This article describes the experiences of a U.S.-based family therapy practitioner during a 3-week academic consultation in the Philippines. Revisioning the concept of cultural competency as a performance that occurs in relationship, the author shares three autoethnographic stories that illustrate cultural borderlands in the global arena of family therapy training and practice. The stories address (a) questioning dominant (U.S.) views of family therapy process, (b) deconstructing the multiple meanings of the clinical presenting problem “I've killed my child,” and (c) redefining the act of “cheating” as a performance of solidarity and relationship.
Bacigalupe, G. (1998). Cross-cultural systemic therapy training and consultation: A post-colonial view. Journal of Systemic Therapies, 17(1), 31-44.
2.
Charlés, L. (2007a). Disarming people with words: Strategies of interactional communication that crisis (hostage) negotiators share with systemic clinicians . Journal of Marital and Family Therapy, 33(1), 51-68.
3.
Charlés, L. (2007b). Negotiating life and death, and meanings and values. Journal of Marital and Family Therapy, 33(1), 72-76.
4.
Charlés, L., & Piercy, F.P. (2004). Reflections on teaching family therapy in several non-Western countries. Journal of Systemic Therapies, 22(4), 15-28.
5.
The Economist. (2005, October 8). p. 61.
6.
Ellis, C. (2007). Telling secrets, revealing lives: Relational ethics in research with intimate others. Qualitative Inquiry, 13(1), 3-29.
7.
Fisher, L. (1954). Ghandi: His life and message to the world. New York: PenguinPutnam.
8.
Gale, J. (2007). Joining for change: An intervention of state change or an interaction of unforeseen consequence. Journal of Marital and Family Therapy, 33(1), 69-72.
9.
Haug, I. (2003). Observing the growth and development of family therapy in Ecuador. In K. S. Ng (Ed.), Global perspectives in family therapy development, practice, trends (pp. 207-223). New York: Brunner-Routledge .
10.
Hutnik, N. (2005). Toward holistic, compassionate, professional care: Using a cultural lens to examine the practice of contemporary psychotherapy in the west. Contemporary Family Therapy, 27(3), 383-402.
11.
Mittal, M., & Hardy, K. (2005). A re-examination of the current status and future of family therapy in India. Contemporary Family Therapy, 27(3), 285-300.
12.
Rojano, R. (2004). The practice of community family therapy. Family Process, 43(1), 59-77.
13.
Singer, M. (2005). A twice-told tale: A phenomenological inquiry into clients' perceptions of therapy. Journal of Marital and Family Therapy, 31(3), 269-281.
14.
Sue, D.W. (1998). A personal look at psychology in my life. In L. T. Hoshamand (Ed.), Creativity and moral vision in psychology: Narratives on identity and commitment in a postmodern age (pp. 106-125). London: Sage.
15.
Ungar, M. (2003). Lessons on otherness: What therapists can learn from traveling. Journal of Systemic Therapies, 22(4), 1-14.
16.
Watts, A. (1961). Psychotherapy east and west. New York: Random House.
17.
Weingarten, K. (2003). Common shock: Witnessing violence every day. New York: New American Library.
