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Beyond Cultural Competence, Toward Social
Transformation: Liberation Psychologies and the
Practice of Cultural Humility
Jennifer Abe
To cite this article: Jennifer Abe (2020) Beyond Cultural Competence, Toward Social
Transformation: Liberation Psychologies and the Practice of Cultural Humility, Journal of Social
Work Education, 56:4, 696-707, DOI: 10.1080/10437797.2019.1661911
To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.1080/10437797.2019.1661911
Published online: 01 Oct 2019.
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Beyond Cultural Competence, Toward Social Transformation:
Liberation Psychologies and the Practice of Cultural Humility
Jennifer Abe
ABSTRACT
The article uses a liberation psychologies framework to develop and strengthen
a social dimension to cultural humility, one that is oriented toward social
transformation. First, cultural humility is contextualized as a complement or
alternative to cultural competence, addressing critiques raised about cultural
competence frameworks. Second, research on cultural humility is reviewed,
noting a focus on individual provider characteristics and perceptions of interpersonal relationships. Third, a liberation psychologies lens is used to conceptualize cultural humility at multiple levels: developing a critical consciousness
(individual level), seeing the other (interpersonal level), and psychosocial accompaniment (collective level). A liberation psychologies orientation toward issues of
oppression and social justice is proposed as consistent with a multilevel
approach to defining cultural humility, especially at a collective level. Examples
of cultural humility and its connections to practices such as social justice–
oriented service learning pedagogies, community-based participatory research
(CBPR), and practice-based evidence (PBE) approaches are discussed, as well as
implications for future research and education regarding cultural humility.
ARTICLE HISTORY
Accepted: February 2019
The provision of culturally competent care has been long viewed and valued as an important strategy
to address ethnic/racial disparities in access, quality, satisfaction, and outcomes of mental health
services (Betancourt, Green, & Carillo, 2002; Brach & Frasirector, 2000; Smedley, Stith, & Nelson,
2003; Sue, Zane, Nagayama Hall, & Berger, 2009). The notion of cultural competence itself, however,
has become increasingly criticized (Good & Hannah, 2015; Kirmayer, 2012; Kumagai & Lypson,
2009; Kumas-Tan, Beagan, Loppie, MacLeod, & Frank, 2007). Concerns about cultural competence
include the use of “culture” as a proxy for ethnocultural group identity, which can essentialize
culture, treating it as an individual attribute possessed by an ethnic or racialized “other.” This
tendency can result in “cookbook” approaches to conceptualizing culture that exacerbate stereotyping processes (Chang, Simon, & Dong, 2012; Johnston & Herzig, 2006; Kumagai & Lypson, 2009)
and that do not address complex issues of intersectionality in identities (Rosen, McCall, &
Goodkind, 2017). Further, cultural competence places an emphasis on attempting to “know” and
become “competent” in understanding another’s culture, which not only emphasizes “mastery” over
“being” but also suggests that ‘incompetence” stems from incomplete or incorrect knowledge
(Fisher-Borne, Cain, & Martin, 2015; Kumas-Tan et al., 2007). Finally, cultural competence has
been critiqued for its lack of a transformative social justice agenda with assumptions that tend to
ignore power relations and structural inequities. Instead, individual knowledge is assumed to be
sufficient for change, and self-confidence is assumed to be reflective of competence (Fisher-Borne
et al., 2015; Kumas-Tan et al., 2007). Yet increases in cultural knowledge without a consequent
change in attitude and behavior are of limited value (Tervalon & Murray-García, 1998), and simply
gaining greater cultural knowledge has not been shown to increase the desire to practice in
a culturally competent manner (Isaacs et al., 2016).

