Mutual Accompaniment and the Creation of the Commons
Published on 27. August 2019
Book
Hardback
376 pages
978-0-300-23614-9 (ISBN)
Description
A landmark book that maps a radical model not only for the "helping" professions but for the work of solidarity
This timely and pathbreaking volume maps a radical model of accompaniment, exploring its profound implications for solidarity. Psychosocial and ecological accompaniment is a mode of responsive assistance that combines psychosocial understanding with political and cultural action. Accompaniment-grounded in horizontality, interdependence, and potential mutuality-moves away from hierarchical and unidirectional helping-profession approaches that decontextualize suffering. Watkins envisions a powerful paradigm of mutual solidarity with profound implications for creating commons in the face of societal division and indifference to suffering.
This timely and pathbreaking volume maps a radical model of accompaniment, exploring its profound implications for solidarity. Psychosocial and ecological accompaniment is a mode of responsive assistance that combines psychosocial understanding with political and cultural action. Accompaniment-grounded in horizontality, interdependence, and potential mutuality-moves away from hierarchical and unidirectional helping-profession approaches that decontextualize suffering. Watkins envisions a powerful paradigm of mutual solidarity with profound implications for creating commons in the face of societal division and indifference to suffering.
Reviews / Votes
"Quite creative and amazingly integrative."-Darcia Narvaez, University of Notre Dame, author of Neurobiology and the Development of Human Morality: Evolution, Culture and Wisdom"This original and impressively thorough book has the potential to establish 'psychosocial accompaniment' as a primary mode of practice in the helping professions. It is the perfect antidote to widespread indifference to human suffering."-Tod Sloan, Lewis and Clark College, author of Damaged Life: The Crisis of the Modern Psyche
"An original and significant intervention that will have far-ranging appeal to students of psychology, anthropology, and cultural studies. This book holds the potential of becoming a classic."-Deanne Bell, University of East London
"A timely book, full of delightful anecdotes and practical guidance. Mary Watkins has crafted an extraordinary story of a nearly forgotten practice."-Peter Westoby, Queensland University of Technology, Australia, coauthor of Participatory Development Practice: Using Traditional and Contemporary Frameworks
"Watkins speaks about the need for providers to go beyond their privileged comfort levels and address the real needs of the people we aim to serve and support."-Chakira M. Haddock Lazala, Ph.D.
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
United States
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Product notice
Cloth over boards
Dimensions
Height: 235 mm
Width: 156 mm
Thickness: 22 mm
ISBN-13
978-0-300-23614-9 (9780300236149)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Persons
Mary Watkins, a leading voice in liberation psychology, is coauthor of Toward Psychologies of Liberation, Up Against the Wall: Re-Imagining the U.S.-Mexico Border, and Talking with Young Children about Adoption, and is author of Waking Dreams and Invisible Guests: The Development of Imaginal Dialogues. She is cofounder of the Community, Liberation, Indigenous, and Eco-Psychologies graduate specialization at Pacifica Graduate Institute. She received the 2019 Award for Distinguished Theoretical and Philosophical Contributions to Psychology, in recognition of lifetime achievement, from the Society for Theoretical and Philosophical Psychology.