Family therapy and anthropology

There has been among family therapists a widespread belief that anthropology is at least useful if not kindred to their field. The belief springs from the assumption that families in different cultural milieus have different ways of expressing their experience of intimacy in everyday life. If this is true, family organization transcends culture, and the latter is a mere language or mode of expression of the more basic pillar of family organization. However, the assumption is also strong that different cultural contexts produce different types of families, and the natural consequence of this hypothesis is that family therapy as developed in the United States would be restricted to dealing with American families, while the problems of family life elsewhere should be meted by the local cultural ways. These two hypotheses, namely that of family universality and that of cultural relativism, are far ends of a continuum. The more interesting and real cases lie somewhere in the middle.In the following argument I will discuss this subject by presenting a brief overview of family therapy's theories and practices for those readers who know nothing about it, by reviewing a recent book that makes the claim that family therapists will benefit from some kind of anthropological knowledge, and finally by turning the question on its head and addressing the interest family therapy may have for anthropologists.     

Family Physician

One hundred men and 100 women between the ages of 70 and 89 years were examined clinically and with pulmonary function tests to determine the prevalence and type of chronic obstructive bronchopulmonary disease in very old people. Rhonchi were present in 45% of the old men and 24% of the old women. Obstruction to air flow (FEV₁ < 60% of FVC) was demonstrated in 23% of the men and 6% of the women. Chronic bronchitis was present in 32% and 12% of the old men and women, respectively. Only five individuals, all men, showed emphysema as defined by significant obstruction to air flow with a low diffusing capacity. In old people there was a relationship between smoking, chronic cough and obstruction to air flow.     

我的家族

说起我们“白颊长臂猿”家族,那可是大名鼎鼎,是与人类亲缘关系最密切的高级灵长类动物之一,是著名长臂猿大家族的一支。同人类一样,没有尾巴,脸上也能表现喜、怒、恐、惊等多种复杂的情感。别看我们的身材矮小不足1米,两臂伸展开时却长达1.5米,两手下垂可触地。我家中的成年“男子”体毛以黑色为主,面颊的两旁各有一块白毛,这也许就是我们“白颊长臂猿”称号的由来吧!     

Family values

Evolutionary Genetics (2nd edn) by J. Maynard Smith, Oxford University Press, 1998. £50.00 hbk, £19.95 pbk (368 pages) ISBN 0 19 850232 X/0 19 850231 1Selection in Natural Populations by J.B. Mitton, Oxford University Press, 1998. £50.00 hbk (252 pages) ISBN 0 19 506352 XProgress and Prospects in Evolutionary Biology edited by J.R. Powell, Oxford University Press, 1997. £49.50 hbk (576 pages) ISBN 0 19 507691 5Evolution on Islands edited by P.R. Grant, Oxford University Press, 1997. £24.99 pbk (348 pages) ISBN 0 19 850 1714