Transforming Power Through Cultural Humility in the Intercultural Contact Zone of Art Therapy

Abstract

Abstract This article conceptualizes art therapy as an intercultural contact zone or social ecotone, defined as the liminal space that emerges when two or more habitats overlap. In the unresolved tensions of their interaction, negotiation of power through cultural humility is an ongoing, profoundly ethical process. This premise is illustrated with examples from a high-contrast contact zone the author experienced as an art therapist in collaboration with a social justice-oriented organization serving marginalized communities in their emancipatory goals. The implications of cultural borderlands are discussed as transgressive zones of transformative power and exchange.