Towards a really social psychology: Liberation Psychology beyond Latin America

Liberation social psychology: learning from Latin America

Journal of community & applied social …, 2005

This is part of a longer project with aims of understanding the development of Latin American Social Psychology of Liberation, and reviewing its potential contribution to theory and practice of applied psychology in the British (and related) context. The article is based on a) reading the literature in Spanish (and where available) in English, but not the Brazilian literature in Portuguese; b) attendance at the International Congresses of Social Psychology for Liberation in 2001 and 2002; c) discussions with Latin American and other colleagues working within this framework; d) visits to Venezuelan community social psychology projects in 1996 and 2002, and e) the responses to an email questionnaire to selected leaders in the field in 2002. We are grateful to Abstract Liberation Social Psychology (la psicología social de la liberación, LSP) has developed amongst a body of psychologists in Latin America over the last decade. There has been no survey of the field in English, although some of the ideas are of relevance for those working with oppressed groups elsewhere in the world. This article explores the context in which LSP grew from the work of Ignacio Martín-Baró and was developed by Maritza Montero, amongst others. Within LSP, key concepts emerge, including 'conscientization', 'realismo-critico', 'de-ideologisation', a social orientation, 'the preferential option for the oppressed majorities' and methodological eclecticism. The application of LSP is explored with reference to three domains. First, it is suggested that community social psychology as practised in some parts of Latin America reflects LSP in its emphasis on social transformation and participatory methods. Second, psycho-social work with victims of state oppression, which adopts a highly social and societal orientation embodies LSP. Third, social analyses which explicitly adopt socio-psychologicalpolitical analyses of the social realities confronting countries in Latin America embrace, in different ways, principles and concepts of LSP. Some of the challenges facing LSP are discussed and open dialogue is encouraged between LSP and critical, community and applied social psychologists. 201 words Liberation Psychology 4

Liberation Psychology: another kind of critical psychology.

in press in Parker, I. (ed) Handbook of Critical Psychology

The emergence of Liberation Psychology in Latin America can best be understood as an attempt to reform psychological praxis in relation to the fundamental questions of colonization and decolonization (Escobar 2007; Mignolo and Escobar 2010) in Latin America. This is to consider Liberation Psychology in terms of the dialogue between knowledge and practices in contexts marked by inequalities, exclusion, poverty, (neo)colonization and violence. Despite the changes of recent decades (Stolowicz 2007), the history of Latin America, like other 'peripheral' (Wallerstein 1996) regions of the world, can be seen in terms of 'open veins' for extraction and exploitation (Galeano 1998) and, taking into account the interdependent dimensions that make this region the most unequal in the world (PNUD 2011), where exclusion and poverty embody different expressions of violence, particularly in some places, with recent memories of colonization and the signs of the coloniality of power, knowledge and being. In this context Liberation Psychology in Latin America emerged as one instance a constellation of critical alternative praxis (Flores 2009), each intervention a response to the

Liberation psychology: a constructive critical praxis / Psicologia da libertação: uma práxis crítica construtiva

Estudos de Psicologia (Campinas), 2013

Can a critical psychology be more than an inward looking critique of the discipline itself? Liberation psychology emerged in Latin America in the 1980s. It is a critical psychology with an action focus, taking sides with the oppressed populations of the continent. The originator of the approach, Ignacio Martín-Baró practiced psychology in the context of the El Salvador an civil war, himself becoming a victim of State repression. The consequences of social conflict have since then been an important theme for liberation psychology. Other areas of emphasis have been community social psychology with an emphasis on the role of social movements and social and political commentary and critique. I will present a review of the field covering some key concepts (conscientisation, de-ideologization, historical memory, reconstruction of psychology from the perspective of the other), its geographical spread (in Latin America and other regions), its organization (the emergence of liberation psychology networks and collectives) and some examples of work that is relevant to social trauma, the theme of this symposium. A psicologia crítica pode ser mais do que uma crítica que olha para dentro da própria disciplina? A psicologia da libertação surgiu na América Latina na década de 1980. É uma psicologia crítica que tem foco na ação, tomando partido das populações oprimidas do continente. O propositor desta abordagem, Ignacio Martín-Baró, exerceu a psicologia no contexto da guerra civil de El Salvador, sendo ele mesmo uma vítima da opressão do Estado. Desde então, as consequências do conflito social tem sido temas importantes da psicologia da libertação. Outras áreas de foco tem sido a psicologia social Comunitária, com ênfase no papel dos movimentos sociais, e nos comentários e críticas sociais e políticas. Apresentarei uma revisão do campo cobrindo alguns conceitos chaves (conscientização, desideologização, memória histórica, reconstrução da psicologia pela perspectiva do outro), sua abrangência geográfica (na América Latina e em outras regiões), sua organização (a emergência de redes e coletivos da psicologia da libertação) e alguns exemplos de trabalhos relevantes para a compreensão do campo do trauma social, tema deste simpósio.

Liberation Social Psychology: Learning From

Social and Intellectual History of Latin American Liberation Psychology

2015

Analysis of the historical conditions in El Salvador and Latin America that contributed to the emergence of Latin American Liberation Psychology, most notably the work of Ignacio Martin-Baro. A broad survey of the sociopolitical trends during that time helps locate Liberation Psychology alongside a variety of critical responses in Psychology and other academic disciplines.

The analectic turn: critical psychology and the new political context

Les cahiers psychologie politique [En ligne], 2013

In this article I explore the limitations of academic critical psychology, suggesting that it is a spent force, largely irrelevant to real problems of oppression and liberation. An alternative approach which I characterise as ‘analectic critical psychology’ can be seen in the Latin American traditions of liberation psychology and community social psychology as well as in some developments in other regions.

Viva Nacho! Liberating psychology in Latin America

PSYCHOLOGIST-LEICESTER-, 2004

Martín-Baró's Liberation Psychology (Psicología Social de la Liberación -PSL) (see ) attempted a double task. On the one hand it sought to put psychology at the service of the poor and oppressed majorities of the American continent. It sought to turn psychologists away from the internal problems of psychological research, or from practice orientated to a wealthy minority who could afford private services, and towards problems such as urban overcrowding, land reform and violence. But to do this implied a second task, the reconstruction of psychology from the standpoint of the excluded majorities of Latin America and other countries of the South. This meant both careful searching through the dominant North American psychology for useful concepts and findings, but always with a critical eye to their limitations, and for their untrustworthy ideological content, supplementing them with other material. Martín-Baró's two text books of social psychology (1983, 1989b) written in the heat of the El Salvadorian civil war, are remarkable works of reconstruction, integrating orthodox psychological theory with a more sociological and political analysis. For example his chapter on power starts from the classic French and Raven analysis, both offering a critique and adding in concepts from outside psychology.

Ignacio Martín-Baró : Emancipatory practices for constructing a psychology against oppression

2019

The purpose of this article is to build a closer relationship between Klaus Holzkamp’s Science of the Subject and Ignacio Martín-Baró’s Liberation Psychology. The main goal is to build a psychology that aims at strengthening historical subjects to face life conditions under capitalism. Important theoretical concepts formulated by the two authors, such as the capacity for action, deideologization processes and horizon for liberation, constitute essential tools for the employment of psychology for the oppressed population.

Towards a really social psychology: Liberation Psychology beyond Latin America (original) (raw)

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