Inspired by the online phenomenon ‘rapper tag’, this chapter includes the voices of young people ... more Inspired by the online phenomenon ‘rapper tag’, this chapter includes the voices of young people Taiwo and Ornette have worked with. A ‘rapper tag’ is a non-interrupted, responsive and consecutive battle rap, in which one rapper performs a rap (spits a verse), then tags another, who spits a verse in response, and so on. It starts with an excerpt from a 2007 BBC interview with Fender, an eighteen-year- old male, about the impact music had on his rehabilitation as an inmate. Ornette picks up on some of Fender’s themes before tagging twenty-year-old Elisha and Taiwo simultaneously. Taiwo and Elisha respond to Ornette, before Taiwo tags in nineteen-year- old Amelia. They all share reflections about how we liberate ourselves and contribute to the liberation of others.
The authors, a Systemic Therapist (Author 1) and a young activist (Author 2), call for an approac... more The authors, a Systemic Therapist (Author 1) and a young activist (Author 2), call for an approach that draws on Liberation Psychology and Transformative Justice to address pervasive racism in society, beyond statements of solidarity with Back Lives Matter. This requires addressing the impact on Black communities of the criminal legal (or criminal INjustice) system, ‘perpetual community trauma’ and grief, multiple forms of social disadvantage and exclusion and the relationship between these forms of racial trauma and serious youth violence. Rather than going back to business as usual once the current focus on Black Lives Matter dissipates, such as calls for more police, more prisons and more exclusion, the authors suggest that we work against the grain and envision alternative systems based on community‐based responses to trauma and oppression with mental health practitioners and community activists working together. Practitioner points Drawing on Liberation Psychology can enable us...
We have known each other personally for over a decade and although we were developing our praxis ... more We have known each other personally for over a decade and although we were developing our praxis in similar directions, we connected professionally at the Eighth European Congress of Community Psychology. Maria was leading a roundtable discussion with Mark Burton, Raquel Guzzo, Steve Melluish and clinical psychology trainees, on what European community psychology can learn from Latin America, where Taiwo was participating. This was the starting point of conversations and Maria inviting Taiwo to teach liberation psychology together. This chapter is based on our experience of joint teaching on a London-based Professional Doctorate in Clinical Psychology course since 2011 (brief excerpts from the tapes of our teaching session in October 2013 appear in quotation marks and italics), and recorded dialogues between us taking place over meetings between November 2013 and February 2014. This chapter has offered us the opportunity to reflect and build on this shared teaching journey and to sh...
Taiwo Afuape’s decision to train as a therapist has its roots in her Nigerian heritage and her pa... more Taiwo Afuape’s decision to train as a therapist has its roots in her Nigerian heritage and her passion to challenge oppression
Inspired by the online phenomenon ‘rapper tag’, this chapter includes the voices of young people ... more Inspired by the online phenomenon ‘rapper tag’, this chapter includes the voices of young people Taiwo and Ornette have worked with. A ‘rapper tag’ is a non-interrupted, responsive and consecutive battle rap, in which one rapper performs a rap (spits a verse), then tags another, who spits a verse in response, and so on. It starts with an excerpt from a 2007 BBC interview with Fender, an eighteen-year- old male, about the impact music had on his rehabilitation as an inmate. Ornette picks up on some of Fender’s themes before tagging twenty-year-old Elisha and Taiwo simultaneously. Taiwo and Elisha respond to Ornette, before Taiwo tags in nineteen-year- old Amelia. They all share reflections about how we liberate ourselves and contribute to the liberation of others.
The authors, a Systemic Therapist (Author 1) and a young activist (Author 2), call for an approac... more The authors, a Systemic Therapist (Author 1) and a young activist (Author 2), call for an approach that draws on Liberation Psychology and Transformative Justice to address pervasive racism in society, beyond statements of solidarity with Back Lives Matter. This requires addressing the impact on Black communities of the criminal legal (or criminal INjustice) system, ‘perpetual community trauma’ and grief, multiple forms of social disadvantage and exclusion and the relationship between these forms of racial trauma and serious youth violence. Rather than going back to business as usual once the current focus on Black Lives Matter dissipates, such as calls for more police, more prisons and more exclusion, the authors suggest that we work against the grain and envision alternative systems based on community‐based responses to trauma and oppression with mental health practitioners and community activists working together. Practitioner points Drawing on Liberation Psychology can enable us...
We have known each other personally for over a decade and although we were developing our praxis ... more We have known each other personally for over a decade and although we were developing our praxis in similar directions, we connected professionally at the Eighth European Congress of Community Psychology. Maria was leading a roundtable discussion with Mark Burton, Raquel Guzzo, Steve Melluish and clinical psychology trainees, on what European community psychology can learn from Latin America, where Taiwo was participating. This was the starting point of conversations and Maria inviting Taiwo to teach liberation psychology together. This chapter is based on our experience of joint teaching on a London-based Professional Doctorate in Clinical Psychology course since 2011 (brief excerpts from the tapes of our teaching session in October 2013 appear in quotation marks and italics), and recorded dialogues between us taking place over meetings between November 2013 and February 2014. This chapter has offered us the opportunity to reflect and build on this shared teaching journey and to sh...
Taiwo Afuape’s decision to train as a therapist has its roots in her Nigerian heritage and her pa... more Taiwo Afuape’s decision to train as a therapist has its roots in her Nigerian heritage and her passion to challenge oppression
Towards emotional well-being through Liberation Practices: a dialogical approach, 2015
Inspired by the online phenomenon ‘rapper tag’, this chapter includes the voices of young people ... more Inspired by the online phenomenon ‘rapper tag’, this chapter includes the voices of young people Taiwo and Ornette have worked with. A ‘rapper tag’ is a non-interrupted, responsive and consecutive battle rap, in which one rapper performs a rap (spits a verse), then tags another, who spits a verse in response, and so on. It starts with an excerpt from a 2007 BBC interview with Fender, an eighteen-year- old male, about the impact music had on his rehabilitation as an inmate. Ornette picks up on some of Fender’s themes before tagging twenty-year-old Elisha and Taiwo simultaneously. Taiwo and Elisha respond to Ornette, before Taiwo tags in nineteen-year- old Amelia. They all share reflections about how we liberate ourselves and contribute to the liberation of others.
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