In his new book, A Century of Tomorrows: How Imagining the Future Shapes the Present, historian Glenn Adamson muses, “every story about the future is also a demand to intervene in the present.”I should also add that every story about the present has its roots in the past.
I was trained as a historian, receiving a Ph.D. in Latin American history way back in 1969. I taught history for twenty-six years at the University of California, Riverside.Different kinds of history.Latin American history.Chicano history.Film and history.History of the mass media.
Carlos: Marjorie, as a historian, I was blown away by the richness of your class syllabus.How did you come up with the idea of using history to ground a clinical psychology course?
Marjorie: I was a history major in college, so I have always loved it.I remember when I first discovered that history is not just facts about wars and dead people, but was an interpretation of past events.Then I began to learn that most history was controlled by those with power and privilege, which meant there were those whose voices were silenced or never heard from.I knew it would be important for therapists.Once I began teaching at Azusa Pacific University, I found that students were often overwhelmed when working with older adults and clients from a different historical era.They did not know their history, which became a barrier to providing effective treatment.We decided to add a class to close this gap.