Mutual Accompaniment and the Creation of the Commons

by Mary Watkins, George Lipsitz (Foreword by), G. A. Bradshaw (Contribution by)

Overview

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.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780300236149
Publisher:	Yale University Press
Publication date:	06/25/2019
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	376
Product dimensions:	6.30(w) x 9.30(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

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.

Table of Contents

Foreword: Accompaniment as a Way of Life George Lipsitz xi

Introduction 1

1 Accompaniment: Existential, Psychosocial, Ecological 7

2 Creating Social Democracy Through Mutual Accompaniment: The Social Settlement Movement 24

3 Radical Hospitality and the Heart of Accompaniment 62

4 Psychosocial Accompaniment: From Liberation Theology to Social Medicine and Liberation Psychology 80

5 After the Asylum: Accompaniment in the Context of Mental Illness 111

6 Beyond Treatment: Peer and Ecological Accompaniment 143

7 Pathways Through Mutual Accompaniment to Solidarity 167

8 Nonhuman Animal Accompaniment, by G. A. Bradshaw 217

9 Earth Accompaniment: Standing with Trees, Waters, Mountains, Earth, and Air 256

10 Mutual Accompaniment and the Commons-to-Come 286

Notes 309

Acknowledgments 343

Index 345

Editorial Reviews

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.

From the Publisher