Preconference

Marriage for Same-Sex Couples in the U.S. and Canada

Our morning will begin in Detroit, with an interactive session where participants role-play scenarios that examine marital inequality. This session will be followed by an overview presentation by Dr. Oswald, who will discuss marriage for same-sex partners in the U.S. After picking up box lunches in the hotel, we will board a charter bus and travel across the border to Windsor, Ontario. We will meet with a panel of Canadian speakers at the University of Windsor, who will talk about how their lives have been affected by gaining the right to marry a same-sex partner in Canada. We will debrief during the bus ride back to Detroit. Everyone is welcome, especially people who feel that they don't know very much about the issue and want to learn more.

Plenary Sessions

Seeking Justice for Urban Families

The 2007 Groves Conference will examine the experiences of families in urban environments characterized by robust ethnic neighborhoods as well as vigorous new immigrant communities. For example, Detroit is home to America's largest Middle Eastern populations with some other 67 designated ethnic communities. Questions to be considered include: What does it mean for families who live in racially, economically, and ethnically segregated communities? What is white privilege? How do transnational immigrant families negotiate multiple identities and homeplaces? What are the processes by which families cope with poverty, racism, and ethnic intolerance? What benefits to human development result from living with diversity? How do family scholars facilitate or impede economic, environmental, and social justice for all families?

Culture, Immigration and Social Marginality: An Intersectionality Perspective

In this session, I will discuss the relevance of social marginality to study how intersections of class, gender, race and ethnicity affect immigrant lives. My presentation will also focus on the role of idealized beliefs about ethnic identity in shaping immigrant family expectations and socialization practices and their impact on mental health and academic outcomes.

Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History

This long-term exhibition serves as the central experience of our museum. The 22,000 square-foot exhibition space contains more than 20 galleries that allow patrons to travel over time and across geographic boundaries. The journey begins in prehistoric Africa, the cradle of human life. Guests then witness several ancient and early modern civilizations that evolved on the continent. Crossing the Atlantic Ocean, they experience the tragedy of the middle passage and encounter those who resisted the horrors of bondage, emancipated themselves and sometimes took flight by way of the Underground Railroad. Throughout this trip, the efforts of everyday men and women who built families, businesses, educational institutions, spiritual traditions, civic organizations and a legacy of freedom and justice in past and present-day Detroit are hailed.

Arab American National Museum

The museum documents, preserves, celebrates, and educates the public on the history, life, culture, and contributions of Arab Americans, serving as a resource to enhance knowledge and understanding about Arab Americans and their presence in the United States. On the ground floor, the permanent exhibit features Arab civilization and its contributions to science, medicine, mathematics and astronomy and displays Arab architecture and decorative arts. In the main stairwell is a two-story map of Africa and the Middle East. From the balcony, an interactive panel allows visitors to learn something about each of the 22 countries conventionally identified as predominantly Arab. The second floor showcases Arab–American history in three thematic galleries titled Coming to America, Living in America, and Making an Impact. Each gallery tells a story, beginning with the immigration of Arabs from 1500 to the present, continuing through their livelihoods in America, and concluding with the impact Arab–Americans have had on the U.S.

Juxtaposed & Connections and Contrasts

Especially for Groves, the Museum is extending two exhibitions of new artwork by Detroit-based Arab American artists. "Juxtaposed" explores the challenges of immigrating to the United States and the process of becoming American. Drawing upon the firsthand experiences of an immigrant artist, this work reflects upon the ways in which people retain their traditions while assimilating into a new culture, and how these traditions contribute to a broader American identity. "Connections and Contrasts" is a group show of 10 Arab American artists from Detroit. These shows speak not only to the Arab American experience, but also to the experiences of a number of immigrant communities in America.

Malice Aforethought: The Sweet Trials
Between 1915 and 1925, the African American population in Detroit increased from 7,000 to 82,000. A severe housing shortage soon followed, and Dr. Ossian Sweet, a successful African American physician, bought a middle-class home in an all-white neighborhood. When his home and family were threatened by a white mob, shots were fired that resulted in the death of a white man. The NAACP and the ACLU initiated their first legal defense funds to defend Dr. Sweet and his family. Dr. Sweet's nephew, who admitted firing a gun in defense of their home and family, was acquitted by an all-white jury. Excerpts from the closing arguments made by Clarence Darrow at the two trials of the Sweet family in Detroit in the 1920s will be read by the playwright of Malice Aforethought, a play based closely on the trials.

