Bilingualism, Culture, and Social Justice in Family Therapy

This volume advocates for justice in language rights through its explorations of bilingualism in family therapy, from the perspectives of eighteen languages identified by the authors: Black Talk/Ebonics/Slang, Farsi, Fenglish, Arabic, Italian, Cantonese Chinese, South Korean, Mandarin Chinese, Vietnamese, Spanish, Chilean Spanish, Mexican Spanish, Colombian Spanglish, Madrileño Spanish, Spanglish, Pocho Spanish, Colloquial Spanish, and English. It identifies standard English as the current language most often used across family therapy programs and services in the United States. The book discusses efforts to respond to the rapidly changing linguistic landscape and the increasingly high demand for appropriate therapy services that respond effectively to diverse families in America. It discusses recruitment and training of linguistically diverse family therapists and strategies to promote linguistic equality to support the rights of family therapists, their practices, and the communities they serve. Chapters explore ways to integrate languages in professional and personal lives, including the improvisational, self-taught translanguaging skills and practices that go beyond the lexical and grammatical rules of a language. The book describes the creative use of native or heritage languages to ensure that the juxtaposition of English therapeutic and daily-life landscapes is integrated into family therapy settings. It discusses contextual, relational, therapeutic, and training potential offered by bilingualism as well as the necessary transmutations in theory and practice. This volume is an essential resource for clinicians, therapists, and practitioners as well as researchers, professors, and graduate students in family studies, clinical psychology, and public health as well as all interrelated disciplines. Series Editor Foreword Foreword References Contents Contributors About the Editors Chapter 1: Introduction Writing in English to Denounce the Predominance of Standard English Writing About Bilingualism and Not About Bilinguals Becoming Bilingual Authors and Editors Within the English Language The Community of Contributors: Writing During the COVID-19 Pandemic The Contributor’s Stories We Learned As We Move Forward... Chapter 2: Intersections of Asian Identity, Languages, and Professional Education: Where the Personal and Professional Intimately Collide Becoming a Professional Colliding with the Personal Reintegrating Our Whole Selves: Intersection of Language, Culture, and Identity References Chapter 3: Storying the Aesthetics of Nuestras Linguistic Borderlands: A Tapestry de Solidarity Tisha: Una Coyote de Lenguaje – A Language Trafficker Mu-Lan: Holding onto My Chilenismos Through My Intuition Lorraine: Finding Oneself in the Mist of Bilingual Practices Final Reflections References Chapter 4: La Questione Della Lingua Comes to Therapy From Figure of Speech to Literal Meaning Re-embodying Languages Languages and Power La Questione Della Lingua/The Choice of the Language In Search of a Character References Chapter 5: Language as Rebellion: Black Folks Wanna Speak They Own Kinda English in Therapy Respectability of Black Talk (Put Some Respek on Our Language) Talking Black Keeping It Real Rebelling with No End References Chapter 6: Doing Narrative Therapy in Fenglish As Persians and Therapists Context and Challenges of Narrative Therapy in Farsi Access to Ketabi, Amianeh, and Fenglish Practices for Conducting Narrative Therapy with Fenglish Acknowledging Iran’s History The Challenge of English Negotiating Social Justice Working with Narrative Ideas in Farsi Expanding Notions of Identity Within Family Negotiating Language Externalization Use of Metaphor and Storytelling Conclusion References Chapter 7: Therapeutic Latinx Story-Sharing or Chismorreo Bakhtin, Don Quijote, and the Art of Story-Sharing Language(s) and the Construction of Reality Latinx Therapeutic Chismorreo Our Story-Sharing Chismeando con Lina Chismeando con Lazara and Juan Closing Comments References Chapter 8: A Meeting of Languages: English-Based Trauma and Spanish Language Variations Spanish Language and Justice for the Latinx Community Spanish Variations A Meeting of Languages Final Reflections References Chapter 9: Spanish-English Bilingual Supervision Becoming a Spanish-English Bilingual Supervisor Spanish-English Supervision Spanish-English Supervisor Role Supervision Alterations Language Alterations Student’s Language Proficiency Comfort Spanish Mental Health Vocabulary Clinical Alterations Translating Theory and Interventions Clinical Intervention Alterations Cultural Alterations Socially Just Supervision Conclusion References Chapter 10: Legitimizing Language Traffick(ing) Through a Community of Support Mu-Lan Letti Ingrid Daniel Crossing la(s) línea(s) with More Confidence Reference Chapter 11: Corazones Bilingües: A Journey in MFT Training and Practice ¿A ti quién te soporta?/Who Tolerates You? Eso no suena bien ¿Qué hago? Unlearning Shame Empowerment from a Linguistic Perspective Closing References Chapter 12: Working as a Team: Therapy with Interpreters The Authors’ Social Locations The Interpreter Experience Helpful Practices Key Ideas to Working with Interpreters Additional Considerations for Family and Couples Therapy Additional Considerations for Groups Closing Remarks Reference Index