Decolonial Feminist Community Psychology

This edited volume seeks to critically engage with the diversity of feminist and post-colonial theory to counter hegemonic Western knowledge in mainstream community psychology. In doing so, it situates paradigms of thought and representation that capture the lived experiences of those in the global South. Specifically, the book takes an intersectional approach towards its reshaping of community psychology, centering African, black, postcolonial, and decolonial feminist critiques in its 1) critique of existing hegemonic Euro-American community psychology concepts, theories, and practice, 2) proposal of new feminist, indigenous, and decolonial methodological approaches, and 3) real-life examples of engagement, research, dialogue, and reflexive qualitative psychology practice. The book concludes with an agenda for theorization and research for future practice in postcolonial contexts. The volume is relevant to researchers, practitioners, and students in psychology, anthropology, sociology, public health, development studies, social work, urban studies, and women’s and gender studies across global contexts.

Floretta Boonzaier is an Associate Professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of Cape Town. Her research interests include feminist, critical, and postcolonial psychologies, subjectivity in relation to race, gender, and sexuality, and narrative, discursive, and participatory methods in qualitative psychology.

Taryn van Niekerk is a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Psychology at the University of Cape Town. Her primary areas of interest include feminist post-structuralist theories of gender and intersectionality, social psychological and post-colonial theories of identity and subjectivity, men’s accounts of their own violence, and the social construction of violence against women in the South African media. Her postdoctoral research forms part of a larger participatory action project on the gendered and sexual lives of South African youth and explores how young people represent gender violence and relationships, through the method of Photovoice.