issue 1 09 - APS Member Groups - Australian Psychological Society

108A Case for More Culture in Community Psychology:The Federated States of MicronesiaDavid S. Jackson 1,2Richard J. Kim 11 The Catalyst Group, LLC2 University of Hawai‛i at MānoaDespite the notable achievements of community psychology in promoting the wellnessof diverse populations and recent “calls to action” to incorporate more culture in thediscipline, there has still been insufficient integration of cultural theories and thevaluable contributions of cultural psychology. This paper presents issues of substanceabuse and mental health in the Federated States of Micronesia and demonstrates whycultural understanding is necessary for improving the lives of Micronesians and preventingfurther problems. A more culturally-informed community psychology couldcontribute to the enhancement of this population and others through advancing culturaltheory and research, developing more culturally-appropriate interventions, andpreventing problems caused by inattention to culture.Community psychology has undoubtedlyenriched our understanding of diversity and thecorollaries that emerge at the junctions ofdifferent cultures and social systems.Contemporary advances that have shaped ourfield include the illumination of the limits ofWestern psychological knowledge (Gergen,Gulerce, Lock, & Misra, 1996) and theimportance of assuming a global perspective(Marsella, 1998) while valuing local andindigenous practices (Kim & Berry, 1993).Such contributions make our discipline wellsituatedfor tackling issues in the internationalrealm, and recent developments at this levelare encouraging.Several special journal editions haverevealed community psychology’sinternational diversity (Journal of CommunityPsychology, 1998, 3; 2002, 6; The CommunityPsychologist, 1990, 1; 1995, 3). These andother works have greatly expanded ourconceptualization of our discipline, and includeperspectives from areas such as Australia(Bishop & D’Rosario, 2002), New Zealand(Gregory, 2001), Cuba (Calvino, 1998), andSouth Africa (Ngonyama ka Sigogo, et al.,2004), to name a few. The title of the 2005Society for Community Research and ActionBiennial Conference “Community Psychologyin Global Perspective” also reflects this trend.In addition, the population of members incommunity psychology organizations outsideof the U.S. is growing and constitutes morethan half of the total membership (Toro,2005). Clearly, community psychology isestablishing a much needed place among thediverse peoples of the world.However, much less prevalent areefforts in the discipline to incorporate culturaltheories and research in community work. Inlight of the numerous cultures thatcommunity psychologists are engaged with, itis surprising that the abundance of culturalliterature available (for e.g., Cooper &Denner, 1998; Herskovits, 1955; Hofstede,1980; Kagitcibasi, 1996; Kluckhohn, 1954;Markus & Kitayama, 1991; Shweder, 1990;Triandis & Bhawuk, 1997) has not been moreintegrated. Bhawuk and Mrazek (2005) alsoraised an important question of whether thefield is sufficiently considering culture.Fortunately, the last few years have seenmore recognition of this need, as O’Donnell’s(2006) presidential address proclaimed thesignificance of culture for our discipline,stressing the need to go beyond diversity as afundamental aspect of our work. Thesignificance of the connection betweenThe Australian Community Psychologist Volume 21 No 1 June 2009