Re-authoring Teaching is an international learning community where people from different countries and cultures can pursue their studies in narrative practice and reflect on developments in their own work. Our members come from all over the world, and speak many languages. We are committed to creating space to share and disseminate knowledge and practices, while simultaneously honoring the unique features of local culture and language. Together we are re-envisioning Narrative Therapy.
Honoring Local Context and Meanings
Translation poses interesting challenges where metaphors can have different local meanings, analogous to the process of acculturation that marcela polenco experienced in the “re-authoring of narrative therapy” into her Colombian Spanish. Having first learned narrative therapy in English, Marcela ironically found she was unable to practice in her Spanish mother tongue; she then embarked on a process of self-apprenticeship to learn narrative therapy in Spanish, drawing from her current English knowledge. marcela proposes “a therapy of solidarity” as her Latin American version of narrative therapy aspires that honors local linguistic contexts and resists the longstanding cultural and intellectual colonization of English as a “lingua franca.” (see the marcela polenco video, “Colouring Narrative Therapy’s Solidarity”, Friday Afternoons at Dulwich).
marcela polanco, of Muisca, African and European Colombian origins, is a narrative family therapist, in English. In Spanish, marcela’s supervision, teaching, research and therapy are informed by the work of Latin American academic and social activist on decolonial and anti-racist Andean feminisms. She is also inspired by an ethics of solidarity. She is currently an Assistant Professor of Marriage & Family Therapy at San Diego State University. For further information, click here.
marcela polanco es Colombiana de orígenes Musicas, Africanos y Europeos. Ella es terapeuta familiar narrativa en el Idioma Inglés, marcado por sus experiencias migratorias en Estados Unidos. En su idioma natal, el Español Colombiano, su trabajo de supervisión, pedagogía, investigación y terapia están empapados por el trabajo de activistas academicxs y sociales latinoamericanxs sobre la decolonialidad y el pensamiento feminista anti-racista de la región Andina. Ella igualmente se inspira de éticas solidarias. Actualmente es profesora asistente de terapia matrimonial y familiar en la Universidad Estatal de San Diego. Para más información, haga clic aquí.
Charlie Crettenand (Trame Narrative) — a psychologist in Switzerland — is one of our “go-to people” for French-English translation. . Charlotte has discovered unique challenges when attempting to translate particular words from English to French. For example, when translating the concept of neighborly ways of being, she reported, “In English, it’s so easy to “invent” new words. It’s like a living language. In contrast, French has rules that are difficult to zigzag through.” Charlie also noticed aspects that seem to go without saying for French-speakers from a European culture, yet were new to Americans. A reference to Eric-Emmanuel Schmidt or the Algerian War required clarification in order to be understood by a person from another culture; the “basic” translation isn’t enough. “I’m fascinated to get aware, once again, of the deep cultural imprint of language, words, expressions, turns of phrase that we use daily” Charlie stated. As a result, Charlie suggests footnotes for French-historical references. This has led to consulting with French-speakers from other countries before coming up with a preferred version. More recently, she joins Laure Romanetti, as contributors to deconstructing French grammar as sexist and patriarchal.
Francophone Narrative Community / La Communauté Narrative Francophone
Charlie Crettenand, Psychotherapist and seeker of wonderfulnesses, speaks about French-speaking Narrative community, from the level of her private practice in the small Swiss town of Sion to the global Narrative community.
Charlie Crettenand, Psychologue spécialiste en psychothérapie FSP et chercheuse de merveillosités, parle de la communauté narrative Francophone en partant de son cabinet privé à Sion, une petite ville de Suisse, pour nous emmener jusqu’à la vaste communauté narrative internationale.
(with English Subtitles)
Re-Creating Narrative Therapy Elsewhere
Jehanzeb Baldiwala, David Epston, André Grégoire, Sumie Ishikawa and marcela polanco talk together with the help of video conferencing about their experiences re-creating narrative therapy in different contexts. Filmed at Narrative Educators Camp, Charlotte, Vermont, June 2017. (with English subtitles)
Narrative Therapy India
The Ummeed Mental Health Team (Mumbai) describes some of their experiences as they apply Narrative Therapy to their work in India with children with disabilities and their families. This conversation took place at Narrative Camp 2016 -Thompson’s Point, Charlotte, Vermont, USA.
Members of the Ummeed Mental Health Team describe experiences translating narrative therapy in India.