Toward decolonial community psychologies from Abya Yala.

The epistemologies generated from colonized spaces such as Latin America and the Caribbean have been excluded from the dominant Euro- and US-centric discourses of community psychology. Modern science is compartmentalized into disciplines forming silos and boundaries among them. Historically, psychology has been authored by European or North American White men, claiming superior expertise as detached researchers who study, analyze, interpret, and represent the inferior objects of study. Therefore, we should ask: what type of knowledges does psychology generate, with whom, and for what? Our praxis constitutes a political act which should question and challenge coloniality. In Latin America and the Caribbean, we became increasingly aware of the importance of generating knowledges about the communal (lo común) based on the experiences of Indigenous people in the Americas. Epistemologies from Abya Yala delink from the hegemonic, US-Eurocentric paradigms and address the structural violence of the neoliberal system. To co-create an inclusive and pluriversal discipline of psychology, we need to disrupt the linguistic colonization executed by the imposition of the English language legitimized as universal. We ought to convey the many examples of epistemologies and praxes from Abya Yala that contribute to the co-construction of decolonial psychologies emerging from their own localities and cultures. We propose counterepistemologies that disrupt a monocultural, monolingustic, universal, and hegemonic epistemology. This paper reviews selected decolonial contributions from Abya Yala and sketches pathways toward the making of decolonial community psychologies anchored in pluriversal ecologies of knowledges.

Decoloniality and community-psychology practice in Puerto Rico: autonomous organising (autogestión) and self-determination.

Psychology, as a diverse social practice, must take a stance regarding the colonial world-system that legitimises the hegemonic production of knowledge. Decolonising community psychology requires the transformation of its practices to face cultural and institutional systems that reproduce inequality in colonial contexts as well as the validating of indigenous knowledge. Reflecting on an intervention in response to the devastation of Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico, this paper highlights the importance of a community psychological practice that promotes the search for self-determination and autonomous organising or autogestión. Following the notion that community psychologists should be social change agents whose professional activity constitutes a political act, our proposal is to stress decoloniality as a pedagogical practice, incorporating its principles to everyday interactions with diverse people, groups, organisations and communities. Self-determination refers to the ability for people, groups, neighbourhoods and communities to recognise the demands of their contexts and respond in ways that potentiate control over their own lives simultaneously with the search and action for collective well-being. Autonomous organising aims at individual and collective empowerment, to demand from official institutions and agents what their rights are, when they need it, by organising contestant responses to the systematic injustices and the abandonment of colonial instances.

Etnografía acelerada para transformar normas sociales sobre género y sexualidad en hombres puertorriqueños heterosexuales.

Dominant gender roles contribute to the risk of contracting HIV, for that reason the integration of social norms regarding gender into HIV prevention interventions has been urged. This study aims to adapt and develop an intervention to facilitate the transformation of social norms related to gender and sexual practices in Puerto Rican men. The intervention aims to transform social norms related to gender and sexuality in community bars using the Popular Opinion Leaders Model. After being selected, opinion leaders disseminate messages that stress the importance of equitable relationships between men and women for HIV prevention. The first phase of this intervention is discussed in this article. This phase includes a process of rapid ethnography to identify community settings in which we could develop the intervention and allow us to understand the culture of these community bars. From ethnographic observations we: developed a security protocol, developed a profile of the culture of these bars, chose the bars that participate in the two study conditions, and adapted the intervention instruments to respond to the particularities of our participants.

Knowledge of legal rights among persons living with HIV/AIDS in Puerto Rico: implications for stigma management.

OBJECTIVE: To determine the level of understanding that people living with HIV/ AIDS (PLWHA) in Puerto Rico have in terms of their own legal rights; to ascertain how the members of this population manage the violation/s of these rights in the event that such violations occurred. METHODS: A mixed-method design was used to accomplish our objectives. One hundred and three participants completed a questionnaire; an in-depth interview was also conducted with 10 members of the sample group. RESULTS: Quantitative results show that the most recognized rights among the participants were the right to have sex (n = 98; 95%) and the right to marry (n = 90; 87%). Most participants inaccurately indicated that PLWHA are forced by law to disclose their HIV serostatus both to their partners (n = 69; 67%) and to their physicians (n = 70; 68%). The results from qualitative analysis indicate that most of the participants had experienced discrimination, though none reported these occurrences to the legal authorities. CONCLUSION: Findings suggest that there is a need to improve the implementation of the public policy that protects PLWHA who live in Puerto Rico from discrimination. Future interventions aimed at reducing HIV-related stigma should consider providing information about legal rights and strategies for managing stigma and discrimination. Healthcare professionals play an important role in the promotion of the rights of PLWHA in Puerto Rico.

Disciplina o transdisciplina: hacia una visión de futuro de la psicología comunitaria / Discipline or transdisciplinarity: towards a vision of community psychology

Estimuladas por debates recientes sobre la viabilidad, pertinencia y objeto de estudio de la Psicología Comunitaria (PC) iniciamos una reflexión sobre la situación actual y el futuro de la disciplina en el Caribe y América Latina. En este proceso hemos focalizado en tres dimensiones centrales: límites disciplinarios, valores y adiestramiento/formación. Con este objetivo hemos revisado desarrollos recientes en la disciplina y consultamos de diversas maneras a colegas en Puerto Rico. Los resultados sugieren una percepción entre lo/as participantes de una desfase entre sus áreas prioritarias de trabajo y las áreas en las que fueron adiestrado/as, la preocupación de un sector significativo con las opciones de empleo disponible, el traslapo con el quehacer de otras disciplinas, el rol que debiera jugar el Estado como posible fuente de empleo y la falta de consenso en cuanto a su futuro. A partir de los resultados esbozamos una visión de futuro con énfasis en la transdisciplinariedad, el acercamiento a la teoría política y la legitimación de los saberes generados por las comunidades.

Barriers to research and capacity building at Hispanic-serving institutions: the case of HIV/AIDS research at the University of Puerto Rico.

Substantive barriers to research, such as cultural, language, and methodological variables, exist in Hispanic-serving institutions. Historical and contextual variables account for the differences between academic settings with research-intensive centers and those with limited infrastructure for competitive research. We provide a case example to serve as a model for developing and strengthening the research infrastructure in Hispanic-serving institutions and for providing the mentorship Latino investigators may need to compete with other investigators in research-intensive centers. We present recommendations to reduce these barriers.