Dr Ismahan Diop
Applying a decolonial feminist lens to clinical psychology in Africa: a case study in Senegal
Abstract
Since its development and evolution in the global North, clinical psychology has built its theories on peoples from this particular geographical perspective, in developing key concepts such as wellbeing and happiness. Thus far representations of womanhood and femininity in Africa have not been explored in the construction of these theories, even though these representations are highly significant in the construction of gender and sexual identities (Diop, 2019, 2023). Notably, such concepts are influenced by the entanglement of social, cultural and individual factors. African women find themselves at the intersections of several modes of representation, influencing their lifeworlds. The actual conceptualization of agency, independence and emancipation may sound alienating when applied to African contexts. However, there are other models of agency, which African women can mobilise in order to create conditions for themselves and their families to thrive. Research on African mythology and the development of decolonial theories in social sciences, have facilitated the inclusion of indigenous knowledges and paved the way to setting up decolonial feminist lenses in clinical psychology. Using a case study of a Senegalese woman, this presentation demonstrates how these specific lenses are applied in narrativity, so that storytelling may allow better ways of self-expression and the development of agency.
Date: June 26, 2025, 12 to 2 pm at S145/46, FZA building
ICDL Lecture:https://uni-bayreuth.zoom.us/j/2929815113?pwd=9a5jN0BJF6DaZJCv43jkuWKf8mBR4v.1&omn=62176964669, Meeting ID: 292 981 5113, Identification code: 119262