Plurality Of Practices Research Articles

Theoretical Paper Using a pluralistic approach in counselling psychology and psychotherapy practice with diverse clients: Explorations into cultural and religious responsiveness within a Western paradigm

Content & Focus:As globalisation trends bring increased client diversity into Western nations, the meeting of culturally diverse clients and therapists has not always been particularly favourable or culturally responsive in Western contexts. This paper explores the pluralistic framework put forth by Cooper and McLeod (2011) from a critical evaluation of its effectiveness with culturally diverse clients. I first examine the role of pluralism in comparison to evidence-based therapies and the ongoing debate around treatment efficacy in Western institutions of mental health, while highlighting the shortcomings of biased participant sampling in empirically supported therapy research studies. I then explore the theoretical underpinnings of pluralism in relation to other integrative approaches and its’ strong ties to humanistic values in counselling psychology as well as the challenges to its multicultural theory. I finally explore how pluralism can potentially overcome these challenges by focusing on the core foundation of pluralistic practice and theory – the therapeutic relationship.Conclusion:The paper concludes by suggesting how pluralism can build on its strengths in order to meet the challenges of working with diverse client epistemologies which include therapists’ need to examine their own cultural biases, provision of intercultural training within pluralistic education programmes, and development of an empirical evidence base linking pluralistic practice with diverse client therapy outcomes.

The Practice of Pluralism: Jeffrey Stout and Abraham Kuyper on Religion and Civil Solidarity

AbstractThe concept of solidarity plays a significant role within the discursive framework of modern social philosophy. This article points to the notion that solidarity is central to North American philosopher Jeffrey Stout and Dutch theologian Abraham Kuyper’s respective visions for civil society. The article proposes that framing civil society under the category of solidarity is something to be affirmed, as is the quest for a space in which religious pluralism can be encouraged and facilitated. Thus, the article proposes that Christian theologians would do well to lean on a contemporary voice such as Stout, an ally in assessing and critiquing secular liberalism’s prospects in our own day, and Kuyper, a provider of rich theological resources for advancing Stout’s general project, although with some qualification. Both can move the conversation regarding religion and civil society forward. Stoutians and Kuyperians can benefit from this exchange as well. Stoutians can glean several insights from Kuyperians as they consider possible religious resources for moving toward a civil solidarity that embraces religious voices. Kuyperians can find a contemporary North American interlocutor for developing their notion of principled pluralism in civil society.

Viability of using global standards for neighbourhood sustainability assessment: insights from a comparative case study

Neighbourhoods are increasingly gaining attention as planning units of great potential for contribution to sustainable development. Many assessment tools such as LEED-ND, BREEAM Communities and CASBEE-UD have been developed to examine the sustainability of neighbourhood development projects. Some of these tools are claimed to be suitable for assessment in different contexts, and LEED-ND has already been utilised in various countries. This study investigates the viability of using global standards through a series of comparative case studies. One certified case from each of the aforementioned tools is chosen and evaluated against its non-corresponding assessment tools. Selected cases are, respectively, Hoyt Yards, MediaCityUK and Koshigaya Lake Town. Results of this study provide evidence that casts doubt on the viability of using global standards. The paper concludes that neighbourhood sustainability assessment should be regarded as a pluralistic practice. This implies that any realistic and reliable assessment should take account of the specificities of specific locations and varying needs of different stakeholders.

Limits to Religious Diversity Practice in Indonesia

Although religious diversity is legally supported in Indonesia, incidents of attacks on religious minorities and anxiety towards the practice of religious pluralism have continued to plague the country. This paper will analyse factors limiting the practice of religious diversity in post-Suharto Indonesia with a focus on two types of important grass-roots religious institutions. The first type is religious philanthropic organizations, which provide social services for natural disaster victims and the poor. The second type of religious institution is traditional Islamic schools known as pesantren salaf, one of most the important educational institutions for Islamic scholars. This paper will show that increased religiosity has contributed to the growth of socially-engaged religious organizations being used to address social problems, but these religious institutions are naturally developing their operational links within their own religious affiliations and communication beyond their religion is restricted because of mutual anxiety. This paper will also examine the challenge presented by traditional Islamic educational institutions. In order to protect Islam from secularism, these institutions are promoting theologically conservative Islamic teachings that curtail the practice of religious diversity at the grassroots level. Our case studies show that religious education has unintentionally limited the development of religious diversity in Indonesia.

