Marsella, Anthony J. (1940-)

Anthony J. Marsella, Emeritus Professor of Psychology, University of Hawai'i, Honolulu, is a pioneer in the study of cultural determinants of psychopathology and therapies. He has also been a major contributor to cross-cultural psychology and global and international psychology. Many of his writings are considered essential reading for students and scholars in psychology, psychiatry, and the social sciences. During his career he has been a leader in the field, challenging the ethnocentricity and inherent cultural and racial biases of Western psychology and psychiatry assumptions and practices. In an article published in 1998, he voiced the need for a new and expanded cross-cultural emphasis in psychology for the global era, calling for psychology to recognize and reconsider its cultural/racial biases and to acknowledge the validity and value of the traditional healing psychologies used in different cultures. In this publication and related publications on internationalizing the psychology curriculum, Marsella proposed changes in the training of psychologists to prepare them to participate in a global era filled with the complex challenges of poverty, war, migration, terrorism, urbanization, and population growth. His more recent writings have focused on these global problems and [Page 1210]proposed solutions, calling for peace and social justice and for better understanding of terrorism through the use of cultural psychology approaches.

Marsella was born in Cleveland, Ohio, on September 12, 1940, into a first- and second-generation Sicilian family that maintained the rich cultural traditions of their ancestral heritage. The large family dinners, gender role distinctions, expressive emotions, the centrality of children, and religious and superstitious practices were part of everyday life. He spoke Sicilian with his grandmother, other relatives, and his stepfather, with whom he had a nurturing caring relationship. Marsella claims that even in these early years he had become acutely aware of the complexities of cultural differences and the power of one's ethnic culture to shape one's identity and worldview. This was especially true when he entered school and encountered the contrasting values and expectations of the dominant culture of the day. His adjustment to school was initially quite difficult, and he, like so many others from immigrant families, often found himself embarrassed about his Sicilian heritage. This was to change later in his life when he began to grasp the nuances and abuses of cultural power, marginalization, and privilege. Indeed, in 2004, in collaboration with Elizabeth Messina, he organized the Italian-American Psychology Assembly, to promote studies and collegiality among psychologists interested in Italian culture and history.

At an early age, the nascent educational and psychological testing program at his school suggested he had exceptional intellectual skills. This was puzzling to his teachers, as his family was essentially poor and uneducated. Thus, how could he speak and write so fluently? Nonetheless, because of his test performance, he soon became a subject for psychometric demonstrations at nearby universities, colleges, and clinics. He remembers the audience's applause and laughter when, at 8 years old, he successfully answered a question about the meaning of the term apocalypse in a demonstration session. He never told the audience that he had heard the priest use the term the previous Sunday in a sermon.

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