Liberation Psychology as an Agent of Change for First Nations Peoples: An Exploration of the Decolonisation of Concepts to Minimise Miscommunications and Assumptions in an Australian Context

This thesis is about decolonisation and empowerment. It is specifically about First Nations people claiming or reclaiming their autonomy. This thesis explores concepts, in this case a focus on the term 'resilience', to address miscommunications and to perhaps minimise mistakes that can be...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Merritt, Frankie Shane, School of Behavioural, Cognitive and Social Sciences, Watt, Susan, School of Psychology, orcid:0000-0001-7938-7444, Turner, Linda, School of Health
Format: Doctoral or Postdoctoral Thesis
Language:English
Published: 2015
Subjects:
Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/1959.11/16845
https://rune.une.edu.au/web/retrieve/9dc92154-88a9-4fe3-952d-417204f24abd
Description
Summary:This thesis is about decolonisation and empowerment. It is specifically about First Nations people claiming or reclaiming their autonomy. This thesis explores concepts, in this case a focus on the term 'resilience', to address miscommunications and to perhaps minimise mistakes that can be made due to assumed knowledge; assumed congruence of terms and concepts. The history of psychology as a discipline is discussed, along with its role in the oppression of First Nations people worldwide, and in Australia. The importance of worldviews, and how miscommunications can affect healthcare, is critical for health professionals to understand. The discipline of psychology needs to ensure that it is not limiting its worldview by being too insular; it needs to be reflexive enough to both recognise its part in the history of oppression, and to become an agent of change for those who have been oppressed. Indigenous voices need to be heard as part of this reflexive psychology.