Towards a decolonised research curriculum in psychology : a participatory action research exploration of students' perspectives

Abstract

The higher education sector has been marked by the pre-eminence of Western epistemology. Western epistemology has also dominated psychology and research curricula. Psychology students at all levels have been exposed to these curricula without adequate opportunities to challenge the foundations of these curricula. Thus, the purpose of the study was to explore how postgraduate psychology students define decolonisation and critique coloniality within the psychology and research curriculum, to explore the factors postgraduate psychology students perceive as impediments to decolonisation and to consider strategies to facilitate the decolonisation of the psychology and research curriculum. A Participatory Action Research (PAR) approach was used, and data were collected using the participatory video approach (PVA). The data collection took place over several stages, including a Decolonial Encounters Workshop, artistic representations, storyboarding and collection and editing of video material. The findings suggest that these postgraduate psychology students see decolonisation as a challenge and desire the removal of colonial influences in psychology and a transition to a new form of psychology. The findings further indicate that coloniality within psychology is exemplified through the universalisation of psychological theory, the lack of accessibility to psychological services and issues with psychological assessments. These factors contribute to the perceived irrelevance of psychology. The stumbling blocks to decolonisation that emerged included the Health Professions Council of South Africa and its role in perpetuating coloniality and student- and community-related factors. Potential ameliorative strategies include adopting participative and narrative research approaches, making decolonisation a research focus area, promoting inclusive curriculum development processes and novel pedagogical approaches, and uncovering, systematising, and preserving local knowledge. These themes emerged consistently during the different stages of the study and are reflected in the final video production.