Leith Mullings - Böcker

Utilizing the strengths of traditional ethnographic approaches, the authors of this provocative volume of original essays analyze contemporary urban problems in the United States.

Documenting the daily efforts of African Americans to protect their community against highly oppressive conditions, this ground-breaking volume chronicles the unique experiences of black women that place them at higher risk for morbidity and mortality -- especially during pregnancy. Stress and Resilience: The Social Context of Reproduction in Central Harlem examines the processes through which economic circumstances, environmental issues, and social conditions create situations that expose African American women to stress and chronic strain. Detailing the individual and community assets and strategies used to address these conditions, this volume provides a model methodology for translating research into public health and social action.Based on interactive community partnered research, Stress and Resilience: The Social Context of Reproduction in Central Harlem + Facilitates more exact hypotheses about the relationship between risk factors, protective factors and reproductive health; + Furnishes a better understanding of chronic disease patterns and suggests more effective interventions to reduce rates of infant mortality; + Incorporates the voices of the community and of women themselves through their own words and actions; + Sheds light on epidemiologic research and intervention protocols; + Examines the social context in which reproductive behaviors are practiced; + Provides a holistic framework in which to understand infant mortality; + And more. Filling a large gap in the literature on the social context of reproduction this important monograph offers indispensable information for public health researchers, program planners, anthropologists, sociologists, urban planners, medical providers, policy makers, and private funders.

This volume utilizes the cross-cultural, historical and ethnographic perspective of anthropology to illuminate the intrinsic connections of race, class and gender. The author begins by discussing the manner in which her experience as a participant observer led her to research and write about various aspects of African-American women's experiences. She goes on to provide a critical analysis of the new scholarship on African-American women, and explores issues of race, class and gender in the arenas of work, kinship and resistance.

Therapy, Ideology, and Social Change: Mental Healing in Urban Ghana by Leith Mullings examines how therapeutic systems both reflect and reproduce the social relations and ideologies of their settings. Focusing on Ghana, Mullings situates indigenous psychotherapies within broader debates on the authority of Western biomedicine and the reassertion of traditional practices. She notes that all medical systems—whether biomedical or indigenous—are cultural processes that structure the meaning of illness and health. Psychotherapy is especially revealing because it directly addresses deviant behavior and is therefore grounded in specific moral and ideological assumptions. The book places Ghana within the context of World Health Organization initiatives to integrate traditional and biomedical systems, critiques of colonial legacies in health care, and the persistent inequalities that shape access to medical resources in postcolonial societies.Mullings advances the argument that therapeutic systems cannot be understood apart from infrastructural conditions and class relations, both domestic and international. She critiques approaches in medical anthropology that treat medicine primarily as cultural expression, emphasizing instead how therapies serve social formations and reproduce ideological systems. The study contrasts two main forms of indigenous psychotherapy in Ghana—traditional religious healing and spiritualist Christianity—demonstrating both their shared symbolic processes, such as dramatic healing rituals, and their divergent goals, especially in relation to Western psychiatry’s emphasis on “ego strengthening.” By grounding analysis in urban Accra, particularly the community of Labadi, Mullings shows how local practices intersect with national health planning, postcolonial state policies, and international debates. Ultimately, the book links healing to broader processes of social change, arguing that therapies both respond to and shape Ghana’s evolving political economy.This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press’s mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1984.

Therapy, Ideology, and Social Change: Mental Healing in Urban Ghana by Leith Mullings examines how therapeutic systems both reflect and reproduce the social relations and ideologies of their settings. Focusing on Ghana, Mullings situates indigenous psychotherapies within broader debates on the authority of Western biomedicine and the reassertion of traditional practices. She notes that all medical systems—whether biomedical or indigenous—are cultural processes that structure the meaning of illness and health. Psychotherapy is especially revealing because it directly addresses deviant behavior and is therefore grounded in specific moral and ideological assumptions. The book places Ghana within the context of World Health Organization initiatives to integrate traditional and biomedical systems, critiques of colonial legacies in health care, and the persistent inequalities that shape access to medical resources in postcolonial societies.Mullings advances the argument that therapeutic systems cannot be understood apart from infrastructural conditions and class relations, both domestic and international. She critiques approaches in medical anthropology that treat medicine primarily as cultural expression, emphasizing instead how therapies serve social formations and reproduce ideological systems. The study contrasts two main forms of indigenous psychotherapy in Ghana—traditional religious healing and spiritualist Christianity—demonstrating both their shared symbolic processes, such as dramatic healing rituals, and their divergent goals, especially in relation to Western psychiatry’s emphasis on “ego strengthening.” By grounding analysis in urban Accra, particularly the community of Labadi, Mullings shows how local practices intersect with national health planning, postcolonial state policies, and international debates. Ultimately, the book links healing to broader processes of social change, arguing that therapies both respond to and shape Ghana’s evolving political economy.This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press’s mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1984.

This anthology of black writers traces the evolution of African-American perspectives throughout American history, from the early years of slavery to the end of the twentieth century. The essays, manifestos, interviews, and documents assembled here, contextualized with critical commentaries from Marable and Mullings, introduce the reader to the character and important controversies of each period of black history. The selections represent a broad spectrum of ideology. Conservative, radical, nationalistic, and integrationist approaches can be found in almost every period, yet there have been striking shifts in the evolution of social thought and activism. The editors judiciously illustrate how both continuity and change affected the African-American community in terms of its internal divisions, class structure, migration, social problems, leadership, and protest movements. They also show how gender, spirituality, literature, music, and connections to Africa and the Caribbean played a prominent role in black life and history.

This anthology of black writers traces the evolution of African-American perspectives throughout American history, from the early years of slavery to the end of the twentieth century. The essays, manifestos, interviews, and documents assembled here, contextualized with critical commentaries from Marable and Mullings, introduce the reader to the character and important controversies of each period of black history. The selections represent a broad spectrum of ideology. Conservative, radical, nationalistic, and integrationist approaches can be found in almost every period, yet there have been striking shifts in the evolution of social thought and activism. The editors judiciously illustrate how both continuity and change affected the African-American community in terms of its internal divisions, class structure, migration, social problems, leadership, and protest movements. They also show how gender, spirituality, literature, music, and connections to Africa and the Caribbean played a prominent role in black life and history.

Gender, Race, Class, and Health examines relationships between economic structures, race, culture, and gender, and their combined influence on health. The authors systematically apply social and behavioral science to inspect how these dimensions intersect to influence health and health care in the United States. This examination brings into sharp focus the potential for influencing policy to improve health through a more complete understanding of the structural nature of race, gender, and class disparities in health. As useful as it is readable, this book is ideal for students and professionals in public health, sociology, anthropology, and women’s studies.