| Abstract: The colonization of West African countries and cultures has yielded horrific consequences on a global scale. Many African indigenous cultural practices, religions, values, and traditions have been white-washed or erased all together, as a result of European colonization (Ofori-Atta & Ohene, 2014; Somé, 1998). Moreover, attempts to place African indigenous cultural behavioral practices on extinction have resulted in a fragmented and divided diaspora-- a diaspora that has ultimately adopted many of the problematic behaviors and values of the colonizer. Via cultural transmissions (Berry et al. 2010) and interlocking contingencies (Glenn 2004; Mattani & Cihon, 2020) these problematic behaviors have been selected (Skinner, 1953 & 1981) and transferred from culture to culture, generation to generation, and individual to individual. The purpose of this paper is to trace West African indigenous cultural practices, pre- and post-colonization, across the diaspora, space, and time to identify which indigenous practices have survived (selected), which ones have been appropriated, and which ones have become conditioned punishers through coercive (Sidman, 2001) neocolonial practices. In addition, we will examine how the colonization of West African indigenous cultural practices has shaped extant overt and covert cultural behaviors across the North American, Black African diaspora. |
| Abstract: If you have ever worked with Muslim clients you may have asked yourself the following questions: Why isn't my Muslim client eating? Should I continue to work with my client while their caregiver prays? Should I change the way I teach toileting for my Muslim clients?
About 24% of the world’s population is Muslim. Service providers who will provide home-based or residential treatment to Muslim clients should be aware of common daily living practices, social expectations, dietary, and hygienic requirements of their clients who are practicing Muslims. Practicing Muslims pray 5 times a day, fast during the month of Ramadhan, may dress differently from other clients, and adhere to specific hygiene routines after using the bathroom. In order to provide ethical and culturally appropriate treatment, service providers should be aware of the practices of the practicing Muslim. In this paper the author will review basic guidelines for working with Muslim clients as well as review specific intake questions that service providers should consider asking when working with Muslim clients. The author will also discuss consent and assent as it applies to religious practices. |