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COMMUNITYPSYCHUK  December 2005

COMMUNITYPSYCHUK December 2005

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Subject:

Re: Escaping the Critique

From:

Annie Mitchell <[log in to unmask]>

Reply-To:

The UK Community Psychology Discussion List <[log in to unmask]>

Date:

Tue, 13 Dec 2005 15:27:57 +0000

Content-Type:

text/plain

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Parts/Attachments

text/plain (556 lines)

thanks Wendy - refreshing.  I look forward to hearing what has happened 
with your research . It's certainly challenging to   to get a balance 
between critical reflection and action, and I've enjoyed the prospect laid 
out before me in the discussion of the various books and ideas  we might 
immerse ourselves in.    And from where I sit it is also challenging too to 
raise my head over the barrage of NHS and University bureacracy to get to 
either reflection or action. that's where this list can be a blessed 
relief. When it isn't wildy perpetuating male- female and other 
dichotomies.  One prevailing feeling i have had over the last week or two 
of debate here is a powerful urge to rejoin my old feminist networks. But i 
so want to do that same stuff that i used to do in women's contexts with 
men joining in too now - widening the diversity - if only it were possible. 
I'm not sure it is.


Annie


--On 13 December 2005 14:48 +0000 "Franks, Wendy - Clinical Psychologist" 
<[log in to unmask]> wrote:

