Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-t8hqh Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-22T08:35:01.615Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

19 - Community Arts, Decoloniality, and Epistemic Justice

from Part V - Participatory and Community Arts

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 April 2024

By
Christopher C. Sonn ,
Rama P. Agung-Igusti ,
Roshani J. Jayawardana ,
Amy F. Quayle  and
Samuel P. Keast
Edited by
Brian D. Christens
Brian D. Christens
Affiliation:
Vanderbilt University, Tennessee
Get access

Summary

This chapter brings together key concepts from decolonial, feminist, and liberation-focussed psychologies to advocate for the role of community arts in the pursuit of epistemic justice and liberatory community empowerment. The chapter focuses on three areas of praxis that are evident in community-oriented psychology’s engagement with calls for decolonizing science: archival retrieval, relational knowledge practices, and storytelling and counter-storytelling. These areas are further illustrated via two case examples from Australia that detail how people who are marginalized and racialized form communities to address structural and symbolic violence while also strengthening practices and capacities for re-existence. The cases show how, through forming intentional settings and mobilizing cultural practice, practices of cultural remembering and reauthoring of stories can contribute to decoloniality and epistemic justice. These cases also highlight that marginalized and racialized communities can create home places of healing, connection, and memory. These relational practices of accompaniment require ongoing critical reflexivity and deliberate deep rethinking as well as equitable access to material and symbolic resources to engage in decolonial and antiracist work.

Keywords

epistemic justicecommunity artsdecolonialitynarrativecultural practice
Type
Chapter
Information
The Cambridge Handbook of Community Empowerment , pp. 480 - 504
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2024

