Recovering Our 'Selves,' Reclaiming Our Parts: Toward a New Pastoral Psychology of Multiplicity for African American Women Öffentlichkeit
Jones, Christina Annette (2013)
Published
Abstract
Abstract
Recovering Our ‘Selves,' Reclaiming Our Parts: Toward a New Pastoral Psychology of Multiplicity for African American Women
By: Christina A. Jones
African American women who seek psychological wellness encounter significant challenges. To begin, some African American women have adopted oppressive understandings of what psychological health is and feels like. Specifically, those who have adopted notions of mental health that require that they seek to feel like one essential, monolithic self at all times, in all settings, and in every situation. The problem is that the sociopolitical landscapes that African American women traverse do not lend themselves to this sort of experience. Attempting to be a monolithic self at all times and the presence of socially constructed conflated images of African American women, also known as stereotypes, complicate matters further for African American women. My research found that many women consciously or unconsciously split or disavow important parts of themselves in efforts to not be associated with prevailing African American women stereotypes. However, these same parts may be the very aspects of African American women's selves that aid in their successful navigation of the structures and systems among which they exist and, as such, are a primary resources of strength, creativity, and prowess necessary for surviving and thriving in their surroundings. Therefore, this research determines multiplicity as a more appropriate and liberating pastoral psychological conceptual framework for understanding African American women's psychology. This study both displays how African American women's experiences align with concepts of multiplicity and deems multiplicity as a useful aid in African American women's resistance to the oppressive features of prevailing African American women stereotypes.
Table of Contents
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction: "A Fabulous Fiction": The Problem of African
American Women's
Personalities………………………………………………………………………….........….............….1
Interrogating Notions of "Shifting".
……………………………………….....................……4
Beyond Shifting..
……………………………………………………………………......................….7
Key Terminology.
……………………………………………………………………...…...................8
Dissertation Overview.
…………………………………………………………........…..........…..10
Chapter 1: The Social, Cultural, and Historical Context of African
American Women
'Selves'…..……………………………………………………………………………..........................12
Stereotypes: Classical, Philosophical, and Psychological
Understandings…..... 13
A History of Being 'Othered': The Legacy of Saartjie
Baartman……………..…......17
Stereotypes: Black Feminist Perspectives.
…………………………………………..….......18
Chapter 2: Theoretical Overview: Psychological Theory, Therapeutic
Approach,
and Theological Framework
.……………………………………………………….............…....26
African America Women and
Multiplicity……………………………………….............…...27
Relational Psychoanalysis and
Multiplicity……………………………………..................32
Black Psychological
Theory..…………………………………………………………................…37
Narrative
Therapy……………………………………………………………………….....................41
Womanist Theology
.…………….…………………………………………………….............….....47
Chapter 3: Research
Methodology………………………………………………............……...55
Philosophical
Orientation……………………………………………………………............…......55
Research
Philosophy…………………………………………………………………............….......56
Research Method..
…………………………………………………………………............…….......57
Quantitative Research....
………………………………...……………………..............………..58
Qualitative Research.
………………………………………………………………............…....….62
Chapter 4: Analysis, Findings, and Method Evaluation
Quantitative
Analysis...………………………………………...……………..…..........………....67
Quantatative Findings:
Demographics….………………………………............……….…..68
Questionnaire Findings: Likert
Scale……………………………………............……...…….74
Qualitative
Analysis………………………………………………………………............…...….....77
Questionnaire Findings: Short Answer
Questions…………………............……..…….79
Questionnaire Findings: Brief Essay
Questions………………………............……………82
Interviewee Response
Outline…………………………………………………............………....89
Limitations of this Study..
………………………………………………………...........…........110
Chapter 5: Interpretations and Discussion
Discussion: Questionnaire Likert
Scale...………………………………...............………..117
Discussion: Likert Scale Findings.
……………………………………............………..……...119
Discussion: Questionnaire Brief Essay
Questions.……………............……….……....124
Discussion:
Interviews…………………………………………………………................….……...137
Summary………………………………………………………………………………..........................148
Chapter 6: Towards a New Pastoral Psychology of Multiplicity for African American
Women……………………………………………………………….........……………….................…..150
Multiplicity: An Appropriate Psychological Framework for African American
Women ……...............…………………………………………………………………………………..…....151
Multiplicity: A Tool of Liberation for Dismantling African American Women
Stereotypes ……………………………………………………………………………..........................152
A Pastoral Psychology of Multiplicity for African American Women……………….....155
Therapeutic Praxis: Recovering our ‘Selves,' Reclaiming our Parts………………..….157
Pastoral Praxis: Small Groups on Multiplicity………………………………………...........…160
Challenging the Field of Pastoral Care, Pastoral Counseling, and Pastoral
Theology…............................................................................................162
Concluding Thoughts…………………………………………………………………........................163
Appendix
Bibliography
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