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JOURNAL OF SOCIAL WORK EDUCATION
2020, VOL. 56, NO. 4, 696–707
https://doi.org/10.1080/10437797.2019.1661911
As an alternative to cultural competence, the notion of cultural humility represents “… a lifelong
commitment to self-evaluation and critique, to redressing the power imbalances in the physician–patient
dynamic, and to developing mutually beneficial and non-paternalistic partnerships with community on
behalf of individuals and defined populations” (Tervalon & Murray-García, 1998, p. 123). Though
models of both cultural competence and cultural humility recognize the central importance of attending
to culture (Hwang, Myers, Abe-Kim, & Ting, 2008; Kirmayer, 2012), cultural humility places emphasis
on a particular orientation toward others (or “ways of being”), rather than mastery of a set of competencies (or “ways of doing”) in working with others (Hook, Davis, Owen, Worthington, & Utsey, 2013;
Sue & Sue, 2016; Walters et al., 2016). As an interpersonal stance, cultural humility has been most
commonly defined in terms of being other-oriented in relation to aspects of cultural identity that are
important to a client (Hook et al., 2013). These approaches are not necessarily mutually exclusive; indeed,
cultural humility has also been described as a “process model” of cultural competence (CampinhaBacote, 2002; Waters & Asbill, 2013) or a complement to such training (Chang et al., 2012; Rosen et al.,
2017), although some also contend that cultural humility adds little more than semantic appeal to
cultural competence (Danso, 2016). Nonetheless, several scholars view cultural humility as a distinct
alternative to cultural competence (Fisher-Borne et al., 2015; Walters et al., 2016) because of how issues
of oppression, privilege, and the need for social justice can be potentially addressed (Keselman & Awais,
2018; Rosen et al., 2017), which underscores key limitations in the cultural competence literature (FisherBorne et al., 2015; Good & Hannah, 2015; Kirmayer, 2012; Kumas-Tan et al., 2007; Walters et al., 2016).
The cultural humility construct is not without its own limitations, including (a) the discrepancy
between its original conceptualization as a multilevel concept and an empirical literature that largely
treats it as either an individual characteristic or as relational judgments and (b) a lack of consensus on the
extent to which it differs from cultural competence in practice. As such, the purpose of the present article
is to articulate a practice of cultural humility that highlights its multiple levels and socially transformative
agenda in order to reclaim the spirit of its original definition as well as to underscore its distinctiveness as
a construct in relation to cultural competence. To do so, research on cultural humility is reviewed across
different domains, including provider–client relations, supervisor–mentee relations, and interethnic
relationships. Then, using a liberation psychologies lens, cultural humility is articulated at three levels:
individual, interpersonal, and collective. Finally, with an emphasis on the collective level and social work
education, examples of practices reflecting cultural humility are drawn from diverse areas such as social
justice–oriented service learning pedagogies, community-based participatory research (CBPR), and
practice-based evidence (PBE) approaches.
Research on cultural humility
Scholarship in the area of cultural humility has just begun to emerge (see Mosher, Hook, Farrell,
Watkins, & Davis [2017] for a review) with most of the empirical work based on an operational
definition of cultural humility that focuses on its interpersonal, other-focused orientation as reflected
in an openness to the cultural background of others as perceived by others (Hook et al., 2013;
Mosher et al., 2017). The research on cultural humility also includes an awareness of the limitations
of one’s own cultural worldview, which pertains to individual characteristics. Foronda, Baptiste,
Reinholdt, and Ousman (2016) conducted a concept analysis of 62 articles discussing cultural
humility that were published between 2009 and 2014. They found that cultural humility was
consistently associated with five attributes: openness, self-awareness, egoless[ness], supportive interactions, and self-reflection and self-critique. The few empirical studies that were included were
grouped into three areas, including (a) what cultural humility looks like in the helping professions
and how it develops over time, (b) training or education aimed at increasing cultural humility, and
(c) links between cultural humility and counseling outcomes (Mosher et al., 2017). The latter studies
mostly use a 12-item scale of cultural humility based on client ratings of therapist characteristics
(Hook et al., 2013). In a review of measures of humility, coders independently rated items on this
Cultural Humility scale as falling into four categories: openness, other-orientedness, willingness to
JOURNAL OF SOCIAL WORK EDUCATION 697
admit mistakes, and accurate view of self (McElroy-Heltzel, Davis, DeBlaire, Worthington, & Hook,
2018). Using this scale with a sample of 472 college students who reported past experiences in
therapy, therapists’ levels of cultural humility were found to be rated as more important than
therapist similarity, experience, skill, and knowledge (Hook et al., 2013). In a follow-up study
using college student samples of individuals currently in treatment, cultural humility was positively
associated with several counseling outcomes, including working alliance and client improvement
(Hook et al., 2013; Owen et al., 2014, 2016). Conversely, “cultural offenses” in therapy were
associated with clients rating therapists as lower in cultural humility (Davis et al., 2016; Owen
et al., 2016).
