A New Psychology Based on Community, Equality, and Care of the Earth: An Indigenous American Perspective

by Arthur W Blume

Psychology is a relatively new discipline, with foundations formed narrowly and near-exclusively by white European males. But in this increasingly diverse nation and world, those foundations filled with implicit bias are too narrow to best help our people and society, says author Art Blume, a fellow of the American Psychological Association. According to Blume, a narrowly based perspective prevents "out-of-the-box" thinking, research, and treatment that could well power greater healing and avoidance of disorders.



In this text, Blume explains the Native American perspective on psychology, detailing why that needs to be incorporated as a new model for this field. A Native American psychologist, he contrasts the original culture of psychology's creators--as it includes individualism, autonomy, independence, and hierarchal relationships--with that of Native Americans, in the context of communalism, interdependence, earth-centeredness, and egalitarianism. As Blume explains, psychological happiness is redefined by the reality of our interdependence rather than materialism and individualism, and how we do things becomes as important as what we accomplish.

Genres: Psychology

286 pages, Hardcover

Published May 31, 2020

Reviews

[Julia · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'd already recommended this book to quite a few colleagues even before finishing it. Blume's articulation of an Indigenous American Psychological Paradigm is incisive and visionary. There is so much to process over time in his work: from the assumptions of colonialism that have created the "relational psychopathology" that much of modern psychology misconceptualizes (at times willfully!) as individual issues, to how psychologists might move from dispassion to compassion in using the wisdom of behavioral science to further the well-being of all, not just humans. I could go on, but really just read the book. This is a must-read for anyone interested in the work of decolonizing psychology, and I would argue also a must-read for anyone interested in the longevity of psychology as a field at all (which, as Blume makes clear, is only really a worthy goal if psychology can be more expansive in what we mean by well-being and to whose well-being we attend).