The Community Psychologist Podcast

For this episode we are joined by Dr. Natalie Kivell, assistant professor in community psychology at Wilfrid Laurier University. We discuss the global podcast Indaba, international collaborations, ancestors, colonialism, and whether community psychology is just colonial psychology. It's a podcast about a podcast! We're getting meta here.[link to the show] + [link to show transcripts and translations] Indaba is a global podcast that brings together  scholars, practitioners, and activists as we re-imagine and reconstruct how we relate to and live in the world. Rooted in a Critical Community psychology, an interdisciplinary social science driven by social justice and decolonial values, we explore methodological, theoretical, and practical knowledge that informs our social change practice.Indaba is a South African Indigenous term for a meeting and through this  show we foster a coming together to share and engage with ideas with a collective of voices from around the world. Curated into five pairs of episodes exploring our everyday praxis, each beginning with a contextually grounded storytelling episode followed by a critical reflection dialogue with members of our global collective including South Africa, Indonesia, Chile, Australia, Palestine, and Canada.The show is created by a global network of supporters including faculty partners Natalie Kivell, Christopher Sonn, Marianne Daher Gray, Monica Madyaningrum, Garth Stevens, and Manuel Riemer and a Grad student collective including Ramy Barhouche, Rejane Williams, Marika Handfield, Rama Agung-Igusti, Roshani Jayawardana, Antonia Rosati, María José Campero, Elizabeth Brunet, and Sam Keast with audio production by Andre Goulet and Rob Rousseau with consultation from Nashwa Khan and graphic art by Melisse Watson. In-kind and financial support for Indaba comes courtesy of the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, the Psychological Society of South Africa, Victoria University of Melbourne Australia, The Centre for Community Research, Learning, and Action and Office of Research Services at Wilfrid Laurier University, in Ontario and the Society for Community Research and Action.ReferencesAPA Resolution on Antisemitism (2026). Roy Eidelson, (2026). APA’s Council Meeting: Human Rights Win, Fear Loses. Psychology for Human Rights Blog. Kivell, N., Sonn, C. C., Madyaningrum, M. E., Daher, M., Stevens, G., Barhouche, R. & Keast, S. (2025). “We Are Not Alone in the World”: Creating Possibilities for Transnational Radical Relationality, Epistemic Justice, and Expanded Ecologies of Knowledge Through the Indaba Podcast, American Psychologist, 80(8), 1199-1212.Hosted & Edited by Dominique Thomas

For this episode we are joined by former SCRA Book Series editor Dr. Robin Lin Miller. Robin joins us to discuss her book Breaking Barriers: Sexual and Gender Minority-led Advocacy to End AIDS in Africa and the Caribbean.For more information, visit  https://www.safersexmsu.com/

Over 130 Sudanese women committed mass suicide to escape the threat of rape by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) militia amid the ongoing war in Sudan.In this episode of TCP, recorded on November 26th, 2024—Day 590 of the ongoing genocide in Sudan—we, Azza Osman a Sudanese, and Noha Emam an Egyptian community psychologist, come together to confront the truth behind the crisis. This is not a civil war.It’s a brutal campaign of violence targeting the Sudanese people, and the world cannot afford to look away.We discuss the lived experiences of those caught in the conflict, share personal reflections, and challenge the global narrative that has obscured the reality of this genocide.Our aim is to foster understanding, amplify the voices of the oppressed, and inspire action.Episode transcript:https://docs.google.com/document/d/1WEuuUjozi-3pHBvlDwHgGqEDyjc50JHi/edit?usp=sharing&ouid=102730732834071059329&rtpof=true&sd=true

