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

Mary Field Belenky (Author), Lynne A. Bond (Author), Jacqueline S. Weinstock (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0465086810 | ISBN-13: 978-0465086818 | Publication Date: April 20, 1999 | Edition: 1

Mary Field Belenky, Lynne A. Bond, and Jacqueline S. Weinstock, hoping to carry Belenky’s theoretical work in the bestselling Women’s Ways of Knowing into the realm of everyday life, created the Listening Partners project, designed to help young women isolated in rural poverty give voice to their personal and communal needs and come together to create social change. A Tradition That Has No Name explores this project and the work of other women who have created organizations to give voice to and strengthen traditions of community organizing and leadership, particularly as they have developed in communities of women marginalized by race and class. Ranging across cultures and classes—from struggling inner-city neighborhoods to affluent middle-class suburbs, from African American communities in the South to poor rural communities in Vermont—the book teaches us how to appreciate the ways women create networks of listening and community-building, and how to bring these little-recognized traditions of women’s activism to the forefront of public life. It is these “public homeplaces” women create together, the authors argue, that hold the key for empowering communities and creating social change.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

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. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Kirkus Reviews

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. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 384 pages
• Publisher: Basic Books; 1 edition (April 20, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0465086810
• ISBN-13: 978-0465086818
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5.4 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #116,880 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An inspiring study of human development through mutual care., May 17, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: A Tradition That Has No Name: Nurturing the Development of People, Families, and Communities (Hardcover)

I would like to recommend A TRADITION THAT HAS NO NAME to Amazon readers. The first author, Mary Belenky, is probably best-known for her co-authorship of WOMEN'S WAYS OF KNOWING, which described a model of women's development of "self, voice, and mind." TRADITION explores how presumably powerless, "voiceless" women have learned to speak out in ways that have changed their own lives and their children's lives, and have had lasting impact on their communities.

This is really three books in one. The first explores the Listening Partners project. It demonstrated that poor, isolated, and marginalized women could nevertheless support each other in significant growth and change, when brought together in community. The second examines several women-created community-based organizations that have not only improved the lives of participants, but by drawing on the ideas, talents, and persistence of their members have also contributed to social change.

The third explores how women who were either frankly excluded or subtly ignored by their local power structures supported one another to become leaders in the struggle for change. Though some of these groups had one or a few visionary women acting as the original catalysts, they are noteworthy for *not* creating hierarchical power relations. Governance, to the extent that it exists, is shared; all are welcome, all are valued, all contribute in whatever ways they can. This collaborative, affirming process enables women to think in new ways about the challenges they face.

Quoting liberally and effectively from the experiences of scores of diverse women, this book documents how individuals and communities can develop and change when women gather and share their ideas and talents--talents which many do not realize they have, until they are valued by the collective.

Anyone interested in women's issues, alternative leadership styles, or human development, or who wants to empower others, or who holds a vision of a society in which ! all have voice will want to read this elegant, stirring book.