The psychology of the settler colonial condition: Amy Jean McElwain, Zed-Ola Myers, Lorena Tatomir, Mojan Hassani, ‘Reconciliation and Decolonization: Indigenizing Psychology to Move Beyond Lip Service’, in Douglas Alards-Tomalin, PSYC 303 Students, Psychological Roots: Past and Present Perspectives in the Field of Psychology (Under Development), BC Campus, 2024 | settler colonial studies blog

The psychology of the settler colonial condition: Amy Jean McElwain, Zed-Ola Myers, Lorena Tatomir, Mojan Hassani, ‘Reconciliation and Decolonization: Indigenizing Psychology to Move Beyond Lip Service’, in Douglas Alards-Tomalin, PSYC 303 Students, Psychological Roots: Past and Present Perspectives in the Field of Psychology (Under Development), BC Campus, 2024

07May24

Excerpt: The discipline of psychology is inherently colonial. Currently, psychology largely reflects a Eurocentric perspective that mainly centres on the experiences and perspectives of white people. There is currently very little room for Indigenous ways of knowing, being, and doing in the field of psychology. There are currently less than twelve Indigenous practicing or teaching psychologists in Canada, and the burden of decolonization is put on those few. A lack of understanding of Indigenous ways has led to those few professionals feeling alienated and, often, discriminated against. It is necessary to expand the psychological practice to incorporate Indigenous ways of knowing, being, and doing into psychology and other institutions. In order to do that, we must first acknowledge the extreme harm done to Indigenous people through colonization, explore Indigenous ways of knowing, being, and doing, and actively decolonize ourselves and the structural institutions that impact us. There is an imminent need to move beyond ‘lip service’ and surface understanding of reconciliation and decolonization to a much deeper level of embodied knowing that will lead to accountable action. The task has fallen on us as psychologists both in academia and practice to bring a seat at the table for Indigenous voices to weave the differing perspectives of wisdom to form a harmonious Two-Eyed way of seeing and being. The greatest challenge of modern psychology – accountable social action. Through incorporating these invaluable narratives into the ethos of psychology we can begin to undo the patriarchal and xenophobic harm our discipline has historically done until this day. The goal is to move forward together as a nation in the action of healing in a meaningful way that transforms this discipline and us in the process.

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