Abstract
This book provides a wealth of resources to facilitate exploration of experiences of privilege and oppression for any psychology graduate student, counselor-in-training, faculty, or professional, as well as some advanced undergraduates. Together, as a supervisor and intern supervisee, we share our pleasure of reading a book that evokes a full range of emotions, insights, and inspirations. Our two voices are reflected in integrating our multiple perspectives into this review. This book adeptly covers a broad range of diversity topics in a format that quickly engages the reader on a personally and professionally self-reflective level.
The editors' clearly stated and accomplished purpose is to educate, raise awareness, and prompt self-reflection and discussion about “privilege, its resulting oppression, and the diversity of positions in which it is manifested” (p. x). A secondary goal, not clearly stated by the editors, but necessary to further such efforts, is to inspire action toward change. Readers may be inspired by such recommendations to use more inclusive language to avoid heterosexism, to assess and intervene when disabled access is restricted, or to speak out as activists or allies.
This book includes 23 short, personal stories of counseling trainees and professionals' experiences of the interplay of privilege and oppression in their own lives. Many authors share personal accounts of their family and cultural background. Others also talk about professional interactions in counseling, teaching, or conversing with colleagues. For example, Deines shares her struggle to reconcile her assumed White privilege, because of her appearance, and her true cultural identity as Latina. The authors frame their articles by first sharing a personal story that centers upon defining aspects of their identity. They fuse scholarly references with these stories to add depth and context to the understanding of their experiences. Each article ends with conclusions about the impact of these incidents and discussion questions that are intended to stimulate personal reactions from the reader. Some authors also include case scenarios to apply what one might learn from their stories. Overall, the book assumes that readers have some knowledge base (e.g., identity development theory) regarding multicultural issues of privilege and oppression.
The collection of articles provides a broadly representative selection of experiences of both privilege and oppression related to numerous forms of diversity. Forms of privilege addressed in the text include White, socioeconomic, able-bodied, or heterosexual privilege, as well as assumed privilege when one's cultural back-ground is ambiguous. Experiences of oppression relayed in several of the articles relate to sexism, religion, internalized oppression, acculturation, or assimilation. There are also captivating stories of personal compassion and being allies. In a story of discrimination and finding allies, one author (Mock) talks about being discriminated against as a Chinese American in a department store and how he finds an ally among the other shoppers. Multiple identities are considered within the articles, such that many of the authors eloquently explore the intersection of aspects of ethnicity, race, religion, gender, and social class, to name a few. The editors' inclusion of personal stories by authors who share their specific ethnic and cultural identities (e.g., Hmong and Mexican American) is a welcomed difference from texts that are organized by broader cultural categories. Finally, although each author's experiences and writing are unique, feminist themes of identity, embracing diversity, acknowledging privilege, overcoming oppression, and recognizing the personal as political are pervasive throughout the text.
As a teaching tool, this book is a priceless resource for graduate- and advanced undergraduate-level training in psychology, counseling, social work, and education, as well as continuing education for seasoned professionals. The authors share their experiences of privilege and oppression as they serve in a variety of roles: counselor-in-training, counselor, professor, researcher, and supervisor. Even though experiences as researchers are minimally discussed, the material within each of the chapters can provide learning about conducting research with diverse groups of individuals. This book could be incorporated into a graduate-level multiculturalism class, a diversity training seminar for practicum students and interns, and/or be the focus of staff professional development. The book is designed to foster awareness and self-reflection that can be adapted to an individual written reflection format and/or class and staff discussion. It is a unique addition to the literature, providing us with a real-life resource for authentically examining our own life experiences with diversity.
This book is very timely as it provides a resource that is being called for among multicultural scholars in counseling psychology (Neville & Carter, 2005). Research suggests that it continues to be “taboo” to speak openly and directly about race and racism at anything other than an intellectual level (Utsey, Gernat, & Hammar, 2005). However, this book provides for not only the development of knowledge, but more specifically, for awareness and constructive dialogue that is needed in training (Sanchez-Hucles & Jones, 2005; Spanierman & Poteat, 2005; Wade, 2005). As these authors have shared their stories, vulnerabilities, and even “mistakes,” they provide a resource that can open the door to difficult dialogues and provide a framework for introspection and discussion.
In conclusion, the text is user-friendly, engaging, and interactive. Many of these stories are emotionally and intellectually provocative, serving as a reminder that oppression stems from the existence of privilege and we must address our privileges to diminish oppression. It is specifically designed to be a text that can be useful to any counseling professional or graduate-level trainee. The depth of reflection and learning that can occur as a result of reading this book is endless. It is a book filled with teachable moments.