ABSTRACT
This chapter argues that the ideas informing family therapy can create innovative readings of the tragedies in several ways. First, through describing patterns of interaction and showing how communication is influenced by the relational and social contexts in which it is embedded. Second, through understanding the different ways that discursive practice are manifested and contested within dialogue. Finally, through the expectation that although power acts upon and is enacted in relationships, there are always counter-currents and perspectives – often unexpected ones – that emerge from the margins and unsettle dominant narratives. The practice of family therapy involves understanding individuals and their communications through the relationships that surround them. Family therapists are particularly concerned with the material effects of language that is with the actions and responses that follow from the use of some words rather than others. The chapter explores the social discourses that invite men and women into performing gender identities in ways that frequently restrict them.