Chance or Genius?: Dutch Sustainability Reporting and Garbage Can Institutionalism

In this article I question the dominant assumptions of institutionalisation and change being smooth and linear processes driven by a single heroic institutional entrepreneur blessed with great foresight and purpose. Instead I combine institutional theory with the theoretical lexicon of the garbage can model to offer an alternative interpretation of an institutional story, in particular fitting for pluralistic practices in a relatively emerging, uncertain and heterogeneous field. I draw on a qualitative analysis of the rise of Dutch sustainability reporting and examine how the oftentimes collective and serendipitous interplay between problems, solutions, decision makers and decision moments shapes social order and institutions. I find that sustainability reporting’s development resembles a more collective form of institutional entrepreneurship as a range of actors muddled through and were involved in the enactment of historical contingencies that enabled action and change as problems, solutions, and partic...

A Piece of Nigromante in Boyle Heights

My project conveys the role that individuals' faith in their cultural healing practices plays on their knowledge of the illness and on the actual healing process. More specifically, on how indigenous immigrant communities from Mexico are prone to utilize medical pluralism practices and experience culture-bound syndromes. When individuals migrate they take with them their understanding of disease, their ways to express it, and their ways of finding treatment according to their cultural medical practices. Based on this, I developed a project to explore the medical healing practices of twenty-three year old Claudia Velmontes during her pregnancy. Ms. Velmontes migrated to Boyle Heights ten years ago from a predominantly Zapotec indigenous community in Mexico. She is a good example for studying medical pluralism practices by immigrants in the United States, since Ms. Velmontes requested medical treatment from the biomedical sector in Boyle Heights and from the folk medical sector from her native town in Mexico. Aside from her monthly visits to her physician trained in western medicine, Ms. Velmontes’ practices to ensure a healthy pregnancy included using the services of a midwife, cleansing her mind and body by rubbing eggs throughout her body, and numerous other practices based on cultural beliefs. Ms. Velmontes claims that her upbringing in Veracruz made a profound impact on her world views and her faith in the folk medical sector. The purpose of my project is to research in depth the powerful influence that folk medicine has on the health and world views of individuals that believe in it. Part of a medical anthropologists' focus is to explore the medical pluralist practices employed by individuals in order to find health. Medical pluralism is the incorporation of more than one medical system to obtain health. This means that individuals that resource to medical pluralism adopt at the same time health care practices, diagnosis, treatments, medications, and knowledge to prevent and treat diseases from at least two different medical systems (McElroy and Townsend 2009:334). In this paper I will describe and analyze Ms. Velmontes pluralist approach to obtain health throughout her pregnancy, since she resourced to two different medical systems, which are the biomedical system and the folk medical system. According to scholars McElroy and Townsend it is common for individuals that practice medical pluralism to integrate health care practices from very different medical sectors like the biomedical sector and the folk medical sector (McElroy and Townsend 2009:334). The biomedical sector is characterized by its western scientific practices; the University of Wurzburg Graduate Schools describes biomedicine as the application of science such as biology, chemistry and physics to the diagnosis, care and treatment of patients. On the other hand, the folk medical sector is culturally oriented; the World Health Organization defines folk medicine or traditional medicine as the total domestic knowledge, experiences and practices to obtain and maintain physical and mental health and prevent disease, 1 Espinoza Barajas: Nigromante in Boyle Heights