>
> Hello all,
>
> I've been away for a long weekend, trying to get a bit of a break from
> the overwhelmed feeling arising from seemingly relentless work pressures.
> I've had another dozen or so messages from my network administrator to
> say that my inbox is overflowing!
> All I could do was laugh about the number of emails from this list in my
> inbox, and how impossible it seemed to make a dent in the mounting pile
> of unread messages in the archive.
>
> And I am sorry that I just do not have time to read them all, because I'm
> sure that I would find a great deal in them that would be interesting and
> enlightening.
>
> I'm glad that there is such a lot of energy going into the debates and
> discussions going on at the moment, and I'm sorry that I've been so
> silent.
>
> Outside of work, I also don't prioritise reading this list, although I do
> try to catch up from time to time when work is particularly hectic. I
> need to strike a balance that will keep me going in the long term, and
> that involves making time for relationships, family, and
> sanity-sustaining, non-work activities. Work has been pushing at the
> edges of this balance for a while, with lots of committments and
> preparation creeping into non-work time. So I'm pulling it back at the
> moment.
>
> I can't possibly refer back to what has been written over the last few
> weeks, as I haven't read it all. At a glance, much of the debate seems to
> be going on at a level above my head, and certainly beyond my existing
> knowledge. My education in psychology and earlier has been highly
> de-politicised, and so much of the work referred to is unfamiliar. This
> doesn't encourage me to get involved let alone formulate something
> coherent to write in response.  I think the character and style of the
> debate can also, at times, make me less inclined to get involved. It does
> seem to mirror the existing hierarchies of power that I have experienced
> during my life, although I recognise that there have been attempts to
> reflect on this and try to counter-balance it.
>
> I've found the debate fairly intellectual and it competes with other more
> worldly demands at work. I think the actual time it would take out of my
> working day to get involved, would be more productively engaged in other
> activities. And I suspect that if I asked my employer (the NHS) the reply
> would support that position. After all, there is a high expectation on
> doing, in a tangible sense in my working life. And to a certain extent,
> that's one of the aspects of this job that appeals to me. There is time
> for thinking and debating, but there is other stuff to do. At the moment,
> for me, the 'other stuff' seems more pressing. I know that the pursuit of
> knowledge is also important, and guides action. I'm not dismissing that
> at all. Just, how much, or how intellectual, or how far do you have to
> take it to do something practical and useful to people?
>
> An example comes from the research some colleagues and I have been
> working on. The research itself (about the mental health needs of
> refugees, asylum seekers and migrant workers in our local area) could
> have been taken to a much higher level, could have been much more
> theoretically and intellectually robust.  So, I could have gone for that
> option, and I could have asked the new assistant psychologist in the post
> to focus on that. However, it's probably still publishable somewhere
> (when we get time to write it up), if not in a high status academic
> journal. And from the research, we have generated, with the local
> communities, a huge number of practical ideas regarding what is going to
> make a difference to them, in their lives now. So that is what the
> assistant psychologist is (very competently, and inspirationally, I might
> add!) doing at the moment. So, I think while there's some space in my
> working life for debate, it can't dominate over the practical activities
> that it is supposed to inform. I want to help to put  the scarce resource
> we have here in the NHS in Great Yarmouth to the best use.
>
> So, I'm aware this is another email that is hastily composed, and may not
> all hang together terribly well....
>
> Essentially, I don't want to escape the critique, I just want it to be
> manageable within the time I have, so I guess I'm selective about how
> much I get involved in it.
>
> To come back to the conference...
>
> I'll write about that in the 'on the subject of conferences' thread.
>
> Wendy
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Annie Mitchell [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
> Sent: 08 December 2005 14:41
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: [COMMUNITYPSYCHUK] Escaping the Critique
>
>
> Hi Rebekah,
>
> yes; it's so easy to default to the prevailing power loaded ways of
> doing/saying things - at least we are trying here, and our trying shows
> how
> hard it is.
>
> Re the conference - I  hope we have supported/ encouraged Wendy enough so
> far.  We all share responsibility to encourage and welcome  new different
> people into our network . I remember when I asked a community psych
> colleague for advice re organising the Exeter conference she wisely said -
> no matter how hard you try you will get it wrong for some. We felt
> heartened and liberated by that and decided pretty much to trust ourselves
> .  Hope Wendy and colleagues do too.
>
> Annie
>
> PS I bet David appreciates having you as mentor...
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> --On 08 December 2005 14:00 +0000 Rebekah Pratt <[log in to unmask]>
> wrote:
>
>> Hi Annie,
>>
>> I agree with your point about the dangers of matching 'clever experts' to
>> newcomers would be problematic.  For me, the main issue with this would
>> be the potential for blatant reproduction of the type of social mediated
>> communications we have been seeing on the list itself.  Whilst the
>> exchanges have been increasingly interesting, there have been times I
>> have felt I'm reading messages from a lot of men about a lot of other men
>> (the second lot generally being more historic and even cleverer experts).
>> I think the dangers of mentoring would be we reinforce this public
>> representation of dominant group dominance in community psychology.
>>
>> In particular Annie's email refers to the revelation of mentoring and
>> support by David's email.  Whilst you didn't say it explicitly Annie (and
>> please note I find your emails overwhelmingly supportive and
>> encouraging), I read your email to saying David acts as an off list
>> mentor.  The only thing that is actually revealed by this is how we
>> assume who the expert is in the exchanges, how we decide who is the
>> mentored and who is the mentor.   The answer just happens to not actually
>> be that straightforward in this particular instance, but it made a clear
>> point about how easy it is to understand who our clever experts are
>> through conventions of gender, status, age etc. I think this conveniently
>> served to highlight the dangers of going down a mentor model path.
>>
>> As a group we could do with paying careful attention to how this
