Multicultural/Multiracial Psychology

Reviews / Votes

Dr. Ramirez continues his sophisticated discussion of the relevance of a multicultural/multiracial psychology for twenty-first century America in this welcome update. He draws on his own active research programs and his extensive knowledge of the social science literature, and also provides case examples illustrating ways to help multicultural clients come to a growth-producing awareness of their racial heritage. -- Adelbert H. Jenkins Ph.D. Multicultural/Multiracial Psychology is a rare blend of historical, theoretical, and empirical exploration. One of its unique strengths is its novel reflection on the tensions inherent in our views of identity as an individual as opposed to a collective or community centered concept. Even readers not sympathetic with Manual Ramirez's unrelenting critique of the role of Eurocentric ideas in psychology will learn a great deal from his dissection of the assumptions that have long undergirded Western psychological theory and practice. Ultimately, this work will help social scientists and mental health practitioners appreciate just how embedded in those assumptions their approaches are. Ramirez's insights derive from his clinical practice, research, teaching, and self-examination. The blend of methodologies adds a rarely encountered richness to his look into the world of individuals with pluralistic-transcendent identities. -- Ricardo Ainslie, Ph.D. Ahead of the field when he published Psychology of the Americas in 1983, Dr. Ramirez reintroduces and expands his concept of mestizo psychology in this cutting edge volume. This is one of the few texts to provide a historical analysis of the impact of colonization on the development of psychological theory for all people living in the Americas; its cross-disciplinary model of a post-modern psychology, grounded in concrete examples, promises to be transformative for psychology education and truly offers a bridge into the new millennium. -- Maria P. P. Rott, Ph.D.