November 1 is a time in which many cultures venerate their ancestors. Ancestor veneration is a way to maintain continuity and connection between the past, present, and future. For example, in the African diaspora, Fêt Ghede is one such form of veneration. An African ancestor in psychology is Frantz Fanon, yet this revolutionary influenced many people beyond the African diaspora. He influenced ancestors such as Paulo Freire and the subject of this episode: Ibrahim Makkawi. Like Fanon, Makkawi was active in anti-colonial struggles for liberation movements. He “mapped out cartographies for our movements into Palestinian decolonial states of being” (Atallah & Masud, 2022, p. 195). Ibrahim was at the forefront of building a decolonial community psychology in Palestine, establishing the Community Psychology master’s program at Birzeit University and revolutionizing the praxis of psychology in Palestine. Ibrahim’s impact extends far beyond academic accomplishments. Those who knew him best testify to his impact on their lives and his lifelong commitment to Palestinian liberation. Our guests for this episode are Hana R. Masud (Adjunct Professor), Ferdose Salmah (Birzeit University, ⁠https://www.birzeit.edu/en/faculty-staff/fardous-salameh⁠), and Asrar Kayyal (Doctoral Student, ⁠[email protected]⁠, ⁠https://research.brighton.ac.uk/en/persons/asrar-kayal⁠).Atallah, D. G., & Masud, H. R. (2023). Returning home with Dr. Ibrahim Makkawi: Toward Palestinian decolonial states of being. Peace and Conflict: Journal of Peace Psychology, 29(2), 194–201. ⁠https://doi.org/10.1037/pac0000669⁠Hosted by Dominique Thomas & Allana ZuckermanEdited by Dominique Thomas

In this episode, Dr. Vanessa Goodar and Dr. Hareder McDowell speak with us about Black women's radical self-care and sexual communication empowerment. Catch up on the rest of our episodes at https://scra27.org/publications/tcp/podcast/. We've included below the abstracts from their presentations at the 2021 SCRA Biennial. Dismantling Health Disparities among Black Women, Dr. Vanessa Goodar Black women are disproportionately affected by heart disease, stroke, diabetes, breast cancer, cervical cancer, fibroid tumors, premature birth rates, obesity, sickle cell disease, sexually transmitted diseases, mental health issues and most recently COVID-19 compared to white counterparts. Resilience and strength characteristics support coping; however, further investigation of research-based, community self-care practice that centers Black Women’s voices is needed to address urgent racial health disparities as well as social and environmental stressors that impact Black women’s health and quality of life. A theoretical socio-cultural economic framework was developed to explore the role of the Strong Black Woman and the five obligations with the highest impact on Strong Black Women’s self-care barriers. Vulnerability resistance, help obligation, religious affiliation, income, and marital status were analyzed (The High Five). Twenty-five self-identifying SBW aged 18- 74 engaged in Photovoice training and defining one of the High Five self-care targets. Next, participants discussed their lived High Five self-care barrier experiences through photographs and collective storytelling. Future research includes identification of culturally responsive stakeholders interested in prioritizing Black women’s self-care actions and stress reduction and planning a High Five Self-care Photovoice exhibit. Research Specific to Black American Women and Sexuality, Dr. Hareder McDowell Since the inception of American culture, Black women have been breeders to literally Birth a Nation. However, breeding does not directly correlate with an actual sexual experience. Because sex is required for reproduction, it is assumed Black women were offered the opportunity to explore sex. No, Black women were born into a sexual construct that allowed them to be raped before the term was formally defined. Sex and sexuality are inclusive of body parts that are necessary for sexual pleasure and reproduction. If provided with instruction and education on how the body is used with a consensual partner can lead to healthy and happy sexual experiences. Yet, the ancestors of Black women had no concept of this. To conceptualize the idea that current trends among Black American women and adverse sexuality including lack of orgasms, fulfilling sexual experiences resulting in appeal and satisfaction of sexual encounters, body positivity and reproductive health are directly correlated with the historic sexual abuse, hypertextualization and overall bestiality of forced reproduction. A team of community stake-holders in the sexual health and Black women arena’s ( Christian Community Health Centers, Planned Parenthood, Illinois Caucus for Adolescent Health) will participate in the Story-telling method, detailing experiences surrounding current sexual health trends and compare concepts inclusive of arranged rape, experimental property for science, body parts as transactional tools and methods during slavery and post-reconstruction compared to what is currently challenging Black women and sexual health today. Should the qualitative method of storytelling\post analyzing photo-voice recordings reflect a potential correlation between current sexual trends of Black women that may directly reflect subconscious and even genetic trauma of the past, continued research would ensue to better gather data on a broader scale to inform the medical field as to how Black women are educated surrounding sexual health and reproductive justice. Hosts: Dominique Thomas & Allana Zuckerman Edited by Allana Zuckerman