Constructive Youth Development and Urban Gangs

Urban gangs in Detroit have a working constructive relationship with their respected neighborhoods. This model shows how urban gangs including male, female youth and community institutions develop constructive youth engagement, programs.

Symposium

In Search of Truths about Hurricane Katrina: Lived Experiences and Media Portrayals

Natural disasters are believed to undermine social support resources and unleash a fury of losses, such as property, lives, and culture; therefore, the current research session focuses on the influence of Hurricane Katrina on human development. The questions considered in this session are as follows: (a) In what ways were some families privileged over others?; (b) How did racial and aging intolerance permeate the lived experiences of families directly or indirectly impacted by Hurricane Katrina?; (c) How do family scholars impede or facilitate social injustices, using Katrina as the backdrop? To engage conference participants, the discussant for the session will deconstruct the truths that emerge from media broadcasts against those that emerged from social science research. Policy and program recommendations will be offered by the discussant.

Workshop Session

The Protective Factors Contributing to Family Resilience: Their Relationship to Life Satisfaction among Mexican-American Elderly

Mexican-American families possess cultural mechanisms that parallel those family protective factors found in the resilience literature. These include la adaptabilidad (adaptable personality), la sabiduría (compensating experiences), menos stressors (fewer stressors), and pariente (supportive environment). This workshop will consider the results of a recent research investigation of Mexican-American elderly which found significant positive relationships between their perceptions of life satisfaction and three of the four primary family protective factors (la adaptabilidad, la sabiduría, and pariente). In this investigation, however, no significant relationship was found between menos stressors and life satisfaction.  An unexpected observation was found among those 50% of participants reporting the highest levels of life satisfaction, two-thirds were also among the 50% who reported experiencing the highest number of stressors.  The implications of these findings and their use as a basis for potential assessment and intervention efforts with this population will be the focus of this workshop presentation.  Videotaped interview excerpts will provide “in action” illustrations of both assessment and intervention protocol.

Pedagogy and Praxis Roundtables

A Detroit Family's Narrative

This roundtable is based on writing a family memoir. I came to Detroit because I wanted a challenging urban environment - and I got it! For thirteen years I lived downtown in a kind of semi-commune arrangement on 17th street in the Briggs Community area which was very poor and burnt out (and is even poorer and more burnt out now). There I met Carolyn Johnson, who would become my goddaughter, and Anthony Philips Martin, who would become my foster son and godson. The experience of living there and taking root has marked my thinking and my work, providing as it did first-hand experience of the devastation wrought by racism, sexism, classism, capitalism, and of the incredible courage of the survivors who prevail against oppression.

Beyond “Drive-By” Diversity and “Othering”: Exploring Race/Ethnicity with a Lens on the Self

This roundtable will challenge participants to move beyond “Diversity 101” explorations of race/ethnicity where non-majority cultures are often examined using a “drive-by” approach. Roundtable participants will explore race/ethnicity with a lens on the self and the use of a reflexive process. Reflexivity requires one to consider place and perspective (or standpoint epistemology) and critically challenge one's understanding of the situation. Concepts such as white privilege, othering, cultural competency, the myth of meritocracy, white/black (or majority/minority) racial identity development, optional ethnicities, and multiple identities/global multiple identities will be discussed. This roundtable will also explore how to keep engaging in cross-cultural relationship work when dynamics of difference emerge and how one might get unstuck in his/her process. Participants of this roundtable will be invited to share their own reflexive work as well as other strategies for deepening our understanding of race/ethnicity.

Culturally Competent Campus Communities: A Discussion of Student Perspectives

The purpose of this roundtable is to discuss culturally competent climates (on and off campus) that ethnic minority students identify as being helpful to their academic success. Participants will learn about the range of variables that support and/or hinder ethnic minority students' active involvement in small, rural communities that are predominantly ethnocentric, white communities. Discussion will consider the issues of white privilege, pluralism, and ways to develop culturally competent villages (academic and community) for ethnic minority students.

