Multicultural Counseling

1
Multicultural Counseling

• Course Introduction

2
Definitions of terms

• Race - no consensual biological or physiological
  definition. For biological race, need
• A) delineation of criteria (biological/genetic)
  which distinguish one race from another,
• B) evidence of conformity to those criteria
  within racial groups, but not between groups.

3

• Race is a social construction (Helms) that
  maintains social norms.
• A social construction has meaning in the minds of
  those who use it, but not in objective criteria.
  
• Race is used as a nominal category that assigns
  people to supposedly mutually exclusive racial
  groups by means of quasi-biological criteria
  (phenotype of physical appearance).

4
Ethnicity and Culture

• the national, regional, or tribal origins of
  ones oldest remembered ancestors and
• the customs, values, traditions, and rituals
  (subjective culture) handed down by these
  ancestors.

5
Other Terms

• Majority, dominant, mainstream Terms that are
  often used to designate European or other White
  Americans
• Minority, nondominant, diverse groups, people of
  color, visible racial/ethnic groups (VREG) are
  typically used to refer to African Americans,
  Asian Americans, Latino/as and Indigenous
  Americans collectively or separately.