Social anthropology, ethnicity and family therapy

Abstract

Family therapists in Britain may be familiar with current trends in social work and psychiatric literature concerned with South Asian and AfroCaribbean minorities. One particular theme is the way practitioners may use the notion of culture or ethnicity to explain their clients' difficulties. As Shama Ahmed has recently pointed out, cultural explanations may be used and abused and may thus obscure the wider importance ofclass and race (Ahmed, 1986; p. 140). As both academics and practitioners have been interested in culture and ethnicity, this article examines the concept of ethnicity as it is used by social anthropologists and its application in the studies of ethnic minorities in Britain. To illustrate that family therapists can attribute undue significance to culture and ethnicity, material from an article by a family therapist is re-analysed to show certain limitations in the use of culture as the main explanation.