Literacy as an Effective Tool for Speaking Out and Standing Up for Families

Advocating for families and communities requires that we know their needs and desires; understand the cultural and historical context of their lives; believe that they have the right to access to the best that the world has to offer; and are willing to speak out and stand up on their behalf for social, economic, and environmental justice.  This is especially true for “marginalized” families defined by citizenship, economic, and race-ethnicity status, such as first and second generation immigrant families, transitory families, low income and poor families, African American and Hispanic families. Jonathan Kozol has documented how certain families without a history of consistent or elite education in the United States consistently have not experienced economic, social or environmental justice in our K-12 public educational system.  That is one of the reasons literacy continues to be such a challenge for these families.  This situation does not have to exist, for literacy can be an effective means of speaking out and standing up for marginalized families.

Mapping the No-Man's Land of Ethnically Diverse Fathers

This interactive roundtable will ask, explore, and discuss the following questions: Is there a definition of a Good Father that is meaningful across ethnic/cultural groups, and can a universal definition of successful fatherhood be arrived at? What are the direct and indirect influences that fathers in general, and minority fathers in particular, exert on childhood development and well-being? What factors account for the ways in which minority fathers are able to overcome the personal and societal barriers that typically stand in the way of their becoming positively involved with their children? In what ways do men who are not biological fathers complement, augment, or supplant other caregivers within ethnic family systems? What are some directions for new, bias-free research into the unique fatherhood processes of minority men? In what ways might we more effectively reach out to minority fathers, and mobilize and capitalize on their energy, love, and initiative?

Social Justice in Marriage and Family Therapy Education: A Qualitative Study and Implications for Teaching and Practice

This roundtable will present data from a qualitative survey of students and faculty in COAMFT-Accredited Marriage and Family Therapy programs that asked the questions: “What does social justice mean to you? Please share a story from your experience about Social Justice. Take as much room as you need to tell your story. What happened? Who was involved? How did you change as a result? What was the emotional affect on you?”  Roundtable participants will use results from this study serving as a jumping off point to explore the concept of social justice within the field of marriage and family therapy since there seems to be little consensus as to what the term actually means. I hope to be able to both clarify and expand on our definition of social justice in order to help educators and therapists better address social justice issues. Specifically, I would like to develop a conversation among diverse marriage and family professionals on the meaning of social justice within our field and how better to teach for a socially just practice in marriage and family therapy.

“White Privilege” – Definitions and Implications for Educational Practitioners

Roundtable participants will define and recognize “white privilege” on a personal level. Participants who are educational practitioners will learn and practice anti-racist teaching and living skills in their own classrooms with the goal confronting the subtle manifestations of white privilege in their own classrooms.  The roundtable will be facilitated by a white female teacher who sincerely desires to help others value the conscious exercise of initiative in promoting respect and social justice despite their being white. Roundtable participants will work together to construct practical strategies for extending respect to all classroom students.

Transnational Family Roundtables

Borders and Marginality among Indian Immigrants: The Praxis of Relationships, Interactions, Religion & Culture

In this roundtable, we will build on critical race feminism and the literature on immigration as a frame for our personal narratives concerning the intersections of gender, ethnicity, religion, and culture. We see ethnicity as multifaceted, and we conceive of culture as layered as well. We will discuss the cohort and time differences between our stories as we describe how immigration from India has affected our positionality. Anindita is an immigrant from India, coming to the U.S. to pursue her doctoral degree. Anisa's father immigrated from India, and her mother was a Virginian. Our personal narratives also differ in religious background (and the ethnicity that these religions reflect), as Anisa's father was a Muslim and Anindita is Hindu. Our positionality and how it plays out in interaction with families and others will be part of the roundtable discussion. We will also discuss how research and theorizing has not kept pace with the worldwide move toward religious fundamentalism.

“Haciendo Conciencia” [Consciousness-Raising]: Building Resilience among Salvadorian Female Youth

This roundtable presents the findings of a qualitative study (32 in-depth interviews) with Salvadorian mothers and their daughters living in Canada.  In particular, discussion will focus on the strategies that mothers and daughters utilized to navigate the challenges that their cultural transition entailed. The findings contribute to the literature specifically by drawing attention to the importance of ethnic pride in helping mothers and their daughters bridge significant strains that arise in their acculturation process. The strains occurred due to (a) contextual factors such as anti-immigrant sentiment, and (b) value transmission across generations in a context different than their own.

