Politicising the Person Centred Approach (2006, p.206), Lago and Haugh have asked some very useful and challenging questions of white therapists: •

If you are white, are you white-aware?

•

How does that awareness inform you?

•

What impact might your whiteness have upon your clients?

•

What does your whiteness mean, to you?

•

How do you behave, in your whiteness, with others who are white? Who are black? Who are ‘other’?

•

How often have you considered this aspect of your identity in supervision, training groups and therapy?

•

If asked how you developed your sense of white identity, could you reply?

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Unless we are aware of the impact of this racialized environment and cultural difference, we make our own assumptions and think that we are able to understand others based on them. Often this is not at all easy so that very fundamentally held beliefs and values of the professional are challenged in their work, and staying thoughtful rather than reactive in the face of this is far from easy. For example, the practice, which is traditional to some Muslims, of women being put to death because they are felt to bring shame to a family by behaving more like a western person, was brought up by a Muslim client of a social work supervisee. In this case the client dressed in western fashion and mixed with men socially. As a result she felt that her life was in danger. The supervisor and the supervisee, who were both white, had to think together about this shocking situation in which personal, political and cultural factors come together. Although this may seem to be a simple matter from a moral standpoint, it is very complex when taking cultural and political factors into account. Besides providing moral dilemmas, the cultural differences can seem just inexplicable. For instance, Maiello (1999), a psychoanalyst, in her paper documenting an account of a conversation with an African healer, says that she struggles to understand the basis of a traditional healer’s approach. It seems to her to be built on an understanding of the power of the ancestors and involves very little verbal communication with the ‘client’. She makes some attempt to understand the process in her own terms and to describe her own work in the healer’s terms. However, when the healer suggests that they exchange medicines – a herbal remedy for a ‘word’ – Maiello is at a loss. There is a sense in her paper of respect but of mystification. She points out that there is a psychoanalytical anthropology but not an anthropological psychoanalysis and concludes: The first step that can be made towards finding an answer to the question of the depth at which cultural factors influence the intersubjective and intrapsychic dimension of mental life is the openness to the intercultural exploration and debate. (Maiello 1999, p.237)

I am constantly amazed at how complex the intricacies of helping relationships are when they are thoroughly explored and reflected upon. Cultural differences are always present in some guise, however small. Where the differences involve race and culture, the complexities and the sensitivities are even more subtle and multifaceted. Developing an ability to stay open


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to the painful and confusing feelings that arise in these situations whilst being willing to articulate something about them is crucial. This ability to ‘stay open’ can be learnt in various ways – through experiential training, through constant use of reflective supervision, perhaps through one’s own psychotherapy or counselling and, often, through having a spiritual path which involves meditation. In that way we can keep open an inquiry and a dialogue which provides a foundation on which our work may be based. Chapters 7 and 8 on training and supervision address these issues. I have shown that an intersubjective, non-dual understanding provides a way forward for our work where there is a difference in culture. An intersubjective understanding involves the idea that both professional and client exist within the intersubjective field in which the encounter occurs. The work is grounded in the knowledge that different sets of organizing principles mark both professional and client and the process becomes an inquiry into similarity and difference which allows both to develop a deeper understanding of their intersubjectivity and subjectivity.

PART 3

White Organizations within a Racialized Context

Chapter 6

Organizational Considerations: Working in a Racialized Context

And because we have too much information, And no clear direction Too many facts, And not enough faith; Too much confusion And crave clear visions; Too many fears, And not enough light – I whisper to myself modest maxims As thought-friends for a new age See clearly, think clearly. Face pleasant and unpleasant truths. From Mental Fight by Ben Okri

Introduction In this chapter I turn from my work with individuals to my work with organizations. Although some of the helping professions have worked hard to ensure diversity, particularly social work which pioneered anti-racist and anti-oppressive practice (Dominelli 1988, 2002), and nursing which has become very diverse, they remain on the whole very white as professions and their organizations are imbued with a white culture. These organizations form part of the complex web of institutions which keep white, western culture powerful. Three questions I have in relation to this work are: •

How does being white within a white organization influence the work undertaken within it? 145

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•

How are ‘non-white’ people affected by contact with white organizations within the helping professions?

•

What steps could be taken to ensure that white organizations within the helping professions become more conscious of their whiteness, their impact on ‘non-white’ people, and how that impact can be mitigated?

Over the last 20 years, policies have been put in place to ensure diversity within organizations and that staff are able to respond to the needs of black and minority ethnic groups without prejudice. Staff, such as equalities officers, are appointed whose special brief is to ensure that these policies are put in place and acted upon adequately. Practice has much improved since the 1970s when the call for such practice was first raised. However, institutional racism is still endemic. It is my belief that the problem of the endemic and intransigent nature of institutional racism reveals that the underlying, unconscious attitudes and assumptions of white people and institutions are very hard to shift and this shift cannot be made by appealing to reason. Maybe the very fact that posts which are put in place in order to ensure diversity are almost always given to black people shows this. Of course intentions are good here. Giving the post to a white person may seem to be saying ‘we know best for you’. However it is not generally recognized that there is a more insidious underlying message which says ‘this area is for you lot to sort out’ and ‘you tell us about our racism’. Institutional racism is something that black people suffer, but it is not their problem. It is a white problem and can really only be dealt with if white people address it honestly and courageously. Of course black staff should be involved in contacting minority communities and employed in every nook and cranny of organizations but the question of endemic, institutional racism is a matter for white people to address rigorously. Although I have worked with several different organizations, I have taken the one I have worked with most intensively as a ‘case study’ to illustrate the points I wish to make. I am a co-founder of the organization and have taken many leading roles within it throughout the years. The exploration of work towards developing greater diversity demonstrates the difficulty of shifting institutional racism however well intentioned the individuals within it.


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The organization is the Bath1 Centre for Psychotherapy and Counselling (BCPC). It is a non-profit-making charity which provides professional training in counselling and psychotherapy and a referral service for the public within a wide area including Bristol. There are many ways in which BCPC is not typical of organizations within the helping professions, particularly as it is not within the public sector, but many of the issues are similar. In attempting to improve the diversity of the organization the staff were aware of the difficulty of acting wisely in this challenging political field. We have found that, whilst it is easy to say and even to really feel that organizations benefit by the richness that diversity brings, it also brings the potential for conflict. Organizations themselves build up powerful cultures (Trompenaars 1993) which are just as jealously guarded as national ones. Peter Senge et al. (1999, p.334) have pointed out that cultures do not change so much as evolve as new habits of thinking and acting gradually take hold. As cultural organizing principles are held unconsciously, a consciously held desire to change may not be sufficiently effective. At BCPC, as I have been a central figure, I am influential to the culture and this affects my ability to bring about changes in it as I will show below. Those outside the culture are in a better position to challenge me as ‘the last one to know about the sea is a fish’ (Hawkins 1995). In this chapter I look at various aspects of my work within BCPC. I start with an area which is the most ‘political’ in that I explore how I have tried to influence structural and policy changes in the area of equal opportunities. In the following section of this chapter I discuss the specific area of diversity within the organization – particularly racial diversity – as this seemed to me to be the area in which BCPC was least diverse. It is also the area which most demonstrates the whiteness of the organization. Just as I explored personal whiteness in Chapter 2, this chapter also shows that BCPC takes part in the institutionalization of whiteness within our society. The very fact that it is almost unthinkable to describe BCPC as a white organization demonstrates the point. As I showed in Chapter 2, whiteness tends not to be think-aboutable because it is apparently neutral (Rodriguez 1998, p.45). It is the ground from which other things are seen. 1

It may be thought that BCPC’s difficulties stem from being in a white area. In fact many students come from Bristol which is very diverse as a city and Bath is more diverse than is often imagined. There may be some truth in this, however, as the SW of England from which most of BCPC’s students come is more homogeneously white than, say, London or the Midlands.

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In asserting that whiteness has content (Rodriguez 1998, p.31), this concept is radically challenged: we can see more clearly how those who are not white are made into those who are ‘different’, particularly if the black people within an organization fall foul of unquestioned assumptions held within it. BCPC can ‘perform whiteness’, as Rodrigez puts it (Rodriguez 1998, p.53), on ‘whites’ and ‘non-whites’ alike in these unquestioned assumptions. White culture is just taken as ‘normal’. WORKING TOWARDS EQUAL OPPORTUNITIES IN ORGANIZATIONS

I first turn to the Equal Opportunities Committee as it was often the place in which issues of race and culture were discussed. If any part of the organization is likely to be aware that the organization is white it is this committee and I have certainly found it to be so in the various such committees I have worked on, including that of BCPC. Although talk of the whiteness of the organization has not been explicitly articulated, it is the kind of idea that is likely to be accepted and reflected upon. The Equal Opportunities Committee is the channel through which most organizations have directed their energies towards ensuring cultural diversity and inclusivity, but these very committees can be marginalized, just as black people are marginalized. So is the Equal Opportunities Committee like a black person within an organization – often marginalized, but when brought into the centre can feel as if they have been silenced? There are indicators that this was the case with the BCPC committee as I show below. It is my experience that these committees are often on the edges of organizations, pushing the boundaries of what is acceptable and often a thorn in the sides of those in charge. Maybe equal opportunities ought to be at the heart of a healthy organization – one that welcomes and encourages diversity – and every aspect of the organization should be imbued with the spirit of these policies. Nevertheless, I wonder whether it is inevitable that equal opportunities are on the margins. If they are not then maybe there is a danger of such policies becoming collusive with the status quo. Equal opportunities policies are about challenging those that are in the dominant group to ensure that those who are less dominant have the same chances. However well intentioned the management of an organization, it is bound to represent the dominant group by its organizational position and therefore cannot be seen to be disinterested in putting these policies in place. Having explored and reflected on my experiences below,


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I will reflect further on where the Equal Opportunities Committee may best be structurally placed within organizations. In 1997 I formed the Equal Opportunities Committee of BCPC. I thought it was important that I was not the Chair because my leading role within the organization might create a conflict of interest or, at least, affect my credibility as seriously wanting to challenge the organization and myself within this leading role. We did some important work such as writing the equal opportunities policy, working with particular individuals who had special needs, looking at improving accessibility and generally challenging the different committees regarding their response to equal opportunities including the content of the curriculum and the teaching of it. For some years this was productive and at least partially successful in giving matters of racial and cultural difference a higher profile in the organization. Now the curriculum takes cultural difference into account at all stages of the training as a matter of course and an extra module called Working with Difference has been added. Although these changes were significant, and were a step in the right direction, the basic culture was inevitably still white. The vast majority of its members were white which unavoidably affected its basic assumptions. After three years on the committee I left because of pressure of work and a colleague joined the committee. However when she left for similar reasons the committee only lasted about a year and ceased to meet. So did my leaving and that of my colleague take the equal opportunities committee too far to the margins of the organization? It seems that without the strong leadership of myself and my colleague the committee felt demoralized. Some of the change initiatives taken by the committee were brought to the ‘staff weekend’ (where the teaching staff reflect on their work and make plans for changes) as it was staff who would have to put some of them into practice. At this particular weekend, the way in which the course attends to cultural difference was discussed and various changes put in place. As the discussion deepened into dialogue – a real listening to each other – the staff could see that making changes of this sort was not a matter of unthinkingly obeying ‘politically correct’ dogma and they became more open to modifying their work. Now there is a staff group that automatically thinks that difference in race and culture has an important influence on the work and should be included in the training. Much more recently I wondered if, as those in power such as myself were ostensibly in favour of equal opportunities, it was harder for those on the edge to be appropriately challenging and this in itself was a block to

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change. I showed a previous draft of this writing to someone who, as a student in the organization, had been a committed member of the equal opportunities committee. She felt that the committee seemed to be taken more seriously by the organization when my colleague and I were members but that generally it felt very marginal, ‘despite all intentions to the contrary’. In relation to the question of whether or not the equal opportunities committee should be marginal or central she had this to say: Perhaps it has a need to be marginal. It almost feels to me like having one foot in the organization and one foot out, being able to see two sides, holding both in some way.

In the light of our experience it may be worth considering the approach of Deborah Meyerson who has written a book about what she has termed ‘tempered radicals’ (Meyerson 2001). Meyerson, a professor of organizational behaviour, advocates an approach which ‘straddles trying to fit in and trying to be different’ (Meyerson 2002, p.1). She is looking for ways in which individuals can make small ‘stands’ that can lead to something different. For instance, members of BCPC’s equal opportunities committee could have found some examples of white theory and sent them to relevant staff and the training committee for comment. She says tempered radicals ‘start small and then amplify’. They build ‘narratives around their small wins’ (Meyerson 2002, p.3). Meyerson points out that people may regard her approach as ‘wimpy’ (Meyerson 2002, p.1) but that it may be more effective than head-on clashes with management. Maybe an insistence on not being ‘wimpy’ can disguise a narcissistic desire to do something that is more apparently ‘glorious’ however ineffective and it could be an attempt to deal with personal, unresolved authority issues. Maybe Meyerson’s work shows a way through some of the dilemmas I have outlined above. An equal opportunities committee on the margins can gradually influence the organization to make changes. I will return to this below having explored other initiatives.

Encouraging racial and cultural diversity within BCPC As well as work on the equal opportunities committee, I spearheaded various attempts to encourage BCPC to be more racially and culturally diverse. I wondered, though, if these changes were likely to be sufficiently radical


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and thoroughgoing enough to ensure that the organization was not white. The success of these ventures was mixed, though in all cases there was, and is, much to learn. I explore below four different initiatives. These are: 1.

Initiatives to encourage a greater number of black students.

2.

Initiatives to encourage more black staff members.

3.

The running of an introductory course which addresses intercultural issues. (This was put in place partly in order to achieve number one above.)

4.

A project for providing free counselling and psychotherapy to asylum seekers and refugees.

