Constructing Identity Spaces for First Nations People: Towards an Indigenous Psychology of Self-determination and Cultural Healing

Abstract

Indigenous psychology as a global movement includes First Nations people who were colonised and live today as minorities amidst European majorities in their homelands. This creates the imperative for a psychology of self-determination and cultural healing. The six articles in this Special Issue (SI) articulate different strands of such a First Nations psychology; they are grounded in a liberation psychology of protest, woven together with less confrontational forms of emancipation involving the construction of alternative identity spaces. The articles employ theories and practice that can be grouped into two themes: (i) psychological resistance and endurance and (ii) social relations for psychological creativity and generativity. Based on (i), two articles in this SI develop a historical trauma paradigm for First Nations people to narrate psychological trauma as the product of intergenerational ‘soul wounds’ inflicted by colonisation, which require empowering collective action. Based on (ii), the remainin...