Detroit's Arab American Community

The Arab population of S.E. Michigan is considered the largest outside of the Middle East. It contains both Muslim and Christian families from several countries, many of whom have been in the United States for over 100 years. Arab families continue to face forms of racism formerly outlawed for other groups in the United States. Across generations this has led to stressors for individuals and families in the area. This roundtable will trace the movement of Dearborn's Arab populations from its initial mass migration of males to work in Detroit's auto industry,  the successful mobilization efforts in the face of racism targeted at the groups during the 1980s, through to its current status as a diverse, growing and vibrant community.

Facilitated Marriages and Spatially Dispersed Social Networks: Migrant Families and their use of Transnational Ties

Using qualitative data gathered from interviews with 50 individuals of South Indian origin living in the Greater Toronto Area, this roundtable focuses on migrant families living in urban settings who are simultaneously embedded in multi-local social fields. By focusing on the interplay between national residence and cross-national connection through an exploration of the marital selection process among individuals who are born and raised in Canada, yet have ties to India, this roundtable provides three contributions to existing literature:  Firstly, marital selection choices are made within social worlds that span more than one place, which adds new criteria — country of origin and country of residence — to the marriage options of the second generation.  Secondly, migrants and their offspring use this transnational social space and its corresponding transnational social network to help them locate suitable partners.  Thirdly, these transnational ties provide access to a larger social kinship group, which serves to expand the social network of migrants.

Multigenerational Southeast Asian Immigrant Families

Working with multigenerational transnational families raises issues of gender, class, ethnicity, geography, and interaction with the wider society.  Often the expectations of the ethnic community and its families are at odds with those of the family members who want to improve overall well-being for themselves and others like them by modifying and implementing programs targeting their population. Examples of how this has been done in S.E. Michigan will include a program for S.E. Asian women who have experienced intimate violence, and a program for migrant workers in rural Michigan. Implications for those non-members of these communities who are committed to working with them are also highlighted.

Muslim Family Feminism: An Oxymoron?! A Contradiction in Terms?!

In this roundtable, I offer multiple 'mini-narratives' as a scholar, teacher, therapist, Iranian, woman, activist, and researcher.   The first narrative is my own reflectivity about my work and my reflections on being caught in the borders as a Muslim woman. A second narrative weaves between and across colonial, post colonial and white-western feminist analyses of “Muslim women.”  A third narrative is my current theoretical argument that Islamic feminism is inextricably embedded in understanding Muslim family dynamics. And, a fourth narrative is one of praxis, for it emphasizes Muslim women's struggles for equality, and their progress and achievements, considering their strong ties to their families.  The conclusion is that Muslim feminists confronted by dilemmas imposed by colonialism, white Western feminism, and Islamic fundamentalism developed a theology of women in the context of family and Islamic tradition and are continuously translating their ideas for change into practice and action but consciously or unconsciously always within the framework of “Muslim family feminism.”

Somali Families in the U.S.: Strengths and Challenges

This roundtable will explore the intersections of gender, religion, cultural norms, and policies related to immigrants as we examine the strengths of and challenges facing Somali families currently living in the United States. The roundtable will include a description of “what we know” about Somali families living in Minnesota, but more importantly, discussion will take place about how other immigrant families maintain their beliefs and behaviors in racially, economically and ethnically segregated communities. Is it easier to do so when everyone around you believes and behaves similarly? Additionally, as we review the “needs” or challenges facing Somali families, are there trends or similarities that exist among other immigrant family groups that we as family scholars can address…or would it be more helpful for us to simply stay out of the way?   

Poster Sessions:

A Methodology for Diversity and Change in Family Science Applications

This poster suggests a methodology for understanding the processes by which families cope with poverty, racism, chronic illness, and other irresolvable stressor situations. The methodology involves considering both continuities and discontinuities which explain diversity and change. The poster reviews over a hundred books and professional papers employing catastrophe theory with a special emphasis on the methods used for testing these models. This review shows that catastrophe theory provides a methodology especially suited to the life sciences as opposed to the physical sciences, provides a critique of limitations of traditional methods, reviews the approach and methods used in applications of catastrophe theory, and proposes how these can be applied to a number of family processes. A model suggesting how this methodology applies to religious diversity and change is suggested.