Cultural humility has been used as a framework to address microaggressions in supervisor–mentee
relations as well (Hook, Watkins, et al., 2016; Walters et al., 2016; Watkins, Hook, Ramaeker, & Ramos,
2016). Within the supervisory relationship, cultural humility “acknowledges the intersectionality of the
client, supervisee, and supervisor and allows the space for power and privilege discourse …” (Lipscomb
& Ashley, 2017, p. 221). Social injustices are operationalized as microaggressions within this “triple
process” and can occur between client and therapist as well as in clinician–supervisor relationships.
Using a cultural humility lens, the relational processes occurring within these different relational units
are emphasized to facilitate greater awareness of issues related to marginalization, cultural complexities, oppression, and social injustices (Lipscomb & Ashley, 2017). Such “anti-oppressive” practices are
central to the field of social work and allied professions (Charles, Holley, & Kondrat, 2017) and
explain, in part, why the social dimension of cultural humility may be of particular relevance and
resonance to this field.
More recently, cultural humility has been examined in interethnic relationships, including as an
important element of an effective primary caregiver strategy for racial socialization with multiracial
children (Franco & McElroy-Heltzel, 2018) and as a mediator of the relationship between culturally
based “ineffective arguing” (e.g., repeated arguments without either partner feeling understood) and
relationship quality among interethnic couples (McElroy-Heltzel, Davis, DeBlaire, Hook, et al.,
2018). McElroy-Heltzel, Davis, DeBlaire, Hook and their colleagues (2018) found that culturally
based ineffective arguing was associated with lower relationship quality (e.g., commitment and
satisfaction) and was associated with perceptions of partners as being less culturally humble. These
findings are consistent with the research literature on therapist–client relationships showing that
cultural offenses are associated with perceptions of therapists as less culturally humble as well (Davis
et al., 2016; Owen et al., 2016).
Few studies have examined the implications of cultural humility beyond the interpersonal level
(see Fisher-Borne et al. [2015]; Hook, Boan, et al. [2016] for exceptions), however, so that there is
a real risk of reducing cultural humility to a set of individual characteristics or interpersonal
behaviors. Though it is vitally important to develop a personal commitment to critical selfreflection to challenge social injustices, without attention to the social dimension, our understanding
of cultural humility would be greatly impoverished. Why? Because structural sources of inequities
that could help us shift from a gaze that primarily focuses on the clinical encounter to one that also
encompasses broader social realities can otherwise be easily neglected or lost (Metzl & Hansen,
2014). Thus, attention to the collective dimension of cultural humility can help us recognize and
potentially address the influences of structural forces and social, political, and historical contexts that
serve to marginalize and oppress communities, not just individuals.
Cultural humility: A liberation psychologies approach
How can a liberation psychologies perspective help cultivate a social practice of cultural humility?
Current conceptions and methodological approaches to cultural humility tend to frame it as
a provider characteristic (e.g., medical, mental health, or even supervisors working with supervisees)
and in terms of its interpersonal dimension (e.g., ratings of therapists by their clients, for example).
Liberation psychologies represents an alternative perspective in mental health that can shift the focus
698 J. ABE
of clinical interventions from an individual to a collective level in order to address the impact of
oppressive societal conditions and structures upon individuals and communities. The founder of this
diverse field, Ignacio Martin-Baró, S.J., was a social psychologist and Jesuit priest who was killed,
along with his companions, in 1989, during El Salvador’s civil war. Martin-Baró was highly
influenced by the tenets of liberation theology, part of a broader decolonizing movement that
swept Latin America during the 1950s and 1960s. This theological perspective maintains that
a divine mandate to love others in the reality of their social context is a reflection of an encounter
with God and, in doing so, represents an embodied expression and work of love (Gutierrez, 2003).
He was also heavily influenced by the writings of Vieira Pinto (1961) and Freire (1970), Brazilian
educators who introduced and developed the idea of conscientización or critical consciousness, which
permeated other disciplines besides theology, including philosophy, anthropology, sociology, and
psychology (see Montero, Sonn, & Burton, 2017).
