A Decolonial Africa(n)-Centered Psychology of Antiracism

Abstract

Coloniality represents the contemporary patterns of power and domination that emerged in the late 15th century during the so-called classic era of colonialism. Although much of psychology and psychological thought has adhered to the logic of coloniality, there is also a considerable body of work that has sought to decolonize psychology. It is within this latter tradition of decolonizing psychology—which seems to have gained increasing attention in recent years—that we situate this article and its attempt to articulate a decolonial Africa(n)-centered psychology that addresses itself to antiracism. While we concede that there are myriad ways by which to practice and theorize such a psychology, we focus specifically on collective antiracist struggle and everyday antiracist resistance. We conclude by considering questions of universalism and epistemology as they relate to a decolonial Africa(n)-centered psychology of antiracism.

Precarious engagements and the politics of knowledge production: Listening to calls for reorienting hegemonic social psychology

“…This focus on diversifying curricula by simply adding more Black and brown scholarship rather than challenging the foundations of whitestream psychology is yet another manifestation of violence within academia. Thus, in focusing on inclusion through practices such as increasing the hire of non-white psychologists, we are at best inviting people to this table of whiteness (Reddy et al, 2021). We are not changing the white supremacist institutional structures that continue to alienate and Otherise scholars from marginalized communities.…”

Fostering and sustaining transnational solidarities for transformative social change: Advancing community psychology research and action

“…Decoloniality is not about universalizing knowledge; it is concerned with pluralizing and needs to be understood in terms of who is doing it, where, why, and how it is being done. Many authors have begun to explore anew the possibility of decolonial scholarship for community psychologies toward a decolonial standpoint (e.g., Adams et al, 2015; Decolonial Editorial Collective, 2021; Kessi et al, 2022; Malherbe et al, 2021; Reyes Cruz & Sonn, 2011; Sonn & Stevens, 2021). Carolissen and Duckett (2018) provide one example of this study, distilling features of decolonial pedagogy from a collection of 15 papers in a special issue of the American Journal of Community Psychology.…”

Decoloniality as a social issue for psychological study

“…The papers in this section extend this tradition. When NGOs create human rights curricula for Palestinian refugee learners (Albhaisi, 2022), they draw on the modern/colonial individualist tools of psychological science that whitewash and sanitize structural racism by representing it as equipotential, individual prejudice (see also Dixon et al., 2010; Hammack, 2011; Malherbe et al., 2021). When people across the world turn to psychologists, pastors, or other counselors for relationship advice, the wisdom they receive rests on modern/colonial individualist constructions of love and well‐being that prioritize mutual exploration, self‐expansion (Aron et al., 2013), and pursuit of high‐arousal positive affect (Tsai, 2007) over more enduring, broader solidarities that afford peace of mind and assurance of support (Osei‐Tutu et al., 2022).…”