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This
book is the final product of an amazing Conference, held in Oaxaca,
Mexico in August 2006. What happened in the colonial town of Oaxaca that
summer was so impressive and extraordinary that we decided to refer to
this work just as The Oaxaca book.
The topic was one of
the less attractive for the majority of the very sophisticated
psychotherapists of the present: “working with marginalized families and
communities and being professionals in the trenches” (the title of the
Mexican Conference) is not very easy and doesn’t appeal to the majority
of people working in the field.
“The North of the
world knows what is good for the South” and we attend impotent to the
globalization of ideas, a very dangerous and soft new form of
colonialism. Even in the very small field of the so called ‘systemic
theories’, on which many family therapists have drawn, there is very
little attention to the specific cultural, historical identities of many
people living in extremely different socio-economic environments. Even
when issues like migration and social marginalization are addressed they
are handled with the model of the wealthy Western society.
But the other
cultures, the other knowledges, where are they? How much are they known?
How much are they studied and appreciated in ‘the world that counts’?
These are some of the questions which this book will address.
The book cannot
capture the “momentum” of the Oaxaca experience, but we at least want to
inform the readers about several successful professional projects
carried on in many parts of the world by therapists and social operators
working with marginalized families and communities.
Este libro es el
producto final de una asombrosa Conferencia, ocurrida en Oaxaca, México
en agosto de 2006. Lo sucedido en la ciudad colonial de Oaxaca ese
verano fue tan impresionante y extraordinario que decidimos referirnos a
este volumen simplemente como
El libro de Oaxaca.
El tema era uno de
los menos atractivos para la mayoría de los muy sofisticados terapeutas
de nuestros tiempos: “trabajando con familias y comunidades marginadas y
ser profesionales en las trincheras” (este fue el título y tema de la
Conferencia mexicana) no es sencillo y no le atrae a la mayoría de las
personas que trabajan en este campo.
“El norte del
mundo sabe lo que le conviene al sur”, y asistimos impotentes a la
globalización de las ideas, una nueva forma muy peligrosa y ‘suave’ de
colonialismo. Aún en la pequeña área de las llamadas ‘teorías
sistémicas’, donde muchos terapeutas familiares han abrevado, hay muy
poca atención a las identidades culturales e históricas específicas de
las personas que viven en ambientes socio-económicos en extremo
diferentes. Aún cuando se abordan temas como la migración y la
marginación social se encaran, son manejados con modelos de la afluente
sociedad occidental.
Pero, ¿qué hay de
otras culturas, otros saberes, dónde están?¿Qué tanto se les conoce?
¿Qué tanto se les estudia y aprecia en ‘el mundo que cuenta’?Este texto
aborda estas preguntas.
Este libro no
puede capturar el ‘momento’ de la experiencia oaxaqueña, pero al menos
queremos informar a los lectores sobre varios proyectos profesionales
exitosos llevados a cabo en muchas partes del mundo por terapeutas y
operadores sociales trabajando con familias y comunidades marginadas.
Maurizio Andolfi M.D. Social psychiatrist, Full Professor – Department of Psychology, University La Sapienza, Rome; Director of the Family Psychotherapy Academy of Rome, President of the Silvano Andolfi Foundation and author of many books and articles on family and community intervention and research.
Laura Calderón de la Barca PhD in Cultural anthropology, MA in Language Studies, Lic. Hispanic literatures and linguistics. Currently, research officer at the Centre for Cultural Research, University of Western Sydney, Narrative therapist, translator and author of textbooks and of a written therapeutic session for the social network that constitutes Mexican society.