HITW 126 | Vine Deloria, Jung, Hillman & Decolonizing Psychology | Dylan Hoffman PhD

This episode has been a long time coming. I’ve wanted to speak about this topic for quite a while and have been looking for the right person to have the conversation with. When I found out that my guest today, Dylan Hoffman, has included the work of Indigenous author and activist Vine Deloria in his depth psychology courses at Pacifica Graduate Institute, I suspected that I might have finally found the right person to have this conversation with.I wasn’t disappointed.In the discussion that follows, you’ll hear Dylan and I address the topic of decolonizing psychology — what that means, why it’s important to recognize it and call it out, and why including Indigenous voices like Deloria into psychological training is essential to that project.We discuss the ways Deloria both appreciated and critiqued the work of Jung, how colonization can’t be separated from Christianity, what our favourite renegade psychologist James Hillman contributes to the decolonizing project, and how a marriage of archetypal psychology and shamanic practice might just offer an authentic and effective animist spiritual practice for a post-colonial, post-Christianity west.This was a fantastic conversation and I’m sure I’ll be speaking with Dylan again down the road. Works Discussed:C.G. Jung and the Sioux Traditions: Dreams, Visions, Nature and the Primitivehttps://www.amazon.com/C-G-Jung-Sioux-Traditions-Primitive/dp/1882670612God Is Red: A Native View of Religionhttps://www.amazon.com/God-Red-Native-View-Religion/dp/168275314XLight in the Dark/Luz en lo Oscuro: Rewriting Identity, Spirituality, Reality (Latin America Otherwise)https://www.amazon.com/Light-Dark-Luz-Oscuro-Spirituality/dp/0822360098Epistemologies of the South: Justice Against Epistemicidehttps://www.amazon.com/Epistemologies-South-Justice-Against-Epistemicide/dp/1612055451/