Positioning critique of world knowledge systems & creating spaces for global pedagogy: A call to action by the Critical Global Education Collective
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1285/i24212113v12n2/1p1-26Keywords:
Decoloniality, Community Psychology Education, Global Knowledge Production, Epistemological Resistance, Social Justice, World SystemsAbstract
This paper explores the transformative potential of re-imagining Community Psychology Education through a global, decolonial lens. It critiques the colonial foundations embedded in the global education system, which perpetuate the dominance of Euro-Western knowledge production and marginalize Indigenous and local epistemologies. Drawing from critical pedagogical frameworks and the insights of the Critical Global Education Collective, the paper calls for the dismantling of colonial power structures embedded within academic systems of knowledge. By fostering transnational dialogue and collaboration, CP educators can promote diverse alternative ways of knowing that challenge the epistemic hegemony of the Global North. The paper highlights the need for counter-hegemonic CP education that centers practices of decoloniality as: centering relationality, collective learning, and epistemological resistance, addressing systemic social issues such as racism, capitalism, and patriarchy. Through the work of this collective, this paper demonstrates the importance of creating inclusive spaces for epistemic justice. Finally, the paper outlines a call to action for CP education, advocating for a pluriversal approach that embraces diverse worldviews and epistemologies; striving for a more equitable psychology of the people.
References
Alemu, S. K. (2018). The Meaning, Idea and History of University/Higher Education in Africa: A Brief Literature Review. FIRE: Forum for International Research in Education, 4(3), pp. 201-227.
Achwan, R. (2017). Production of the Social Science in Indonesia: An Incomplete Reform from Above. Asian Politics and Policy, 9(3), 462-478.
Barbosa, V. N. M., Holanda, R. R., Lima, A. A. de S., Moura Júnior, J. F., Negreiros, D. J., Antunes, D. C., & Mesquita, N. M. (2023). Relações entre Psicologia e Pobreza: propostas de atuação decolonial. Revista Polis E Psique, 12(3), 90–110. https://doi.org/10.22456/2238-152X.116537
Barnett, R. (2018). The Ecological University: A Feasible Utopia (1st Edition). Routledge, New York, NY.
Bellanger, W., Cosgrove, S. & Silber, I.C. (2023). Higher Education, State Repression, and Neoliberal Reform in Nicaragua: Reflections from a University Under Fire. Routledge Research in Higher Education. New York, NY: Routledge.
Borgatti S. P. & Everett, M. G. (1999). Models of core/periphery structures. Social Networks, 21, 375-395.
Carolissen, R., Canham, H., Fourie, E., Graham, T., Segalo, P., & Bowman, B. (2017). Epistemological resistance towards diversality: Teaching community psychology as a decolonial project. South African Journal of Psychology, 47(4), 495–505. https://doi.org/10.1177/0081246317739203
Cattaneo, L. B., Shor, R., Calton, J. M., Gebhard, K. T., Buchwach, S. Y., Elshabassi, N., & Hargrove, S. (2019). Social problems are social: Empirical evidence and reflections on integrating community psychology into traditional curriculum. Global Journal of Community Psychology Practice, 10(1), 1–29.
Chakrabarty, Dipesh. (2007). Provincializing Europe, Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
Celikates, R. & Flynn, J. (2023). "Critical Theory (Frankfurt School)", The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Winter 2023 Edition), Edward N. Zalta & Uri Nodelman (eds.). Retrieved October 1, 2025 from https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/win2023/entries/critical-theory/
Davidson, H., Evans, S., Ganote, C., Henrickson, J., Jacobs-Priebe, L., Jones, D. L., Prilleltensky, I., & Riemer, M. (2006). Power and action in critical theory across disciplines: Implications for critical community psychology. American Journal of Community Psychology, 38(1–2), 35–49. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10464-006-9061-4
Davies, B. & Bansel, P. (2010). Governmentality and Academic Work: Shaping the Hearts and Minds of Academic Workers. Journal of Curriculum Theorizing, Vol 26, 3 pp. 5-20.
de Sousa Santos, B. D. S. (2007). Beyond Abyssal Thinking: From Global Lines to Ecologies of Knowledges. Retrieved October 1, 2025 from https://www.eurozine.com/beyond-abyssal-thinking/
de Sousa Santos, B. D. S., Nunes, J. A., & Meneses, M. P. (2020). Introduction: Opening Up the Canon of Knowledge and Recognition of Difference. In Another knowledge is possible: Beyond northern epistemologies. Brooklyn, NY: Verso Books.
