Psychologies of liberation are emerging on every continent in response to the collective traumas inflicted by colonialism and globalization. The authors present the theoretical foundation and participatory methodologies that unite these radical interdisciplinary approaches to creating individual and community well-being. They move from a description of the psychological and community wounds that are common to unjust and violent contexts to engaging examples of innovative community projects from around the world that seek to heal these wounds. The creation of public homeplaces, and the work of liberation arts, critical participatory action research, public dialogue, and reconciliation are highlighted as embodying the values and hopes of liberation psychology. Drawing on psychoanalysis, trauma studies, liberation arts, participatory research, and contemporary cultural work, this book nourishes our understanding of and imagination about the kinds of healing that are necessary to the creation of more just and peaceful communities. In dialogue with cultural workers, writers, and visionaries from Latin America, Africa, Asia, Europe, the United States, and the Pacific Islands, Toward Psychologies of Liberation quickens a dialogical convergence of liberatory psychological theories and practices that will seed individual and community transformation.
Mary Watkins is core faculty at Pacifica Graduate Institute, USA, the author of Waking Dreams, Invisible Guests: The Development of Imaginal Dialogues, co-author of Talking with Young Children about Adoption, and co-editor of Psychology and the Promotion of Peace. She works with groups to promote peacebuilding and social justice, teaching dialogical and participatory methodologies. Mary Watkins has taught cultural studies, critical race theory, and depth psychologies at several universities in the United States including Sonoma State, St. Lawrence University, and Pacifica Graduate Institute, She is a community activist, Jungian analyst, and workshop leader in liberation arts and psychologies. She has written several articles and book chapters on these subjects, and a monograph, Living at the Edge of Chaos: Complex Systems in Culture and Psyche.
