Abstract
Stories about community work in New Zealand and Scotland are presented to describe and reflect on issues central to feminist community psychology. Organizing a lesbian festival, Ingrid Huygens describes feminist processes used to equalize resources across Maori (indigenous) and Pakeha (white) groups. Heather Hamerton presents her experiences as a researcher using collective memory work to reflect on adolescent experiences related to gender, ethnicity, and class. Sharon Cahill chronicles dilemmas and insights from focus groups about anger with women living in public housing in Scotland. Each story chronicles experiences related to oppression and privilege, and describes the author's emotions and reflections. Individually and collectively, the stories illustrate the potential offered by narrative methods and participatory processes for challenging inequalities and encouraging social justice.
Similar content being viewed by others
REFERENCES
Awatere, D. (1983, Sept.) Broadsheet, 112, interview on 'Maori Sovereignty' articles republished in P. Rosier (1992). Twenty Years of Broadsheet Magazine, Auckland, NewZealand: New Women's Press.
Bell, A. (1996). ''We're just New Zealanders:'' Pakeha identity politics. In P. Spoonley, C. Macpherson, & D. Pearson (Eds.), Nga patai: Racism and ethnic relations in Aotearoa/ New Zealand (pp. 144–158). Palmerston North, New Zealand: Dunsmore Press.
Black, R. M. (1997). Beyond the pale: An exploration of Pakeha cultural awareness. Unpublished master's thesis, University of Waikato, Hamilton, New Zealand.
Bola, M. (1996). Speaking of representing the Other. In S. Wilkinson & C. Kitzinger (Eds.), Representing the Other: A feminism & psychology reader. London: Sage Publications.
Brown, L. M., & Gilligan, C. (1992). Meeting at the crossroads: Women's psychology and girls' development. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Brown, L. M., & Gilligan, C. (1993). Meeting at the crossroads: Women's psychology and girls' development. Feminism & Psychology, 3, 11–35.
Burman, E. (1991). What discourse is not. Philosophical Psychology, 4, 325–340.
Crawford, J., Kippax, S., Onyx, J., Gault, U., & Benton, P. (1992). Emotion and gender: Constructing meaning from memory. London: Sage Publications.
Davis, K. (1994). What's in a voice? Methods and metaphors. Feminism & Psychology, 4, 353–361.
Dunn, L. (1991). Research alert! Qualitative research may be hazardous to your health! Qualitative Health Research, 1, 388–392.
Fine, M. (Ed.). (1992). Disruptive voices: The possibilities of feminist research. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan.
Fiol-Matta, L. (1996). Teaching in (Puerto Rican) tongues: A report from the space inbetween. Women's Studies Quarterly, 3 and 4, 69–76.
Frith, H. (1996). Speaking of representing the Other. In S. Wilkinson & C. Kitzinger (Eds.), Representing the Other: A feminism & psychology reader (pp. 176–191) London: Sage Publications.
Griffin, C. (1995). Feminism, social psychology and qualitative research. The Psychologist, 8, 119–121.
Haug, F. (Ed.). (1987). Female sexualization. London: Verso.
Haug, F. (1992). Beyond female masochism: Memory-work and politics. (R. Livingstone, Trans.). London: Verso.
hooks, b. (1984). From margin to center. Boston, MA: South End Press.
Hurd, T. L., & McIntyre, A. (1996). The seduction of sameness: Similarity and representing the Other. In S. Wilkinson & C. Kitzinger (Eds.), Representing the Other: A feminism & psychology reader (pp. 78–82). London: Sage Publications.
Jones, D. (1992). Looking in my own back yard: The search for white feminist theories of racism for Aotearoa. In R. Du Plessis, P. Bunkle, K. Irwin, A. Laurie, & S. Middleton (Eds.), Feminist voices: Women's studies texts for Aotearoa/New Zealand (pp. 290–299). Melbourne, Australia: Oxford University Press.
Keynes, M., & Van Maanan, J. (1988). Tales of the field. ChicagoChicago: University of Chicago Press.
Lawrence-Lightfoot, S. (1999). Respect: An exploration. Reading, MA: Perseus Books.
Lorde, A. (1984). Age, race, class, and sex: Women redefining difference (pp. 114–123). In A. Lorde (Ed.), Sister outsider. Trumansberg, NY: The Crossing Press.
Lykes, M. B. (1994a). Whose meeting at which crossroads? A response to Brown and Gilligan. Feminism & Psychology, 4, 345–349.
Lykes, M. B. (1994b). Speaking against the silence: OneMaya woman's exile. In C. E. Franz & A. J. Stewart (Eds.), Women creating lives (pp. 97–114). Boulder, CO: Westville Press.
Lykes, M. B., Banuazizi, A., Liem, R., & Morris, M. (Eds.) (1996). Myths about the powerless: Contesting social inequalities. Philadelphia: Temple University Press.
Mansbridge, J. (1973). Time, emotion and inequality: Three problems of participatory groups. Journal of Applied Behavioral Science, 9, 351–368.
Marecek, J., Fine, M., & Kidder, L. (1997). Working between worlds: Qualitative methods and social psychology. Journal of Social Issues, 53, 631–644.
Marshall, J. (1986). Exploring the experiences of womenmanagers: Towards qualitative rigour. In Wilkinson, S. (Ed.), Feminist social psychology: Developing theory and practice. Milton Keynes, England: Open University Press.
May, H. (1992). Minding children, managing men: Conflict and compromise in the lives of postwar Pakeha women. Wellington, New Zealand: Bridget Williams Books.
Miller, J. B. (1976). Toward a new psychology of women. Boston: Beacon Press.
