ABSTRACT
The author argues that we must use a cultural lens to recalibrate the focus of historical scholarship in order to see how Western psychology has acted as a colonizing science/profession throughout most of its history. What has been the impact of this imperialism and colonialism on how psychology depicts and directs human relationships?
A cultural lens helps us to understand the history of indigenization processes in psychology, especially as an example of how sciences and professions draw on the cultural resources of a time and place to “naturalize” content and practice. Cultural contact zones serve as one metaphor through which to explore these processes and in doing so, questions of power are raised. What were (are) the power dynamics in the naturalization/indigenization process? Who gets to say what counts as psychology? The lens is then directed at an example of internal colonization in the USA and how a colonizing psychology misread Black communities in the initial research on resilience. The author’s intent is to raise consciousness among historians of psychology of the need to decolonize not only our psychology, but also its history.