INITIATIVES TO ENCOURAGE MORE BLACK STUDENTS INTO THE ORGANIZATION

Various attempts were made to encourage a more diverse student group. Only limited movement on this issue has occurred since it was instituted so my inquiry here is into the reasons for this disappointing outcome. My first attempt was to write a leaflet encouraging applications from black people. It was sent to work places and organizations which were likely to have staff who may have wanted to undertake counselling or psychotherapy training. In retrospect this seems a very naïve approach. From my perspective today, it is not surprising that it produced no result at all. I now know from the experiences outlined below that ‘cold calling’ in this way is likely to be unproductive. Others have also learnt that if they are in earnest about serving the needs of black communities, they must be in good communication with them (Sewell 2008, p.128). We needed to show the ‘black community’2 much more clearly that we were in earnest. The first breakthrough in our understanding of this followed contact with the Bath Racial Equality Council (BREC). As well as reiterating the need to make links with other organizations, they were sure that the prohibitive cost of the training was another factor that discouraged black students. This led to us deciding to set up a scholarship fund for black 2

Of course the ‘black community’ is not an entity. There are various different ‘black and minority ethnic’ populations in Bath and Bristol. Making contact with them for these purposes seemed easiest by approaching community associations and the Bath and Bristol Racial Equality Councils. This was one way of reaching people from several different groups.

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students to address the often stated difficulty that black students are unable to afford the cost of training (Samuels 1993; Akinsete 2002). My sense that BREC was right about this was backed up by my own experience (at South West London College) that subsidized college courses were far more likely to have a culturally diverse student community. We set up a committee to take this initiative forward and a member of BREC agreed to sit on it. He was very enthusiastic about the aims of our work and helped us to network with various organizations by making introductions. We finally acquired some funding and have managed to fund several students through the introductory course; one student was accepted to be funded through the main training though she had to leave as she had a sick young child and the pressure was too much for her. We had decided to pay for special supervision/mentoring for black students as we knew that there were many pressures on them as a result of being so much in the minority. I think, given her remarks to us, the black student who was funded felt much better supported in BCPC than the previous one and other previous black students. Unfortunately, in spite of our encouragement, she did not take up the mentoring we offered, citing pressure of time. Since then we have funded several people for the introductory course. The few black students we have had on the training have found it very difficult, partly because of their isolation and partly because their perspective was not really understood. Yvonne Joseph, who was then a black student, now a graduate, made this comment about her time as a student at BCPC: As our histories were so diverse (colonial vs. colonized) there were times when I did not feel understood. I longed for others of similar journeys with whom I could share these experiences, without first having to explain anything. In such situations the loneliness and isolation can be palpable, although you are surrounded by people.

This kind of feedback led those of us who run the black scholarship fund to insist on a black supervisor/mentor for any black student. The scholarship fund has had some limited success but has not been the break-through we hoped for. My time and energy for fundraising has been overtaken by the BCPC Asylum Project (see below) and no one with a passion for the scholarship fund has come forward since then to take on the scholarship fund, though one colleague helps me to keep it ticking over.


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I have come to understand that in order to achieve a more diverse student group we need to work towards being less white as an organization. Even more importantly I have come to understand that an organization does not become less white by introducing more black people within it. This attitude is ‘tokenistic’ in that it brings black people into the organization to ‘show’ diversity. My inquiry into my own whiteness has helped me to understand this thoroughly – not just intellectually. I can also see that we cannot just decide not to be white. The most we can manage at present is to understand our own whiteness and acknowledge its effects. I can now see that greater understanding of our organization’s whiteness can lead to: •

Curriculum which acknowledges this whiteness and is open to other cultural assumptions and positions on psychotherapy theory.

•

A more dialogic stance with ‘non-white’ students.

•

An engagement with ‘non-white’ communities.

•

More black staff and clients.

•

An engagement with the difficulty of affording the course.

INITIATIVES TO ENCOURAGE BLACK STAFF MEMBERS

As another, probably tokenistic, way of encouraging diversity, we agreed to advertise for a black staff member, as with the encouragement of black students, we had had feedback from the ‘black community’, such as from BREC, that black people were more likely to attend the course if there was at least one black staff member. We did manage to make a good appointment, but this person’s circumstances changed and she was not able to work with us for long. Before she left she and I worked together on the introductory course called Listening in a Multicultural Setting (see below). Although from her own account this black trainer did not feel that BCPC had treated her badly, I am aware that many subtle factors may have been brought to bear on this situation. This staff member has never experienced being in the ‘racial’ majority. Her leaving left me with an uneasy feeling that she may have stayed if the organization had been less white. This feels to me to be a subtle matter and not easily changed through policy making. More recently a new black female staff member of Indian origin has been appointed to run the introductory course with a white male staff

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member. I discuss her experiences below. More people of ‘minority ethnic groups’ are coming forward for the training (see below). It remains to be seen if this feeds through to the main training. THE INTRODUCTORY COURSE: LISTENING IN A MULTICULTURAL SETTING

We set up an introductory course in the hope that it would encourage potential students into the training who may have felt tentative about approaching us. The curriculum included basic counselling skills and theory but we put them all within an intercultural context so that the theories could be evaluated and understood as arising from a cultural context. Specific intercultural issues were included in their own right as well. We hoped that by weighting the curriculum in this way we could encourage a more diverse group of participants. This has had some success in encouraging a more diverse student group, particularly recently, and also, more marginally, in encouraging a more diverse group into the main training. It is disappointing that in spite of some progress our membership diversity has not been greatly improved. Maybe we need to be patient as all these initiatives may be small factors creating change over time, as Meyerson (2001) would suggest. Originally I ran this course myself with a black colleague, but more recently have supervised it and the course is now run by Ounkar Kaur, an Indian woman and Tony Voss, a white man, as I mentioned above. They have been considering changes to the curriculum so that the intercultural aspects come out more clearly. Intercultural issues between the two trainers have also usefully been brought to bear on the learning within the course concerning the meaning and use of eye contact. Ounkar told us that, within her culture, eye contact is not considered proper when in the company of men who are not of her family of origin, though she has learnt to conform with British mores in this regard. Tony is a Gestaltist. Gestalt therapy, with its focus on contact, commonly emphasizes the importance of making eye contact, along with other psychotherapy and counselling approaches. Ounkar said that she had ‘learned’ to make eye contact with men through her western counselling training. This cultural difference came to their attention early on in the life of the course and led to an interesting intercultural conversation between the two of them and with me in supervision.


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In an email correspondence Tony told me that, although Gestaltists may ask clients to experiment with making eye contact, especially in order to check out the reality of a fantasy about another group member: ‘they may see that the other is looking at them with kindness and not judging them or threatening them as they had feared’, for instance. He said that Gestalt therapy always takes the ‘field’ (Parlett 1991) into account which, in this situation, included a difference in culture. He suggested that ‘in Asian culture a woman making eye contact with a man might be seen as inviting unwelcome attention. In these cases eye contact may not be conducive to good quality contact – indeed it might lead to quite the opposite.’ He sees the main outcome of the intercultural conversation as the fact that they had: voiced, particularly in supervision, whether, in adopting eye contact between us, Ounkar had moved onto my ground more than I had onto hers. Had the white expectations been dominant? How might I have adjusted my ways of contacting her more, so that we met more halfway? As Ounkar says, this is an ongoing exploration. Perhaps it is a legitimate case of finding what works well for us in the current field. Maybe eye contact within the framework of our professional work together is useful (when co-facilitating a group for example it is a very useful way of communicating), whereas in a different field (had we met socially elsewhere for example) it might not be so appropriate? (Voss 2007)

Discussing this between them and in bringing it to supervision, a fruitful dialogue about these differences developed and affected their relationship. Differences of perspective could be acknowledged both between them and with course members. Through this process of acknowledgement of difference, rigid ideas about appropriate and helpful behaviour could be loosened. The hunger for solutions was temporarily stayed. This intercultural dialogue, the small increase in the diversity of the student body and the developing curriculum are all signs that some progress is being made in relaxing the rigid structure of this white organization. It seems to me that, if we are to build on this progress, we will need to remain interested in these kinds of intercultural dialogues and vigilant that we continue to have them. In saying this maybe I am building a narrative

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around a ‘small win’ as Meyerson suggests (2001), particularly by sharing this thought with the people concerned. BCPC ASYLUM PROJECT: AN INITIATIVE WHICH ENCOURAGED A MORE DIVERSE CLIENT GROUP

The fourth of my projects for encouraging greater diversity in the client group of the organization is a counselling and psychotherapy service for asylum seekers and refugees. In contrast to our other attempts to improve the diversity of BCPC, by building on past learning, this project has been extremely successful in this aim. I had asked the BCPC membership if they would like to join with me in trying to set up a project for this work and about 15 people volunteered for the steering group. Through previous learning I had found that it was vital to network with others in the community if this was to be successful. Our project was immediately welcomed by all those we contacted. Maybe this is because we had learnt that we needed to have something valuable, and that met expressed need, to offer. We decided to make good links with relevant agencies, to provide a free service and to ensure that counsellors and psychotherapists receive very good quality support, training and supervision in an intersubjective, culturally sensitive approach. Specifically the measures we took were as follows: 1.

Provision of free counselling and psychotherapy to the client group.

2.

The making of links with relevant agencies such as Refugee Action, the Bristol Refugee Interagency Forum, The Haven (health care for asylum seekers) and the Bristol Interpreter User’s Forum.

3.

The making of links with another local psychotherapy organization, the Bridge Foundation, a Bristol-based organization that works with children and families, while we work with adult individuals. (Later we collaborated with two other psychotherapy and counselling organizations to provide services for interpreters.)


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4.

The taking of advice from the national organization with most experience of work in this area – the Medical Foundation for the Care of Victims of Torture.3

5.

Application for funding. We found two funders after two years’ work that have given us substantial grants, one of which is ongoing and two other funders that gave us smaller amounts of money.

6.

The use of only qualified therapists and a few senior trainees to see asylum seekers and refugees as we felt that the complexity of working with people who have been so badly traumatized warranted this measure.

7.

Giving these counsellors and psychotherapists extra training and supervision as the main training did not focus sufficiently on the needs of this client group.

Having made these decisions, we instituted weekend courses for therapists who also then attend monthly extra supervision/training if they have refugee or asylum seeker clients. Jeremy Woodcock, who worked for many years at the Medical Foundation for the Care of the Victims of Torture, became our trainer and supervisor. His experience and personal style provided a good holding presence for our work and was invaluable to our learning. The curriculum of the course includes the following: •

Information about typical experiences of asylum seekers, both in their country of origin and in this country.

•

Understanding cultural and ‘racial’ difference.

•

Working with trauma and

•

Working with interpreters.

Understanding cultural difference and working with trauma are both also taught on the BCPC main training so this is not the course participants’ first input on these subjects. The cultural diversity of psychotherapists’ client groups from the West Country would normally be overwhelmingly white, English people, so the cultural diversity of the practice of the 19

3

The Medical Foundation for the Care of Victims of Torture is a well-known and pioneering centre in London, not only for victims of torture, but also for the treatment of asylum seekers and refugees suffering with mental health problems.

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people working within this service was greatly extended. All who work within it appreciate this fact as can be seen in the comments below. We have also carried out courses for interpreters. Work with interpreters has been a steep learning curve, but we have been helped by our trainer who is very experienced in work with refugees and has encouraged us to see the interpreter, not as a sort of interpreting machine, but as another human being in the room with a role to play. Psychotherapists are not used to ‘sharing’ their clients with others and this brings a particular challenge. A member of the project wrote thoughtfully about this in the BCPC Newsletter. She disclosed both her own reactivity and hostility to the situation followed by a more thoughtful view which revealed her ability to reflect on her own responses under stress. Because she has made so many interesting points I will quote her article in detail. She also showed how the process of reflecting affects her work. She wrote: I look at my client intensely while he is speaking: his bodily response, breathing and tone of voice tell me something about the volcano of anger dissimulated under the polite tone of voice. The translation of all this comes back to me via the interpreter in a rather short and unemotional sentence. What has been lost in translation? My paranoid schizoid part is triggered and I read a tacit complicity – if not collusion – between the interpreter and the client from which I feel excluded. Later on in the session, the interpreter takes the initiative to ask my client something which will remain untranslated, I feel more and more like an observer while core issues are dealt with behind my back but, ironically, just in front of me. It feels very crowded and out of control. The interpreter seems to be leading the session which looks like a cross-examination. I think of Buber and I am filled with despair: how can I ever experience the healing of an I–Thou moment in this overcrowded setting? I have to process not only my own countertransference with the client but also the transference with the interpreter. What’s more I bear in mind that some interpreters have themselves gone through devastating and damaging experiences. The potential intimacy between two people has to make some space for the arrival of a third person. This makes me think of the arrival of a child in a couple who have to learn how to share responsibilities, care and nurture. Severe traumas like rape and torture are


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unbearable to expose and need the intimacy of the safe therapeutic space in order to be processed. How can this space include a third person who cannot be just a translator, a witness, an observer or a voyeur? After various experiences with interpreters, my thoughts have become more nuanced. I have now been working with one of the interpreters for nearly two years. I can only praise the working alliance we have built up together. This is why I have come to the conclusion that, despite something being inevitably lost in translation, something invaluable, precious and immensely supportive is gained from the triad. The shared mutual respect and understanding for the aims of the therapeutic alliance provides in the long run a safe environment akin to the traditional family of the client. This can help some asylum seekers to restore the meaning of their lives after the destructive and traumatic experiences they have been through (Gaveaux 2005).

