New paths for psychological anthropology

Abstract

Innovations in psychological anthropology (Routledge, 2024), a work edited by Rebecca J. Lester, is presented as a self-critique of psychological anthropology. The collection of essays seeks to revisit the discipline’s foundations, exposing how its concepts and practices have supported colonial and exclusionary projects. The chapters address contemporary and urgent topics, such as the decolonization of cognitive methods, the inclusion of neurodivergent minds, transformative justice, refusal as a political act, and the racialization of the therapeutic experience. The introduction, authored by Lester herself, situates the field at a turning point, calling for a revision of its legacy, especially the “epistemological pact” inaugurated by Franz Boas. This review concludes that the work is thematically cohesive and responds to long-standing criticisms about the field’s fragmentation, although its main limitation is the almost exclusive geographical focus on the United States of America, which challenges the immediate applicability of its proposals in other contexts.