IUCN and perspectives on biodiversity conservation in a changing world

Biodiversity conservation is not a clear-cut practice and there is no blueprint solution to the question how to best halt the loss of biological diversity. Various conser- vation approaches are surrounded by a variety of basic assumptions about the world, nature and the human-nature relationship. These assumptions are more often implicitly hidden in practices and discourse than purposefully produced and deployed at a conscious level. The aim of our paper is to contribute to the on-going discussion on how to halt the loss of biodiversity in a dynamic global socio-ecological system. We will present an analysis of the worldview(s) and management style(s) of the oldest and largest global conservation organization: the International Union of Nature Conservation (IUCN). Popular in many conservation organisations is the strategy of integrating conservation in policy, business and society. Our discourse analysis demonstrates that although IUCN employs a strongly pluralistic practice of conservation, it is difficult to speak of a truly integrative approach yet.

COLLUDING WITH OR CHALLENGING HEGEMONIC MASCULINITY?

Research about masculinities in schools often focuses on hegemonic masculinity. This can have the effect of reinforcing the privilege associated with hegemonic masculinity, as well as overlooking differences amongst boys and the plural practices individual boys engage in. Drawing on empirical research in two South Australian primary schools with students aged 6–7 and 11–13, this article examines the complex ways in which boys engaged in plural gender practices. Practices differing from a discourse of (local) hegemonic masculinity related to three key themes: displaying ‘intelligence’ and being studious; involvement in traditionally ‘feminine’ activities; and being caring, loving family and friends, and engaging in cross-gender friendships. This article utilises these themes to argue that practices could work alongside or present challenges to practices relating to a discourse of hegemonic masculinity. An examination of how age and masculinities interweave suggests that a divide between hegemonic and other masculinities and practices is not as distinct as has often been theorised.

The Social Construction of Landscapes: Two Theoretical Lenses and Their Empirical Applications

There is growing interest amongst landscape researchers on social constructivist perspectives on landscapes. This paper discusses two ways of conceptualising the social construction of landscapes: historical institutionalism and post-structuralist discourse theory. The aim is to explore the opportunities that both approaches offer, and to assess their strengths and limitations. Drawing on two local case studies from Germany, we illuminate the ontologies of landscape implied by the two theoretical lenses, how they conceive of the social construction of landscapes, and finally the ways in which they can inform political processes. Both approaches apply an anti-essentialist agenda, though in different ways. Whereas in historical institutionalism materiality is treated as separated from the social sphere, in post-structuralist discourse theory material objects, practices, subjects and linguistic utterances are all part of relational systems of meaning called discourse. Both approaches can contribute to a more democratic and pluralistic practice of landscape planning and policy-making.

Taylorism, the International Labour Organization and the Diffusion of Codetermination

The conventional understanding of scientific management and why it ceased to be the primary school of thought within the field of organization and management studies has been problematized in recent decades. This paper compounds this process by documenting how the scientific managers sought to build a science of management not limited by managerial opportunism and strove to diffuse their ideas by building an alliance with the International Labour Organization, a body whose core purpose was to promote pluralistic and deliberative management practices and ideas such as codetermination.

Developing Pluralistic Practice in Counselling and Psychotherapy: Using What the Client Knows

The concept of pluralism is increasingly used to indicate the rich diversity of theory and practice in the field of counselling and psychotherapy. A version of pluralism is described that takes account of the range of ideas about health and healing that exist within contemporary culture, and the expression of these positions in the personal knowledge and preferences held by clients in respect of different therapy formats and techniques. A review of recent research is used to provide a basis for discussion of some of the practical manifestations of client knowledge, and the ways in which practitioners can work with these factors.

McGill Convocation Address: Legal Pluralism in Practice

McGill Convocation Address: Legal Pluralism in Practice. Un article de la revue McGill Law Journal / Revue de droit de McGill (Volume 59, numéro 1, september 2013, p. 1-224) diffusée par la plateforme Érudit.

