For the last 35 years, Mary Watkins has been re-thinking depth psychology from the vantage point of psychologies of liberation from the “South.” Seeing from these perspectives from the “South” helps us to better understand the Eurocentrism of depth psychology, including its relationships to colonialism, capitalism, and racism. Liberation psychology, rooted in an interdependent paradigm, asks us to mobilize psychology in our struggles for social, economic, racial, and environmental justice. In the process our psychologies must be transformed into transdisciplinary efforts to meet these challenges. To engage in the public practice of psychology, working at the community level, we need to be acutely aware of our own positionality and how it affects the psychotherapeutic and/or community work we are involved in.

In four monthly pre-taped 1-1.5 hour webinars, Watkins will present key theorists – Frantz Fanon, Paulo Freire, Ignacio Martín-Baró, Marie Langer, Brinton Lykes and others – whose work can be studied to re-orient our approach to depth psychology. Additionally, in four 1-1.5 hour live discussion group calls, participants will pursue questions, and attempt to ground theories and practices from liberation psychology, in their own work. Each month, participants will be able to access at their leisure, readings, lectures, and handouts relevant to the month’s topic, in preparation for discussion together.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

These webinars and discussions are designed to help participants:

• Critique Eurocentrism in depth psychological theories and practices from the perspective of liberation psychology
• Differentiate an individualistically oriented conceptualization of trauma from collective conceptualization
• Discuss ways to develop critical consciousness in relationship to psychosocial issues
• Identify 2 key differences between ecopsychosocial accompaniment and psychotherapeutic intervention
• Articulate the psychological effects of colonization for the colonized and for those suffering from the impacts of coloniality
• Appraise the benefits of a decolonial approach to psychological practice and research
• In an academic setting, critique attempts to create and disseminate Western developmental theory and psychodiagnostics as universally applicable
• Compare the benefits of developing critical consciousness in groups vs. in individual psychotherapy
• Identify three important effects of social violence on children

SESSION OVERVIEWS

Session I

Frantz Fanon, a European trained psychiatrist from Martinique, was excluded from the study of depth psychology for decades. Fully conversant with Freud, Jung, Adler, and Lacan, he used depth psychological concepts to describe the experiences of colonized people of color who had largely been either neglected or derided by depth psychology. He approached other psychoanalytic and Jungian concepts critically, challenging the Eurocentrism, racism, and universalism endemic to Western psychology. He emphasized the indissolubility of psychological states from sociocultural realities, including racism and oppression. In doing so, he argued for the linkage between social liberation and individual and community well-being. His work sets the stage for the emergence of liberation psychology.

Session II

In Pedagogy of the Oppressed, Paulo Freire describes a dialogical approach to helping groups of people decode the sociopolitical context of their lives and to envision new ways of being that can mobilize people to join in solidarity to transform their shared circumstances. In the U.S. South, similar approaches were unfolding at Highlander Research and Education Center in Tennessee and throughout the South in public homeplaces co-created by African American women cultural workers.

Session III

Liberation theology was a decisive break by some Catholics from supporting oppressing elites in Latin America. It quickly spawned liberation psychology. Both committed themselves to a “preferential option for the poor” and to the creation of vibrant, joyful, just, and loving communities. Social psychologist, Ignacio Martín-Baró, carefully articulated the goals and practices of a liberating psychology before his assassination in 1989. We will look carefully at the ideas and practices articulated in Writings for a Liberation Psychology.

Session IV

How do the ideas of liberation psychology inform the practice of psychology today?  This session will give examples of contemporary liberation psychology practice, crystallizing its goals and methods. Psychosocial accompaniment will be compared with and differentiated from psychotherapy, opening the door to the public practice of liberation psychology.