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Aboriginal History Archive. (2021, August 10). Aboriginal History Archive. Victoria University. www.vu.edu.au/about-vu/university-profile/moondani-balluk-indigenous-academic-unit/aboriginal-research-researchers/aboriginal-history-archive-ahaGoogle Scholar
Adams, G., Dobles, I., Gómez, L. H., Kurtiş, T., & Molina, L. E. (2015). Decolonizing psychological science: Introduction to the special thematic section. Journal of Social and Political Psychology, 3(1), 213–238.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Agung-Igusti, R. P., & Sonn, C. C. (2020). African-diaspora in Australia narrating stories of belonging through community theatre: Enacting decolonial aesthetics toward epistemic justice. In Inzunza, J. A., Espinoza, B. O., Álvarez, Ma. V. M., Corbalán, P. G., & Birth, F. J. (Eds.), Diálogos contemporáneos en psicología comunitaria: escenarios, problemas y aprendizajes (pp. 44–70). University of Chile.Google Scholar
Anzaldúa, G., & Keating, A. (2015). Light in the dark: Luz en lo oscuro: Rewriting identity, spirituality, reality. Duke University Press.Google Scholar
Bell, L. A. (2010). Storytelling for social justice: Connecting narrative and arts in antiracist teaching. Taylor & Francis.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brimbank Youth Strategy. (2019). Brimbank Youth Strategy 2020–2024. Brimbank City Council. www.brimbank.vic.gov.au/plans-policies-and-strategies/strategies/brimbank-youth-strategy-2020-24Google Scholar
Brotherhood of St Laurence. (2019). Smashing the avocado debate: Australia’s youth unemployment hotspots. Brotherhood of St Laurence. www.bsl.org.au/research/publications/smashing-the-avocado-debate/Google Scholar
Cammarota, J., & Fine, M. (Eds.). (2008). Revolutionizing education: Youth participatory action research in motion. Routledge.Google Scholar
Case, A. D., & Hunter, C. D. (2012). Counterspaces: A unit of analysis for understanding the role of settings in marginalised individual’s adaptive responses to oppression. American Journal of Community Psychology, 50, 257–270.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chuol, B., & Ayan, S. (2021, June 21). Ez Eldin Deng [radio broadcast]. 3CR. www.3cr.org.au/diasporablues/episode-202106211430/ez-eldin-dengGoogle Scholar
Collins, P. H. (2000). Gender, black feminism, and black political economy. The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 568(1), 41–53.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Colour Between the Lines. (n.d.a). About. Next In Colour. www.nextincolour.com/aboutGoogle Scholar
Colour Between the Lines. (n.d.b). About the zine. Next In Colour. www.nextincolour.com/about-the-zineGoogle Scholar
Community Broadcasting Association of Australia. (2015). About community broadcasting. Community Broadcasting Association of Australia. www.cbaa.org.au/about/about-community-broadcastingGoogle Scholar
Copeland, S., & De Moor, A. (2018). Community digital storytelling for collective intelligence: Towards a storytelling cycle of trust. AI & Society, 33(1), 101–111.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Delgado, R. (1989). Storytelling for oppositionists and others: A plea for narrative. Michigan Law Review, 87(8), 2411–2441.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dotson, K. (2012). A cautionary tale: On limiting epistemic oppression. Frontiers: A Journal of Women Studies, 33(1), 24047.Google Scholar
Du Ve, E. (2020). Curating counter narratives: A case study of The Colouring Book zine project [Unpublished honors thesis]. Victoria University.Google Scholar
Dutta, U., Azad, A. K., & Hussain, S. M. (2022). Counterstorytelling as epistemic justice: Decolonial community-based praxis from the Global South. American Journal of Community Psychology, 69(1–2), 59–70.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Fanon, F. (1967). Black skin, White masks. Grove Press.Google Scholar
Fernández, J. S., Sonn, C. C., & Carolissen, R. (2019). Mapping in and for decolonial transnational community psychologies. The Community Psychologist, 524(4), 4–7.Google Scholar
Fernández, J. S., Sonn, C. C., Carolissen, R., & Stevens, G. (2021). Roots and routes toward decoloniality within and outside psychology praxis. Review of General Psychology, 25(4), 498–511.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fine, M. F. (2018). Just research in contentious times: Widening the methodological imagination. Teachers College Press.Google Scholar
Fine, M. F. (2021). Decolonizing critical knowledges borne in the borderlands: From “morbid symptoms” to critical solidarities. In Stevens, G. & Sonn, C. C. (Eds.), Decoloniality and epistemic justice in contemporary global community psychology (pp. 59–78). Springer.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fox, M., & Fine, M. (2015). Leadership in solidarity: Notions of leadership through critical participatory action research with young people and adults. New Directions for Student Leadership, 148(1), 45–58.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Freire, P. (1972). Pedagogy of the oppressed. Penguin Books.Google Scholar
