Remembering the Radical Roots of Liberation Psychology: The Legacy of University Student Movement

Abstract

This paper embraces the radical history of liberation psychology. First, the author historicizes the life and legacy of the Jesuit priest and liberation psychologist Ignacio “Nacho” Martín-Baró within the context of the liberation theology movement. Then, grounded on historical memory recovery, the author highlights the vital role that psychology students played in pioneering a liberation psychology praxis decades before Martín-Baró articulated a liberation-oriented social psychology that ultimately became known as liberation psychology.

The author employs primary archival research, autoethnography, and a hybrid approach that combines historical nonfiction and fiction. Notably, this article translates some of Ignacio Martín-Baró’s work, initially published in Spanish, to amplify his contributions to the psychosocial understanding of power, ideology, war, violence, trauma, and mental health. University students and Martín-Baró have offered us a unique and much-needed psychology that is rooted in anti-oppressive popular organizing and activist research. Through a practice of embodied historical memory, the author argues that liberation psychology has a radical legacy that must not be forgotten, especially amid ongoing settler-colonial violence. Otherwise, we risk devaluing and de-radicalizing its powerful history, vision, and potential.

Joanna Beltrán Girón © 2015. In Progress.