Balancing on Quicksand: Reflections on Power, Politics and the Relational

by Martin Milton (Editor)

Overview

This book explores the precarious nature of life, and the ways in which power, binary ways of thinking and Othering create personal, social and political difficulties. By exploring an array of different concerns –including loss and grief, our relationship to other animals, race and sexuality - contributors explore how attention to our own subjective experience and relational ways of thinking can help manage these difficulties. The many contributing authors go well beyond formulaic academic discourse. They adopt a far more personal and reflective approach to their topic areas. As a result, some chapters are emotional, others political, and some professional. Throughout, readers are offered examples of how useful a reflective stance can be, to understanding some of the more meaningful things in life, or as a corrective to our power based, normative, instructive discourses.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9783030791353
Publisher:	Springer International Publishing
Publication date:	08/27/2021
Edition description:	1st ed. 2021
Pages:	170
Product dimensions:	5.83(w) x 8.27(h) x 0.00(d)

About the Author

Martin Milton is Professor of Counselling Psychology at the School of Psychotherapy and Psychology at Regents University London, UK. He also runs an independent practice in psychotherapy and supervision. He is the author of books including, The Political is Personal: Stories of Difference and Psychotherapy (2018), and Sexuality: Existential Perspectives (2014). His interests include in the way that differences are constructed and experienced and the impact this has on people. Martin is an avid photographer and nature lover and has had photographs published in both photography and psychology publications.

Table of Contents

1. Introduction, Martin Milton.- 2. Rolling In The Muck, Dancing With The Law: A Story Of ‘Addiction’ And The Remaking Of A Self, JP Marshall.- 3. Breaking The Rules, Alison Greenwood.- 4. Disturbing The Peace: Madame X Vs Westminster Council, Martin Milton.- 5. “Objective”-Ication: Problems With Treating Judgement As Fact?, Helen Damon.- 6. Animals: Aren’t They Great?, Dale Judd.- 7. Balancing On Quicksand: Making Sense Of What ‘The Personal Is Political’ Means, Miltos Hadjiosif.- 8. Drama Of Phantom Hatred, Parizad Bathai.- 9. Reflections Of A Junkyard Room, Yetunde Ade-Serrano.- 10. ‘I’m Not As Bad As You’, Carter Jacobs.- 11. Is There Something You Need To Tell Us?, Julia Brewer.- 11. A Refugee In A World Without Refuge, Anastasios Gaitanidis.- 12. An Uncanny Resemblance, Elena Manafi.- 13. Making The Invisible Visible, Martin Milton.

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

“This book reads like the kind of writing we all want, really - an intimate conversation, riveting, unruly, a private “in” to other worlds of feeling, without instruction or the impositions of academia, a broader canvas, open and porous, gently meandering through art, fiction, memoir and therapy. “Balancing on Quicksand” is an inclusive act, (continuing to) disrupt the personal/professional boundary and psy-orthodoxies – the personal is (still) political, the political is (still) personal. Expect tears!” (Professor Isabel Henton, Regent’s University London, UK)

“Prof. Milton and his colleagues offer us a deeply engaging, stimulating and thought-provoking collection of reflective essays that eloquently illustrate the value and significance of relational thinking towards attaining psychological and social health and social justice. Each contributor’s personal reflective journey of engaging with a key human dilemma in relation to power, politics and the relational is an invitationto the reader to reflect on our own stance and engagement with the key human dilemmas explored in this book.” (Dr Stelios Gkouskos, University of East London, UK)

“Sometimes the release of a book comes at just the right time . . . after a year of social distancing and COVID quarantine, I can think of no better time to read about how relational thinking plays out in the real lives and lived experiences of practicing psychotherapists as they grapple with the professional, personal, psychosocial, and political.” (Dr Markus Bidell, Hunter College, City University of New York, USA)