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Articles

Vol. 14 No. 1 (2023)

Community Social Psychology Practice: Reflections from Experiences in Brazil

Submitted
April 7, 2023
Published
2023-01-31

Abstract

The current definition of community psychology practice has the merit of recognizing that the struggle against inequality characterizes community practice in general. However, by proposing a definition that encompasses all psychological practices within communities, one runs the risk of falling into an abstract definition that disregards history. A more accurate definition must consider the meaning of community in different social realities and, consequently, different practices. In Latin America, the classical definition of community as a consensual and homogeneous unit of interaction, interdependence, and social ties, within a well-defined geographical area, does not adequately suit the diversity of community psychology practice. Colonial processes of epistemicide, genocide, and slavery have created a deep sense of uprooting in Brazil. For this reason, community social ties are often under threat or are even non-existent. Community psychology practice consists of creating conditions for the development of such social ties, which must be forged in the fight against forces that result in inequality. In this context, the concept of community psychology practice must encompass social group interactions and social ties; their potency of action; their experience with a territory; and the relationship between groups’ internal and external histories. This article presents three empirical experiences that substantiate and exemplify these dimensions. We conclude that community psychology practice in Brazil helps communities to understand their past to build their future, it focuses on the struggle against oppression, on developing political literacy, and on increasing consciousness of relations between communities and society in general.