Engaging critical community resilience praxis: A qualitative study with Mapuche communities in Chile facing structural racism and disasters

This study aimed to engage critical theories and examine resilience processes from indigenous perspectives while exploring the impact of racism, intersecting adversities, and ongoing decolonial struggles in Mapuche communities. Decolonial qualitative methods, situational analysis, and community‐engaged participatory approaches were utilized in application of a critical community resilience praxis (CCRP). First, an interagency collaborative entitled Mapuche Equipo Colaborativo para la Investigación de la Resiliencia (MECIR) was established. MECIR involved partnerships between a Chilean national research center for disasters, a nongovernmental organization of indigenous advocates/researchers, and a Mapuche community health center. MECIR completed semistructured interviews with 10 participants (N = 10) in addition to ethnographic observations. Four themes of resilience emerged: newen, “strength and spiritual life‐nature force”; azmapu, “ancestral systems of social organization and tribal law”; nietun, “cultural revitalization”; and marichiweu, “resistance.” Findings contribute to reconceptualizations of resilience from Mapuche perspectives while identifying culturally meaningful strategies for promoting racial justice and mental health equity. Results show benefits of CCRP in community psychology research in an international setting.
Source: Journal of Community Psychology - Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Tags: ARTICLE Source Type: research