Indigenous community psychologies, decolonization, and radical imagination within ecologies of knowledges.

Abstract

As the American Psychological Association Taskforce on Indigenous Psychology acknowledges, fidelity to the inalienable right to self-determination is the ethical foundation of Indigenous psychology. The task of decolonizing psychology is not only about divesting from Eurocentric paradigms that have controlled and limited Indigenous wellbeing, but producing new paradigms founded on Indigenous knowledges. The Indigenous paradigm of social and emotional wellbeing is both a new therapeutic practice and theory of wellbeing. As the exploration of the domains of SEWB has shown, findings from the National Empowerment Project indicate that strengthening a connection to culture is identified as of highest importance to the flourishing of Indigenous individuals, families, and communities. Wellbeing in Abya Yala (the Americas) is conceived as Sumak Kawsay or Buen Vivir and Māori constructs of wellbeing as Hauora. These transnational wellbeing conceptualizations can be situated within a larger global health movement, which is centered on strengthening Indigenous cultures of wellbeing, and sustainable planet-people relationships. Indigenous community psychologies are not anthropocentric and are centered on the sacredness of nature, the cultivation of spirituality, and accountability to maintain harmonious ecosystem relationships. Indigenous community psychologies from Australia, Aotearoa New Zealand, and Mexico are brought in plurilogue envisioning international solidarity networks that engage communities, activists, and committed student generations.