Fricker, M. (2006). Powerlessness and social interpretation. Episteme: A Journal of Social Epistemology, 3(1–2), 96–108.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fu, J., Wyn, J., & Churchill, B. (2021, June). Young Australians’ confidence in political institutions and their civic engagement. University of Melbourne. https://education.unimelb.edu.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0007/3820660/Youth-confidence-and-c3ivics-Eric-report.pdfGoogle Scholar
Goldbard, A. (2006). New creative community: The arts of cultural development. New Village Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Haapanen, K. A., & Christens, B. D. (2021). Community‐engaged research approaches: Multiple pathways to health equity. American Journal of Community Psychology, 67(3–4), 331–337.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hodgetts, D., & O’Doherty, K. C. (2019). Introduction: Applied social psychology – An evolving tradition. In O’Doherty, K. C. & Hodgetts, D. (Eds.), The SAGE handbook of applied social psychology (pp. xxv–xxxviii). SAGE Publications.Google Scholar
hooks, b. (1990). Yearning: Race, gender, and cultural politics. South End Press.Google Scholar
Huygens, I. (2011). Developing a decolonisation practice for settler colonisers: A case study from Aotearoa New Zealand. Settler Colonial Studies, 1(2), 53–81.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kasat, P. A. (2020). Singing the women back up: Art for social change and the empowerment of women [Unpublished doctoral thesis]. Curtin University.Google Scholar
Koob, S. F., & Pearson, E. (2020, June 18). BDK, 97, Brotherhood: Police aware of “ongoing gang issue” in western suburbs. The Age. www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/bdk-97-brotherhood-police-aware-of-ongoing-gang-issue-in-western-suburbs-20200618-p553v6.htmlGoogle Scholar
Kuti, F. A. (1989). Beasts of No Nation [recorded by F. A. Kuti & Egypt 80]. On Beasts of No Nation [Digital recording]. Shanachie Records.Google Scholar
Kwansah-Aidoo, K., & Mapedzahama, V. (2018). “There is really discrimination everywhere”: Experiences and consequences of everyday racism among the new Black African diaspora in Australia. Australasian Review of African Studies, 39(1), 81–109.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ladson-Billings, G. (2003). It’s your world, i’m just trying to explain it: Understanding our epistemological and methodological challenges. Qualitative Inquiry, 9(1), 5–12.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Latimore, J. (2021, August 30). Blak, Black, Blackfulla: Language is important, but it can be tricky. The Sydney Morning Herald. www.smh.com.au/national/blak-black-blackfulla-language-is-important-but-it-can-be-tricky-20210826-p58lzg.htmlGoogle Scholar
Lieblich, A., Tuval-Mashiach, R., & Zilber, T. (1998). Narrative research: Reading, analysis, and interpretation. SAGE Publications.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lykes, M. (2002). Possible contributions of a psychology of liberation: Whither health and human rights? In Marks, D. F. (Ed.), The health psychology reader (pp. 352–372). SAGE Publications.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Madyaningrum, M. E., & Sonn, C. (2011). Exploring the meaning of participation in a community art project: A case study on the seeming project. Journal of Community & Applied Social Psychology, 21(4), 358–370.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Majavu, M. (2018). The Whiteness regimes of multiculturalism: The African male experience in Australia. Journal of Asian and African Studies, 53(2), 187–200.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Maldonado-Torres, N. (2007). On the coloniality of being: Contributions to the development of a concept. Cultural Studies, 21(2–3), 240–270.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Malherbe, N. (2020). Articulating liberation psychologies of culture. Journal of Theoretical and Philosophical Psychology, 40(4), 203–218.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Martín-Baró, I. (1994). Writings for a liberation psychology. Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Mason, R. (2011). Two kinds of unknowing. Hypatia, 26(2), 294–307.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mignolo, W., & Walsh, C. E. (2018). On decoloniality: Concepts, analytics, praxis. Duke University Press.Google Scholar
Mills, C. W. (1997). The racial contract. Cornell University Press.Google Scholar
Montero, , (2009). Methods for liberation: Liberation psychology beyond Latin America. In Montero, M. & Sonn, C. C. (Eds.), Psychology of liberation: Theory and applications (pp. 73–92). Springer.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Moreton-Robinson, A. (2020, September 2). Broadly speaking: Aileen Moreton-Robinson: 20th anniversary of talkin’ up to the White woman. Wheeler Centre. www.wheelercentre.com/events/aileen-moreton-robinson-20th-anniversary-of-talkin-up-to-the-white-womanGoogle Scholar
