Cultural Competency as a Relational Process

Abstract

This article describes the experiences of a U.S.-based family therapy practitioner during a 3-week academic consultation in the Philippines. Revisioning the concept of cultural competency as a performance that occurs in relationship, the author shares three autoethnographic stories that illustrate cultural borderlands in the global arena of family therapy training and practice. The stories address (a) questioning dominant (U.S.) views of family therapy process, (b) deconstructing the multiple meanings of the clinical presenting problem “I've killed my child,” and (c) redefining the act of “cheating” as a performance of solidarity and relationship.