Hear me out, it's a doozy.

Once upon a time I was studying to become a primatologist in the discipline of physical anthropology. As I became aware of more and more barriers to my ability to achieve this goal of living in Borneo working with the conservation efforts to save orangutans, I slid over into cultural anthropology as it was more accessible to me at the time. That experience alone is another article about oppression, discrimination, and privilege in and of itself. As a cultural anthropologist, one of my favorite things to read were ethnographies. (I know, I know, geek much?) Many years (and literal transition) later I ended up in counseling psychology with a master's degree in clinical mental health. Somehow, I never lost my love for research articles. 

Today I came across a LinkedIn post by another member, Cathryn Greville, in my feed regarding a recent NPR article: "Men are hunters, women are gatherers. That was the assumption. A new study upends it." (July 1, 2023) It supports my long-held belief that we had this information wrong all along. It also supports the idea that research is rife with biases of all kinds. But, again, that's another article. 

Here's where my mind felt like it was imploding though...the idea that ethnographical data should be incorporated into research related to multiculturalism. I love ethnographies, always have. I personally utilize ethnographies and similar information to inform my understanding of the various cultures with which I work. In counselor education it is often pressed upon students just how important it is to continually strive for multicultural competency (the academic term, not mine). Yet, no one in my experience or others that I am aware of has suggested utilizing a blend of psychology and anthropology to inform ourselves or to impact our training, techniques, or even concept of diagnostic criteria. There are many similarities between social psychology and anthropology, but I rarely see any direct interaction. This could, of course, be a simple limitation of my own experiences. 

The article demonstrates to me a great benefit of combining the historical and current ethnographic literature with our work in multiculturalism, therapeutic techniques, and our concept of diagnostic criteria. As we research the concept of gender roles in historical culture we are beginning to understand that bias shaped what we now consider widely to be true: men and women have evolutionarily different gender roles. It was preposterous before, and it is so now. Many hunter/gatherer cultures depended on their abilities to forage, cultivate, and hunt for basic survival. It was an all-hands-on-deck kind of necessity. We just imagined it to be similar to our own current gender-driven society because that was the lens with which we were looking. 

Many of us, especially those of us from marginalized backgrounds and experiences, have long had trouble with the White, Eurocentric basis upon which the DSM (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual) was built, and the resulting practices of assessment and therapeutic treatment of individuals. I suggest here that we have tools at our disposal to challenge many widely held societal beliefs and patterns of behavior. Further, that we have an ethical obligation as therapists committed to doing no harm to utilize these tools to reimagine multiculturalism, therapeutic techniques, and most importantly diagnosis. 

Now, who wants to fund my research?  ;)





Objective: The implications ethnographic study could have on feminist theory, multiculturalism, and culturally relevant and inclusive therapeutic practices.