Pro-Immigrant Protest, 2017
Liberation Psychology
“As Social Scientists, our fundamental preoccupation should be less on explaining the world that exists, and more so on transforming it.”
Ignacio Martín-Baró
Ignacio Martín-Baró was a U.S. trained Social Psychologist living and teaching in El Salvador in the 1970’s. The injustices he witnessed transformed him & he became an outspoken advocated for human rights. He was also a strong critic of Western Psychology and understood the history of oppression that the United States was rooted in & the neocolonialist structures that continued to cause harm. Dr. Martín-Baró was also a vocal activist and challenged Latin American governments who aligned with these systems of oppressions. In 1989 Dr. Martín-Baró was assassinated, like other outspoken figures of his time, for speaking truth to power.
Liberation Psychology is the study of the socio-political systems of oppression and the effects it has on the individual as well as communities at large. It is also the practice of actively challenging and addressing these structures by means of engaging in liberation and abolition praxes.
Source: Writings for a Liberation Psychology
Mujerista Psychology
No person is your friend who demands your silence, or denies your right to grow.
Alice Walker
La lucha-the struggle-is never
Ada María Isasi-Díaz
ending. That is why we have to see it as a way of life and
not something that we do: it is part of who we are.
Alice Walker, the Black revolutionary poet and novelist, coined the termed Womanist, to define Black feminists and feminists of color who are deeply committed to healing, spirituality and liberation. Womanist Psychology was further developed by Thema Bryant-Davis, PhD.
Ada María Isasi-Díaz was a Cuban political refugee who arrived to the US in 1960. She coined the term Mujerista and her work and career led her to develop a Latinx Feminist Theologian perspective know as Mujerista Theology. Mujerista Psychology was further developed by Lillian Comas-Dias, PhD.
Mujerista Psychology focuses on relationships and community building as healing and therefore, identifies and attempts to remove obstacles to social and community connections. It focuses on spiritual, feminine energy, self-narratives, and collective liberation as healing.
Mujerista Psychology is a form of Liberation Psychology in that it looks to challenge the oppressive and colonial (white supremacist) roots of Western Psychology and aims to reclaim ancestral knowledge and healing approaches. Mujerista Psychology reminds us that we are poderosas and that the feminine energy is sacred & transformative.
Source: Womanist & Mujerista Psychologies; Voices of Fire, Acts of Courage
Adriana L. Medrano, PhD 