A Tradition That Has No Name: Nurturing the Development of People, Families, and Communities

A fascinating study that shows how nurturing community groups can help impoverished, uneducated women to "find their voice" and become articulate and empowered thinkers. Illustrated with poignant and vivid case studies, the book masterfully shows how lives can be forever altered and enhanced through caring community intervention.

An academic report, including research projects that uphold ``women's ways of knowing'' and programs that allow women to grow by ``gaining a voice,'' that is both uplifting and redundant. Coauthor Belenky (Women's Ways of Knowing, not reviewed) is one of the researchers who probed the idea that women receive and process knowledge in a way different from men. With her University of Vermont colleagues (Bond, Psychology; Weinstock, Education/Social Services) she further explores how women develop as leaders, ``raising up'' rather than ``ruling over'' the next generation (as opposed to men's thinking in such matters, which is more authoritarian). The emphasis here is on a funded project carried out in rural Vermont called ``Listening Partners.'' The goal was to reach isolated women, bring them together, and help them develop independent modes of thought through mutual encouragement. As the women gathered in small groups organized by the authors, it was hoped (and affirmed) that they would move up through stages of thought (from ``Silenced'' to ``Constructivist''), and that the women would then be able to teach their children a more creative mode of thinking about the world. The book moves on to discuss observations of natural female leaders in small and large communities--``homeplaces''- -who achieve communal goals by nurturing individual strengths in their neighbors and emphasizing consensus and cooperation. Among the grassroots organizations examined are the National Congress of Neighborhood Women and two Mothers' Center groups, one in Germany and one in the US. Most of the women who practice what the authors call ``developmental leadership'' have their roots in African-American communities. Although the research and observations validate and celebrate female styles of leadership that flourish around kitchen tables and in church basements, the accounts of success stories are often muddled and repetitious, with far too much attention paid to how research projects were designed. -- Copyright ©1997, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Belenky and coauthors, all scholars in the fields of human development, psychology, or education, try to do many things here. They discuss the dualistic thinking that makes woman the "other," portray a variety of alternative communities that have empowered women, and describe the Listening Partners project, "an action research project" focused on isolated mothers of small children living in poverty which aimed "to promote the development of voice and mind so as to enable women to...overcome the stereotypes." The other organizations the authors discuss?a half-dozen groups from Brooklyn to Mississippi?are likewise based around grass-roots activism and empowering disenfranchised women. While the impact of these groups in improving lives is inspiring, the writing can be dense and the terminology sometimes daunting?homeplaces, othermothers, and bridge persons are common terms. This story of revolutionary communities that are tending to their members in new ways is recommended for all libraries.?Barbara O'Hara, Free Lib. of Philadelphia
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.