Within this context, Martin-Baró called for a new horizon in the discipline of psychology, one
that would pay attention to issues at the margins of society: to the structural causes of social
problems, especially oppression; to the everyday contexts and realities of people’s lives; and to the
recovery of historical memory. He critiqued the field, noting that
Psychology has often contributed to obscuring the relationship between personal estrangement and social
oppression, presenting pathology of persons as if it were something removed from history and society, and
behavioral disorders as if they played themselves entirely in the individual plane. … (Martin-Baró, 1996, p. 27)
A liberation psychologies approach, however, may be viewed as a form of practice, not a specific
discipline. Thus, his challenge is to all mental health practitioners and researchers and remains strong
and clear. Going beyond the geographic, religious, and time boundaries of its origins, a liberation
psychologies framework represents an ethical challenge and claim to relate science to the problems of
society, with a clear commitment to the voices, needs, and concerns of communities on the margins. In
this approach, personal well-being and social justice are always interconnected (Moane, 2003;
Prilleltensky, 2008), and the praxis of psychology is oriented toward liberation. In this regard, the
commitments and anti-oppression values of the social work profession are already configured in close
alignment with a liberation psychologies approach.
How can the idea of cultural humility be part of this response? Liberation psychologies orient
toward empowerment and fostering critical consciousness of the relationship between oppression
and liberation at both personal and social levels (Martin-Baro, 1996; Moane, 2003). Such an
approach can help us retrieve an understanding of what cultural humility entails at different levels:
individual (e.g., “a lifelong commitment to self-evaluation and critique”); interpersonal (e.g., “redressing the power imbalances in the physician–patient dynamic”); and collective (e.g., “developing
mutually beneficial and non-paternalistic partnerships with community on behalf of individuals and
defined populations”; Tervalon & Murray-García, 1998, p. 123).
Individual level: The task of concientización or critical consciousness
From a liberation psychologies perspective, the view of self in a model of cultural humility would not
regard “self-critique and self-evaluation” as an end in itself but as a critical element of the process of
concientización, or critical consciousness (Freire, 1970). Though the goal or vocation of all people is
humanization, structural forces such as inequities, injustice, exploitation, oppression, and violence
are viewed as contributing to dehumanization, which is viewed as a distortion of the vocation of
becoming more fully human (Freire, 1970). From this perspective, to have a view of self, as one, in
fact, is (Wright et al., 2017) requires an understanding of self as located not only within a broader
cosmos (e.g., which reflects a definition of humility more generally) but also within a particular
social framework, one that is not only culturally and historically situated but includes an understanding of self in relation to power and privilege, oppression, and marginalization (Hammel, 2013).
This represents the kind of critical self-reflection that is an essential element of cultural humility.
Thus, in addition to an awareness of how one’s cultural background and experiences shape and
JOURNAL OF SOCIAL WORK EDUCATION 699
constrain one’s perceptions of the world, self-reflection on the intersectionality of one’s different
identities, each related to power and privilege in different ways (Cole, 2009; Daniel, 2008), also
enables persons to “perceive critically the way they exist in the world with which and in which they
find themselves; they come to see the world not as a static reality, but as a reality in process, in
transformation” (Freire, 1970, p. 64, emphasized by author).
Critical reflection on experience can also result in changed awareness of one’s social positioning,
resulting in greater cultural humility as an outcome of experience (Ferranto, 2015; Gallardo, 2013),
especially for those with more privilege and power. The effects of service learning approaches to training
service providers can serve as an example of this process. For example, in a mixed methods study
examining perceptions of cultural competence before after a cultural immersion trip on an American
Indian reservation, nursing student (n=11) participants reported lower ratings of cultural competence
postimmersion compared to pre-immersion ratings but also reported higher levels of cultural “awareness” at the end of their trip (Isaacson, 2014). Similarly, in a study of the impact of medical students’
encounters with refugee patients, analysis of data from semistructured interviews revealed “cultural
humility” to be a major theme stemming from contact that resulted in reflection on the medical students’
own cultures, social positions, and experiences (Griswold, Zayas, Kernan, & Wagner, 2006). Such
findings suggest that one’s sense of self can be transformed through contact with a different cultural
reality and that cultural humility can represent an important outcome of an initial encounter.