In praise of multiplicity: Pluralism and contemporary photographic art practices

ABSTRACTThis article examines the practice and theory of complex, multi-layered photographic images in contemporary art. Methods of working in which photographers use the medium to explore variously memory, identity and time in images are examined, and a philosophical case is made for the mandate of plurality as a starting point for art practice, as well as the teaching of art and design. Images that beckon with implicit references are examined and compared, with implications for ‘reading’ multi-layered images. Given the attention to the Other in contemporary thought and culture, the multifaceted adoption of difference and attunement to multiculturalism suggests that perhaps multiplicity as an imaging technique — rather. than single perspectives — is. appropriate as an artistic device for our times.

On becoming a pluralistic therapist: A case study of a student's reflexive journal

BackgroundCounselling psychology training courses in the UK are required to focus upon at least two therapeutic approaches. Such a stipulation means that trainees need to become competent at navigating the complexities associated with therapeutic integration (e.g. tolerating its ambiguous nature), a factor that proves commensurate with the pluralistic stance often advocated in the theoretical writings of counselling psychologists. This study intends to explore such challenges and engage with the philosophical nature of ‘being and becoming’ a pluralistic therapist.MethodA case study design has been adopted to reflect in depth upon one counselling psychology trainee’s understanding of their developing therapeutic practice. The trainee in question kept a detailed reflexive journal whilst undertaking a training activity which involved working as a therapist over a six-week period with a colleague on the same training programme. Cooper and McLeod’s (2011) pluralistic framework for counselling and psychotherapy was actively utilised to harness the therapeutic work. The journal was analysed using thematic analysis with a view to eliciting the major themes associated to the trainee’s experience of ‘becoming a pluralistic therapist’.FindingsAnalysis of the data would indicate that the trainee was becoming a pluralistic therapist through the interaction between four selves: the Reflective Self, Thoughtful Self, Relational Self, and Skilled Self. Each of these is briefly introduced and discussed.Discussion and ConclusionThe paper ends by reflecting upon the complexities inherent in using pluralist philosophy to underpin therapeutic work. Incorporated within this, it reflects upon some of the challenges associated with using the pluralistic framework in practice. Finally, the paper provides recommendations for those training in programmes that advocate pluralistic practice. In particular the importance of understanding pluralistic philosophy, the positive role of ambiguity, the personal nature of training, and the need for further research in this area are outlined.

Yoga as Entrée to Complementary and Alternative Medicine and Medically Pluralistic Practices

Yoga is increasingly ubiquitous in the United States and globally. The growth of yoga's popularity alongside Indian healing philosophies, including Ayurvedic medicine, makes yoga an important influence on conceptualization of health in holistic terms. Because of these philosophies, the growing use of yoga has implications for how healthcare is sought and utilized. Yoga practitioners are likely to engage in pluralistic health care-seeking practices, yet, the underlying perspectives that drive yoga practitioners to engage in particular health practices are poorly understood in anthropological and public health literature. This study examined perspectives on health care-seeking among long-term yoga practitioners in a yoga community in Florida. Based on semi-structured interviews conducted in 2010 with 26 adults in a Florida yoga center who have practiced yoga at least once per week for at least one year, the study found that long-term yoga practitioners utilized yoga and other systems of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) to address health needs that were not met by biomedicine. Moreover, once individuals embarked on long-term yoga practice, they expanded their health care-seeking practices to other CAMs. This study contributes to understanding of the pluralization of health care-seeking practices, highlights concerns with the biomedical health system, and contributes to current debates on health care reform.

