Indigenous psychologies

"This edited volume instills new vigour into psychology as it calls for the legitimation of indigenous models. The editors have done a masterful job, bringing together so many different contributors, all deeply devoted to the specificity of psychology in their home country, as well as respectful of scientific foundations." --Transcultural Psychiatric Research Review "Any psychologist who has wondered about the place of culture in psychology or questioned the applicability of Western research results to 'different' social and cultural contexts will find much food for thought in this edited volume. . . . Perusal of the book offers many and diverse answers to the question, 'What are indigenous psychologies?' . . . The chapters are written at a level most suitable for social sciences professionals, graduate students, and other researchers who are interested in including 'culture' and cultural groupings in their work. The volume deserves our attention because it speaks about a significant trend in psychology as formulated by some of the researchers who are helping to launch it." --Gui-Young Hong, review in World Psychology "Psychology" has traditionally meant Western psychology, using the assumption that human universals hold true for humankind because they hold in Western society. But psychology, as practiced in other parts of the world, raises an alternative view of human behavior. Indeed, human universals are problematic, and need to be revealed through an examination of multiple indigenous psychologies in order to establish comparisons between cultures. In Indigenous Psychologies the native contributors of 14 different cultures present aspects of their own indigenous psychology, showing the diversity and wealth of psychological knowledge that can be obtained from attention to indigenous research traditions. Their collective message is clear: Western scholars need to rethink the premises of their discipline and discover how a universal psychology can be attained. An important volume that helps form the basis for cross-indigenous psychology, Indigenous Psychologies is necessary reading for professionals and students of psychology, cross-cultural research, cultural studies, and anthropology.