Day 76 – Shifting paradigms

Photo by Alexander Schimmeck on Unsplash

Day 76 – Thomas Kuhn was the American philosopher credited with introducing the term “paradigm shift” to the academic community.   In reading more about Latinx identity, and Latinx psychology, I came across this recent article on Alternate Cultural Paradigms in Latinx Psychology by Consoli, Lopez, and Whaling (2022).

 

In it, Consoli, Lopez and Whaling (2022) describe one of the most challenging aspects of getting underneath what has not “worked” about mainstream Western theories of psychology:

 

While Thomas Kuhn defined paradigms as the “universally recognized scientific achievements that, for a time, provide model problems and solutions for a community of practitioners” (Kuhn, 1970, p. viii), he did so from a largely unacknowledged, mainstream western perspective. Neglecting its own cultural roots made it noticeably difficulty to acknowledge cultural differences.

 

This, in turn, ignored different forms and sources of knowledge (i.e., alternate cultural paradigms), and made the dominant paradigm a hegemonic, universalist one. In rejecting the idea that western psychological foundations are universal, alternate cultural paradigms recognize and respect differential cultural norms that may address power inequities and improve treatment with underserved communities. (p. 517)

 

This reminded me of my writing back on day 57.  In the Consoli, Lopez and Whaling article they are proposing alternative cultural paradigms – that “recognize and respect differential cultural norms.”  I think the postmodernists and the deconstructionists were also trying to recognize and respect different cultural norms and worldviews – recognizing the many ways language shapes culture and power shapes language. But clearly there wasn’t enough of a critique of the history or impact Westernized views, or of the history or impact which the dominant paradigms within psychology had on people not within the dominant culture.

 

In the article, The fallacy of a raceless Latinidad: Action guidelines for centering Blackness in Latinx psychology, Adames, Chaves-Duenas & Jernigan (2021) say:

 

Latinxs can trace their rich history to three primary racial groups including Black, Indigenous, and White. As a result of the racial mixing that occurred during the period of colonization, Latinxs exhibit a broad range of physical characteristics that include variations in skin-color and phenotype, hair texture, nose width, eye color, and the like. (p. 27).

 

They go on to note that the reach of colonization and the pervasive racism inherent in the belief that African and Indigenous people are less than White people has continued throughout Latin America. Adamas, Chaves-Duenas and Jernigan (2021) point out that the message of being mixed race has masked racism or neutralized it for many Latinx.

 

In fact, Latinxs have been socialized to uphold Mestizaje racial ideologies (MRIs), or the belief that all people of Latinx descent are racially mixed and therefore skin-color and phenotypical differences do not matter. (p. 27)

 

Many years ago, I was in Cuba and noticed a reluctance on the part of our tour guide to talk about what I perceived of as a minimizing of Afro-Cuban experience.  I think this certainly was also my experience of being in Puerto Rico where there is a reluctance to center Afro-Latino experience.  I do remember an interview with Bad Bunny where he spoke about the privileges he has experienced as a “white Puerto Rican” – Who said it was simple to navigate our position as white Puerto Ricans in a market that habitually dismisses and devalues the syncretic culture in which we participate, but privileges our race?

 

Once again, this feels as though I am just barely skimming the surface of this complex issue of race within Latin culture in general and within Puerto Rican culture specifically.

 

Adames, H. Y., Chavez-Dueñas, N. Y., & Jernigan, M. M. (2021). The fallacy of a raceless Latinidad: Action guidelines for centering Blackness in Latinx psychology. Journal of Latinx Psychology, 9(1), 26–44. https://doi.org/10.1037/lat0000179

 

Consoli, A. J., López, I., & Whaling, K. M. (2022). Alternate Cultural Paradigms in Latinx Psychology: An Empirical, Collaborative Exploration. Journal of Humanistic Psychology, 62(4), 516–539. https://doi.org/10.1177/00221678211051797

 

del Valle Schorske, C. (2020, October 11). The world according to Bad Bunny: The Puerto Rican reggaetonero has come to dominate global pop on his own terms. The New York Times Magazine. https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/10/07/magazine/bad-bunny.html