{"title":"Forging a psychological solidarity: from the community mental health movement to Latinx life coaching in the South Bronx","authors":"Ana Y. Ramos-Zayas","doi":"10.1057/s41276-024-00465-3","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p>The therapeutic modality of life coaching has been frequently associated with white middle and upper-middle classes and an attempt to align “the self” with neoliberal expectations. Drawing from archival work and virtual ethnographic fieldwork among a Latinx life coaching program and its participants during the COVID-19 pandemic, I consider an alternative form of life coaching that attracts women of color across classes and racial backgrounds. In this essay, foregrounding historical and contemporary politics of psychological care and wellness practices among Puerto Ricans in the South Bronx, I demonstrate the lingering influence of the 1970s community mental health movement on Latinx life coaching, a field that has experienced a monumental increase in the last two decades or so. I propose the concept of “psychological solidarity” to describe how this program’s participants have turned to Latinx life coaching modalities to articulate gendered perspectives on colonial subjectivity and sociality.</p>","PeriodicalId":45728,"journal":{"name":"Latino Studies","volume":"59 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.7000,"publicationDate":"2024-07-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Latino Studies","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1057/s41276-024-00465-3","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q3","JCRName":"SOCIOLOGY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
The therapeutic modality of life coaching has been frequently associated with white middle and upper-middle classes and an attempt to align “the self” with neoliberal expectations. Drawing from archival work and virtual ethnographic fieldwork among a Latinx life coaching program and its participants during the COVID-19 pandemic, I consider an alternative form of life coaching that attracts women of color across classes and racial backgrounds. In this essay, foregrounding historical and contemporary politics of psychological care and wellness practices among Puerto Ricans in the South Bronx, I demonstrate the lingering influence of the 1970s community mental health movement on Latinx life coaching, a field that has experienced a monumental increase in the last two decades or so. I propose the concept of “psychological solidarity” to describe how this program’s participants have turned to Latinx life coaching modalities to articulate gendered perspectives on colonial subjectivity and sociality.
期刊介绍:
Latino Studies has established itself as the leading, international peer-reviewed journal for advancing interdisciplinary scholarship about the lived experience and struggles of Latinas and Latinos for equality, representation, and social justice. Sustaining the tradition of activist scholarship of the founders of Chicana and Chicano Studies and Puerto Rican Studies, the journal critically engages the study of the local, national, transnational, and hemispheric realities that continue to influence the Latina and Latino presence in the United States. It is committed to developing a new transnational research agenda that bridges the academic and non-academic worlds and fosters mutual learning and collaboration among all the Latino national groups.
Latino Studies provides an intellectual forum for innovative explorations and theorization. We welcome submissions of original research articles of up to 8,000 words, from scholars and practitioners in the national and international research communities.
In addition to scholarly articles, we also invite other type of submissions. Vivencias or ''reports from the field'' are short personal essays between 2000-3000 words that describe and analyze significant local issues, struggles and debates affecting the lives of Latinas/os in different regions of the country. We also welcome interviews with Latinas/os who are contributing in their local communities or nationwide (e.g. authors, artists, community activists, union leaders, etc.). Our aim in publishing the ''reports'' is to inform readers about events that are sometimes over-looked by the national and regional media.The Reflexiones Pedagógicas section includes short essays between 2000-3000 words that address issues of pedagogy and curriculum. This section contributes toward the development and institutionalization of our field in the academy. Páginas Recuperadas are short essays between 2000-3000 words that seek to recover archival documents. These essays make visible, historically significant achievements by individuals, and pivotal events in the experience of Latinas/os in the United States. El Foro is an occasional section that provides a space for essays of approximately 6000 words, addressing current events, in an effort to further engage our readers in a dialogue on the pressing issues affecting Latina/o communities today.Book and media reviews are devoted to scholarship/media on the experience of Latinas/os in the United States. Reviews are no more than 1000 words.