Interpersonal level: The task of seeing the other
Conceptualizing another person as the “other” (but not “othering” them) represents more than seeing
her as an individual; instead, it signifies an acceptance of her radical difference and autonomy
(Sundararajan, 1995). Emmanuel Levinas, a Jewish philosopher who survived Nazi Germany, held that
the other is inherently unknowable, always beyond our comprehension (Ben-Ari & Strier, 2010), but that
we have a fundamental ethical responsibility to respond to her presence. For Levinas, this response was
not simply a cognitive or social concern but fundamentally ethical in nature; he argued that to be
a human being at all is to stand in obligation to the other (Goodman, Walling, & Ghali, 2010).
This concept is deeply reflected in different cultural traditions and communities and not just in
relation to other human beings. For instance, a shared worldview found in American Indian/Alaskan
Native communities includes a recognition of the “inseparability, reciprocity, and responsibility between
humans and the rest of the creation” such that cultural humility, albeit not named as such, does not really
represent an alternative perspective, but rather an “ethical code of conduct in interacting and being in the
world” (Walters, Beltran, Huh, & Evans-Campbell, 2011, p. 169). In the African concept of ubuntu,
elements of solidarity, spirituality, and harmony are interconnected with each other (Schreiber & TommBonde, 2015). This culturally rooted philosophy is reflected in the phrase, “I am because we are” or, as
Archbishop and civil rights activist Desmond Tutu (2010) explained, “My humanity is caught up and is
inextricably bound up in yours” (p. 23). To see one’s humanity as bound up in the humanity of others—
as well as the being-ness of the world—is to also understand that one’s well-being as inextricably
connected to the well-being of others and the world; in other words, to be fundamentally other-oriented.
Within a cultural humility framework, the relationship between self and other has been traditionally understood in interpersonal terms, such as therapist–client or mentor–mentee relationships.
On an interpersonal level, social workers, including therapists, supervisors, and teachers, have the
capacity to create an atmosphere that does not obstruct a person from the telling her own story
(Tervalon & Murray-García, 1998) and to cultivate a relationship that facilitates continual, bidirectional learning (Walters et al., 2016). This mutuality or bidirectionality of relationships is a critical
feature of how cultural humility can help redress power dynamics at the interpersonal level (FisherBorne et al., 2015). But there are also complex relationships between individual and social realities,
between clinical symptoms and social, political, and economic systems (Metzl & Hansen, 2014), and
if cultural humility is simply treated as an interpersonal dimension of relationships highlighting
cultural issues it runs the danger of obscuring our view of these broader relationships.
700 J. ABE
The collective level: The task of psychosocial accompaniment
Cultural humility as a social practice involves a commitment to working with communities, not only
individuals, in ways that align with a “dignity” perspective (Lee, Leung, & Kim, 2014), a view that sees and
values the worth of all individuals and protects and preserves their dignity (Ben-Ari & Strier, 2010).
Extending this view, all communities are viewed as possessing intrinsic value equal to that of all other
communities. As such, the perspectives, experiences, and contributions of community members are
regarded as sources of valuable information, insight, and expertise that can transform the ways in which
research, teaching, and interventions are understood, designed, and implemented. Consequently,
a practice of cultural humility at a collective level emphasizes respect for the dignity and value of
community experiences, cultures, and perspectives, building relationships based on mutuality and
bidirectional learning, and paying attention to the contextual influences, including the structural forces,
power imbalances, and social inequities that shape lived experience.
Comas-Diaz, Lykes, and Alarcón (1998) describe this form of relationship as accompaniment, which
they defined as “standing alongside people, working with them, seeking to develop collaborative relations
that recognize power inequities” (p. 779). Although this form of accompaniment also occurs at an
individual level, in this context it is a stance or orientation that reflects cultural humility in working with
communities (Maton, 2000). Sacipa Rodríguez, Tovar Guerra, Galindo Villarreal, and Vidales
Bohórquez (2009) call this psychosocial accompaniment, an encounter between mental health practitioners and communities that has as its goal the construction of liberating knowledge. In gathering oral
histories from men and women in the community of Altos de Cazuca, Colombia, who were forcibly
displaced, for example, a methodology to “reconstruct collective memory by way of personal memories”
as a mode of social healing was developed (Sacipa Rodríguez et al., 2009, p. 225).
