Speaker
Gisele Toassa
Title
Beyond dependency and parochialism: an overview of Brazilian critical psychologies
Abstract
This talk aims to present a brief overview of Brazilian critical psychologies from 1962 up to 2010. Drawing the landscape for an analytical description, I explain economic and cultural context in which upper-case “Psychology” was regulated as a profession on 1962. It emerged mostly as private clinical practice rooted in Psychoanalysis, across Brazil ́s Southeast. Such Psychology was dependent to theories and practices originally developed in Europe and United States, performed in Brazil for assisting economically privileged individuals. However, even prior to upper-case “Psychology”, this conservative intellectual dependency has been jeopardized by “indigenization” in Brazil, which sought to portray a society stigmatized by exploitation, inequality and authoritarian features. Although Marxism has been playing a major role in such “indigenization”, one can benefit from following Teo ́s claim that “critical perspective does not represent a coherent perspective but expresses different ideas and voices of concern” (2005, p.26). In this framework, I briefly describe the main concepts and practices which thrived in critical psychologies (especially Social-historical Psychology, Psychoanalysis, Phenomenology of Expressive Acts, Community Social Psychology and Schizoanalysis). I also address current challenges to overcome dependency and parochialism, considering the social and economic changes that influence Brazilian Critical Psychologies on the last decade.
Bio
Gisele Toassa is an adjunct professor (Universidade Federal de Goiás, Goiânia, Brazil) and postdoctoral researcher in the History and Theory of Psychology program at York University (grant from CAPES, Ministry of Education, Brazil). She has a Ph.D. in School Psychology and Human Development (Instituto de Psicologia, Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, 2009), M.D. in Education (Universidade Estadual Paulista, Marília, Brazil, 2004), B.A. in Psychology (Universidade Estadual Paulista, Bauru, Brazil, 2002), and B.A. in Speech Pathology and Audiology (Universidade de São Paulo, Bauru, Brazil, 2000). Her research is focused on Cultural-Historical Activity Theory and its developments into the theoretical construction of Psychology as a science as well as a number of critical professional practices.
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