I like to think that my desk is reflective of the state of our planet, with uprisings, rage, and love laid out on an acrylic surface. There’s a relevant quote about a cluttered desk equaling a cluttered mind, but an empty desk signaling something more grave, and I am okay with justifying the former. May and June have been days of reading, drafting, resubmitting, and interrogating emotions with obligations. In the past few weeks, the come down from my second year in college felt brief as it bled into my work to begin my Africa House Summer Grant research while holding space for the international and personal rage. My original plan for this summer was to travel to Nigeria to study pedagogical and wellness-based practices of psychology. Similar to others, my plans have changed to reflect my location in Pennsylvania and adjustments to my thesis. My journey to begin this project has been illuminating, with critical additions and changes to my research topics and general timeline.
Questions that sustain:
- How do environments affect/taint studies of the concept of the person?
- Is it possible to disrupt the processes of reinscription (coloniality, the gender binary, race making) in psychology practice?
- What are examples of unrecognized knowledge production within noneducational spaces?
Through conversations with family abroad, research mentors, theory, and the voice in my head, I have reoriented my work to reflect a more tangible research outcome by the end of the summer. My previous goal was to research the capacity for a decolonial shift in psychology teaching and practice in Nigeria. So far, I have structured my project methods to explore definitions and formations of the self in psychology. In order to streamline my research and work I produce, I am now tracing the roots of personhood in colonization as it occurred and lingers in Nigeria. I am in the process of note-taking and have interviews lined with Nigerian psychology scholars and practitioners for clarification and guidance. For transparency’s sake I must not that to be Black, and away from home in this moment has been an undeniable pull from academic deadlines, but I have resurfaced an unwavering commitment to my project goals.