>> dominance becomes replicated on our list discussions, reflected in our
>> assumptions about our colleagues (both those who speak up on the list
>> and those who do not) at our conferences and in the authoring of our
>> conceptual
>> frameworks.
>>
>> Just to connect back to where we started from, I would like to see a
>> careful commitment to continuing to represent the diversity of our
>> network at the next conference.
>>
>> Best wishes,
>>
>> Rebekah
>>
>> Ps By the way .. I'm finding mentoring David both challenging and
>> rewarding..
>>
>>
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: The UK Community Psychology Discussion List
>> [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Annie Mitchell
>> Sent: 08 December 2005 10:45
>> To: [log in to unmask]
>> Subject: Re: [COMMUNITYPSYCHUK] Escaping the Critique
>>
>> Hi Diane,
>>
>> Mutual mentoring/ induction is a nice  idea. Though I'd want it not to
>> simply be a process whereby  the "clever experts" induct the newcomers.
>> We all have differing expertises and identities we bring to our exchanges
>> and it would be good to share those around, value them and encourage one
>> another to make inputs from our differing expertises..For example your
>> experience of the barriers you have overcome should be just as valuable
>> to this list as others' experiences of grappling with philosophical
>> issues.
>>
>> I believe we need to bring our differing perspectives  together in as
>> equal  way as we can   - to make sense and take action.
>>
>>  I'm sure some sort of mentoring in any case goes on behind the scenes of
>> this list - for example as was revealed through David F's inadvertent
>> posting of background communication; my comments about the linked
>> conversations we had at the southwest network meetings, individual emails
>> that go back and forth between colleagues who have relationships outside
>> of this list etc.  But the value of a mentor approach could be that we
>> make connections across our usual sub-groups.
>>
>> Anyway, I'd be up for a bit of partnering / mentoring someone whose
>> experiences were complementary to mine: so here are some of my
>> identities.  I'm white, female, middle aged, long-term single parent but
>> now living in a shared family situation, from a north england
>> comprehensive school background, clinical psychologist working at present
>> in psychology department  in an old style university and also in a
>> general hospital offering clinical/community service, with an interest in
>> participatory research. I've occasionally used mental health and
>> complementary health services to support me in managing my distress. And
>> I'd like to do more about ecological issues. And i like singing and
>> taking part in drama.
>>
>> BUT I'm aware that this list has recently taken up more of my/ our  time
>> than it usually does - as it has been so fascinating. We'd  have to be
>> realistic about how much time we could devote to this.
>>
>>
>> Annie
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> --On 08 December 2005 10:54 +0800 Diane Costello <[log in to unmask]>
>> wrote:
>>
>>>
>>>
>>> Thank you David for clarifying the cultural gap I was experiencing.
>>> As a relative novice to ontological discourse and having overcome the
>>> barriers posed by poverty, single parenting, ethnic minority status,
>>> sexism, disability [just to name a few] -- these discussions have
>>> awaken me to the rules implicit in claiming a voice.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> I have been advantaged by these discussions and while I feel
>>> overwhelmed and perhaps a little intimidated it has been an intoxicating
>> experience.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> May I be bold enough to suggest as an initiation process - whereby
>>> those who want an easier transition to the field of CP- be assigned a
>>> mentor on the list to encourage greater contributions from those who
>>> may feel excluded for whatever reason.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> Sincere cheers
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> Diane
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> ------------------------
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> Diane Costello Assoc MAPS
>>>
>>> Lecturer
>>>
>>> School of Behavioural Science
>>>
>>> College of Arts & Sciences
>>>
>>> The University of Notre Dame Australia
>>>
>>> 19 Mouat Street (PO Box 1225)
>>>
>>> Fremantle, Western Australia 6959
>>>
>>> Tel: +61 8 9433 0867
>>>
>>> Fax: +61 8 9433 0210
>>>
>>> Email: [log in to unmask]
>>>
>>> Internet: www.nd.edu.au
>>>
>>> CRICOS code: 01032F
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> __________________________________________________
>>>
>>> From: The UK Community Psychology Discussion List
>>> [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of David Fryer
>>> Sent: Thursday, 8 December 2005 8:33 AM
>>> To: [log in to unmask]
>>> Subject: Re: [COMMUNITYPSYCHUK] Escaping the Critique
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> Dear All,
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> Here are a few personal reflections on recent interesting material
>>> posted to the list.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> I have found that Paul and Mike importantly use humour to draw my
>>> attention back to reflection what I want of the list in relation to
>>> community psychology (COMMUNITYPSYCHUK - The discussion list for
>>> community psychology in the UK)?
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> I do want a forum in which we can read and write about and debate
>>> critical community psychology (CCP for short) at a sophisticated level
>>> but that is not enough for me - I also want a forum in which CCP is
>>> practiced, that in which our actions are in line with the values and
>>> assumptions of CCP.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> For me it is central to CCP that it is committed to challenging and
>>> contesting excluding, depowering and disabling practices and unjust
>>> and damaging hierarchies. It is also central to CCP that it is
>>> committed to challenging and contesting individualism and
>>> psychologism. I am not, and do not want to be interpreted as, imputing
>>> disreputable intentions or motives to individual list members in
>>> offering critical refection on what it seems to me to be happening in
>>> our list discussion. However my concern is that we, collectively, are
>>> reproducing and maintaining within the list oppressive power relations
>>> outside the list. That is not surprising of course. When we
>>> participate in the list, those of us who 'enjoy' them cannot
>>> individually cast off the privileges and powers that come with being
>>> male in a sexist society, affluent in a materially grossly unequal
>>> society, dominant ethnic group members in a racist society,
>>> disproportionately enabled in a disablist society, educationally
>>> successful in a meritocratic society etc. Nevertheless, whatever the
>>> good intentions and motives and difficulty of doing otherwise, I fear