Paulsen, I. K. (2018). Relationships, relationality and schooling: Opportunities and challenges for Pacific Islander learners in Melbourne’s western suburbs. International Education Journal: Comparative Perspectives, 17(3), 39–54.Google Scholar
Pohlhaus, G. (2017). Varieties of epistemic injustice. In Kidd, I., Medina, J., & Pohlhaus, G. (Eds.), The Routledge handbook of epistemic injustice (pp. 39–58). Routledge.Google Scholar
Pratt, M. L. (1991). Arts of the contact zone. Profession, 1991, 33–40.Google Scholar
Pybus, C. J. (2006). Black founders: The unknown story of Australia’s first Black settlers. UNSW Press.Google Scholar
Quayle, A. F., & Sonn, C. C. (2019). Amplifying the voices of Indigenous elders through community arts and narrative inquiry: Stories of oppression, psychosocial suffering, and survival. American Journal of Community Psychology, 64(1–2), 46–58.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Quijano, A. (2000). Coloniality of power and Eurocentrism in Latin America. International Sociology, 15(2), 215–232.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rappaport, J. (2000). Community narratives: Tales of terror and joy. American Journal of Community Psychology, 28(1), 1–24.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Reyes Cruz, M., & Sonn, C. C. (2015). (De)colonizing culture in community psychology: Reflections from critical social science. In: Goodman, R. & Gorski, P. (Eds.), Decolonizing “multicultural” counseling through social justice. Springer.Google Scholar
Sarason, S. B. (1972). The creation of settings and the future societies. Brookline Books.Google Scholar
Sarmah, B., & Lama, S. (2017, December 16–17). Radio as an educational tool in developing countries: Its evolution and current usages [Conference presentation]. International Conference on Developmental Interventions and Open Learning for Empowering and Transforming Society. Krishna Kanta Handiqui State Open University, Assam, India.Google Scholar
Segalo, P. (2016). Using cotton, needles and threads to break the women’s silence: Embroideries as a decolonising framework. International Journal of Inclusive Education, 20(3), 246–260.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shotwell, A. (2017). Forms of knowing and epistemic resources. In Kidd, I. J., Medina, J., & Pohlhaus, G (Eds.), The Routledge handbook of epistemic injustice (1st ed., pp. 179–197). Routledge.Google Scholar
Sloan, T. (2018, July). On waking up to coloniality: An invitation. Parkmore Institute. www.parkmoreinstitute.org/on-waking-up-to-coloniality-an-invitation/Google Scholar
Smith, L. T. (2012). Decolonizing methodologies: Research and Indigenous peoples (2nd ed.). Zed Books.Google Scholar
Solórzano, D. G., & Yosso, T. J. (2002). Critical race methodology: Counter-storytelling as an analytical framework for education research. Qualitative Inquiry, 8(1), 23–44.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stevens, G. E., Duncan, N. E., & Hook, D. E. (2013). Race, memory and the apartheid archive: Towards a transformative psychosocial praxis. Palgrave Macmillan.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stewart, E. (2011). On voice: Difference, power, change. In Aber, M. S., Maton, K. I., & Seidman, E. (Eds.), Empowering settings and voices for social change (pp. 193–206). Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Sullivan, S., & Tuana, N. (Eds.). (2007). Race and epistemologies of ignorance. Suny Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Teo, T. (2005). The critique of psychology: From Kant to postcolonial theory. Springer.Google Scholar
Teo, T. (2015). Essay on an aesthetics of resistance. In Cresswell, J., Haye, A., Larrain, A., Morgan, M., & Sullivan, G. (Eds.), Dialogue and debate in the making of theoretical psychology (pp. 303–310). Captus.Google Scholar
Thomas, R. E., & Rappaport, J. (1996). Art as community narrative: A resource for social change. In Lykes, M. B., Liem, R., Banuazizi, A., & Morris, M. (Eds.), Unmasking social inequalities: Victims, voice and resistance (pp. 317–336). Temple University Press.Google Scholar
Tiller, E., Fildes, J., Hall, S., Hicking, V., Greenland, N., Liyanarachchi, D., & Di Nicola, K. (2020). Youth survey report 2020. Mission Australia. www.missionaustralia.com.au/what-we-do/research-impact-policy-advocacy/youth-surveyGoogle Scholar
Udah, H. (2018). “Not by default accepted”: The African experience of othering and being othered in Australia. Journal of Asian and African Studies, 53(3), 384–400.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Watkins, M., & Shulman, H. (2008). Toward psychologies of liberation. Palgrave Macmillan.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×