Red Sistémica · Family therapy
Systemic family therapy in Latin America in a globalised world: from jealousy to the iguana
What becomes of systemic family therapy when it is practised in Latin America, in a globalised world? Raúl Medina Centeno opens his reflection with a twofold question: what exactly is globalisation, and why is local diversity its very condition? He then recalls that scientific knowledge was historically the first attempt at globalisation – that of a universal knowledge valid at every point on the planet – and that this scientific reason has, ever since the Renaissance, gone through many crises and much questioning.
Editor’s note
Red Sistémica published only a fragment of this text: the first two sections, which break off on the threshold of the discussion of the nature of scientific knowledge. The full text appeared in Perspectivas Sistémicas no. 86. We translate here that fragment as it was republished, with its two closing notes.
“Local diversity and its practices strengthen global interaction.”
Raúl Medina Centeno
Globalisation and diversity
Broadly speaking, globalisation is defined as a process by which the population is gradually becoming a single society. An ambitious and controversial definition. There are a great many theories that explain the phenomenon of globalisation (World Development Report 2003). It depends on the place from which one analyses it: economics, trade, sociology, philosophy, law, psychology, and so on.
Globalisation is a term that began to be used in the 1980s. And it has stirred up great political controversy, because it mainly suggests two things: on the one hand, the standardisation and unification of criteria and practices; on the other, that the creation of world society will not be the hegemonic project of one nation, but the multidirectional outcome of social interaction on a social scale (W. Outhwaite and T. Bottomore, 1998). These two elements can be a great resource for “everyone” or a great disadvantage for “some”.
A disadvantage in the sense that those who have most will have far more, and those who have least, less still. In other words, the present differences in development between nations today suggest an unfair and disadvantageous game (R. Díaz-Salazar, 2002; V. Tokman and G. O’Donnell, 1999). But, on the other hand, if we carry the game of globalisation onto the terrain of development, ethics and law, it can be an extraordinary resource for encouraging trade in the service of development where there is none, and for avoiding abuse and unfair exchange (M. Gómez and J. A. Sanahuja, 2001).
In the social field, globalisation as an object of study immediately makes us see a great diversity of forms of life that make up the global world (J. Pérez, 1996). That is to say that, without this great diversity, the global phenomenon would quite simply not exist, and would not even make sense. The nature of globalisation lies principally in the fact that the world is made up of local communities that are diverse and distinct from one another, which allows exchange to take place in every direction and in every field, and enriches the global phenomenon accordingly. In other words, local diversity and its practices strengthen global interaction.
Globalisation and scientific knowledge
Scientific knowledge was the first attempt at globalisation. Its aim was to produce a universal knowledge that would operate across the whole planet, so that humanity might solve the many problems that nature set before it, regardless of the culture and the geography in which the problem is located.
Science as knowledge and as reason begins with the Renaissance; the purpose of such knowledge was to bring progress and development to humanity, and this was the great social project we know by the name of Modernity. More than four hundred years have passed, and there is no doubt that science has left its mark on the world: a culture has been built on the basis of science. Scientific reason has nevertheless gone through several stages, several crises, reflections and challenges.
Today there are several explanations of the nature of scientific knowledge, two of which stand out: …
Notes from the original
(*) Paper presented at the 7th Ikas-Dictia Conference, in Bilbao (Spain), 17–19 June 2004.
(**) University of Guadalajara, Mexico. Tzapopan Institute.
This article is an English translation of “Terapia familiar sistémica en Latinoamérica en un mundo globalizado: De los celos a la iguana”, published by Red Sistémica (first published in Perspectivas Sistémicas, n° 86). Translated and republished with the journal’s permission.
Read the original articleHow to cite this article
Medina Centeno, R. (2022). Systemic family therapy in Latin America in a globalised world: from jealousy to the iguana (Complexe Systémique, Trans.). Complexe Systémique. https://app.complexe-systemique.com/en_GB/articles/systemic-family-therapy-in-latin-america-in-a-globalised-world-from-jealousy-to-the-iguana (Original work published in 2004 in Perspectivas Sistémicas, n° 86; republished in 2022 by Red Sistémica, https://redsistemica.ar/2022/07/19/terapia-familiar-sistemica-en-latinoamerica-en-un-mundo-globalizado-de-los-celos-a-la-iguana/)
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- Community interventions. Interview with Celia FalicovCultural diversity as a clinical resource, from the standpoint of a Latin American practitioner.
- Family violence in Mexico: experiences in prevention and treatmentSystemic thinking tested by a local Mexican context, between community, institutions and culture.
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