Decolonizing the counseling canon

In this chapter, the authors submit their thesis, which is unlike intrapsychic theories of helping (e.g., cognitive behavioral approaches) or theories of cultural difference (e.g., multiculturalism) or pragmatic reform to foster assimilation (e.g., social justice). They propose a decolonial analytical framework that more effectively brings into relief the Manichean dialectic (meaning dichotomous and routinely and ritualistically antagonistic) that produces social death that includes gratuitous violence. Social death entails three constitutive components: Gratuitous violence; Natal alienation; and General dishonor. The author's utilization and reliance on Patterson's work, represents an intentional desire to bring a foundational antagonism-social death-into sharper relief. They argue that decolonizing the Western hegemony in the counseling canon requires that counseling professionals acquire a political critical standpoint. The Western hegemony in the counseling canon has served to perpetuate a view that cultural difference is inherently pathological and has also undergirded racist research and counseling practices.