This episode is our conversation with Dr. Geraldine Palmer on the issue of cultural looting, specifically relating to the Benin sculptures stolen and claimed through British imperialism. We discuss imperialism, cultural trauma, and the need to dismantle cultural looting to preserve living heritages. Hosts: Dominique Thomas & Allana Zuckerman Edited by Dominique Thomas

Commentary by Wilfrid Laurier University graduate student Ann Marie Beals on their land acknowledgement from this year's SCRA Biennial Conference: Uprooting White Supremacy.

Community psychology graduate students occupy several roles in their institutions. This gives graduate students unique vantages to some of the underlying issues in higher education. Disparities in graduate programs, student mental health, and mentoring are key issues that graduate students may organize themselves around. In our time as graduate students, we walked the various tightropes of scholar/student-activist, student-researcher, lecturer, junior mentor, and student organizer. The typically isolating experience of graduate school is improved when students can find common cause to advocate for and with each other. For our newest episode of The Community Psychologist Podcast, we invited Georgia State University graduate student Alesha Bond. Alesha is a doctoral student in the Cognitive Sciences program in the department of psychology. She previously co-wrote a TCP article discussing the organizing students engaged in to address issues of diversity and mentoring. We talked about the necessity of student organizing to push for change and the intersections of her research and organizing. Alesha shares some accomplishments, discusses the challenge of navigating power differentials, and provides advice to graduate student organizers. Cokley, K. & Garba, R. (2018). Speaking truth to power: How Black/African psychology changed the discipline of psychology. Journal of Black Psychology, 44(8), 695-721 Ray, V. (2019). A theory of racialized organizations. American Sociological Review, 84(1), 26-53. Stewart, T. J. (2020). Capitalism and the (il)logics of higher education’s COVID-19 response: A Black feminist critique. Leisure Sciences, 1-7. DOI: 10.1080/01490400.2020.1774011 Thornhill, T. (2018). We want Black students, just not you: How white admissions counselors screen Black prospective students. Sociology of Race and Ethnicity, 1-15 We are always looking for additional topics and guests for future episodes. If there is a topic you would like to be featured in a future episode or if you would like to be a guest, please email [email protected] Hosts: Dominique Thomas & Allana Zuckerman Edited by Allana Zuckerman

For our first episode, we discuss relevant issues to the field of community psychology including key areas we feel are important to consider for community psychology moving forward. We discuss topics such as mentoring in graduate programs, colonialism in the US education system, the increased need for a critical discussion of concrete social issues, the role of the intellectual, and recommendations for the future. http://scra27.org/publications/tcp/podcast/ References Daboin, I., Zuckerman, A., Thomas, D., & Borgman, R. (2015). Culturally sensitive mentoring: Reflections from a SCRA roundtable. The Community Psychologist, 48(3), 28-30. Davis, F. E. (2019). Little book of race and restorative justice: Black lives, healing, and US social transformation. Good Books: New York. Dutta, U. (2019). Decolonizing “community” in community psychology. American Journal of Community Psychology, 62, 272-282. Lomotey-Nakon, L. L. (2018). Du Bois’s decolonial dragmatism: Teaching community psychology toward epistemological liberation. American Journal of Community Psychology, 62, 364-373. Mayorga, E., Leidecker, L., & Gutierrez, D. O. (2019). Burn it down: The incommensurability of the university and decolonization. Journal of Critical Thought and Praxis, 8(1), 87-106. Thomas, D. (2019). Black Lives Matter as resistance to systemic anti-Black violence. Journal of Critical Thought and Praxis, 8(1), 30-45. Thomas, D., & Zuckerman, A. (2018). Black lives matter in community psychology. Community Psychology in Global Perspectives, 4(2), 1-8. We are always looking for additional topics and guests for future episodes. If there is a topic you would like to be featured in a future episode or if you would like to be a guest, please email [email protected] Hosts: Dominique Thomas & Allana Zuckerman Edited by Allana Zuckerman