I can identify with all those feelings and have reached a similar conclusion. When I fully accept that the interpreter is a valid part of the working alliance, then what is lost in the intimacy between two people who speak the same language is replaced by a family-like situation in which the different relationships all have importance and meaning and the triad itself provides a holding space. To help us with this work we joined the Bristol Interpreter User’s Forum which was set up by Refugee Action. Later we collaborated with four other organizations which use interpreters in the provision of counselling and psychotherapy to set up an organization called Speak your Mind which ensures the support, supervision and training of interpreters who work in the field. In what ways has the project been successful in increasing the cultural diversity of BCPC? We have trained 23 people to do this work and 12 are usually active in the scheme. Over the course of a year about 30 nationalities are generally represented in our client group, none of whom is from white western European countries. Around 40 clients are seen in the project each week. The waiting list is always long – a cause of much concern to us. So what are the key factors that we have learnt through this work that have helped us make the project successful? It seems that involvement in

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the community, greater flexibility in the boundaries of the therapy and therapist commitment is key. In particular: •

We have learnt that it is important to become known in the community and work alongside other organizations if we are to have credibility with them.

•

We were influential in setting up an important multi-agency, Bristol-based initiative for a drop-in centre for refugees and asylum seekers called Bristol Refugee Rights. This followed a conference that we launched with the Bridge Foundation.

•

We collaborated with others to bid for funding and set up an organization for interpreters who work with counsellors and psychotherapists called Speak your Mind (see above). We are represented on their management committee.

•

We made ourselves known to GPs, community organizations and asylum seekers’ groups and these are our main source of referrals.

•

We learnt that we need to be flexible and resilient. For instance, we frequently have difficulties making initial contacts. Often clients do not know what to expect. Having been contacted, one of my clients thought she was going to see a town councillor, for instance. In many cases, clients are so traumatized and disorientated by their experiences that it is hard for them to remember session times. We find, encouraged by our supervisor, that we sometimes have to walk the extra mile to help our clients attend the sessions, such as reminding them on the phone the day before. Sometimes this is difficult as their mobile phones might well not be charged or switched on.

•

We try to ensure that the work is rewarding for the therapists. Most of the counsellors and psychotherapists find this work absorbing and rewarding as well as difficult and challenging and are therefore highly committed (see below). The provision of group supervision is a place where therapists can share the joys, sorrows and stresses of the work.

I asked the therapists working in the project to send me their comments about the work to help me with the writing of a report. All commented that the clients seem to appreciate their sessions and benefit by them. Some


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said that the need to find a place where difficulties can be shared was of the utmost importance, particularly for those who have lost their families. So does this mean that we can consider that psychotherapy is a useful and relevant option for distressed, disturbed and traumatized individuals who do not come from ‘western’ backgrounds? Often we find that asylum seeker clients would not normally consider sharing with strangers that which is usually private to the family. It does seem, however, as I said in Chapter 4, that these are not normal times and sometimes counselling is their only resort if they are to find someone to listen to their distress and attempt to understand their disturbance. The psychotherapists and counsellors who work in the project are very aware that this form of intimacy with strangers is an unusual situation for many of these clients and try to be as sensitive and respectful as possible to this. We feel that it is a privilege to be trusted and we do not take it for granted. Usually these clients have suffered much more severe trauma than those that are native to this country. We are glad of the supervision as it helps us bear the painful nature of the work. We understand the clients’ need to speak of these memories gradually and in their own time. We understand the anger that frequently accompanies these revelations. Those who work in the project report in supervision that clients seem to value the work but also that it is significant, though painful, for themselves. To illustrate the feeling among the therapists who undertake the work, here are examples from the survey I mentioned above: Working with asylum seekers and refugees feels like a privilege. My normal work is with English-speaking British clients with problems stemming from childhood. The unspeakable horrors and unbearable traumas that I am becoming witness to, as a client begins to trust me enough to share, are mainly from the atrocities perpetrated by the politically powerful onto innocent adults. My work is just a drop in the ocean of helping human misery, but it helps me to feel a part of a tide of healing to counteract the violence and inhumanity of war. My experience is that every single client is incredibly grateful, even when they are in the depths of unbearable depression and unable to imagine any improvement in their state of mind. For one client I am currently seeing, the contact he has with me and the interpreter is the only contact he has all week, apart from when he goes to pray, because he is the sole occupant in the house

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provided by the Home Office, he speaks no English, is unable to read or write, and is too depressed to attend classes. So as part of the therapy, the interpreter and I are providing a lifeline of human communication. For the little I am able to give him, my client always wishes me prayers of good health and happiness for the rest of my life. It is near impossible to appreciate the level of suffering of our clients, many of whom have lost their country, family members have been lost or killed, added to which their physical and mental health is in bad shape because of whatever abuse they have experienced and/or witnessed. I personally feel very grateful that we have the funding to provide this absolutely essential service. I find the work hugely satisfying and am constantly being surprised by on the one hand the awfulness of what humans can do to each other and on the other the ability of some people to survive and retain their humanity. I am certain that clients benefit. I have seen one who was feeling suicidal who after a few weeks was able to take up a work placement. Several have said they really appreciate being listened to and treated as if they matter. One client had been here long enough to get a job, but collapsed into a depression after he heard his father had died, and lost his job due to absenteeism. He only needed four sessions to have his story witnessed and his grief seen. He then stopped coming as he had found another job. The work is very rewarding and necessary. People have had all kinds of terrible experiences and appreciate a safe place where they can talk about this and any other matters. I find that it gives me a little bit of an insight into other cultures and I am full of admiration for the people I see and how they are coping with what has happened (and continues to happen) to them. I have one client who is 45, has his papers and is waiting for his family to join him. Works really hard, always punctual and sensitive though he has been horribly tortured. My other client is ‘18’ though her lawyer suspects she may be much younger. Raped, brutalized, and has just been refused permission to stay! She finds it very hard to manage anything. Badly traumatized and has the most beautiful smile. I have to work very hard to see her. I ring her every


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week to remind her and her English is non-existent. No schooling in Somalia. She has to attend endless meetings in Croydon to see officials. I love the work but it does take a lot of time.

In her research, Von Britzke found that interventions in therapeutic communities were most effective where the staff ’s own sense of involvement and enjoyment in the work was most intensely present (Von Britzke 2005). Crucially, she found that clients most valued the therapeutic groups which the staff most enjoyed. I wonder if the personal commitment felt by those working within our scheme is a significant factor in the effectiveness of the work with clients and is a contributory factor to the success of this venture. If this is the case it may be that there is an interaction between the intense need of the clients in extremis and the commitment of the therapists in response to this need that brings a sense of satisfaction in the work to all those involved. REFLECTIONS ON THE WORK TO IMPROVE THE CULTURAL DIVERSITY OF BCPC

When I started the work of trying to improve the diversity of our BCPC community I thought that we were likely to have a diverse client group if we had a more diverse staff, student and graduate group. Indeed we have found, through the feedback we have had from community organizations, that the cost of our courses, which are lengthy and not subsidized, and the evident lack of diversity amongst our students and staff make BCPC seem not immediately welcoming. It is clearly a white organization, not only because its members are not diverse but because its prevailing culture, in which the awareness of its being rooted in whiteness, is not fully owned. For instance, when discussing child development on courses, western methods are discussed quite exclusively, in spite of our attempts to hold cultural assumptions in mind. We have started to look more widely at different cultural approaches to child rearing on the introductory course. However, the work with asylum seekers has given us an opportunity to experience a much more diverse client group so that the overall client profile of BCPC has revolutionized overnight. I am hoping that there might be a knock-on effect in the other direction, i.e., towards more students and staff from ‘ethnic minorities’, especially as this work gives us an entrée to immigrant and refugee groups within Bristol and some credibility with them. Very recently Ounkar Kaur, the Indian staff member mentioned

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above, told me that our work with asylum seekers and refugees captured her interest in BCPC. In an email correspondence she said: You are correct in saying that I have been drawn to BCPC due to their work with people from minority groups, particularly as I am a minority myself. I have felt inspired and it is encouraging when organizations like BCPC make the commitment they have with the work with asylum seekers.

And went on to say: All the conversations that have taken place with Tony, yourself and I and the students have been very beneficial. I agree with you when you conclude that the small increase in the diversity of the student body and the developing curriculum are all signs that some progress has been made.

It seems that there is some indication that my optimism is justified. So far our project has been very well received in the statutory and voluntary sectors in Bristol. I have been asked to talk about our work at various meetings of community organizations and conferences.

Conclusion Reflecting now on the work to improve the diversity of BCPC as an organization, I can see how my understanding has changed. This change encompasses both what it means to be a diverse organization and an understanding of how to achieve diversity. A growing sense of my own whiteness, and, in particular, my growing understanding that whiteness and racism are intersubjectively constituted and endemically held within white culture have helped me to see and understand the whiteness of BCPC. I have discovered that our most important task is to make real links with different communities and have a genuine dialogue with them. This is tiring and uphill work, not funded and not easy. It takes us away from our known and comfortable world. But this needs to be done if we are to make any headway. So what would I say to organizations within the helping professions who wanted to increase their diversity? I would say:


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•

Make a conscious and sustained effort to forge real dialogic links with minority and immigrant groups and agencies that work with them.

•

Provide services that are easily accessible.

•

Work towards public funding if this is not already available.

•

Ensure that the training of helping professionals is culturally sensitive and that this sensitivity is evident in every aspect of theory and practice.

•

Become conscious of the way in which there is an endemic and institutionalized assumption within the organization that the white, western view is the base line from which others deviate.

•

Really want to do this for the richness it brings to us personally and as a small contribution to a more peaceful world.

What seems to me to be most important is the constant non-defensive inquiring attitude and a real desire to want to make changes. When I consider the dilemma of whether the equal opportunities committee should be at the centre or the margins to be most effective in promoting organizational change towards greater diversity, I now hear this as a polarized choice. Maybe it could be in both places, or neither place, or one place at one time and one at another. Maybe there is no right place. Certainly no perfect place. So are polarized positions which reflect dualistic thinking taken up because there is a fantasy that it is possible to ‘get it right’ and the answer is clear and simple? Maybe they are, but from time to time a resting place is reached. We might think that we have found a solution but it only works for a little while before fresh challenges arise. Though this could feel wearing, it is also exciting; it is life, it is lively and alive. I am inspired by the poem which I use for the chapter headings, Mental Fight, that Ben Okri (1999) wrote for the Millennium in which he says:

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We are greater than our despair. The negative aspects of humanity Are not the most real and authentic; The most authentic thing about us Is our capacity to create, to overcome, To endure, to transform, to love, And to be greater than our suffering. We are best defined by the mystery That we are still here, and can still rise Upwards, still create better civilizations, That we can face our raw realities, And that we will survive The greater despair That the greater future might bring. From Mental Fight by Ben Okri

Chapter 7


We should consecrate ourselves To clearing the dead wood and stale thinking And backward perceptions from our minds. We should begin to think anew. To prepare ourselves for a new air, For a fuller future. From Mental Fight by Ben Okri

This chapter explores ways in which the helping professions can become more ‘white-aware’ by including it in training, both on training courses to join the professions and in courses put on by the professions to ensure good practice in their workforce – continuing professional development (CPD) and continuing professional and personal development (CPPD). Courses to promote white awareness are particularly suitable for CPPD as a merely cognitive understanding of the area is not sufficient to bring about enough change. This is a complex matter to teach and great care needs to be taken in thinking through the issues involved. The needs of each training situation are different and this chapter explores the kinds of issues that might emerge and has suggestions for curricula. Specifically this chapter will explore: •

How white awareness training might be placed within training programmes.

•

How this training can be approached in regard to the overall curriculum including detailed suggestions for the teaching of theory and practice.

•

Teaching methods that would be useful and appropriate. 167

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Strategies for white awareness training Training for white awareness is, no doubt, most logically included in the area of intercultural awareness, encouragement of diversity or equal opportunities. It could become: •

The entire subject of a course or module.

•

Part of the curriculum of a wider course or module.

•

And/or it could inform every aspect of the training.

This calls into question how much white awareness, along with other diversity issues, are subjects in their own right or an attitude which can run through the rest of the training. The staff of training courses that I have been involved with have decided, after wrestling with this issue concerning diversity over many years, that it is both. The issue of white awareness is not something that can be taken off and on. It is a philosophical underpinning of an approach to life. Because of this, white awareness cannot be taught in a purely academic way. It needs to address the whole person so that not only is the subject understood or behaviour changed, but the whole question of being white and its place within a racialized environment is thoroughly understood emotionally. Any training for white awareness needs therefore to include an experiential element as well as a cognitive/academic one. When designing a course it is usual to design them with learning outcomes in mind. After a course on white awareness it would be reasonable to assume that the student will be more knowledgeable about the issues involved in white awareness. However, the extent to which they are more ‘white-aware’ themselves will depend on many factors including personal ones, as we will see below, and it is a process that is likely to carry on after the course has finished. If the course does lead to an increase in white awareness it may involve what Hawkins and Smith (2006, p.228) describe as a ‘shift in the room’. This demonstrates that a shift in consciousness has occurred and therefore transformational learning has taken place in the here-and-now training situation. As Hawkins and Smith describe, the emotional block to learning in the individual is held in place by cultural or systemic binds. The individual is not responsible for these cultural blind spots but does partake in them and can help to release them once they have become aware of them (Hawkins 2008). When working with individuals in training groups on progressing through the white awareness cycle described below and in


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Chapter 1, we are likely to encounter one of these cultural sticking places. Hawkins and Smith (2006, p.231) point to four ways in which trainers might notice when an individual is stuck in this way. I have summarized them here with typical examples that occur when working with white awareness.

Table 7.1 Shift in the room Evidence of a stuck position

How stuckness can be noticed when working with white awareness

The discussions which happen in the group tend towards polarities and either/or thinking.

There may be an insistence on finding the ‘truth’ about whether or not white people should feel guilty or not, rather than discuss the issues in a more complex way.

There is a ‘reality gap’ between the espoused value and a desire to act according to that value.

The participants may seem to understand that they partake in white privilege but not know what to do about this.

There is a backing off from meeting the challenge by demonstrating a reluctance to explore the issues.

Backing off from the implications of white awareness.

The participants seem to be stuck in a repetitive loop.