Demeter, M. (2021). The World-Systemic Dynamics of Knowledge Production: The Distribution of Transnational Academic Capital in the Social Sciences. Journal of World-Systems Research, 25(1), https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9888-9682
Dutta, U. (2018). Decolonizing “community” in community psychology. American Journal of Community Psychology, 0, 1–11. https://doi.org/10.1002/ajcp.12281
Freire, P. (2014). Pedagogy of hope. London, UK: Bloomsbury Academic.
Freire, P. (1978/2017). Pedagogy of the oppressed. Penguin Classics. New York, NY: Penguin Random House.
Fryer, D. (2008). Some Questions About “The History of Community Psychology”. Journal of Community Psychology, 36(5), 572-586.
Haraway, D. (1988). Situated Knowledges. Feminist Studies 14(3): 575-99.
Heller, H. (2016). The Capitalist University: The Transformations of Higher Education in the United States, 1945-2016. London, UK: Pluto Press.
Herrera-Huerfano, E., Pedro-Caranana, J., Ochoa Almanza, J. (2023). Dialogue of knowledges in the pluriverse. Pedro-Caranana, J., Herrera- Huereano, E. & Ochoa Almanza, J. (Eds). In Communicative Justice in the Pluriverse: An International Dialogue (p. 1). New York, NY: Oxford.
Jimenez, T.R., Lee, G. (2022). Radicalizing Psychology; Embodying Decoloniality, Global Journal of Community Psychology Practice, 13(1), 1-32. Retrieved 12/August/2023, from https://journals.ku.edu/gjcpp/article/view/20632
Jiménez, T. R., Keast, S., & Patka, M. & (Eds.) The Society for Community Research and Action International Committee column (Fall, 2023). International Community Psychology: Future Directions and Critical Questions. The Community Psychologist, 56(4). Retrieved October 1, 2025 from https://scra27.org/publications/tcp/
Jiménez, T.R., Mingo, E., Viola, J., Olson, B., & Balthazar, C. (2023). Foundations for Relational Ethics: Introducing a Continuum of Community Psychology Praxis. Global Journal of Community Psychology Practice, 14(1), 1-27. Retrieved August 12, 2023 from https://journals.ku.edu/gjcpp/article/view/20057
Jiménez, T. R., Ogunbambi, T., Patria, M. P. & Nugroho, G. W. (Summer, 2025) Critical Dialogue on Global Education: A Synopsis of the Student-Led Initiative. International Community Psychology: The Community Psychologist, 58(3); pgs. 9-17. Retrieved October 1, 2025 from https://scra27.org/publications/tcp/
Jiménez, T. R. & Olanrewaju, M. (2021, October). Enhancing the Vision for Community Psychology Education. The Community Psychologist, 54(4), (pp. 9-14). Retrieved October 1, 2025 from https://scra27.org/publications/tcp/
Kral, M. J., Ramírez García, J. I., Aber, M. S., Masood, N., Dutta, U., & Todd, N. R. (2010). Culture and community psychology: Toward a renewed and reimagined vision. American Journal of Community Psychology, 47(1-2), 46–57. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10464-010-9367-0
Kothari, A., Salleh, A., Escobar, A., Demaria, F., & Acosta, A. (2019). Pluriverse: a post-development dictionary. New Delhi: Tulika.
Lawthom, R. (2011). Developing learning communities: Using communities of practice within community psychology. International Journal of Inclusive Education, 15(1), 153–164. https://doi.org/10.1080/13603116.2010.496212
Liu, J., Hodgetts, D. & Carr, S. (2024). For Professor James Hou-Fu Liu: A Proposal for the Centrality of Relational Ethics in Public Psychologies. Asian Journal of Social Psychology, 27(4), 522-525
Marsella, A. J. (1998). Toward a "global-community psychology": Meeting the needs of a changing world. American Psychologist, 53(12), 1282–1291. https://doi.org/10.1037/0003-066X.53.12.1282
Martín-Baró, I. (2011). Desafios e perspectivas da Psicologia Latino-Americana. In: Guzzo, R. S. L. & Lacerda J. F. Psicologia Social para a América Latina: o resgate da Psicologia da Libertação (pp. 199-220), 2 ed. Campinas, Brasil: Alínea.
