During the week of 20 February, I was privileged to spend the week at Pacifica Graduate Institute as a visiting scholar. I had always wanted to experience first-hand what a programme that integrates psychologies of liberation, critical community inquiry, Indigenous Psychologies, and psychoanalytic traditions, may look like. I was therefore eager to learn about the Ph.D. Depth Psychology programme with Specialization in Community, Liberation, Indigenous and Eco-Psychologies but also to exchange ideas on some of my own work. Both my contributions, a guest lecture, “Student Experiences of (Non) Participation in Student Protest: A Decolonial Feminist Approach of Refusal” and a 2 hour seminar on “ Decolonising Psychology” were well received. In the seminar, offered as part of Dr Ciafolo’s class on Indigenous Psychologies, I drew on student situated knowledges via photovoice to illicit their pre-existing understanding of approaches to decolonising Psychology. The students found the session meaningful and valuable especially since some of their own work had been integrated into the lecture. This session stimulated much animated and engaged discussion.
The programme structure requires that all students in the programme attend classes for 3 full days and live on campus. All meals are provided and classes run from 9am to 7pm, 9 to 5.30 pm and 8 to 4pm on the third day. Students also meet with supervisors during this time and then work independently for the rest of the month. Most academic staff are sourced from other North and South American universities and teach during the 3 day in person sessions.
The classes offered in this programme are rich, and I would have loved to attend more of these stimulating sessions. I attended Dr Erika Mingo’s session on Advocacy and Policy and joined Dr Kanyako’s class on reconciliation and peacebuilding where he asked me to reflect on some of my own experiences of living through a truth and reconciliation commission in a democratic South Africa.
This was my first visit to Santa Barbara, in apparently unseasonably cold weather and threatening storms. It is evident that the economy in the larger Santa Barbara area is still recovering from the effects of Covid. Yet the lush green tropical vegetation and palms were food for the soul and offered me some valuable time for reflection and writing. The park-like surroundings at PGI, where students learn and faculty teach, is indeed a privilege and inspiration for thinking and learning. The generosity and kindness of colleagues, especially Drs Ciafolo and James, exude care, an often ignored but crucial component of decoloniality in our contemporary world.