Asian American Family Caregiving for a Person with a Mental Illness

Asian Americans are projected to reach 20.2 million, comprising 8% of the U.S. population, by the year 2020. Based on an interpretive phenomenological study that explored what it is like for Asian Americans to care for a mentally ill family member, this poster will describe the processes by which families cope with mental illness and health care system in the United States.  The specific aims are to 1) examine patterns of family caregiving practices for mentally ill family members among Asian American families, and 2) describe how Confucian-based practices are modified as families acculturate to the United States.

Role of Touch in the Care of Children in Central Africa

This poster presents a study that documents the physical care of young children in two small-scale societies in Central Africa: the Aka and Bofi foragers. The Aka and Bofi live in similar ecological contexts, share similar childrearing practices and live with extended family members. The Aka and Bofi speak different languages and identify themselves as culturally distinct. Both are considered ethnic minorities, and both face high levels of discrimination in their countries (Congo and Central African Republic). Informed by extended ethnographic fieldwork among the Aka and Bofi, child development literature, and cultural contextual perspectives, the aim of this study is to examine the frequency and timing of verbal versus nonverbal physical interactions between young children and their caregivers. Quantitative and qualitative data from fieldwork among the Aka and Bofi are presented, and the authors discuss Aka and Bofi developmental niches and the role of touch in the caregiver-child relationship.

Cultural Humility: Developmental Assets Perspectives from Classrooms, Congregations, and Colleagues

Inclusion of multiple cultural groups in educational programs, faith communities, and work settings can enrich discussion and effectiveness. This diversity also can present challenges, especially if representatives of the various racial, ethnic, religious, and cultural groups evaluate others from the limitations of their own cultural perspectives. Quantitative and qualitative data from several settings will be examined within a developmental assets framework. Discussion will be focused on strategies for moving from a stance of tolerating differences to a position of appreciating cultural diversity.

Lesbian Couples' and Heterosexuals Couples' Decision-Making Regarding Child Race in the Adoption Process

Previous research has found that same-sex couples seek adopt children from various racial and ethnic backgrounds. Some research suggests that lesbian couples are more willing to incorporate diversity within their family because they dealt with discrimination throughout their lives. This poster will report on data concerning lesbian and adoptive couples' preferences and ideas about race to address the following questions: 1) Are lesbian couples more willing to adopt a child of a different race? 2) Why are some couples willing and interested in adopting a child of a different race, while others are not? That is, what reasons do couples cite? Data are from 30 lesbian couples and 30 heterosexual couples, all of whom were actively pursuing an adoptive placement and were currently awaiting placement of their first child. Findings will be discussed in the context of the broader issues and controversies surrounding transracial adoption, and in the context of gay/lesbian adoption.

Kinship Caregiving: Family Strengths and Public Vulnerabilities

Kinship care families (children being cared for by non-parent relatives) are becoming an increasingly common family form with unique strengths, but also significant vulnerabilities. This is especially common among caregivers who are single grandmothers.  Nevertheless, only a minority of kinship families receive the subsidies and services to which they are entitled.  One reason for the low use of these programs is that they are designed primarily for families where children are being raised by parents, and many of the program requirements adapt poorly to kinship families. This poster reports results of nationally representative Adolescent Health dataset to provide information on whether the amount of money in a child-only welfare program makes a difference on adolescent outcomes.

Social Services in the Middle East and United States

This poster session summarizes existing studies of social services in the Middle East and Arab social service provision in the United States. An extensive literature review was conducted, covering economic, social, and political factors involved in the provision and usage of services by the Arab populations of the Middle East and the United States. Research reveals cultural and religious factors to have a deep impact on social services in Arab societies. On the surface an examination of social service provision in the Arab community finds them to be lacking. However, when examined in the proper context, political and cultural factors reveal the norms, values, and systems of the Arab world to support existing conditions. Although there is room for much improvement in the provision of services, improvements must be made in unison with the principles and theory of Arab society.