An orientation of psychosocial accompaniment is also implicit in various expressions of teaching
pedagogy, research, and mental health interventions, including practices such as social justice–
oriented service learning pedagogies, CBPR, and PBE, to name just a few examples. Across these
approaches, community members are critical partners in the process of defining research/teaching
agendas, asking questions, and interpreting data and experience, so that the usual power dynamics of
relationships are shifted in the direction of greater mutuality and respect.
For instance, different models of service learning can shed light on how encounters with communities
are often framed and structured for students in a way that reproduces imbalanced power dynamics and
reinforces social injustice (Green, 2001; Tinkler, Tinkler, Jagla, & Strait, 2016). On the one hand, a “charity”
model of service learning is based on volunteerism and frames a community from a deficit perspective as
places and peoples who “need help.” Such efforts do little to examine or challenge the underlying structural
forces that represent the root causes of larger social problems. A “change” model, on the other hand,
represents a more critical service learning lens that situates community engagement within systems of
social inequality (Catlett & Proweller, 2016; Mitchell, 2007). Yet, even if such a lens helps students to reflect
critically on social problems, if individuals are too focused on solving problems for communities rather
than trying to understand the problems with communities, this approach can still result in maintaining
structural power imbalances. When community members are viewed as experts who can teach the students
about their lived realities, however, it can turn the power structure upside down (Grassi & Armon, 2016).
Students can then shift from “giving service” to “learning from others” (Grassi & Armon, 2016, p. 203),
which reinforces respect, mutuality, and reciprocity in these relationships.
This approach is also reflected in Yeager and Bauer-Wu’s (2013) call for clinical researchers to
engage in cultural humility as a process of reflection that can deepen an understanding of cultural
differences and help address how vulnerable groups are treated and researched (see also Schreiber &
Tomm-Bonde, 2015). CBPR is an example of an orientation to research that reflects this form of
cultural humility with an emphasis on building collaborative relationships between community and
researchers that include a commitment to learning from each other (Minkler & Wallerstein, 2008;
Wallerstein & Duran, 2010). For example, Grayshield, Rutherford, Salazar, Mihecoby, & Luna
(2015) interviewed native tribal elders not only to gain a better understanding of historical trauma
but also to learn from them regarding how healing would be best facilitated among tribal peoples.
JOURNAL OF SOCIAL WORK EDUCATION 701
Here, all partners bring their unique strengths and perspective to the process, with the goal of
combining knowledge and action for social change (Minkler & Wallerstein, 2008). Humility and
integrity are viewed as vital elements of the process (Wallerstein & Duran, 2010), and the development of trust and mutual respect is regarded as an important methodological issue (Miller, 2004).
These are issues that are neither visible nor valued in traditional, more positivist approaches.
Similarly, PBE approaches (also labeled in various ways, such as promising practices, communitydefined evidence practices, culturally supported interventions, and culturally sensitive treatments) reflect
efforts to identify high-quality treatments for mental health issues from the “bottom up,” as viewed and
defined by communities themselves (Duran, Firehammer, & Gonzalez, 2008; Hall, 2001; Miller & Shinn,
2005). For instance, Choctaw women who walk part of the Trail of Tears as part of the Yappalli (“to walk
slowly and softly”) health promotion program engage in place-based, experiential learning to address the
long reverberations of historical trauma in their community (Schultz, Walters, Beltran, Stroud, &
Johnson-Jennings, 2016). Such PBE approaches to addressing health and mental health concerns reflect
a practice of cultural humility because they approach communities as sources of expertise about
experience rather than as simply contexts in which interventions occur. Consequently, communities
are empowered to define for themselves the practices that they see as credible and effective, whether or
not they reflect dominant paradigms in the field (Abe et al., 2018; Coleman & Wampold, 2003).
Conclusions
In summary, seeing all communities as having interests that are foundationally as legitimate and as
worthy of attention and concern as one’s own community (Wright et al., 2017) is part of a collective
dimension to cultural humility that is reflected in approaches as diverse as training students and
service providers within critical service learning programs to working with communities through
CBPR or PBE approaches. Across approaches, community experiences and observations are viewed
as sources of expertise that are seen, respected, and valued.