>>> that our discussion (including my own inputs) sometimes excludes,
>>> depowers and disables others on the list and recreates external socially
>> structured hierarchies of power and powerless in the list.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> On the other hand I think that some of the issues we need to address
>>> to become effective require concepts which ignore or redraw conceptual
>>> and ideological boundaries so I am also grateful for inputs by Grant,
>>> Mark and others. Difficulties in understanding, in my view, are caused
>>> not only by the nature of what one is trying to understand but also by
>>> what one brings with one with which to do the understanding. Immersion
>>> in positivist realist (per)versions of science militates against
>>> coming to understand other notions of what counts as knowledge and
>>> other assumptions about 'what there is'? I think that those believing
>>> in 'modernism' confronted with post-modernism are in some ways in a
>>> comparable position to those who believed the earth was flat
>>> confronted with those who argued the world was round(ish). Our
>>> difficulties in understanding radical ideas are to some extent because
>>> we have been educated not to be able to do so. Our educational
>>> practices create ideological illiteracy?
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> So I do think we also need challenges to and support in discussion
>>> about complex for-us, for-now-inaccessible issues using unfamiliar
>>> terms and constructions. A challenge to us all on this community
>>> psychology list, it seems to me, is how to do this without excluding,
>>> depowering and disabling others on the list and recreating and
>>> maintaining external hierarchies of power and powerless in our list
>>> 'community'. Any ideas how?
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> David
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> __________________________________________________
>>>
>>> From: The UK Community Psychology Discussion List on behalf of Michael
>>> ridley-Dash
>>> Sent: Wed 07/12/2005 20:45
>>> To: [log in to unmask]
>>> Subject: Re: [COMMUNITYPSYCHUK] Escaping the Critique
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> Coming from the Frankfurter school of thought I take Bockwurst's 'The
>>> adapted transdimensional exploration of the inner discoursals cavities'
>>> as the really seminal work. In it he argues that the 'Sausage-world'
>>> or as he coins it 'the integral meat-encompassed reality of being' is
>>> being infiltrated by the stodgy maize of imperial capitalism. I find
>>> this work to be best enjoyed whilst studying fluctuations in the
>>> housing market, perhaps accompanyed by the sound of the late-great
>>> opulent marxist John Lennon's 'Imagine' played on a Kazoo.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> __________________________________________________
>>>
>>> Yahoo! Cars NEW - sell your car and browse thousands of new and used
>>> cars online search now
>>>
>>> __________________________________________________
>>>
>>> ___________________________________
>>>
>>> COMMUNITYPSYCHUK - The discussion list for community psychology in the
>>> UK. To unsubscribe or to change your details visit the website:
>>> http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/COMMUNITYPSYCHUK.HTML For any problems
>>> or queries, contact the list moderator at [log in to unmask] or
>>> [log in to unmask]
>>>
>>> --
>>>
>>> The University of Stirling is a university established in Scotland by
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>>> ___________________________________
>>>
>>> COMMUNITYPSYCHUK - The discussion list for community psychology in the
>>> UK. To unsubscribe or to change your details visit the website:
>>> http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/COMMUNITYPSYCHUK.HTML For any problems
>>> or queries, contact the list moderator at [log in to unmask] or
>>> [log in to unmask] ___________________________________
>>>
>>> COMMUNITYPSYCHUK - The discussion list for community psychology in the
>>> UK. To unsubscribe or to change your details visit the website:
>>> http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/COMMUNITYPSYCHUK.HTML For any problems
>>> or queries, contact the list moderator at [log in to unmask] or
>>> [log in to unmask]
>>
>>
>>
>> Annie Mitchell
>> Lecturer in Psychology,
>> Clinical Director, Doctorate in Clinical and Community Psychology,
>>
>> School of Psychology,
>> Washington Singer Building,
>> University of Exeter,
>> Exeter,
>> EX4 4QG
>>
>> Phone 01392 264621 or
>> Liz Mears, Programme Administrator 01392 403184
>>
>> ___________________________________
>>
>> COMMUNITYPSYCHUK - The discussion list for community psychology in the
>> UK. To unsubscribe or to change your details visit the website:
>> http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/COMMUNITYPSYCHUK.HTML
>> For any problems or queries, contact the list moderator at
>> [log in to unmask] or [log in to unmask]
>>
>> ___________________________________
>>
>> COMMUNITYPSYCHUK - The discussion list for community psychology in the
>> UK. To unsubscribe or to change your details visit the website:
>> http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/COMMUNITYPSYCHUK.HTML
>> For any problems or queries, contact the list moderator at
>> [log in to unmask] or [log in to unmask]
>
>
>
> Annie Mitchell
> Lecturer in Psychology,
> Clinical Director, Doctorate in Clinical and Community Psychology,
>
> School of Psychology,
> Washington Singer Building,
> University of Exeter,
> Exeter,
> EX4 4QG
>
> Phone 01392 264621 or
> Liz Mears, Programme Administrator 01392 403184
>
> ___________________________________
>
> COMMUNITYPSYCHUK - The discussion list for community psychology in the UK.
> To unsubscribe or to change your details visit the website:
> http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/COMMUNITYPSYCHUK.HTML
> For any problems or queries, contact the list moderator at
> [log in to unmask] or [log in to unmask]
> ___________________________________
>
> COMMUNITYPSYCHUK - The discussion list for community psychology in the
> UK. To unsubscribe or to change your details visit the website:
> http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/COMMUNITYPSYCHUK.HTML For any problems or
> queries, contact the list moderator at [log in to unmask] or
> [log in to unmask]



Annie Mitchell
Lecturer in Psychology,
Clinical Director, Doctorate in Clinical and Community Psychology,

School of Psychology,
Washington Singer Building,
University of Exeter,
Exeter,
EX4 4QG

Phone 01392 264621 or
Liz Mears, Programme Administrator 01392 403184

___________________________________

COMMUNITYPSYCHUK - The discussion list for community psychology in the UK.
To unsubscribe or to change your details visit the website:
http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/COMMUNITYPSYCHUK.HTML
For any problems or queries, contact the list moderator at [log in to unmask] or [log in to unmask]

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