GSEP Faculty Featured in American Psychologist Special Issue
Pepperdine GSEP faculty lead groundbreaking contributions in American Psychologist’s special issue on liberation and decolonial psychologies.
Three faculty members from the Graduate School of Education and Psychology (GSEP) at Pepperdine University—Thema Bryant, Shelly Harrell, and Dominique Malebranche—are featured prominently in the May–June 2025 special issue of American Psychologist, the flagship peer-reviewed journal of the American Psychological Association (APA).
The issue, titled Practicing Decolonial and Liberation Psychologies, brings together leading scholars to explore frameworks that challenge dominant narratives in psychological science and center humanization, healing, resistance, and justice for marginalized communities.
Bryant and Harrell served as co-editors and co-authors of the special issue, alongside a distinguished group of psychologists and researchers. Malebranche was the first author of one of the featured articles, marking a powerful contribution from GSEP to the national conversation on culture, social justice, and liberation in the field of psychology.
The collection of articles explores how decolonial and liberation psychologies are practiced in clinical, research, and community settings—inviting scholars and practitioners to reimagine the field through the lenses of sociocultural context, spirituality, justice, and collective healing.
The full issue is available online through the APA:
Read the Special Issue