Genograms and Family Sculpting

Abstract

This article proposes a specific training method that was developed in a family therapy course at the University of Pretoria in South Africa, where genograms and family sculpting were used to improve cross-cultural understanding among psychology master’s students. Students presented genograms of their families to the rest of the class, and this was followed by a sculpture of the family under discussion, in which the members of the class participated. Students became aware of the fact that all families have similarities and were also able to identify with families from cultures different from their own through the sculpting exercises. The feedback from students was positive and reflected changes in cross-cultural perceptions and attitudes. The authors discuss the process that took place in the training group as well as the theoretical implications of this process for the training of psychologists in multicultural contexts.