Dr Shose Kessi delivered a keynote address at the 6th International Conference on Community Psychology (ICCP2016).

The talk was entitled "Community Social Psychologies for Decolonization: An African Perspective on Epistemic Justice in Higher Education". The abstract, according to the ICCP website, is as follows:

Over the past year, we have witnessed many changes across the South African higher education landscape. National student and worker protests have led to many gains and have highlighted the central role of the university in bringing about social change.  These events have been underpinned by the call to decolonize higher education discourses and practices. In this presentation, I will speak to the possibilities and limitations of community social psychologies in carving out a decolonizing framework for the university in Africa. With its interdisciplinary character, community social psychology may be well placed to provide insights on theoretical and methodological expansion and diversity, which are crucial for making research relevant and prioritizing projects that can disrupt dominant and hegemonic power relations in society.

Drawing on developments in community social psychologies emerging from Africa and the Global South, I will provide empirical examples from projects using narrative and participatory theory-methods, how these contrast with Euro-American traditions, and raise some critical questions relating to race, class, and gendered identities that remain vital in challenging the ongoing violence of research, teaching, and symbolic practices in higher education.

Watch more about ICCP2016 below: