Abstract
This chapter began as an attempt to highlight the struggles of communities living in Temporary Residence Areas (TRAs). Our aim was to let the community speak as one outcome of our involvement with the struggles of the people of Blikkiesdorp and other TRAs. Both during the project and in writing the chapter we found this simple idea, rather difficult to implement. In the chapter we reflect on some of the challenges we faced in implementing this idea. While we benefitted from our involvement with these communities we remain far more uncertain about the extent to which the communities benefitted. In spite of the extent to which we believe we were able to step outside of the parameters of mainstream clinical psychology, the translation to community gains was very little. We argue that while we could have, and needed to make different choices, this must be located within the constraints all researchers, practitioners and activists face in trying to create a more socially just world. The devastating impact of neo-liberal economic policies and the increasing ascendancy and dominance of mainstream psychology in South Africa and globally require even greater resourcefulness and resistance to realise social justice goals. We hope the chapter serves as both a lesson and an inspiration to continue our work for a transformed psychology.
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Acknowledgements
While we take responsibility for any errors in the text, this has genuinely been a collective undertaking. Thanks to all the students who contributed so much to the project over the years, and to all the administration and support staff, especially Renee Klink. Thanks also to the editors for creating this opportunity for us. The biggest acknowledgement is to the communities we worked with. We are deeply grateful to all of you. If you wish to support the community in any way, or want to have acess to the documentary referred to in the chapter, please contact any of the authors. As expressed earlier this started out as the main purpose of the project and chapter. (Please note this is an essential change and must be included. This was the main purpose of the chapter being written)
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Ahmed, R., Karriem, A., Mohammed, S. (2022). ‘We Can Speak but Will There Be Any Change?’ Voices from Blikkiesdorp, South Africa. In: Walker, C., Zlotowitz, S., Zoli, A. (eds) The Palgrave Handbook of Innovative Community and Clinical Psychologies. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-71190-0_31
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