User:Tfranji/Liberation psychology

Liberation psychology

Liberation psychology or liberation social psychology is an approach to psychology that aims to actively understand the psychology of oppressed and impoverished communities by conceptually and practically addressing the oppressive sociopolitical structure in which they exist. The central concepts of liberation psychology include: conscientization; realismo-crítico; de-ideologized reality; a coherently social orientation; the preferential option for the oppressed majorities, and methodological eclecticism.Through transgressive and reconciliatory approaches, liberation psychology strives to mend the fractures in relationships, experience, and society caused by oppression.The liberation psychology aims to include what or who has become marginalized, both psychologically and socially. The philosophy of liberation psychology stresses the interconnectedness and co-creation of culture, psyche, self, and community. They should be viewed as interconnected and evolving multiplicities of perspectives, performances, and voices in various degrees of dialogue.Liberation psychology was first conceived by the Spanish/Salvadoran Psychologist Ignacio Martín-Baró and developed extensively in Latin America. Liberation psychology is an interdisciplinary approach that draws on liberation philosophy, Marxist, feminist, and decolonial thought, liberation theology, critical theory, critical and popular pedagogy, as well as critical psychology subareas, particularly critical social psychology.

History

Founder

The genesis of liberation psychology began amongst a body of psychologists in Latin America in the 1970s. Ignacio Martín-Baró is credited as the founder of liberation psychology, and it was further developed by others.

A drawing of Martin-Baró

Martín-Baró was a Spanish-born Jesuit priest and social psychologist who dedicated his work to addressing the needs of oppressed groups in Latin America, and ultimately was assassinated as a result of his work. His project of constructing a psychology relevant to the oppressed majorities of the American continent was therefore terminated prematurely. The collection of some of his articles in the collection Writings for a Liberation Psychology is a seminal text in the field that discusses the role of psychology as socially transformative. Most of his work still remains untranslated into English. His two major textbooks, Social Psychology from Central America, and his other books are published by a small University publisher, UCA editores in El Salvador with the consequence that the breadth and depth of his work is not well known even in Latin America. Martin-Baró conducted research projects with the intention of raising awareness and providing empowerment to oppressed people of El Salvador undergoing social, political, and war-related trauma.

Examples

Black psychology

Main article: Black psychology

Some scholars argue that the liberation psychology framework is central to black psychology. The interconnectedness of the personal and political, a fundamental tenet of liberation psychology, is central to black psychology. Furthermore, black psychology is thought of as inherently liberationist as it argues that addressing the psychology of black persons necessitates understanding, and addressing, the history and sociopolitical power structure that has resulted in the global oppression of individuals of African descent.

Proponents of black psychology operate within the social orientation of liberation psychology, contending that Eurocentric ideologies of traditional psychology lack relevance when dealing with black communities. Therefore, an Afrocentric conceptualization that recognizes the unique history of individuals of African-descent is necessary when dealing with such communities. Using a liberation psychology framework, black psychology argues that simply recognizing the distinctiveness of the black experience is inadequate if the psychological theorization used does not come from the communities to which they are applied. Such a position is consistent with Martín-Baró's assertion that the use of Eurocentric psychological methods is incongruent with the lived experiences of oppressed communities.

Liberation psychology and LGBT psychotherapy

Main article: LGBTQ psychology

Recent work in North America has sought to understand the applied use of liberation psychology in psychotherapy with LGBT individuals. Unlike traditional psychotherapeutic interventions, this approach reframes LGBT individuals' psychological issues as resulting from an understandable incorporation of the homonegative attitudes characteristic of the social structures within which gay and transgender people live.

Traditional psychotherapy typically recognises the effect of homophobia and its impact on LGBT people, but often fails to clear the person of the blame for embracing such views. However, a liberationist psychological approach aims to facilitate the freeing the individual of the blame for adopting the homonegative views of the society. Instead, the onus is on the social environment, understanding that persons are themselves constituted as persons in their social context. Such an approach understands 'psychological' issues as inextricably linked to the societal context.

This may free the LGBT person from feeling flawed for harboring homonegative ideas. They are then able to examine how they are a participant in the social environment and the ways in which they can take responsibility for future actions. Additionally, using the concept of concientización, people can examine how changing themselves can challenge the oppressive nature of the larger sociopolitical system, although in most liberation psychology there is a more dialectical relationship between personal and social change where personal change does not have to precede social liberation.

Ethnopolitical Psychology

Moreover, the framework of radical healing is closely aligned with ethnopolitical psychology, a form of liberation psychology.The aim of ethnic political psychology is to encourages healing and transformation through the development of critical consciousness and political activism, with a views decolonizing people of color, reformulating their ethnic identity, and promoting racial reconciliation, personal growth,, and societal change. Cultural imperialism, racism, oppression, and colonization can all result in trauma, which can be healed by ethno-political psychology. This process integrates diverse identities, gives people a sense of mastery, and reconnects them to their roots. By combining Eastern and Western healing traditions with Indigenous healing, this model provides a culturally appropriate framework. POCI must be accompanied by practitioners who bear witness to their suffering and are committed to helping them recognize systemic racial oppression and colonialism, while embracing resistance instead of maintaining the status quo.