Womanist and Mujerista Psychologies: Voices of Fire, Acts of Courage

The experiences of African American women and Latinas are rich and complex. These women simultaneously bring healing, wholeness, and restoration to themselves and their communities. While they live with risk economically, psychologically, socially, and politically, they have also attained noteworthy ways of coping and thriving. Thus, the growing literature on their experiences highlights narratives of survival, struggle, and soaring.

This inspiring book introduces the psychologies of womanists and mujeristas - African American women and Latinas, respectively, who have a broad and inclusive approach to feminism and liberation. Womanist and mujerista values and worldviews emphasise resiliency, strength, activism, self-expression, creativity, spirituality/connection, self-definition, and liberation of all oppressed people.

As opposed to much general psychology literature that pathologises or marginalises the experiences of African American women and Latinas, this book centralises their psyches and unpacks the underexplored areas of their historical and contemporary ways of knowing and approaches to living. The value of cultural and gender identity is viewed not from a deficit perspective, but instead as an asset and contributor to meaning, identity, and strengths.

The authors of this volume are all womanists and mujeristas who are leading psychologists and scholars. They integrate findings from multiple disciplines to explore psychology, spirituality, creativity, activism, counselling, healing, research, and leadership from a womanist and mujerista perspective.