Chapter 6: Attending to gender politics and refusing to separate practices of abuse/violence from power
The previous chapter included a video in which Michael White’s conversations with Donna and her mother and family involved de-centred ‘political’ influence, in relation to the politics of gender.
When meeting with people who have been subjected to abuse and have come to negative conclusions about themselves, the externalising practices of narrative therapy can open up possibilities for people to consider their lives differently.
In the following story of practice, Michael found a way through externalising conversations to enable Helen to separate her sense of identity from self-hate:
In addition to separating from self-hate, Helen was also able to identify who were the coaches of self-hate. These can be complex realms involving gender politics and refusing to separate practices of abuse/violence from power. To consider this further, please read this substantial extract from Kelsi Semeschuk’s thesis on this topic:
This substantial extract from Kelsi Semeschuk’s thesis includes extracts from Michael White’s archive which demonstrate an attendance to gender politics and reflections on these from a range of narrative therapists including Sekneh Hammoud, Manja Visschedijk, Jo Allen, Tileah Drahm-Butler and Carla Galaz. It also includes Kelsi’s own analysis about the significance and possibilities of this theme.