The participants may be stuck in a repetitive loop of guilt and/or denial without moving forward. Adapted from Hawkins and Smith (2006)

Hawkins and Smith (2006, p.236) say that the first step in making a shift is for individuals to become aware of their stuck position. They point to four different ways in which this might be carried out. I have summarized them in the box below with examples for white awareness training on the right hand side. In these ways, participants would not only have a better understanding intellectually of their place as white people in society, it would give them an experience that would lead them to ‘get’ what it is to be white at an embodied, emotional level as well.

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Table 7.2 Facilitating a shift in the room Facilitation

Use in white awareness training

The first step is to speed up or slow down the rate at which the behaviour is enacted.

A white member of a training group may deny that being white is an issue for them by saying they do not notice if someone is black or white. In this case the trainer could ask them to imagine themselves approaching a black person and a white person. Ask them to slow down their thoughts and feelings, reporting on them as they do. For example they might say ‘I see a black man approaching.’ The trainer could ask what physical sensations they notice. The participant might say they notice a momentary tightness in their chest but they decide to smile…etc. The trainer could take the course participant back to the feeling of tightness and ask them to slow down that moment. The participant might say: ‘I catch my breath and tense. I want to turn round and run…’

Increase or decrease the intensity with which the behaviour is experienced, thus bringing it forcefully to the group’s attention.

As whiteness is often experienced as just the ‘human ordinary’ it is quite common for white people to say things which ignore black people’s reality. A good example is the way a creamish/pinkish colour is often called ‘skin colour’. If this is done in the context of a training group the trainer might increase the intensity of this remark by indicating something brown and saying ‘No. That is skin colour.’


Change the meaning of what they see happening in order to reframe it.

For instance, there could be a situation where course members assert that the slavery of the past is irrelevant to today’s world. Trainers could ask one to imagine discovering that one of their ancestors was a slave and ask another to imagine that their ancestor was a slave owner. Do they imagine that if this were the case it would affect who they are today? Does this affect how they feel about slavery and how they feel about each other?

Change the standpoint from which the person is looking.

Course participants could imagine themselves coming into the room as a black person, thus changing their standpoint from white to black. They could be asked to say what they see and how they feel.

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Adapted from Hawkins and Smith (2006)

The cyclical model of ‘white awareness’ that was introduced in Chapter 1, and is further dicussed later in this chapter, can be used to structure a journey towards white awareness in training. Each movement towards another place in the cycle requires a ‘shift’ because, as we saw above, the course participants will need to understand all five areas thoroughly and not just intellectually, if they are to become more ‘white-aware’. The skill of the trainer is to help the participant make the ‘shift in the room’ and to recognize when it has happened in order to ensure that the learning is happening in an embodied way. It is important that this awareness emerges organically and not by manipulating or cajoling the participant. Some may resist any level of insight into their own role in white privilege but, if an inquiring attitude is adopted by trainers, they will not hector or shame them, but accept what people discover for themselves. The skill of the trainer is to provide good learning experiences in a spirit of inquiry.

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Courses in white awareness More often than not diversity training in the professions, both pre- and post-qualification, is carried out within a mixed race group. It would be unusual therefore, particularly in areas of a country where there are substantial minority ethnic communities, to have a completely white group. Predominantly white groups can occur in parts of a country where there are few black and minority ethnic communities, though one or two black participants may be present. Where there are mixed groups it is obviously not appropriate to make white awareness the only focus of the programme. What can be central, nevertheless, is a knowledge and awareness of participants’ own culture and race, be it black or white or mixed race. If a course starts by asking participants to describe their own race it is liable to throw up the difficulty that white participants may have in doing this. This reveals a dilemma for diversity training which starts from the question: ‘how can the area of white awareness be covered in a way that is relevant for black participants?’ Although black participants might find it refreshing to hear how white privilege could be better understood, it may be hard for white people in the group to become undefensive and deeply self-exploratory with black people present. The same may be true for black people. People with mixed heritage may be in a different situation. They may report, for instance, that they do not feel at home in either community. Whatever the situation for them it will be important to hear and understand it. Each course, be it pre- or post-qualification, has a choice that needs to be made in the light of its particular context. It could therefore be appropriate to put on special courses or modules for white people or include white awareness within a broader curriculum of a course or module or a mixture of both.

Special courses for white professionals in white awareness A useful way to organize short courses or modules for white students in white awareness is by using the White Awareness Model I introduced in Chapter 1 as a holding structure. On any course of this nature, where behavioural and emotional learning is as important as cognitive and intellectual, it is important to strike a balance between the presentation of ideas and experiential exercises. It is


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possible to present the ideas, possibly using PowerPoint slides, and then attend to the experiential side or vice versa. Theory can build on and make sense of experience or experience can pave the way for the theory. Another model is to introduce one or two experiential exercises first which give participants an experience from which to understand the theory, then theory which provides a frame for practice and then more experiential exercises for further exploration. In all cases it is probably better to attend to each factor in the model in both ways as you proceed so that theory and practice go hand in hand. I have developed the model so as to show how each stage applies, first to the theory and then to the practice, of white awareness and can thus be used as a tool in training.

Understanding white awareness from a theoretical perspective Figure 7.1 shows how one can approach white awareness from a theoretical perspective.

2. History of colonialization and how we are still benefiting by it

1. ‘Whites’ tend to see white as the ‘human ordinary’

5. integrating white awareness using systemic and intersubjectivity theories

3. Nature of guilt and shame and how they can lead to a deepening of understanding

4. Psychological understanding of white awareness

Figure 7.1: Theory of white awareness

I will take each of the positions on the White Awareness Model regarding theory (above) and look into them in more detail.

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1. ‘WHITES’ TEND TO SEE WHITE AS THE ‘HUMAN ORDINARY’

Here theories derived from White Studies can be taught (see Chapter 1) as these theories show how white people tend to deny that whiteness has any content; it is just the ‘human ordinary’ (Apple 1998). Chapter 1 of this book could be used and in it various texts are mentioned (McIntosh 1988; Dyer 1997; Kincheloe et al. 1998; Frankenberg 1999) but if one of these is to be chosen I would suggest White Reign (Kincheloe et al. 1998) as it is written in a manner that is easy to read for those who are not well versed in sociology. These books are all American. Another, also mentioned in Chapter 1, is an excellent British book specifically about being white called White Identities (Bonnett 2000). I would particularly recommend this book, especially if teaching in a British context. The only book I have found about being white written by a member of the helping professions was written by a counsellor, Gill Tuckwell, whose book, Racial Identity: White Counsellors and Therapists (Tuckwell 2002), though written for counsellors, is also valuable for those in other helping professions. She has a very useful chapter on training. The second edition of Race, Culture and Counselling by Colin Lago (2006) has introduced two chapters specifically about being white. A paper by the American psychotherapist Lynne Jacobs ‘For whites only’ (Jacobs 2000) is also informative across the helping professions as is Robert Altman’s paper, ‘How white people suffer from racism’ (Altman 2003). All these books and papers have been described more fully in Chapter 1. 2. THE HISTORY OF COLONIALIZATION AND HOW WE ARE STILL BENEFITING BY IT

This subject is best informed by postcolonial theorists. They describe and analyse the effect of colonialization on those who were colonized, both at the time and the continuing effect in the present day. Postcolonial Theory and White Studies complement each other and their analyses tend to agree. Some authors such as Frankenberg write in both areas. White Studies are on the whole written by white people and postcolonial theory tends to be written by black people. A good text for this subject is Contemporary Postcolonial Theory: A Reader edited by Padmini Mongia (2003) as it has many helpful papers on different aspects of this study. The introduction is particularly helpful in introducing this subject.


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McIntosh’s paper (1988), ‘White privilege and male privilege’ is an exceptionally powerful one in showing how white people are still benefiting by being white. 3. THE NATURE OF GUILT AND SHAME AND HOW THEY CAN LEAD TO A DEEPENING OF UNDERSTANDING

As I show in Chapter 3, much has been written, often in the books mentioned in point 1 above, about how white people often feel guilty and/or ashamed about their whiteness once they start to understand their privilege. However not much has been written about how guilt and shame might be used to point a way forward rather than just being debilitating, useless and irrelevant feelings. This might be best explored on training courses in an experiential way and in discussion using Chapter 3 as a stimulus. Some courses may wish to include something about how shame and guilt affect our sense of self in general (as opposed to guilt and shame in relation to racism). However, it is a complex subject and may be too involved for a short course of which this is not the main subject. Chapter 3 gives some guidance as to which theorists are helpful on this subject and the chapter itself may be sufficient for this purpose. 4. A PSYCHOLOGICAL UNDERSTANDING OF WHITE AWARENESS

Although this subject seems to fit best within the study of psychiatry, psychology, psychotherapy and counselling, some background theory may be helpful for people in other helping professions, as it will help them understand themselves and their clients better and is an essential step towards full white awareness. An understanding of psychological defence mechanisms, particularly splitting and projection, is useful. Chapters 1 and 2 of this book will be of use and have some helpful pointers. 5. INTEGRATING WHITE AWARENESS USING SYSTEMIC AND INTERSUBJECTIVTIY THEORIES

An introduction to systemic and intersubjectivity theories is to be found towards the end of Chapter 1 and in Chapter 4. Those who want to explore this more deeply can read the texts cited in this chapter. A particularly useful and available book is The Healing Relationship in Gestalt Therapy:

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A Dialogic/Self Psychology Approach by Hycner and Jacobs (1995). Their approach helps to resolve some of the dilemmas thrown up in this work and allows white people to move on to authentic relating without denying their privilege, as I show in Chapter 1. I regard the understanding of white awareness from a theoretical perspective to be most useful when taught alongside an experiential approach. Certainly it is much less likely to be taken on board and understood in an emotional and embodied way if it is not. I therefore suggest below ways of approaching this subject experientially.

An experiential approach to teaching white awareness When it comes to teaching white awareness experientially the model can look like Figure 7.2 below: 1. I can’t think about being white . . It does not have any substance

2. How can I learn more about how my whiteness impacts on others?

5. How can I relate authentically within a systemic context from my white position?

3. Feeling guilty and/or ashamed about my whiteness

4. Exploring my core attitudes to my own whiteness

Figure 7.2: Teaching white awareness experientially

Because this version of the model has been designed to help explore these steps experientially, they are couched in more ‘experience near’ terms. Experiential teaching methods can include role play, discussions in small groups including pairs and threes, use of creative media such as drawing, music and movement, sculpts etc. These techniques are useful because they


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help us to get beyond intellectual resistances and encourage the participants to understand what is being taught by experiencing it personally (Zografou 2008). Work with students experientially also gives opportunities to work with a ‘shift in the room’ as described above. Below I describe the steps in the model in more detail: 1. I CAN’T THINK ABOUT BEING WHITE. IT DOES NOT HAVE ANY SUBSTANCE

In that the participants of this course are engaging with this issue it is likely that they at least have some inkling that this is a problematic statement. However, we human beings are quite capable of believing something at one level and not at another. Here are some suggestions for helping participants think about the issue more deeply: •

Write down associations to the word white and then share these in pairs before bringing back to the whole group. Do any themes emerge? If the course is held over several days they could try this exercise with family and friends.

•

Write down ten ways in which your whiteness gives you privileges. Then compare to McIntosh’s list (McIntosh 1988). (This exercise is probably best undertaken before McIntosh’s list has been read.)

•

Think of three privileges that black people have given you in your life.

2. HOW CAN I LEARN MORE ABOUT HOW MY WHITENESS IMPACTS ON OTHERS?

At this stage we need an ability to stand back from our own experience and empathize with that of others. Here are suggestions for exercises: •

Draw yourself as a black person. How does that feel?

•

If the course is held over more than one day, course members could be encouraged to have a conversation with a black person about what it feels like to be black. Then they could try to explain to them what it feels like to be white.

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•

Write a short piece about a relationship with a black person. How would that story be altered if you were black?

3. FEELING GUILTY AND/OR ASHAMED ABOUT MY WHITENESS

If this stage is to be reached then participants need to allow themselves to experience a knowledge of white privilege and to explore the possibility of feeling guilt or shame in relation to black people’s experience within a racialized environment. Some exercises are as follows: •

Fill in the questionnaire ‘Inquiry into guilt and shame felt in regard to racism’ which can be found on p.84. Discuss in pairs and then the whole group.

•

Brainstorm on a flip chart all the reparative steps that might be carried out to make up for the harm done to black people through racism and/or colonization. In pairs think of one of these ways the participants might actually carry out. Come back to the whole group. If the group continues over more than one day, re-visit this exercise to see if anyone has made headway with it.

•

Provide the group with Kevin Rudd’s apology to the indigenous peoples of Australia (Rudd 2008). When they have read it ask them to prepare a short apology to black people for how they have been treated in their profession. Those who choose to could read theirs to the group. If this is a large group it may be best to suggest forming small groups for this purpose. The course leader could then ask the group to look at how convincing or otherwise these are as apologies.

•

Ask participants to form threes and assign each one the letters A, B or C. ‘A’ explains to the others why s/he should not feel guilty about colonization. ‘B’ then explains why s/he should feel guilty. ‘C’ listens in role as a black person and tells the other two what s/he has heard and what it felt like to listen to them both. They then discuss what was discovered together before coming back to the main group.


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4. EXPLORING MY CORE ATTITUDES TO MY OWN WHITENESS

Here the participant can look more deeply into their own core beliefs which allow them to take on white privilege unquestioningly. Here are some exercises: •

Close your eyes, sitting comfortably. Imagine yourself in a room with white people and a black person enters. What are your immediate, spontaneous thoughts?

•

Finish the following sentences with your first thought: °

I am white because…

°

whiteness gives me…

°

My whiteness is…

°

The best thing about being white is…

°

The worst thing about being white is…

°

If I wasn’t white I would feel…

Discuss in pairs and then the whole group. 5. HOW CAN I RELATE AUTHENTICALLY WITHIN A SYSTEMIC CONTEXT FROM MY WHITE POSITION?

