Womanist and Mujerista Psychologies
The experiences of African American women and Latinas are rich and complex. While these women live with economic, psychological, social, and political risk, they have also attained noteworthy ways of coping and thriving, and they bring healing, wholeness, and restoration to themselves and their communities. Thus, the growing literature on their experiences highlights narratives of survival, struggle, and soaring.
This inspiring book introduces the psychologies of womanists and mujeristas — African American women and Latinas, respectively, who have a broad and inclusive approach to feminism and liberation. Womanist and mujerista values and worldviews emphasize resiliency, strength, activism, self-expression, creativity, spirituality/connection, self-definition, and liberation of all oppressed people.
While the experiences of African American women and Latinas are often marginalized or even pathologized in the general psychology literature, this book centralizes these experiences. It unpacks the underexplored areas of these women's historical and contemporary ways of knowing and approaches to living. Cultural and gender identity is viewed not from a deficit perspective but as an asset and a contributor to meaning, identity, and strengths.
The editors and authors of this volume are all womanists and mujeristas who are leading psychologists and scholars. They integrate findings from multiple disciplines to explore psychology, spirituality, creativity, activism, counseling, healing, research, and leadership.
Contributors
Series Foreword
Linda J. Beckman
Acknowledgments
Introduction: Womanist and Mujerista Psychologies
Thema Bryant-Davis and Lillian Comas-Díaz
I. Research
- Womanist Research
Karen Fraser Wyche - Mujerista Research: Integrating Body, Emotion, Spirit, and Community
Kysa Nygreen, Mariella Saba, and Ana Paulina Moreno
II. Clinical Practice
- Womanist Therapy With Black Women
Janis V. Sanchez-Hucles - Latinas Poderosas: Shaping Mujerismo to Manifest Sacred Spaces for Healing and Transformation
Alberta M. Gloria and Jeanett Castellanos
III. Spirituality
- Womanism and Spirituality/Theology
Martha E. Banks and Stephanie Lee - Mujerista Psychospirituality
Lillian Comas-Díaz
IV. Creativity
- Womanism, Creativity, and Resistance: Making A Way Out of "No Way"
Danielle Drake-Burnette, BraVada Garrett-Akinsanya, and Thema Bryant-Davis - Mujerista Creativity: Latin@ Sacred Arts as Life-Course Developmental Resources
Ester Shapiro and Darcy Alcántara
V. Social Justice Action
- A Psychocultural Exploration of Womanism, Activism, and Social Justice
Thema Bryant-Davis and Tyonna Adams - Mujeristas and Social Justice: La Lucha es la Vida
Carrie L. Castañeda-Sound, Susana Martinez, and Josefina E. Durán
VI. Looking Forward
- The Value of Promoting Womanist and Mujerista Leaders
Melba J. T. Vasquez - Conclusion: Toward Global Womanist and Mujerista Psychologies
Lillian Comas-Díaz and Thema Bryant-Davis
Index
About the Editors
Thema Bryant-Davis, PhD, is an associate professor of psychology at Pepperdine University. She was the 2015 recipient of the California Psychological Association Distinguished Scientist Award. She is also a past president of the Society for the Psychology of Women and a former APA representative to the United Nations. She received the Early Career Distinguished Contributions to Psychology in the Public Service award.
Dr. Bryant-Davis is the director of the Culture and Trauma Research Lab at Pepperdine University and a past associate editor of the journal Psychological Trauma. Her work has been published in numerous peer-reviewed journals, and she is the author of the book Thriving in the Wake of Trauma: A Multicultural Guide and coeditor of the books Surviving Sexual Violence: A Handbook of Recovery and Empowerment and Foundations of Resilience: Religion and Spirituality in Diverse Women's Lives.
A licensed clinical psychologist, Dr. Bryant-Davis earned her doctorate from Duke University and completed her postdoctoral training at Harvard Medical Center. Her research focus areas include trauma psychology, ethnic minority women, oppression, coping, and spirituality. She is a contributing author to APA's resolution against racism, xenophobia, and intolerance.
ESSENCE magazine named her among women who are shaping the world.
Lillian Comas-Díaz, PhD, focuses her academic, professional, and personal work on multiculturalism, feminism, spirituality, and mental health. She developed a Latino community mental health program in Connecticut, was a faculty member at the Yale University Psychiatry Department, became the director of the Yale University Hispanic Clinic, directed APA's Office of Ethnic Minority Affairs, and cofounded the Transcultural Mental Health Institute.
Currently, Dr. Comas-Díaz is a psychologist in private practice and a clinical professor at George Washington University's Department of Psychology and Behavioral Sciences.
With more than 150 publications, her recent books include Multicultural Care: A Clinician's Guide to Cultural Competence; Psychological Health of Women of Color: Intersections, Challenges and Opportunities (with B. Greene); Women Psychotherapists' Reflections on Female Friendships (with M. Weiner); and Women Psychotherapists: Journeys in Healing (with M. Weiner).
