Take Home Midterm Ways of Knowing 115C

Kayla Eady
February 1, 2016

1. Case Study of Carmen

The case example initially describes Carmens problem as separation anxiety and
nightmares. Our prior reading about Eriksons approach to knowing in the Case Study of Sam
and Bronfenbrenners Ecological Systems Theory suggests that latent cultural aspects and
experiences can become present in children of that culture and present in current problems. In
Sams case it presented as anger stemming from his familys history of oppression and anger due
to that oppression, (Erikson, 1993 p. 33). Carmens family has a long history of culturally
acceptable domestic violence and caregivers leaving in order to find a better life, Continuous
assessmentrevealed a history of multiple traumas in each generation, which were followed by
numerous secondary adversities. How Carmens mother reacted to trauma from her husband
hitting her is a result of past experiences of trauma ending terribly. Being from an unstable
country they have also lived through a civil war and faced loss and oppression from government.
Due to these events there is extreme tension between Carmens mother and grandmother that
Carmen witnesses and reacts to. This tension in some part is due to Carmens father leaving and
how Carmens mother handled it. Carmen witnesses her family arguing with her mother about
her mothers decisions. Her mother constantly threatening to take Carmen away from her
grandmother reminds Carmen of what she feels is her father abandoning her. Carmen is
described as always missing someone whether that be her father, mother or grandmother which is
another source of anxiety. The proposed solution to Carmens problems are a more structured

caregiving schedule to provide her stability. This along with her mother and grandmother
working through issues that Carmen is being affected by should ease Carmens anxiety.
Carmens case is a great example of different ways of knowing in the social sciences. The
social scientists in this scenario observed the subject and her family then applied knowledge
from multiple fields of social science that best applied to Carmen. For example, they knew
history about the country this family is from and had left not long ago and how that history
affected their beliefs, fears and social constructs. That history told the observers what things are
important to the family and how their cultural practices tie back to that. It helped to explain some
of the issues the family experienced with mistrust of caregivers and absentee caregivers. They
combined theories like Bronfenbrenners and observations to explain what occurred in Carmens
life and how to effectively counteract these events to ease her anxiety. Through background
knowledge they could determine the psychological effects Carmens father leaving had on her
and how her mother might have influenced anxious feelings because of this.
There are similarities with cultural trauma presenting itself in future generations between
Childhood and Society by Erik H. Erikson (1993) and the case study of Carmen by Lewis &
Ippen (2004) presented in the midterm. The later is a more modern example from a culture, like
El Salvador, that not everyone knows about so the reader has less prior knowledge and therefore
less bias. While different both draw from broader cultural issues and apply them to specific
situations. Both case studies exemplify how social scientist draw from many different fields and
apply their knowledge to their observations.