Here there is a shift away from the personal to the systemic so that the intersubjective, cultural position is fully understood including one’s own place in it. This involves non-dualistic thinking as described in Chapter 4. Students’ readiness or not to understand this level may become clearer when working on stage 4 and how they are able to respond to the challenges found there. For instance, how far do they think of whiteness as something they ‘have’ or as a manifestation of culture in which they ‘partake’? Exercises which encourage systemic, intersubjective thinking could be: 1.

Ask participants to write down several phrases they heard about (a) ‘whiteness’ and (b) ‘blackness’ in their family/community as they were growing up and in the present day (e.g. ‘whiter than white’, ‘black deeds’). Get into pairs and reflect on how that might affect them and their present community consciously or unconsciously

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before coming back to the main group. This exercise could also be a brainstorm. 2.

Ask participants to form pairs. Each pair can engage with the following questions: °

What is whiteness (‘blackness’) in our relationship?

°

Where does that reside?

°

Where is the contrasting colour?

These questions may seem puzzling or annoying at first, but ask participants to persevere as they are more like Zen koans and can produce deeper understanding.

Exploring whiteness in a mixed race group As mentioned above, it is my contention that in any course of which the subject is diversity or intercultural awareness it is best to start with participants’ understanding of themselves and their own place within a diverse society. This is in contrast to courses that focus on the cultural differences of others. Often these courses implicitly start from a position of white being the ‘normal’ from which others deviate. I am not suggesting that such courses are meaning to set out with this stance in mind. It is a position which is often taken up naturally because of cultural pressures. To take up a different position takes some work to push against these cultural norms. In a group which has black, white and mixed race participants it is usually best to start with each person reviewing their own racial position. This is different, though in some ways connected, from one’s cultural position which such courses may legitimately want to explore as well. Here, however, we are looking at racial differences. Often these can be ducked by talking about culture, justifiable though this is. Cultural differences may affect racial differences as I show in Chapter 1, but issues such as class, gender, national cultural differences, etc. can take up the time and attention of the group so that the matter of race which baldly involves ‘blackness’ and whiteness can be ignored. These much ‘hotter’ issues can be safely disregarded whilst apparently dealing with relevant topics. Putting the question to course members ‘Are you black or white?’ can be a very challenging question. Those who think of themselves as black may have no difficulty in answering this question, but those who think of themselves as white might, in my experience, find the question


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embarrassing. Certain people may not know how to categorize themselves, either because they are of mixed race or because they come from a non-western European country which is not obviously black but is also often not called white. In a series on the BBC called White which was shown in March 2008, even Eastern European people seemed to be classed as not white, for example. In this context it is not necessary to make a decision about who is black and who is white, but it can be helpful to use this question to bring out the issues. Follow-up questions could be ‘how does being black or white affect me?’ and ‘how does it feel to relate to people of the other “colour”?’ If it is practicable, it can help to put people into two groups – a black one and a white one – so that they can explore this together. The two groups could then come back together to say what they found. Alternatively individuals from each group could pair up with each pair being ‘racially’ mixed where possible. This way, racial issues can be faced head on. The issue of whiteness could also be explored using some of the material in the course design for only white people above. The issue of ‘blackness’ could be explored by using the Helms People of Colour Identity model (Helms 1995). Depending on the aims of the course it may be possible then to go on to look at how these differences affect the relationships formed with clients/patients. Role-played situations could be used to explore these situations. Here are two examples: A black client is reluctant to tell his young white psychologist about traumatic events he suffered in Africa, saying that she could not possibly relate to the horrors that happened to him there. He says he is concerned that he would shock her and spoil her faith in human beings. A black trainee had been taken onto a course although she did not have the initial experience normally expected of students. This ‘positive discrimination’ had been one clear factor that had led the supervisee to struggle to be able to understand the basics of the course.

If the group feels open to a more personally exposing exploration, it may be better to use real-life situations that professionals are experiencing with clients. With a confidentiality agreement, members of the group could bring a situation from their work to explore. It could be acted out and then

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‘frozen’ to explore the dynamics of the relationship, in a discussion facilitated by the trainer. Using this demonstration as a model, group members might then form small groups in which each brings a situation from their work.

Conclusion In this chapter, I have shown how training in white awareness can be undertaken either as stand-alone courses or as part of wider diversity training. These are relevant, both to initial professional training, and for Continuing Professional and Personal Development (CPPD). Becoming more ‘white-aware’ is a learning process and is likely to happen over time, both in training and afterwards, when working in the field. It would be a good idea to set up an email group or special section of a website so that course members can share insights they have gained after the course finishes. Some members of the course may wish to continue to meet as a peer group for continued exploration along the lines of the group I was part of and described in Chapter 2. In many ways, being part of a grouping that predominates globally is hard to investigate if you are part of it yourself but, if we are to have communities which live together peacefully, taking responsibility for this learning is very important.

Chapter 8


We could use the new era To clean our eyes, To see the world differently, To see ourselves more clearly. From Mental Fight by Ben Okri

Introduction Supervision is becoming accepted as important in most of the helping professions. It is the place where professionals reflect on their work so as to understand it better and to improve their practice. Supervision can be provided individually or in groups and is sometimes undertaken as part of line management and sometimes separately by peers or senior professionals for professional development. In fact supervision can be a key aspect of continuing professional development (CPD) or continuing professional and personal development (CPPD) as it provides a place for the professional to reflect on how theory sheds light on practice and can even allow practice to create theory. It is a place where new learning can be crystallized and brought into the work. Hawkins and Shohet have shown how all people within the helping professions can benefit from supervision to enrich and enhance their practice and prevent burn-out (Hawkins and Shohet 2006, p.27). Although some supervision provides a line management role in ensuring that work is being carried out satisfactorily from a management point of view, it is useful for supervision also to provide this developmental role in the work of the professional. Nowhere is this more important than in the area of white people working across difference. It is the place where the effect of one’s whiteness can be explored and reflected upon most deeply. It is a place where one’s 183

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cultural and ‘white-centric’ assumptions can be wondered about and challenged in a useful way. It is more usual for the supervisor to focus on the black client’s experience, but my contention is that it is, perhaps paradoxically, more likely for the supervisee to understand their client better if they start by focusing on their own whiteness and the meaning that that has within the work. In order to be able to do this effectively in supervision, it is important to have a dialogic and inquiring attitude. The supervisor needs to foster an attitude of inquiry rather than dogma about good practice. In that way the supervisee can stay open to discovering their own prejudiced or blinkered assumptions and how these affect their work with any particular client. This attitude will also help to encourage a stance of dialogue in the work with the client. In a supervisory relationship this means not only a willingness to encourage and explore the meaning of whiteness in the supervisee/client relationship, but also the white supervisor needs to be open to the meaning of their own whiteness in their relationship with their supervisees. One particularly complex area is the way issues of power and authority are present for all those concerned. The supervisory relationship is already complicated in this way because of the authority vested in the role of supervisor. In working as a white person within a racialized context, power dynamics are compounded because of the inequality of power between those who are white and those who are black. In this chapter we will see how supervision can play its part in ensuring that differences of this sort are understood and responded to appropriately. There will be an exploration of the importance of taking one’s whiteness into account when supervising; how power dynamics can affect the working relationships; and an exploration of how whiteness affects the seven modes of supervision described by Hawkins and Shohet (2006). Finally there will be a discussion of best practice within a racialized environment in supervision for a white supervisor.

Awareness of whiteness in supervision Several other writers on supervision (Inskipp and Proctor 1995; Brown and Bourne 1996; Carroll and Holloway 1999) have pointed out that the supervision situation creates a more complicated set of relationships than relating one to one. In supervision there are at least three relationships: client–supervisee; supervisee–supervisor; client–supervisor. (There are


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more than three in group supervision, as well as when there is a supervisor of a supervisor.) These authors point out that this is complicated further in a situation of cultural difference. In recent years it has become not unusual for this to be taken into account within supervision, but the focus of this attention is often on the experience of the black person and the meaning of whiteness is rarely, if ever, discussed. It is unusual, in my experience, for the question in supervision to be ‘how do you think your being white impacts on this situation?’ It is more usual to ask ‘how do you think this person feels about being black in this situation?’ The first question puts the focus on the white person and how their whiteness influences the dynamic. By looking at the issues in this way we can start to address some of the responsibility that white people have within a racial context. It makes the issue theirs as much as others and implicitly brings the unequal power dynamic to the fore. When we ask a black person how they feel, or wonder how the black client feels, there is an implicit assumption that they are ‘different’ within a ‘normal’ context. This can subtly emphasize and reinforce the dynamic of the white person being the ‘normal’ one and therefore the most powerful, as we saw in Chapter 1. POWER AND WHITENESS IN THE SUPERVISORY RELATIONSHIP

We have seen how white people have an implicitly powerful place in society, particularly as there is an assumption among white people that they are the ‘normal’ ones (Aanerud 1997; Dyer 1997; Frankenberg 1999) and this imbalance of power is inevitably played out in professional relationships including the relationship between supervisee and supervisor and between supervisee and client. Brown and Bourne (1996) have shown how there are several different combinations of relationships present in supervision and they also explore in some depth the different power relationships. They point out (Brown and Bourne 1996, p.39) all the different possible combinations that can arise when someone from a minority group (often a black group) exists in each of the possible roles and the complex power dynamics that result. Inskipp and Proctor (1995) have also pointed to the dynamics in relationships between black and white in a series of eight triangles showing all the possible combinations of supervisor, client and counsellor with each being black or white. Each triangle has its own dynamic which is influenced by the different power dynamics when black or white people take on each of the different roles.

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To draw this out further, here is another triangle: one which demonstrates the multifaceted power dynamics inevitably present in supervision that includes black and white people. At each corner there are three different types of power: role power, cultural power and individual power; see Figure 8.1 below: Role power

Cultural power

Individual power

Figure 8.1: Power triangle in Hawkins and Shohet (2006) and Ryde (2000)

‘Role power’ points to the power inherent in the role of supervisor. ‘Cultural power’ concerns the power of the dominant ethnic grouping, usually someone who was born within the white, western majority group. This power is emphasized if that person is male, middle-class, heterosexual and able-bodied. ‘Individual power’ points to the particular power of the individual’s personality which may be over and above that given to the person through role or culture. When all three different sources of power are brought together in the same person the effect is unequivocal. Cultural and/or individual power is not necessarily with the supervisor. When they are the power dynamics may be simpler, but could well be insensitively misused or even overlooked as they are taken for granted. When cultural power is not with the supervisor, in other words the supervisor is black and the supervisee is white, there may be conflict in establishing authority which could be subtle and hard to open up as an issue. Whatever the case, power relationships in the supervision are better explored than ignored. While it is spurious for power, and therefore authority, to be automatically invested in a white person, it is appropriate for a supervisor to carry greater authority through their role. White professionals who are aware of the effect of their whiteness on black people can soft pedal when it comes to using the authority of their role appropriately which can do a disservice


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to the supervisee. Here is an example in which a white supervisor played down their authority with a supervisee who was a black student: A white supervisor was about to have her first black student supervisee. The supervisee had been taken on to a course in spite of the fact that she did not have the entry requirements normally expected of students. This ‘positive discrimination’ had been one clear factor that had led the supervisee to struggle to be able to progress well with her assignments. The supervisor, not wanting to appear racist, was very tentative in confronting the supervisee about difficulties with her work. In fact the supervisor’s worst fears were realized when the supervisee complained to her tutor that her supervisor was racist. This led to a further backing off from confrontation.

In order to understand this complex situation it is helpful to bear in mind Karpman’s (1968) work on the dynamics of the persecutor/victim/rescuer triangle. This dynamic is characterized by the way in which these roles, having been established, tend to revolve between the players. Here the supervisor appears to be the persecutor, the supervisee the victim and possibly the tutor the rescuer. In this example, the roles changed with the accusation of racism so that the supervisor apparently became the victim. In fact the role power dynamic was with the supervisor. Had she been more experienced and confident she may have been able to work with the supervisee more effectively in the first place to explore the situation in all its complexity. This would include the way the power dynamics of the supervisee/supervisor relationship is compounded by the cultural context of a difference in race and the racial/cultural context in which a student is taken on to a course without the usual entry requirements. By appropriately keeping her authority and not being afraid to open up the complexity of the issues knotted up in this situation, the supervisee (and supervisor) would have received a rich learning experience which any student might rightly expect where appropriate authority is taken. If the supervisor had hounded this supervisee out of the course it would have been a clear abuse of power. As it was, the misuse of power was much more subtle: appropriate authority was not taken and the supervisee’s difficulties with her course were compounded. One might go so far as to say that the supervisor exhibited, if not racism, then clear prejudice in her assumption that these issues cannot be tackled openly and honestly.

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The seven modes of supervision in relation to whiteness within the supervision In their book Supervision in the Helping Professions, Hawkins and Shohet (2006) propose a seven mode model of supervision which ensures that the supervision widens its focus in an inclusive and wide-ranging way. The definitions of the modes are as follows: •

Mode 1: The focus is on the client and on the actual phenomena exhibited within the session. It is important that this focus is on the actual phenomenological occurrences rather than the interpretation made from what is observed.

•

Mode 2: In mode two there is an exploration of the strategies and interventions used by the supervisee. Here the focus is on the supervisee’s interventions. These are usually verbal but could be non-verbal.

•

Mode 3: The focus is on the relationship between the client and the supervisee. This mode is not about either the client or the supervisee but on the system they create together. In this mode the supervisor focuses on the conscious and unconscious interaction between the two.

•

Mode 4: In this mode the focus of the supervision is on the internal processes of the supervisee and how these are affecting and being affected by the work and their working relationships. This includes the emotional reactions and resonances of the supervisee, sometimes called countertransference.

•

Mode 5: The focus of this mode is on the relationship between the supervisor and the supervisee. In that the supervisor intervenes in the work between supervisee and client, s/he is also part of this system and what happens between supervisee and supervisor is therefore significant. Often called ‘parallel process’, it is surprisingly common for a similar pattern to occur between supervisor and supervisee to that which occurs in the supervisee/client relationship.

