Every fall students in the the Community Psychology, Liberation Psychology, and Ecopsychology Specialization of the M.A./Ph.D. Depth Psychology Program gather together to present their Community and Ecological fieldwork research projects. The community and ecological fieldwork projects take place during the summer quarter of a student's first and second year in the program. Working with a faculty advisor, students choose an organization or group to work with, applying the insights and methodologies learned from this innovative course of study.

In mid-December of 2015 students, alumni, staff, faculty, and guests gathered together on the Ladera Lane Campus to view the poster and multi-media presentations created by the students of the Community Psychology, Liberation Psychology, and Ecopsychology Specialization.

To share this exquisite and powerful work of the students, and the communities they engage with, I have provided a list of each presentation. To learn more about the individual communities and fieldwork students work with download the list of presentations complete with full abstracts. 

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How do we make decisions regarding the recent attacks in Paris, Beirut, Somalia, and last April's incident at Kenya's Garissa University College? On NPR a few days ago, news commentator Robert Siegel talked about how calm United States President Barack Obama was being because the president did not want to make decisions based on emotional responses.

Some groups are calling for more bombings targeted at these individuals behind the recent terrorists attacks, but should our response to violence be more violence? I emailed Mary Watkins, a professor of depth psychology here at Pacifica to get her thoughts. She responded with this: 

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Ferguson, Missouri has a history that is worth exploring when looking at the 2014 incident between 18-year-old Michael Brown and Darren Wilson, a policeman with Ferguson Police Department. 

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At this time of year Pacifica welcomes 11 new groups of students to campus for their first year of graduate school. We are excited to share some personal stories from Pacifica faculty members who reflect on their first days of graduate school. 

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Community Reparations

A guest post by Liz Diligio, a 2nd year student in the Community Psychology, Liberation Psychology, and Ecopsychology Specialization of the M.A./Ph.D. Depth Psychology Program (C.L.E. program)

In May of 1972 Jon Burge, a Vietnam veteran, was promoted to police detective on Chicago’s south side. For the next twenty years Burge and other officers used torture techniques Burge learned in Vietnam to force confessions from men arrested in the neighborhood. Jon Burge eventually sent over 200 hundred men to prison based on confessions obtained through torture. The practice finally came to light during proceedings before the Police Board in 1992, when City lawyers admitted that the evidence of Area 2 (Burge’s district) use of torture established "an astounding pattern or plan… to torture certain suspects… into confessing to crimes.”

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A guest post by Dr. Mary Watkins and Dr. Ed Casey. The following is excerpted from their insightful book Up Against the Wall Re-Imagining the U.S.-Mexico Border

We live in an era of forced migration with unprecedented global dimensions. How are we to peaceably and justly co-exist together -- those of us who must leave our homes forever to meet our human needs, and the rest of us who find our neighborhoods, towns, and cities changing as a result of these necessary migrations? In particular, how can we create a compassionate and just response to new neighbors who have come to the United States to find work or asylum?  We offer this book as an invitation to a sustained reflection on these questions.

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What I believe to be the heart of the Community Psychology, Liberation Psychology, and Ecopsychology specialization is the fieldwork process where students are “asked to listen actively to the kinds of cultural, community, or ecological issues” that call them to service and enaged in those communities. In each of the first two years of this specialization, students are asked to work with the insights and methods of depth psychology in a community setting. This setting provides a window through which one can study the interdependent relation between psyche, culture, and environment. Serving as a rite of passage for students in the program is the poster and/or multi-media presentation showcasing their work with these different communities and organizations.

 “Searching for My Identity”; “Deportation of Mexican-born U.S. Veterans”; “Gentrification and the Future of Oakland, California”; “Druze Men’s Perspectives on Violence Against Women” were just a few titles of fieldwork presentations presented by Pacifica students on December 16, 2014.

To share this exquisite work of students and the communities they engage with I have provided a list of each presentation. To read more download the list of presentations complete with full abstracts. 

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