Although it is important to examine cultural humility at an interpersonal level, the point of this
article is to argue that the concept of cultural humility should not be regarded exclusively as
interpersonal in nature. As a social practice, cultural humility can assist social workers, psychologists,
and other mental health professionals to work with—and learn from—community members. In
doing so, the structural realities and injustices that result in dehumanization of the other, that result
in the marginalization of entire communities and ethnocultural groups in our society, may be made
more visible. Further, research on the social dimension of cultural humility could also consider and
incorporate research on collective memory (Hirst & Manier, 2008; Sacipa Rodríguez et al., 2009), the
recovery of historical memory (Chauca-Sabroso & Fuentes-Polar, 2009; Liem, 2007), historical
trauma and its intergenerational effects (Duran et al., 2008; Evans-Campbell, 2008; Schultz et al.,
2016), and social healing (Abe, 2012; Watkins & Shulman, 2008). The ways in which potentially
related processes that might constrain or facilitate a social practice of cultural humility could also be
explored, such as motivated forgetting at a collective level (Rotella & Richeson, 2013), collective
denial (Watkins & Shulman, 2008), collective assembly (Gabriel, Valenti, Naragon-Gainey, & Young,
2017), and conflict transformation and reconciliation practices (Berndsen & McGarty, 2010; Seu &
Cameron, 2013).
What are the implications of this perspective for social work education and teaching about
cultural humility? First, cultural humility is not a panacea for social ills but is a critical element of
cross-cultural interventions, helping to orient students toward the other, however defined, in a way
that does not stress mastery of skills and cultural-specific knowledge at the expense of an orientation
of being that reflects openness, respect, and recognition of the other as cultural expert (Rosen et al.,
2017). Second, cultural humility is more than a therapist characteristic or a quality of an interpersonal dynamic, as reflected in current measures and studies of cultural humility. A liberation
psychologies framework helps to retrieve the significance of what cultural humility can mean at
multiple levels, especially at a collective level. Third, as a practice, cultural humility can be embedded
702 J. ABE
in many different disciplinary approaches and expressed in various ways, from how service learning
educational experiences are structured and framed and social work professionals are trained to how
research is conducted with communities and how mental health interventions are conceived and
implemented (Christopher et al., 2014; Duran et al., 2008). One intriguing question that emerges
from the literature is the extent to which cultural humility is best facilitated by direct experiences
engaging with, or being immersed in, communities characterized by different cultural, political, and
social realities than one’s own. It is notable that cultural humility emerges as a theme in research that
involves such immersive learning experiences, although there is evidence that creative pedagogies in
the classroom are also quite effective in fostering cultural humility (Hall & Theriot, 2007; Rosen
et al., 2017; Tormala, Patel, Soukup, & Clarke, 2018; Walls et al., 2009; Lee & Greene, 2004). What is
the relationship between the “embodied” learning that occurs in immersive experiences versus more
classroom-based exercises that challenge students to engage in self-reflection and to practice
empathy? What are the pedagogical practices in social work education that can best cultivate
a practice of cultural humility both within and outside the classroom?
As a social practice, cultural humility requires a cultural decentering and acknowledgment of
oppression and power as our gaze shifts from our own perceptions of the world to see, instead, the
reality of the other. And this gaze is not indifferent but instead regards the other in all her dignity and
intrinsic value, with respect, openness, and a willingness to learn and to be changed. The practice of
cultural humility—through the fostering of critical consciousness at an individual level, seeing the other
at an interpersonal level, and psychosocial accompaniment at a collective level—represents an important
contribution of social work and allied professionals toward social transformation.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.
Funding
This research was supported in part by a research fellowship at Biola University’s Center for Christian Thought, which
was made possible through a grant from the Templeton Religion Trust. The opinions expressed in this publication are
those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Biola University Center for Christian Thought or the
Templeton Religion Trust.
Notes on contributor
Jennifer Abe is a professor of psychology at LMU. She received her PhD in clinical psychology from UCLA in
1992. Her research addresses disparities in mental health service delivery to ethnically and culturally diverse populations, as well as help-seeking among Asian Americans, intersections of spirituality and culture in mental health
interventions, and cultural humility as an alternative to cultural competence.
ORCID
Jennifer Abe http://orcid.org/0000-0002-4109-5240
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