•

Mode 6: In mode six the supervisor focuses on their own internal world. Often sensations, emotions, images etc.


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experienced by the supervisor may have a bearing on the work that is being supervised. •

Mode 7: Here the focus widens from the triad of client/supervisor/supervisee to include the contexts in which the work exists. This can include the immediate work context and all other contexts right up to the societal and even the global/ecological.

The issue of whiteness is present when at least one in the supervisor/supervisee/client triad is white and it is fruitful to bear this in mind when supervising. (Even when none of these three is white, the context is often white so issues of whiteness nearly always pertain in some way.) This can be regarded as an ‘issue’ to bring to supervision (as in mode seven where the cultural issues might be highlighted), but, at the same time, all aspects of the work are shot through with the resonance of this issue and so affect all the modes. Below in Table 8.1 are some ways in which the modes are effected with an example on the right: Table 8.1 The seven modes in relation to whiteness Mode in relation to ‘whiteness’

Mode 1 Here there could be a focus on the difference in skin colour and other phenomena which denote difference in race. In mode one we notice the phenomenon without trying to understand it or making interpretations. Mode 2 Here we explore the responses made by the supervisor in relation to the whiteness within the supervision situation. It might also be relevant to notice interventions we do not make for fear of offending or not being ‘politically correct’.

Example

An African client sat on the floor rather than the chair provided. In this mode the supervisor should encourage the supervisee to just notice this rather than jump to conclusions.

A white supervisee had a black client but the difference between them had not been mentioned. The supervisor explored this with her in supervision. They wondered together why this might be and whether and how this could be addressed.

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Mode 3 The exploration in mode 3 concerns the effect of whiteness within the relationship between the professional and the client including how this manifests in the process of the work. Mode 4 Here the focus is on the effect of whiteness on the supervisee including the more unconscious or semi-conscious responses of the supervisee which seems to be responding to the cultural material e.g. racist fantasies.

Mode 5 Here the focus is on how the white/black dynamic between the supervisee and client is mirrored in the supervision relationship.

Mode 6 Here the supervisor attends to their own cultural assumptions and their own responses which seem to arise as a result of this material.

The white supervisee above explored in supervision how, in the relationship between them, they had been resistant to looking at this difference. When it was brought up by the supervisee it made it possible for the client to explore her feelings about relating to white people. In the example used above, the supervisee explored the way she felt protective of the client which, when explored more deeply, included a sense of underlying superiority. These were difficult feelings to own but, having owned them, it did help the supervisee to see that this sense of superiority was based on deep- rooted prejudice and helped her to relate more authentically to the client. The supervisor in the above example became aware of feeling superior to her supervisee which focused on her apparent ability to see her blindness to the issues brought about by racial difference between them. Becoming aware of this alerted her to wonder if feelings of superiority underlay her supervisee’s responses to her client. If this were the case it could be a ‘parallel process’. In other words the process in the relationship between client and supervisee was being mirrored in the relationship between the supervisee and supervisor. In relation to the example above the supervisor became aware of feeling superior. She had learnt to be interested in rather than resistant to these feelings and responses as they are often helpful in understanding the dynamics of the work being supervised. These do not necessarily lead to a parallel process as in the case above. It is possible to pick up the feelings/responses of the client. For example, a supervisor had a feeling of shame in relation to a black client which was helpful to bring


Mode 6 continued

Mode 7 In this mode there is an exploration of the wider context in which whiteness affects the work that is carried out, particularly the organisational, social and political contexts.

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in to the supervision as it alerted them to possible feelings of shame in the client and the effect this was having on him.

In the case of the client above the affect for the client of working within a white organisation was explored.

Adapted from Hawkins and Shohet (2006)

By thinking about the issue of whiteness in all of the modes, this dimension of the work can be explored fully without being split off into a special part of the supervision.

Best practice in white-conscious supervision If we are white supervisors we need to be conscious of our whiteness and how that impacts on the supervision as well as that of our supervisees if they are white. But rather than bemoan this situation it is more fruitful to bring it into awareness and be interested in it. This may be a useful guide to our practice as I have shown in relation to the modes above. Because the supervisor in the examples was interested in her feelings of shame, she was able to understand something about the client’s world that may otherwise have been hidden. This phenomenological approach to the work means that the focus of interest, both for the supervisor and the supervisee, is on their own experience and how that impacts on the world of the client. The work thus becomes like a collaborative action research project (Reason and Bradbury 2001) in which the experienced world of all three is made known more richly. This point is expanded upon in Gilbert and Evans (2000) who show how the context in which our lives are lived cannot be separated from the narrow context of the relationship between clients and supervisees and supervisees and supervisors. A complex interrelationship exists and influences all aspects of the phenomenal world of all three which will impact on their interactions.

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As this is the case we cannot ignore the cultural basis in which we all interpret our understanding of the external world and which shapes our responses. In the case of white people, their whiteness is part of this cultural baggage. It is therefore important to understand that we ourselves are not culturally or racially neutral. Every individual is embedded in their culture and, if we are to work effectively with people from cultures different to our own and with different experiences of race, it is important to have an understanding of our own culture and position within a racialized environment as well as the assumptions we take as read because of this context. In the case of white people this is particularly true as there is a tendency to think that race and even culture is something others ‘have’, as I have shown in previous chapters. If the supervisor espouses an attitude that will help the supervisee to be less defensive in presenting work in the supervision, certain attitudes and feelings cease to be either wrong or right but interesting. This approach helps to open up a space in which real experience can come to the fore and be valued. This attitude of interest in what is experienced in relation to whiteness in supervision is not only true if the supervisor is white but if any of the three are white. The kinds of issues that arise when those in different roles are white are numerous and cannot necessarily be foreseen. However some dynamics may be common and I have included them below. WHITE SUPERVISOR

If the supervisor and supervisee are white and the client black, then it is most likely that the cultural and role power is not with the client. Cultural assumptions can be most pronounced as well, including over-compensating for the difference. It is only too common in my experience for the supervisor and supervisee to wonder together about cultural differences and think they have understood them without allowing the client into this conversation so that they can feel properly heard and understood. It is common, for instance, for black clients from non-western countries to be unfamiliar with non-western-style professional interventions in their lives. Although these may need to be carefully explained it does not mean that they cannot make use of them. Counselling, for instance, may be unfamiliar, but it can potentially be understood and use made of it. If the supervisor is white and the supervisee is black, the cultural power issue enters the supervision room more obviously. In this case, and with a white client, it would be important for the supervisor to explore their own


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responses. They might feel an alliance with the client as they are both white and the supervisee is black and either feel the need to explain the client to the supervisee or guard against this and withdraw full engagement with the client. The situation is complex and the more it is opened up for undefensive exploration the better. If both supervisee and client are black the supervisor may feel deskilled and excluded which could lead to the work not being properly held in supervision. If the dynamic is opened up for discussion there is more chance that trust can be established and good work can be done. BLACK SUPERVISOR

If the supervisor is black and the supervisee and client are white the cultural power is not with the supervisor (although role power is and personal power may well be). Addressing the issue of whiteness might well be hard for the supervisor. It could become evident that the supervisee feels that the supervisor does not understand her or her client but have difficulty in articulating this for fear of seeming prejudiced or not being ‘politically correct’. If the black supervisor has an understanding of white issues it may be possible for them to open up this area for exploration. If the client is black and the supervisee white the supervisee may well feel that they have to defer to the supervisor to understand her client. Of course a black supervisor may well be a good resource for the supervisee in this situation but it may be important for the black supervisor to work with the black/white dynamic in a sensitive and complex way. If the supervisee is black and the client is white then it could seem hard for the supervisee to open up the black/white issues and feel that it is possible to be ‘there’ for the client with their history of white privilege and power.

Supervision training Although it is common for the issue of diversity to be included in supervision courses (Hawkins and Shohet 2006, p.144), it is unusual for the specific issue of whiteness to be included. I have found, in courses that I run through the Centre for Supervision and Team Development, that it is useful for white supervisors to develop an awareness of their own whiteness and the issue of being white within the work as well as black supervisors having awareness of white issues. As I have shown in previous

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chapters, they are then in a better position to help their white supervisees to work effectively within a racialized environment. It would be possible to adapt some of the material, including the exercises, in the last chapter for use on a supervision course. The Model of White Awareness (see Figure 1.1 and p.49) could be used to look at the supervisor’s own understanding of the issues and as a map for supervisors to use in trying to understand their supervisees’ level of awareness. It will also show a process by which awareness can increase. Specific exercises for use on supervision courses could include: •

The participants form triads in which one becomes a supervisor, one a supervisee and one an observer. The supervisee brings the issue of not being able to mention her whiteness to her client. The client is black. It would be best if this could be a real situation where confidentiality has been ensured as it brings more learning to the group and has more validity and vitality but otherwise it could be role played. When the three have been in these roles for ten minutes, there is a de-briefing in which the supervisor receives feedback. The participants return to the whole group where certain questions could be engaged with such as: ‘how did you feel when you were about to raise this issue?’ and ‘were the responses the ones that you expected?’

•

An exercise using the seven modes and working with in the whole group rather than triads can be as follows: One white participant brings a case of a black client to the group for supervision. Most learning will arise if a real client is brought. (The appropriate confidentiality will need to be established.) Each of the other participants will be asked to represent one of the seven modes. Where there are more than eight in the group some modes will be represented by more than one participant. When this has been arranged the trainer will call out a mode (from one to seven) and participants who represent that particular mode will assume the supervisor’s chair and supervise in the manner of that mode. The purpose of this exercise is to address the whiteness of the supervisee but with all modes coming into play.


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This same exercise could be used to explore the situation with the white person being in all the different roles.

Conclusion In supervision it can be crucial to understand the meaning of whiteness within the supervision triad even though this is challenging and demanding. It is often fraught with difficult feelings, particularly as these are likely to have been ignored and denied over years. It is nevertheless of utmost importance to work with this dimension, particularly in our multicultural and multiracial society. In order to take whiteness into account it may help us to encourage our supervisees to hold in mind the following: 1.

That it is important to become conscious of our own whiteness.

2.

That habitual ways of thinking may arise from our being ‘white’.

3.

That we, as white professionals, also exist in a culture which is no more or less valid than the client’s.

4.

That the dialogue between us will throw up clashes and these may be a fruitful way of understanding and negotiating differences between us.

5.

That we will work more sensitively if we familiarize ourselves with the ways in which we ‘perform’ our whiteness (Frankenberg 1999, p.3) to those who are not white.

6.

That it is good to be sensitive to how whiteness might affect professional relationships. To do this we need to reflect on our own implicit assumptions before trying to understand others.

Supervisory sessions that accept that prejudiced feelings are inevitable, given our cultural heritage, may open up genuine explorations in which they can be challenged and changed. This open supervision does not put into question the basic worth of the supervisee who reveals prejudiced or culturally insensitive attitudes. They could indeed be praised for their courage in being prepared to own to difficult thoughts, feelings and beliefs. Having been voiced and explored, a genuine change of attitude is the most likely outcome, particularly if there is a real meeting across these differences.

Conclusion

This is the Best Time to Dream the Best Dream of them All

In the kingdom of this world, We can still astonish the gods in humanity And be the stuff of future legends, If we but dare to be real, And have the courage to see That this is the time to dream The best dream of them all. From Mental Fight by Ben Okri

Maybe it really will ‘astonish the gods’ (see Ben Okri’s poem above) if white people fully comprehend their place within a racialized environment. It is not easy to fully understand our own position as white people if what we think we are seems to be just ‘normal’, particularly if that normality affords us an easy, privileged position in society. I find, when I try to explain to white people what this book is about, that they have trouble ‘getting’ it. Black people have no difficulty at all. We white people are like fish that swim in a white sea. A fish does not know that ‘sea’ exists. We find it hard to stand back and see what is going on in the way that black people can. This book has tried to bring this invisible white context into focus and I hope that, by becoming more ‘white-aware’, white helping professionals will work more sensitively and effectively within a racialized context. Maybe this will help to contribute to a more peaceful world. Certain important factors have been uncovered in the course of the journey of this book. In conclusion, I have discovered that, when considering matters of race, it is good if we:

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This is the Best Time to Dream the Best Dream of Them All

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1.

Start with ourselves, because white is a privileged racial category.

2.

Remember that racism is built into the organizing principles of society.

3.

Develop a dialogic and an inquiring attitude.

4.

Don’t dismiss feelings of shame and guilt.

5.

Remember that change in the professions comes as part and parcel with change at both individual and societal levels.

Having identified these factors I will finish by making some concluding statements about each of them. START WITH OURSELVES BECAUSE WHITE IS A PRIVILEGED RACIAL CATEGORY

If we are to really tackle racism we need to stop looking through binoculars and look in the mirror instead. I find that, once understood, this statement seems more and more evident. However I find it throws up two dilemmas when working with white people such as managers, colleagues, students, supervisees and clients: •

how to bring white awareness to the fore, and

•

how to work effectively when deeply held values clash with people from ‘non-white’ cultures.

