Pacific Indigenous Psychology

This book provides an overview of Pacific-Indigenous knowledge as insights of Oceanic citizen-science to inform culturally-safe practice for psychology. It profiles contemporary Pacific needs in areas of crisis such as family violence, education disparities and health inequities, and points to ancient Pacific-indigenous knowledges as tools of healing for global diasporic communities in need. The historical evolution of psychology’s knowledge base and practice illustrates a fundamental crisis in the method of producing knowledge for psychology - the absence of Pacific-indigenous cultural knowledge. It suggests more effective research methodologies grounded in Pacific-Indigenous epistemologies and ontologies for psychology and overall community capability. It fosters practice perspectives and strategies based on NIU-psychology (New Indigenous Understandings) for innovative solutions to modern-day crises of humanity.

Today‘s world is more interconnected and interdependent than ever before. Within the context of globalisation and the associated increased contact between diverse groups of people, the psychology of culture is more relevant than ever. Asia-Pacific Perspectives on Intercultural Psychology brings together leading researchers from 11 countries to show

Connecting modern psychology to its Indigenous roots to enhance the healing process and psychology itself • Shares the healing wisdom of Indigenous people the author has worked with, including the Ju/’hoansi of the Kalahari Desert, the Fijians of the South Pacific, Sicangu Lakota people, and Cree and Anishnabe First Nations people • Explains how Indigenous perspectives can help create a more effective model of best practices in psychology • Explores the vital role of spirituality in the practice of psychology and the shift of emphasis that occurs when one understands that all beings are interconnected Wherever the first inhabitants of the world gathered together, they engaged in the human concerns of community building, interpersonal relations, and spiritual understanding. As such these earliest people became our “first psychologists.” Their wisdom lives on through the teachings of contemporary Indigenous elders and healers, offering unique insights and practices to help us revision the self-limiting approaches of modern psychology and enhance the processes of healing and social justice. Reconnecting psychology to its ancient roots, Richard Katz, Ph.D., sensitively shares the healing wisdom of Indigenous peoples he has worked with, including the Ju/’hoansi of the Kalahari Desert, Fijians native to the Fiji Islands, Lakota people of the Rosebud Reservation, and Cree and Anishnabe First Nations people from Saskatchewan. Through stories about the profoundly spiritual ceremonies and everyday practices he engaged in, he seeks to fulfill the responsibility he was given: build a foundation of reciprocity so Indigenous teachings can create a path toward healing psychology. Also drawing on his experience as a Harvard-trained psychologist, the author reveals how modern psychological approaches focus too heavily on labels and categories and fail to recognize the benefits of enhanced states of consciousness. Exploring the vital role of spirituality in the practice of psychology, Katz explains how the Indigenous approach offers a way to understand challenges and opportunities, from inside lived truths, and treat mental illness at its source. Acknowledging the diversity of Indigenous approaches, he shows how Indigenous perspectives can help create a more effective model of best practices in psychology as well as guide us to a more holistic existence where we can once again assume full responsibility in the creation of our lives.

The history of the Pacific Islands is noted for great upheavals, from colonization to tribal warfare, natural disasters to nuclear testing. More recently, political change, increasing technology and urbanization, and conflict between traditional and Western cultures have led to considerable social problems in the region. Substance and alcohol abuse, violence, cultural displacement, and suicide bring uncertainty to day-to-day life and stretch already overextended social resources. Social Change and Psychosocial Adaptation in the Pacific Islands sensitively balances situations applicable across this vast geographical area with data and events relevant to individual nations in Polynesia, Melanesia, and Micronesia. Chapters are written by native clinicians, cultural anthropologists, cross-cultural psychologists, and other professionals serving the region, specifically focusing on: - Hawaii- Aboriginal Australia - The Solomon Islands - Fiji - Guam - The Marshall Islands - The Federated States of Micronesia Each provides historical background, details the country's ethnic makeup, summarizes major cultural identity/survival issues, and examines its existing health care and mental health care systems. The tasks ahead are large. Practitioners, researchers, and other professionals working with the peoples of the Pacific need culturally attuned resources to better collaborate on interventions, prevention programs, and policy. Social Change and Psychosocial Adaptation in the Pacific Islands rises to this complex challenge.

The book is about exciting ethnographic happenings in the vibrant and growing global interface which includes Australia, New Zealand, and some of the Asian geographical regions, as well as - more broadly - the global South. It explores ethnographic writing as culture(s) (re)produced, positionalities of authors, tensions between authors and others, multi-faceted groups, and as co-productions of these works. The contributors describe and discuss a variety of topical areas of interest, from Facebook to memory work, from children's sexuality to urban racism, from meanings of Indigenous knowledge to how communities can come together to retain what is valuable to themselves. The authors also manage to locate themselves and others (positionings) in the research hierarchies (tensions). This is a valuable guide to the effects of 21st-century ethnography on the qualitative research project.

Indigenous psychology is an emerging new field in psychology, focusing on psychological universals in social, cultural, and ecological contexts - Starting point for psychologists who wish to understand various cultures from their own ecological, historial, philosophical, and religious perspectives

This volume celebrates the visions of a more equitable global psychology as inspired by the late Professor K. S. Yang, one of the founders of the indigenous psychology movement. This unprecedented international debate among leaders in the field is essential for anyone who wishes to understand the movement from within—the thinking and the vision of those who are the driving forces behind the movement. This book should appeal to scholars and students of psychology, sociology, anthropology, ethnology, philosophy of science, and postcolonial studies.

This far-reaching volume analyzes the social, cultural, political, and economic factors contributing to mental health issues and shaping treatment options in the Asian and Pacific world. Multiple lenses examine complex experiences and needs in this vast region, identifying not only cultural issues at the individual and collective levels, but also the impacts of colonial history, effects of war and disasters, and the current climate of globalization on mental illness and its care. These concerns are located in the larger context of physical health and its determinants, worldwide goals such as reducing global poverty, and the evolving mental health response to meet rising challenges affecting the diverse populations of the region. Chapters focus on countries in East, Southeast, and South Asia plus Oceania and Australia, describing: · National history of psychiatry and its acceptance. · Present-day mental health practice and services. · Mental/physical health impact of recent social change. · Disparities in accessibility, service delivery, and quality of care. · Collaborations with indigenous and community approaches to healing. · Current mental health resources, the state of policy, and areas for intervention. A welcome addition to the global health literature, Mental Health in Asia and the Pacific brings historical depth and present-day insight to practitioners providing services in this diverse area of the world as well as researchers and policymakers studying the region.