Development of community psychology in Australia and Aotearoa/New Zealand

Abstract

Although the formal history of community psychology in both Australia and Aotearoa/New Zealand has clear links with its history elsewhere, particularly in the United States, the subdiscipline has developed localised foci and forms of practice reflecting the cultural, political and historical underpinnings of these two countries. The climates within which community psychology emerged in the 1970s were distinctly local, resonating with debates around decolonisation and political realignment within the Asia Pacific region. The purpose of the present paper is to explore the separate developments of community psychology in Australia and New Zealand, and identify some shared concerns and achievements. At the core of community psychology in both countries are the emphasis on contextualised understandings of human behaviour and the primacy of social justice. In the future it seems likely that community psychology will develop close links with other emerging social science disciplines that espouse similar values and world views, and that community psychologists will consolidate networks with colleagues in Africa and the Asia Pacific, enabling a wider exchange of ideas and an expansion in the shared understandings of what characterises community psychology in the southern hemisphere.