Miller, J. B. (1991). The construction of anger in women and men. In J. V. Jordan, A. G. Kaplan, J. B. Miller, I. P. Stiver, & J. L. Surrey (Eds.), Women's growth in connection (pp. 197–205). New York: The Guilford Press.
Moraga, A. C., & Anzaldua, G. (Eds.). (1981). This bridge called my back: Writings by radical women of color. Watertown, MA: Persephone Press.
Mulvey, A. (1988). Community psychology and feminism: Tensions and commonalities. Journal of Community Psychology, 16, 70–83.
Paulin, K. (1996). Putting Pakeha into the picture: Analyzing lesbian/bisexual politics in Aotearoa/New Zealand. Feminism & Psychology, 6, 204–209.
Pheterson, G. (1990). Alliances between women overcoming internalized oppression and internalized domination. In L. Albrecht & R. M. Brewer (Eds.), Bridges of power: Women's multi-cultural alliances (pp. 34–48). Philadelphia: New Society Publishers.
Pipher, M. (1996). Reviving Ophelia. Sydney, Australia: Doubleday.
Polkinghorne, D. (1988). Narrative knowing and the human sciences. Albany: State University of New York Press.
Prilleltensky, I. (1997). Values, assumptions, and practices: Assessing the moral implications of psychological discourse and action. American Psychologist, 52, 517–535.
Rappaport, J. (1994). Narrative studies, personal stories, and identity transformation in the mutual-help context. In T. J. Powell (Ed.), Understanding the self-help organization (pp. 115–135). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Rappaport, J. (1995). Empowerment meets narrative: Listening to stories and creating settings. American Journal of Community Psychology, 23, 795–807.
Reay, D. (1996). Dealing with difficulties: Reflexivity and social class in feminist research. Feminism & Psychology, 6, 443–456.
Reinharz, S. (1992). Feminist methods in social research. New York: Oxford University Press.
Rich, A. (1976). Of women born. New York: Bantam Books.
Rieff, R. (1968). Of cabbages and kings. American Journal of Community Psychology, 3, 187–196.
Riger, S. (1992). Epistemological debates, feminist voices: Science, social values, and the study of women. American Psychologist, 47, 730–740.
Riger, S. (1993). What's wrong with empowerment? American Journal of Community Psychology, 21, 279–293.
Ryan, W. (1981). Equality. New York: Pantheon Books.
Salzer, M. (1998). Narrative approach to assessing interactions between society, community, and person. Journal of Community Psychology, 26, 569–580.
Schweickart, P. (1996). Speech is silver, silence is golden: The asymmetrical intersubjectivity of communicative action. In N. R. Goldberger, J. M. Tarule, B. McV. Clinchy, & M. F. Belenky (Eds.), Knowledge difference and power: Essays inspired by women's ways of knowing (pp. 305–331). New York: Basic Books.
Somers, M. R., & Gibson, G. D. (1994). Reclaiming the epistemological ''other:'' Narrative and the social constitution of identity (pp. 37–99). In C. Colhoun (Ed.), Social theory and the politics of identity. Cambridge, MA: Blackwell.
Stanley, L. (Ed.). (1997). Knowing feminisms. London: Sage Publications.
Stanley, L., & Wise, S. (1983). Breaking out: Feminist consciousness and feminist research. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul.
Swift, C., Bond, M. A., & Serrano-Garcia, I. (2000). Women's lives in the community. In J. Rappaport & E. Seidman (Eds.), Handbook of community psychology (pp. 857–895). New York: Plenum Press.
Thomas, D. R., & Nikora, L. W. (1996). From assimilation to biculturalism: Changing patterns in Maori-Pakeha relationships. In D. Thomas & A. Veno (Eds.), Community psychology and social change: Australian and New Zealand perspectives (pp. 278–296). Palmerston North, New Zealand: Dunmore Press.
Thomas, E., & Rappaport, J. (1996). Art as community narrative:A resource for social change. In M. B. Lykes, A. Banuazizi, R. Liem, & M. Morris (Eds.), Myths about the powerless: Contesting social inequalities (pp. 317–336). Philadelphia: Temple University Press.
Thompson, J. M. (1995). Silencing the self: Depressive symptomatology and close relationships. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 19, 337–353.
Thorne, A., & Klohnen, E. (1993). Interpersonal memories as maps for personality consistency. In D. C. Funder, R. D. Parke, C. Tomlinson-Keasey, & K. Widaman (Eds.), Studying lives through time: Personality and development (pp. 223–253). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
Tyler, F. B. (1991). Ethnic validity, ecology, and psychotherapy: A psychosocial competence model. New York: Plenum Press.
Tyler, F. B. (1992). Ethnic validity: A model for families on uncharted seas. Journal of Social Distress and the Homeless, 1, 203–222.
Unger, R. K. (1996). Using the master's tools: Epistemology and empiricism. In S. Wilkinson (Ed.), Feminist social psychologies: International perspectives (pp. 165–181). Bristol, PA: Open University Press.
Warren, H., Griffiths, C., & Huygens, I. (1989). Our shout: Women and alcohol. Auckland, New Zealand: Heinemann Reed.
Wilkinson, S. (1998). Focus groups in feminist research: Power, interaction, and the coconstruction of meaning. Women's Studies International Forum, 21, 111–125.
Wilkinson, S. (Ed.). (1996). Feminist social psychologies: International perspectives. Bristol, PA: Open University Press.
Wilkinson, S., & Kitzinger, C. (Eds.). (1996). Representing the other: A feminism & psychology reader. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Mulvey, A., Terenzio, M., Hill, J. et al. Stories of Relative Privilege: Power and Social Change in Feminist Community Psychology. Am J Community Psychol 28, 883–911 (2000). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1005120001986
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1005120001986