Untying Settler-Colonial Knots in Australian Psychology
Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: This reflexive paper is written from the positionality of an Indigenous psychologist in response to the majority-Australia vote against constitutional recognition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in the National Referendum, October 14th, 2023. I utilise the Net Metaphor conceptual tool offered by Jongbloed, Hendry, Behn Smith, and Gallagher Kʷunuhmen to articulate settler-colonialism in Australian psychology. Through the net metaphor, I describe the Australian Indigenous Psychology Education Project and my reflexive experience of psychology-activism in untying settler-colonial knots in Australian psychology. I juxtapose my positionality and experience against the failed Referendum and the implications for Australian psychology. Finally, this paper finishes with reflections of how the discipline can engage in collective activism necessary for addressing settler-colonial knots in psychology’s spheres of influence.
DOI: 10.63146/001c.132290
Author: Belle Selkirk
Institution: The University of Western Australia
Language: English
Subfield: Health
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
OpenAlex ID: W4408430586