I find that confronting ‘white-centeredness’ head on is not usually effective either in myself or others. It is important to realize that people need to go through a process that is something like the one described in Chapter 1 and elaborated further in Chapters 4 and 6. In order to fully take on board what it is to be white there may then need to be further turns round the process. The White Awareness Model can help us to understand what intervention might be effective by understanding where someone is situated in their present state of awareness. The next step then becomes evident by following the model. In that way one doesn’t expect the person to make a large leap in one go which they would probably resist. I do not think that understanding one’s place as a white person within a racialized environment means that our values have to be abandoned or even put to one side. I have an African client who believes that children should stay with their parents until they are married. The fact that I do not

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share this value does not necessarily mean I am being ‘white-centric’. I am ‘white-centric’ if I see her opinion as completely wrong-headed and that she should at all costs be dissuaded from this point of view. I can, however, open up a discussion about how this feels in a society where children leave home once grown up and where the client’s children are likely to be influenced by this view. This is the difficult dilemma for her and we grapple with it together. My colleagues mentioned in Chapter 6 (see p.154) who had conflicting ideas about the value of eye contact discovered that they didn’t have to change their perspectives in order to work effectively together. Understanding each others’ point of view allowed them to accommodate each other in a respectful way. Dialogue across these differences can lead to changes or just to tolerating and allowing for difference. In either case there is a genuine respect for difference and the white way is not seen as the only or best one. REMEMBER THAT RACISM IS BUILT INTO THE ORGANIZING PRINCIPLES OF SOCIETY

As I have shown, it now seems to me that racism exists both within the ‘organizing principles’ or ‘pre-reflective unconscious’ (Stolorow and Atwood 1992, p.55) of every individual and within what I call the ‘organizing principles’ of one’s culture. I have drawn on the work of the intersubjective psychotherapists, Stolorow and Atwood et al., who describe the ‘organizing principles’ of the mind, so-called because they refer to its structure rather than its content, and are thus unavailable to be directly reflected upon. These principles are not conscious because, like the blueprint or architectural drawings of a house, they are not evident in daily life. We are conscious of the floor and the walls but not of the original ideas about them when they were conceived. The drawings can be referred to but not actually experienced in the way that we ‘experience’ living in the house. The values and assumptions that underlie our way of being in the world are arranged according to our organizing principles and we live our life by them most of the time without questioning or even noticing them. I find it helpful to understand cultures as well as individuals as being organized around a set of structured principles in the same way. These provide the way that assumptions and values are ‘held’. It is within this scaffolding or web that racism shapes itself so that it is built into the fabric of


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society in a way that we are normally not cognisant of. The web is something we partake in as individuals as the culture shapes our ways of understanding the world. It passes, as it were, through us whilst also running through the culture. This idea about racism comes as part and parcel of a non-dualistic way of understanding human beings: as not having a completely separate watertight identity, but recognizing that all is intrinsically connected through culture. I have an image of a web or network of invisible lines that runs through society joining and connecting us. At places this web is thicker and more complex where culture is shared. Maybe we would have to go to another universe altogether to find someone to whom this web did not connect us at all. The threesome of myself, an interpreter and an Arabic client comes to mind in illustration. The web connects the interpreter with the client. They belong to the same national culture so share many of the same basic assumptions and ways of approaching life. They are both Muslim and deeply religious and they both have had to flee their country so share something of what that means to them. The interpreter and I are both professional women and work within a Primary Care Trust together. The threads of professionalism and care and respect for clients join us also with a certain professional cultural norm. The client and I are both women in our 50s who have married and had children and know the depth of feeling and contact that that can involve. The web joins us in this profound knowledge. We are all joined by our human experience and cultural knowledge though the web may be thicker in some places than others. Since working more intensively with people who are not white or western I have never found myself talking with someone who is a complete mystery to me. Some point of connection can be found and often this feels a deep and significant connection. Sometimes the other’s reality is harder for me to understand. My interpreter, maybe because of having different organizing principles, finds it difficult to say certain things to my client. She cannot, for instance, refer to my client’s husband as a ‘husband’. She must refer to him as ‘the father of your children’. I find that I am not quite clear why this is even though I have asked her. The subtleties of this are hard for me to understand. She also cannot refer to my client’s body. I find this easier as it accords with some of my own organizing principles. To return to my work with my client, I feel that her bodily experience is important to talk about and ask the interpreter if she would mind making an exception. I am aware that we are both taking a big risk but I

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weigh it up and think it is worth it. I remind myself that this client is not living in ordinary times so that extraordinary measures have to be taken. My interpreter agrees to interpret. I refer to the arthritis she has had since her daughter was murdered. I say ‘I think the death of your daughter has entered your body and gives you pain in every cell of it.’ The client cries and nods. My sense is that we have had a breakthrough in our understanding of each other. I feel that the interpreter and I also reach a greater intimacy as we all participate in moments that feel painful but connecting. The client does not appear to notice that something has been infringed. Maybe this is because my understanding of her deep sorrow has been heard and that is more important. Another human being can approach something of what she feels. A connection along the web has been made. When I started this work there seemed to be a tension between thinking that cultures are so different that they are beyond comprehension and thinking that, as we are all human beings, we are basically the same. Neither of these positions seemed satisfying to me because different cultures did not appear to be as completely different as this dichotomy seems to imply but I also felt it was not right to insist on our similarities either. I now understand that the situation is extremely complex in a way that I have found hard to articulate and which I have attempted to describe in my account above. Our connection with each other, between and within cultures, is infinitely variable and cultures of different sorts overlap each other in fluid, complex and subtle ways. This understanding helps me to make significant connections with my clients who have culturally different backgrounds to myself, or very different experiences of race, in a way that does not deny the differences. Finding a connection in this way is basic to building trust. I find that it helps clients to allow themselves to be more vulnerable in my presence and share experiences which were traumatic and distressing. If we see racism as existing within the organizing principles that run through society and individuals, it is not surprising that we find racism so difficult to eliminate. Getting rid of racism is not just a matter of finding it within us and expunging it. We cannot merely change our mind about it. Larger shifts in cultural consciousness need to occur. We can, though, contribute to bringing to awareness the underlying organizing principles and help reveal them within the culture. I have become mindful of the way in which white people have imposed their own organizing principles globally by racializing the world and by seeing themselves as a superior race. Although racism is largely


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condemned in contemporary western society, it continues, deeply held, within our personal and cultural organizing principles. Our very ‘forgetting’ of our culpability reveals just how embedded these ideas are, and how deeply most of us take for granted what we regard as obvious ‘reality’. Having come to understand racism as embedded in the organizing principles of white society, I wonder how far it throws a different light on the usefulness of helping professions to black people. Are these professions so embedded in the white, western world that they have limited relevance to those who are not part of that culture, or racial experience, except insofar as they can give practical help? In the light of my new way of understanding racism as embedded in the complex web of organizing principles within individuals, as well as within multi-overlapping cultures, how does the question now seem? Insofar as white helping professionals do not understand how their whiteness – and particularly power differences – affect those of other ‘races’, then their interventions can be limited. No doubt understanding this needs also to include the understanding of the complexity of overlapping cultures. Could there be a danger in not remembering that race and culture, and individuals’ involvement with them, is complex and overlapping? Could it be a way in which white people might ‘perform’ their whiteness, by not seeing the complexity: by seeing it as a simple matter of some people being white and some black (Rodriguez 1998, p.53)? As I showed in Chapter 5, power difference, which is at the heart of the way that this ‘performing’ of whiteness originated, must have serious contorting effects on the normal flow of interconnectedness that needs to be acknowledged and reflected on if race is really to be addressed. As white helping professionals we need to constantly remember this power difference and the white-centeredness that is taken for granted as a result of it, reflect upon it, and take it into account. However, normal cultural supports are not present for people who live in exile or away from their country of origin for any reason. This includes support given by immediate and extended family for help with housing, illness or childcare, religious practices, healing rituals and the celebration of life transitions for psychological and spiritual help etc. Practical support with life’s necessities as well as human emotional need for connection and recognition are addressed in these ways in all cultures including those in the west (Sheehy 1977, p.29) though in the west we might also go to a helping professional and other white professionals to help us with these, particularly now that, in the west, extended families rarely provide these

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functions. I believe, through my work with asylum seekers and refugees, that human needs are the same in all cultures, though the way of meeting them may be different. Certain functions provided by helping professionals may be obviously helpful in a straightforward way, such as the provision of healthcare, but provision of psychological help is not such an obvious need to those for whom it would normally not be sought outside the family. Help offered by psychologists, counsellors and psychotherapists may seem unwelcome or unnecessary as might psychological support offered by other helping professionals. In my experience professionals such as health visitors and social workers often provide emotional support while providing something more practical at the same time. As a psychotherapist I have wondered whether what I provide is always appropriate or is just another way of ‘performing’ whiteness on my black clients. Nevertheless, I find that by staying dialogic and open to communication with them, my intervention in their lives can be experienced as helpful, particularly when the extended family has broken down or is absent. One asylum seeker client tells me that it makes a difference to him that I am ‘there’. He has told me things that he has not been able to talk to others about and my acceptance of him and desire to understand him mean a lot. Nevertheless, he also says that it would be nice if there was a sympathetic person living in the room next to him to whom he could open his heart whenever he felt like it. I notice this and wonder if he also needs to be angry with me for not being there for him all of the time. I am aware of feeling guilty for the small amount of time I am giving him. Can I ‘take’ his anger that does not feel safe elsewhere? In this exiled environment he tells me that he fears and mistrusts those around him. These are not just English people, but also the people he has been given as housemates by NASS (National Asylum Seeker Support – a government body that oversees the placement of asylum seekers in the community). He is gay and has been rejected by his family and community and expects rejection all round. He has found English society also to be homophobic. Although the Muslim community rejects him he asserts that God would not have created him this way if it was not ‘meant’. He strongly believes in God’s love for him and acceptance of him. He tells me that this knowledge sustains him beyond anything else and I feel that my complete acceptance of this is important too. A wide and engaging smile lights up his face when he talks of this. These experiences have strengthened my belief that dialogic, inquiring and respectful work can offer something that can run along the web that


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connects between and across cultures. In any case complex interrelationships between different cultural groups make the question of whether our work is suitable for non-western groups too simplistic to be answered with just yes or no. I have certainly found that it can be. Developing an ability to be in a state of ongoing inquiry is more important than looking for clearcut answers as I show below. DEVELOP A DIALOGIC AND AN INQUIRING ATTITUDE

I have found that to keep learning I need to maintain an inquiring attitude. This idea is current in psychological theorizing and, as such, may be familiar to others in the helping professions. For example, Winnicott’s notion of playing within a ‘potential space’ is similar (Winnicott 1974). This ‘play’ space is part of what Winnicott calls ‘transitional phenomena’ (Winnicott 1974) which exist between the internal and external world and allows something new within our sense of self to emerge. Our exploration of our own responses (or ‘countertransference’) also exists within a space of this sort. This notion of a ‘play space’ allows anything to be held within it, however fanciful or violent or bizarre, as it has not yet entered external reality. It may be important to explore and play with these fantasies with a supervisor (Ryan 2008, p.77). We might find that we are thinking1 something that is, under normal circumstances, completely unacceptable like ‘I want to pin this client up against a wall and shoot him.’ Not a pretty thought and not one to be conveyed to the client undigested, but I think most helping professionals will have felt something like this from time to time! We might then think ‘what on earth is that all about? Something is happening that draws me to feel murderous and in that particular way! Do I feel under threat? Would I enjoy feeling sadistic? Maybe an old experience of mine is being restimulated. Maybe I am picking up a fear or desire of the clients.’ We might then put it to one side until something else is said which seems to make it clearer. My point here is that we do not push away an unacceptable thought, but put it within an orbit of ‘playing’ so that it can be thought about safely and trust that something can be learnt through it.

1

‘Finding that you are thinking’ something is different from having a ‘thought’. It is like catching the unconscious on the wing.

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DO NOT DISMISS FEELINGS OF SHAME AND GUILT

Guilt and shame tend to attack our sense of ourselves as good people and can either immobilize us or mean that we defend ourselves against it by denying our guilt. If instead we let it alert us to what is amiss in our relating with those who are not white or western then it may be helpful in finding a way to understanding our privilege and gives us some idea of how we make reparation or show us how to behave differently in future. However, we cannot expect to be forgiven or ‘understood’ by black people. Seeming to say ‘look how I suffer too’ is naïve and beside the point. It is likely to alienate black people even further. Keeping an open dialogic stance can lead to good-quality communication, and receptive, undefensive listening will help to provide a climate of trust in which relationships are unhampered by self-absorbed hand-wringing. The natural outcome of a real understanding of one’s guilt is reparation and restitution. There is often controversy around the idea that colonizers should make reparation and/or restitution to those who have been colonized on the grounds that it was all a long time ago and people living today were not responsible. As I pointed out in Chapter 3, white people are still in fact benefiting by the advantages that colonization gave us. The concomitant attitudes to black people, that are hard-wired in to us at quite a fundamental level, originate from those times. Our connections with our ancestors are subtle and deeply held. Looked at like this, our guilt appears more evident and reparation and restitution seems more important. Anything we can do to make reparation, both personally and by getting behind campaigns for governments, such as that carried out in Australia (Rudd 2008), is helpful and could make a real difference. Genuine and significant reparation and subsequent restitution could put some of the deep-seated anger and hurt felt by black people to rest. Refusing to do so and only apologizing reminds me of a story told by a white clergyman at a conference on forgiveness: a man graciously apologized for taking someone’s bicycle. The bicycle owner was pleased to receive the apology but understandably said: ‘thank you, but where is the bike?’


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REMEMBER THAT CHANGE IN THE PROFESSIONS COMES AS PART AND PARCEL WITH CHANGE AT INDIVIDUAL AND SOCIETAL LEVELS

Institutions of the helping professions exist within a wider environment and will affect and be affected by factors beyond their confines. To make a change there needs to be a movement in two directions – from the widest institutions like governments and training institutions who make policies, to individuals and their personal explorations. Both can feed into and support the other to provide a virtuous rather than a vicious cycle. This is not a straightforward matter where the policies of institutions alone will make the difference. Hearts need to change as well as minds. White people will continue to dominate the world in a way that will inevitably lead to conflict unless we are able to take on the difficult and painful work of clearly seeing the damage done by our domination and be prepared to do something about it. ‘Racial’ tension is likely to increase as global warming and other challenges lead to conflict and natural disasters. Great movements of populations are likely to occur and, unless we can learn to live wisely together, ‘racial’ conflict may be one of the greatest threats to peace. This is an arduous and difficult work, for, as Ben Okri says: The sooner we admit our crimes to others, To other peoples, creeds, genders, species, The better and lighter the human Future will be. The more we deny, the greater will be the horrors And vengeances of time That wait silently in the wings Of the bloody drama of our future. From Mental Fight by Ben Okri

However, he is also optimistic about the ability of the human race to continue in the face of great difficulties. To those who feel exhausted by the difficulties he says: They who are exhausted have lost The greater picture, The greater perspective. They are trapped in their own labyrinth, Their lovelessness, selfishness.

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For those with limited dreams, There is chaos to come. Disintegration. Nightmares. And he goes on to say: Exhaustion is a mental thing, The absence of a spiritual viewpoint, A universal vision, A sense of new journeys, Higher discoveries. From Mental Fight by Ben Okri

I take hope from this, both to find new energy for myself, but also to remind myself that I am part of a wider pool of humanity and my thoughts are not just my own. They arise within a cultural context. I cannot advocate then that institutions should just come up with better policies or that individuals change their consciousness. Both work together in a synergistic way. Thought is in the culture and we are affected by it and affect it just as drops of water make a pool and a pool is full of drops of water. I have found ways in which supporting frameworks, such as the White Awareness Model, bring together the personal, interpersonal, group and societal, particularly through understanding the ways that ‘organizing principles’ run through individuals and groups to provide the ways in which thought is structured within, through and around us. This feels to me to be an important shift in perspective that could lead to less attachment to our own narcissistic desire to have our own point of view ‘win’, and lead instead to a real acknowledgement of our membership of the human family and the wider world. As Ben Okri says: ‘Maybe we can still astonish the gods.’

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Subject Index

Note: The abbreviation BCPC stands for Bath Centre for Psychotherapy and Counselling abuses of power 98–9 asylum seekers BCPC project 156–64 examples from practice 135–9 attitudes exploring own whiteness 179 importance of dialogic and inquiring 203 and politically correct ideas 24–5 question about racist 85–9 talking about racist thoughts 61–2 and the term ‘black and white’ 66 to words black and white 65–6 see also core beliefs Australian indigenous people, apology to 105–6 Bath Centre for Psychotherapy and Counselling (BCPC) 147–8

encouraging racial and cultural diversity 150–1 asylum project 156–63 black staff members 153–4 black students 151–3 introductor y course 154–6 reflections on initiatives 163–4 Equal Opportunities Committee 148–50 Beliefs see attitudes; core beliefs black/blackness meanings assigned to 66–8 in non-western cultures 68–70 representing darkness 67–8 symbolizing evil 48, 65 talking about 62–3 black people curiosity about 63–4, 74 encouraging into BCPC 151–4 lack of privilege experienced by 57 professional help for 127–31 British National Identity and the English Landscape (paper, Lowenthal) 19

214

The Civilising Process (Elias) 48 ‘civilizing process’ 116–17 client relationships, intersubjective approach to 123–4 co-operative inquiry group 56 dialogue 59–60 group process 58–9 postgroup reflections 68–74 questions arising 60–8 recording 57–8 setting up 57 colonization 34, 37 cultural 54–5 feelings of guilt and shame about 94–5, 96–7, 204 postcolonial theory 40–1 Complete Concordance (Cruden) 48 conscience, Hellinger’s concept of 103–4 Contemporary Postcolonial Theory: A Reader (Mongia) 174 context, importance of 121–2 core beliefs 111–12 cultural difference theories 112–14 non-dualistic thinking dialogic Gestalt therapy 119–20 implications of 123–5

Subject Index

intersubjective systems theory 119 participative worldview 120–1 see also dualistic thinking counselling project for asylum seekers 156–63 cultural difference, theories of 112–14 cultural power 186, 192–3 cultural racism see institutional racism culture complexity of 200 interface with race 17–20 ‘white’ and ‘black’, objections to 40 Dalal, Farhad 48–9 darkness, association with blackness 22–3, 67–8 denial 51, 52–3 dialogic Gestalt therapists 119–20 dialogue, importance of 59–60 ‘difference’, experience of feeling 72–3 dualistic thinking 114–16 effects of 118 origins of dualism 116–18 see also non-dualistic thinking ‘dynamic unconscious’ 21–2

Equal Opportunities Committee, BCPC 148–50 European whites, origins of 34 evil and good, ambiguous attitude towards 66 eye contact 154–5 ‘family courts’, Africa 130 field theory 120, 123 For whites only (paper, Jacobs) 27, 42, 103, 174 generalized shame 98–9 Gestalt therapists/therapy 42–5, 82, 119–20, 154–5 good and evil, ambiguous attitude towards 66 government, reconciliatory gestures 104–6 group cohesion 103–4 guilt and shame see shame and guilt The Healing Relationship in Gestalt Theory: A Dialogic/Self Psychology Approach (Hycner and Jacobs) 120, 175–6 Helms, J.E., Identity Models 50, 181 The Holy Bible, usage of ‘white’ 48

individual as basic unit of society 112–13 endemic racism 23, 25, 54 individual power 186 being a beneficiary of individual racism see 90–2 personal racism feelings of guilt and institutional racism 16, 54 shame 92–6 distinguishing from problem for white people personal 98–100 146 problem for white people English landscape and being 146 English 18–20

215

and unconscious processes 23 see also endemic racism institutionalized power, effects of 132–3 Intercultural Sensitivity Model 50 interpreters, working with 158–9, 199–200 intersubjectivity as a guide to practice 133–5 intersubjective systems theorists 119 types of unconscious 21–3 Jacobs, Lynne 42–5 Journal of Counseling and Development 101 Lago, Colin 47–8 Lawrence, Stephen, murder of 23, 54 Listening in a Multicultural Setting, course 154–6 Macpherson Report 23 narcissistic guilt 100 ‘Negro’, use/misuse of term 85–9 ‘neutrality’ of whiteness 33, 38–40 non-dualistic thinking 114–16 dialogic Gestalt therapy 119–20 effects of 118 implications of 123–5 intersubjective systems theory 119 participative worldview 120–1 ways of understanding the ‘self ’ 121–2

216


non-western thinking 115, 122 OBE, Zephaniah’s rejection of 97 On being white (paper, Frye) 102–3 organizational diversity, increasing 145–8 encouraging more black staff and students 151–4 equal opportunities committee 148–50 how to achieve diversity 164–5 multicultural course 154–6 psychotherapy for asylum seekers 156–63 ‘organizing principles’ of society, racism as unconscious part of 22–3, 198–203

in the supervisory refugees see asylum seekers relationship 185–7 relationship with clients ‘prereflective unconscious’ impact of power 22, 198 differences 131–3 privilege of being white intersubjective way of 15–16, 101–3, 197–8 understanding psychotherapy project for 123–4 asylum seekers 156–63 reparation and restitution 204 role power 186, 187 race Rudd, Kevin, apology to interface with culture indigenous people of 18–20 Australia 105–6 meaning of 16, 35, 45–6

Race, Colour and the Processes of Racialisation (Dalal) 4, 27, 42 Race, Culture and Counselling (Lago) 42, 174 racial identity exploration of 56–75 ‘lifelong’ activity 47 Racial Identity, White Counsellors and Therapists (Tuckwell) 10, 27, 42, 45, 174 ‘racialized’ environment participative worldview 14–15, 54–5 120–1 creation of 17 personal racism 16 experience of being white arising from institutional in 33–55 23 working within 126–31 distinguishing from institutional 98–100 racism denial of 51 ‘play space’ 203 embedded into organizing police force, racism in 24–5 principles of society political correctness 198–203 and misuse of word and group cohesion ‘Negro’ 86–9 103–4 and unconscious processes inevitability of 106–7 23–5 meaning of 16 Politicising the Person Centred talking about racist Approach (Lago and thoughts 61–2, 74 Haugh) 42, 48, 139 working with unconscious postcolonial theory 40–1 25–7 power differences see also shame and guilt impact on working reconciliation by relationships 131–3 government 104–6

the self four senses of 117–18 non-dualistic ways of understanding 121–2 shame and guilt 15–16, 28, 36, 51–2 ideas from theorizing 80–3 inquiry into phenomenology of 79–80 literature review 101–6 negative consequences of 100 positive role of 103–4, 107–8 questionnaire 84–96 discussion of outcomes 96–8 reparation and restitution as outcome of 204 skin colour 34–5, 37, 39, 99, 170 slavery 35, 89, 97, 171 ‘social unconscious’ 104 Speak your Mind (interpreters’ organization) 159, 160 supervision 183–4 awareness of whiteness in 184–7

Author Index

Aanerud, R. 39, 185 Abram, D. 117 Acharyya, S. 35 Adams, M.V. 14, 21, 22, 35, 54, 132 Akinsete, R. 88, 130, 152 Altman, N. 77, 96, 104, 106–7, 174 Amidon, E. 107, 124–5 Anthony, E.J. 104 Appiah, K.A. 35 Apple, M.W. 38, 174 Atwood, G.E. 10, 21–2, 23, 25, 26, 27, 82, 119, 133–4, 198 Bateson, G. 115–16, 119 Benjamin, M. 129 Bohm, D. 59 Bollas,C. 106 Bonnett, A. 9, 16, 17, 34, 36–7, 41, 55, 174 Bourne, L. 184, 185 Bowlby, J. 81 Bradbury, H. 56, 119, 121, 122, 191 Brah, A. 34 Brandyberry, L.J. 84, 102 Brinkman, U. 50 Brown, A. 184, 185 Buber, M. 59, 120 Bung-Hall, J. 132 Butler, C. 114 Carter, H. 24

Centre for the Study of White American Culture 37 Chisholm, R.F. 28 Christian, B. 41 Clarkson, P. 120 Cress Welsing, F. 36 Cruden, A. 48 Dalal, F. 22, 27, 35, 38, 42, 48–9, 54–5, 65, 67, 68, 84, 104, 132, 135 Dominelli, L. 14, 16, 23, 24, 25, 27, 37, 42, 45, 115, 121–2, 123, 128 Donald, J. 14, 35, 112 Dresser, M. 115 Dyer, R. 13–14, 15, 16, 38, 39, 46, 84, 174, 185 Elias, N. 48, 54, 116–17 Ennals, R. 115 European-American Cooperative Challenging Whiteness 44 Evans, K. 191

Frye, M. 102–3 Gaveaux, D. 159 Gilbert, J. 41, 128 Gilbert, M. 191 Gilroy, P. 35 Goudsblom, J. 117 Habermas, J. 132–3 Hall, S. 112 Haugh, S. 42, 48, 139 Hawkins, P. 13, 115, 147, 168–71, 183–4, 186, 188–91, 193 Hebdige, D. 66 Hellinger, B. 54, 103–4, 107, 123 Helms, J.E. 50, 181 Heron, J. 56 Hinshelwood, R.D. 22, 124 Hobson, R. E. 106 Hofstede, G. 112, 132 Hovel, G. 54, 103–4, 107, 123 Hycner, R. 27, 120, 121, 122, 176 Inskipp, F. 184, 185

Foulkes, S.H. 104 Jaccobson-Widding, A. 69, Fox, M. 127 75 Frankenberg, R. 14, 15, 18, Jacobs, L. 27, 44–5, 82–3, 38, 39, 40, 41, 128, 103, 119, 120, 121, 174, 185, 195 122, 132, 174, 176 Freud, S. 21–2, 80, 124, Jung, C.G. 21, 132 132

218

Author Index

Kareem, J. 22, 29, 128, 129, 132 Karpman, S. 187 Kincheloe, J.L. 38, 174 Klein, M. 22, 80–1 Kohut, H. 81

Rattansi, A. 14, 35, 112 Reason, P. 56, 119, 120–1, 122, 191 Refugee Action 34 Rodriguez, N.M. 147–8, 201 Rogers, C. 58 Lago, C. 14, 29, 35, 37, 42, Rowan, J. 122 Rudd, K. 105–6, 178, 204 44, 45, 47–8, 112, Ryan, S. 203 127, 128, 130, 132, Ryde, J. 14, 79, 122, 132, 139, 174 186 Lewin, K. 120

219

Voss, T. 154, 155 Waite, S.J. 136 Wilmot, J. 134 Winnicott, D. 22, 44, 81, 203 Woodson, F. 37 Yontef, G. 120 Young, R. 17

Zephaniah, B. 97 Lewis, H.B. 82 Zografou, L. 177 Littlewood, R. 22, 29, 127, Samuels, A. 21, 152 Zohar, D. 113 128, 132 Senge, P. 147 Lowenthal, D. 19 Sewell, H. 127, 128, 130, 131, 151 Sheehy, G. 201 Mackewn, J. 120 Shohet, R. 13, 183–4, 186, Macpherson Report 23 188–91, 193 Maiello, S. 127, 140 Shorter, B. 21 Marshall, I. 113 Shotter, J. 122, 133 Maslow, A.H. 122 Smith, N. 168–71 McConville, M. 43 Steinberg, S.R. 38 McIntosh, P. 36, 97, 102, Stern, D.N. 117–18, 119 107, 174, 175, 177 Stolorow, R.D. 10, 21–2, McLynn, F. 132 23, 25, 26, 27, 82, Mennell, S. 117 114, 119, 122, 133–4, Meyerson, D. 150, 154, 198 156 Sue, D. 29, 45, 116, 122, Mollon, P. 82, 101 128, 130, 132 Mongia, P. 41, 174 Sue, D. W. 29, 45, 116, 122, 128, 130, 132 Nawaz, I. 136 Okri, B. 165–6 Orange, D. 27, 124, 133, 134 Papadopoulos, R.K. 132 Parlett, M. 120, 123, 155 Pederson, P. 113 Plant, F. 21 Plumwood, V. 118 Proctor, B. 184, 185

Themstom, F.S. 37 Thomas, L. 132 Tomlinson, D.R. 14, 42, 45 Trew, W. 37, 112 Trompenaars, F. 17, 147 Tuckwell, G. 46–7, 101, 132, 135, 174 Turner, V.W. 69, 75 Tutu, D. 105 van Weedenbugh, O. 50 Von Britzke, M. 163

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