Creativity does not emerge within a
vacuum but is context-dependent. The emphasis here is on co-creativity in the service of humanisation as opposed to creative but destructive expressions that dehumanise our treatment of one another.
Systemic humanism (Wilson, 2017) Library shelves are full and groaning
with models, manuals and various forms of treatments – all of which may well have a place but, in many instances, the therapeutic focus is still located within the confi nes of clinical practice, clinical settings and clinical ideas that restrict us to thinking that our individual endeavours to help are all that we can do. Rather, it may be more accurate to confess that most forms of therapy, while useful and necessary, operate within a clinically restricted context. Such practice matters but it matters more when we are connected to wider social forces that push all of us from behind our backs. Family therapy that includes a social humanist orientation emphasises the social in therapy or, to be more precise, the social in all practice (Holzman, 2009). The radical humanism of Freire (1996,
1998, 2013, 2016) and correspondingly sympathetic ideas drawn from the philosophies of Midgley (2001), Fromm (1964, 1981), Sandel (2012), Marx (1996) and others not elaborated here [please see the suggested background reading] off er a wider systemic vision of practice that encompasses a critically aware, political perspective on the location of family and other therapies within a societal context. Combining systemic theories with radical humanistic values is not an adjunct to becoming a therapist; it is a vital and central part of the fabric of practice. We cannot close the therapy door on
the politics of practice. In the scope of this article it is not possible to do justice to the range of contexts in which expressions of such co-creative practices are carried out, but notable examples include open dialogical approaches (Seikkula & Arnkil, 2014) and protest movements to preserve and develop services such as *Psychologists for Social Change. Communal support is crucial if the
politics of practice is not only to have a voice but teeth, and bite as well. Without a sense of “we and us”, the chance of aff ecting change in political action is
Context 164, August 2019
Jim Wilson with artist David Garner in front of one of his installations entitled Bone of Contention
unlikely. To develop a critical, political analysis widens our vision: it broadens the social mind. When the assembled conference-goers gasped at the mention of Marx, I am reminded that we need a sharp intake of breath before we dive into fresh waters.
References Afuape, T. (2011) Power, Resistance and Liberation in Therapy with Survivors of Trauma; To Have Our Hearts Broken. London: Routledge. Cecchin, G., Lane, G. & Ray, W. (1992) Irreverence: A Strategy for Therapists‘ Survival. London: Karnac. Freire, P. (1996) Pedagogy of the Oppressed. London: Penguin. Freire, P. (1998) Pedagogy of Freedom. New York: Rowman & Littlefi eld. Freire, P. (2013) Education for Critical Consciousness. London: Bloomsbury.
Freire, P. (2016) Pedagogy of Process: The Letters to Guinea-Bissau. London: Bloomsbury. Fromm, E. (1964) The Heart of Man: Its Genius for Good or Evil. New York: AMHF. Fromm, E. (1981) On Disobedience: Why Freedom Means Saying “No” to Power. New York: Harper Perennial. Holzman, L. (2009) Vygotsky at Work and Play. New York: Routledge. Larkin, P. (2001) The Whitsun Weddings: Collected Poems. New York: Farrar Straus and Giroux. Marx, K. (1996) Das Kapital: A Critique of Political Economy. London: Regenery Publishing. Midgley, M. (2001) Science and Poetry. London: Routledge. Rober, P. (2017) In Therapy Together: Family Therapy As a Dialogue. London: Palgrave. Rustin, M. (2015) A relational society. In: S. Hall, D. Massey & M. Rustin (eds.) After Neoliberalism? The Kilburn Manifesto. London: Lawrence and Wishart. Sandel, M. (2012) What Money Can’t Buy. London: Allan Lane.
5
The politics of practice and the state we are in
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76
