Abstract
Adopting an embodied approach to cultural competence provides a method for practitioners to engage the body’s knowledge in exploring identity and perceptions, while supporting advancement towards healthy and responsive relationships. The Embodied Cultural Competence Framework provides a concise method to explore past (history), present state, and develop future intentions related to bias and capacity for healthy and adaptive relating, and delivery of clinical interventions. This framework was developed by Board-Certified Dance/Movement Therapists, Licensed Professional Counselors, and Licensed Clinical Professional Counselors. The framework uses concepts from dance/movement therapy theory related to the dimensional scale from the work of Rudolf Laban, as well as organizational psychologist Chris Argyris’s Ladder of Inference. Grounding the framework in embodied exploration and creating an understanding of thought processes produces an expanded capacity for self-awareness and yields an opportunity for exploring race, culture, and bias on a multitude of levels. With intentionality towards compassion, growth, and honoring body knowledge, this framework explores personal cultural constructs from an embodied perspective for furthering the development of cultural competence.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
Notes
While the terms People of Color and marginalized were used during the years of development of this framework, and appears in this paper to identify Black, Brown, and Indigenous people; it is important to note the rise of the usage of the term global majority as an alternative. This term centers the reality of the evolution of the world population and introduces empowerment in terms of racial identification.
References
Almeida, R. V., & Tubbs, C. Y. (2020). Intersectionality: A liberation-based healing perspective. The Handbook of Systemic Family Therapy, 1(1), 227–249.
American Counseling Association (ACA). (2014). 2014 ACA Code of ethics as approved by the ACA governing council. https://www.google.com/search?q=2014-code-of-ethics-finaladdressc97d33f16116603abcacff0000bee5e7.pdf+(counseling.org)
American Dance Therapy Association (ADTA). (2015). The code of ethics and standards of the American Dance Therapy Association (ADTA) and the Dance/Movement Therapy Certification Board (DMTCB). https://www.adta.org/assets/docs/Code-of-the-ADTA-DMTCB-Final.pdf
American Psychological Association (APA). (2021). Apology to people of color for APA’s role in promoting, perpetuating, and failing to challenge racism, racial discrimination, and human hierarchy in U.S. https://www.apa.org/about/policy/racism-apology
American Psychological Association. (2015). In search of cultural competence. Monitor on Psychology, 46(3), 64.
American Psychological Association. (2016). Revision of ethical standard 3.04 of the “Ethical Principles of Psychologists and Code of Conduct” (2002, as amended 2010). American Psychologist, 71, 900.
Argyris, C. (1982). Reasoning, learning, and action: Individual and organizational. Jossey-Bass Inc.
Carmichael, G. N. (2012). Turning towards multicultural diversity competence in dance/movement therapy. American Journal of Dance Therapy, 34(2), 99–113.
Chang, M. (2009). Cultural consciousness and the global context of dance/movement therapy. In S. Chaiklin & H. Wengrower (Eds.), The art and science of dance/movement therapy: Life is dance (pp. 299–315). Routledge.
Conwill, W. L. (2015). De-colonizing multicultural counseling and psychology: Addressing race through intersectionality. In R. Goodman & P. Gorski (Eds.), Decolonizing “multicultural” counseling through social justice (pp. 123–139). Springer.
Cross, T. (2001). Spirituality and mental health: A native american perspective. Focal point Fall 2001. Vol. 15 No.
Gladwell, M. (2005). Blink: The power of thinking without thinking. Little, Brown and Co.
Guthrie, J. W. (2004). Even the rat was white: A historical view of psychology (2nd ed.). Allyn & Bacon.
Hackney, P. (1998). Making connections: Total body integration through bartenieff fundamentals. Routledge.
Levy, J., & Jones, A. (2013). Nothing small about microaggression: How we can hurt and be hurt and never know it. http://www.positivelyaware.com/archives/2013/13-06/microagression.shtml.
Lieberman, A.F. (1998) Culturally sensitive intervention with children & families. Newsletter of Infant Mental Health Promotion Project, Volume 22. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9128589/
Madeson. M. (2021). Embodiment practices: How to heal through movement. Positive psychology. https://positivepsychology.com/embodiment-philosophy-practices/.
McFadden, J., & Lipscomb, W. D. (1985). History of the Association for Non-White Concerns in Personnel and Guidance. Journal of Counseling & Development, 63(7), 444–447.
Moore, C. L., & Yamamoto, K. (1988). Beyond words: Movement observation and analysis. Gordon and Breach Science Publishers.
Rivera, Furcron, & Beardall (2022). Embodied conversations: Culturally and trauma informed healing practices in dance/movement therapy. In R. Dieterich-Hartwell & A. M. Melsom (Eds.), Dance/movement therapy for trauma survivors: Theoretical, clinical, and cultural perspectives (pp. 24–39 ).
Senge, P.M., (2006). The fifth discipline fieldbook: The art and practice of the learning organization.
Sherrel, L. C. (2018). The oppression of Black bodies: The demand to simulate white bodies and white embodiment. In C. Caldwell & L. B. Leighton (Eds.), Oppression and the body (pp. 141–155). North Atlantic Books.
Sobo, E. J., & Loustaunau, M. O. (2010). The cultural context of health, illness, and medicine (2nd ed.). Greenwood Publishing Group.
Steele, P. (2010). Whistling Vivaldi: How stereotypes affect us and what we can do. W.W. Norton & Company, Inc.
Sue, D. W., & Sue, D. (2012). Counseling the culturally diverse: Theory & practice (6th ed.). Wiley.
White, J. L., Parham, T. A., & Ajamu, A. (1999). The psychology of blacks: Centering our perspectives in the African consciousness. Prentice Hall.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Conflict of interest
Charla Weatherby and kyla marie Gilmore state no conflict of interest. Aisha Bell Robinson is the Co-Editor-in-Chief for the American Journal of Dance Therapy.
Additional information
Publisher's Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Rights and permissions
Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.
About this article
Cite this article
Robinson, A.B., Gilmore, k.m. & Weatherby, C. Embodied Cultural Competence Framework: A Body-Based Method to Examine Cultural Identity Development and Bias. Am J Dance Ther (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10465-024-09399-8
Accepted:
Published:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10465-024-09399-8