Bodies of knowledge: Nature, holism and women’s plural health practices

The proliferation of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM), and women's high level of engagement with these practices, has presented sociology with a range of questions regarding gender, embodiment and identity work in the context of contemporary medical pluralism. The current study, drawing on 60 qualitative interviews with women from the Australian Longitudinal Study on Women's Health (ALSWH), examines how a group of Australian women negotiate CAM and biomedicine in a range of health and illness contexts. Selected from the mid-aged cohort of this national study, here we explore their accounts of engagement with CAM and biomedicine, unpacking their logics underpinning, and rhetorical practices surrounding, their therapeutic engagement. The results provide significant insight into: the importance of ideas about nature, holism and strengthening; perceptions of the harshness and softness of medicines for women's bodies; and, the relative importance of scientific proof vis-a-vis individual subjectivities. Ultimately, their accounts illustrate gendered and embodied strategies of strategic integration, and importantly, border crossing. We conclude that while women's engagement with CAM and biomedicine may be indeed be gendered in character, we suggest a rethinking of gender-based resistance (to biomedicine) or gender-alignment (to CAM) arguments; the notion of women as designers would more adequately capture the landscapes of contemporary medical pluralism.

Nullification and the Political, Legal, and Quasi-Legal Constitutions

In the midst of the nullification crisis, southern states sympathetic to South Carolina’s position on the tariff rejected the doctrine of nullification. They did so because nullification rejected interpretive pluralism and discursive practices associated with political constitutionalism. Rather, Calhounian nullification and state interpretive supremacy reflected elements of legal constitutionalism but refashioned into a quasi-legal constitutionalism, which served state supremacy and minoritarianism. Scrutinizing nullification’s rejection provides insight into the role of federalism in constitutional politics, including contemporary state expressions of constitutional dissent. State officials who suggest constitutional infidelity to advance policy concerns mistake an inclusive dialogic tradition with a rejected authority to dictate constitutional policy to the nation.

Therapists’ experiences of pluralistic practice

This article presents the findings from a qualitative study conducted to understand the experience of therapists who described themselves as working pluralistically. Structured, open-ended interviews were conducted with seven participants, and data was analysed using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis. Within the domain of personal experiences, participants described a feeling of congruence between their personal philosophy and pluralism, but struggled to define their role as therapist and felt there was a lack of research into the pluralistic approach. Within the professional domain, participants described their experience of working with clients: including collaboration, transparency and reconciling tensions.

Pluralistic counselling and HIV-positive clients: The importance of shared understanding

The emotional and psychological impact of a human immunodeficiency Virus (HIV)-positive diagnosis is widely recognised. Research into the role of counselling and psychotherapy with this client group has largely focused on studies of the efficacy of cognitive-behavioural interventions. The aim of this study was to explore the process of a flexible, pluralistic approach to counselling with HIV-positive clients. Three participants were recruited from a specialist HIV service. Rich case study data were collected, using therapy transcripts and end of therapy feedback sessions with clients, and analysed using grounded theory methodology. A common element for all three clients was the importance of creating a shared understanding within the therapeutic relationship. The findings of this study are discussed in terms of the further development of pluralistic practice with this client group.

"AMERICA, YOU KNOW WHAT I'M TALKIN' ABOUT!": RACE, CLASS, AND GENDER IN BEULAH AND BERNIE MAC

This paper compares and contrasts The Beulah Show (ABC, 1950-1953) and The Mac Show (Fox, 2001-2006) in order to trace the differences and similarities between the racialized, gendered, and classed representations of blacks in American television situation comedy genre over a fifty-year period. The paper critically examines and interprets the image constructions of each series' central character, Beulah Brown and Mac, within the contexts of race, gender, and class, specifically utilizing Herman Gray's theory of the discursive practices of segregation ism, pluralism, and multiculturalism. The paper demonstrates that these image constructions are representative of race and black (objectivity and) subjectivity in US. society. The analysis of Beulah Brown is based on screenings of the episode Donnie's Dance Date which featured Hattie McDaniel, Ruby Dandridge, Ernest Whitman, David Bruce, Jane Frazee, and Stuffy Singer in 1951 and the analysis of Mac is based on screenings of Bernie Mac, Ladies Man, the fourth episode of the series in 2001