November 06, 2014
Faculty and alum present at the 9th Annual Northwest Ecological Community Psychology Conference
Decolonizing and Ecopsychology Perspectives on the Use and Development of Indigenous Healing Practices
Open gallery
Counseling faculty members Pilar Hernandez-Wolfe and Thomas Doherty and MCFT program graduate Michel Hyman presented the roundtable “Decolonizing and Ecopsychology Perspectives on the Use and Development of Indigenous Healing Practices” at the 9th Annual Northwest Ecological Community Psychology Conference on October 17 at Portland State University.
Their round table outlined key contributions from decolonizing and ecopsychology perspectives to contemporary thinking on biodiversity and relationships between planetary and personal well-being.
It identified and discussed tensions emerging from the development, integration and refashioning of psychological and ecological healing practices rooted in Native American and other indigenous communities. Cultural borrowing, blending and mixing are not recent phenomena and the cross-pollination and sharing of traditions between people is an unavoidable result of human movements around the world. These processes of exchange are heightened and magnified by rapid technological changes, globalization and ecological stressors. However, the politics surrounding these exchange processes, particularly around issues of authenticity and appropriation, requires closer examination. This includes perceptions of inclusiveness and exclusiveness as well as universal or generic cultural tropes in the context of neo-colonial discourses.
The Annual Northwest Ecological Community Psychology Conference is a part of the Society for Community Research and Action.