Martines-Vela, C. (2001). World Systems Theory. Retrieved October 1, 2025 from https://web.mit.edu/esd.83/www/notebook/WorldSystem.pdf
Mignolo, W. D. (2012). The Darker Side of the Renaissance: Literacy, Territoriality, and Colonization, 2nd Edition. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.
Mika, C. (2017). Indigenous Education and the Metaphysics of Presence: A Worlded Philosophy. New Directions in the Philosophy of Education. New York, NY: Routledge.
Montero, M. (2009). Methods for Liberation: Critical Consciousness in Action. In M. Montero and C.C. Sonn (eds.), Psychology of Liberation: Theory of Liberation (pp. 73-92). New York, NY: Springer DOI: 10.1007/978-0-387-85784-8
Moura, J. F., Brito da Silva, L., Cidade, E. C., Braga, A. A., & Ximenes, V. M. (2016). The process of the Community Psychologist training: Experiences in the Community Psychology nucleus (NUCOM). Journal of Prevention & Intervention in the Community, 44(1), 16–27. https://doi.org/10.1080/10852352.2016.1102585
Murillo, E. G. (2019). Critical Readings on Latinos and Education: Tasks, Themes, and Solutions. New York: Routledge.
McNamara, R. A., & Naepi, S. (2018). Decolonizing community psychology by supporting indigenous knowledge, projects, and students: Lessons from Aotearoa New Zealand and Canada. American Journal of Community Psychology, 0, 1–10. https://doi.org/10.1002/ajcp.12296
Prilleltensky, I. (1997). Values, assumptions, and practices: Assessing the moral implications of psychological discourse and action. American Psychologist, 52(5), 517.
Quijano, A. (2000). Coloniality of Power, Eurocentrism, and Latin America.” Nepantla, 1(3), 533-80.
The Roestone Collective (2014). Safe Space: Towards a Reconceptualization. Antipode: A Radical Journal of Geography. November, 46(5), pp. 1346-1365. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/anti.12089
Seedat, M., & Suffla, S. (2017). Community psychology and its (dis)contents, archival legacies and decolonisation. South African Journal of Psychology, 47(4), 421–431. https://doi.org/10.1177/0081246317741423
Selvadurai, S., Choy, E. A., Maros, M. & Abdullah, K. (2011). Shifting discourses in Social Sciences: Nexus of Knowledge and Power. International Conference on Society and Humanity, IPEDR Vol 5., V2-51-56, IACSIT Press, Singapore, Malaysia.
Slaughter, S. and G. Rhoades. (2004). Academic Capitalism and the New Economy: Markets, State, and Higher Education. Baltimore, MD and London: The Johns Hopkins University Press.
Treas Jiménez, T. R. (2024). Sacred Cenote Spaces Nurturing Heart-Centered Collective Transformation. In: Sonn, C.C., Fernández, J.S., Moura Jr., J.F., Madyaningrum, M.E., Malherbe, N. (eds) Handbook of Decolonial Community Psychology. Community Psychology. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-67035-0_8
Vaira, M. (2004). Globalization and Higher Education Organizational Change: A Framework for Analysis. Higher Education, 48(4), 483-510.
Wallerstein, I. (1974). The modern World System I: Capitalist Agriculture and the Origins of the European World-Economy in the Sixteenth Century. New York: Academic Press.
Wenger-Trayner, E. & Wenger-Trayner, B. (2015, June). Introduction to communities of practice
a brief overview of the concept and its uses. Retrieved October 1, 2025 from https://www.wenger-trayner.com/introduction-to-communities-of-practice/
Yakushko, O. (2022). In Science We (Should Not Always) Trust: Decolonizing the Science of Psychology, Global Journal of Community Psychology Practice, 13(1), 1 - 17. Retrieved October 1, 2025, from https://www.gjcpp.org/en/article.php?issue=42&article=251
