The question of emancipation lies simultaneously at the margins and the centre of psychological work. At the same time, we are faced with enduring legacies of marginality, exclusion and injustice, and the possibilities for liberatory consciousness and action for change. As we look thus toward a new horizon, constitutive of shifting realities and aspirations, we must take cognisance of the ways in which the historical is located within contemporary struggles, most recently highlighted by the widening of systemic social and health inequalities and injustices in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. It is at these confluences that psychology offers a generative space for justice-aligned, new and creative thought and practice – in alignment with African-centred subjectivities, philosophies and imaginaries. In this moment, signified by plural knowledges, traditions, narratives and social actors in African and South African psychology, the imperative to (re)imagine and (re)inscribe psychology in alignment with the continent’s realities and priorities remains ever-pressing.

Drawing inspiration from lessons learnt in crisis, and liberatory resurgences in Africa and elsewhere in the Global South, the 26th Annual South African Psychology Congress seeks to animate emancipatory impulses and potentialities within the science, practice and profession. The Congress Scientific Committee invites submissions from practitioners, scholars, researchers, educators, students, community organisers, activists, artists, and policymakers that showcase and contribute to trajectories and movements in psychology thought, practice and activism. The Committee encourages both conventional and non-traditional submissions that feature and engage cutting-edge, innovative and cross-cutting applications across the different areas of psychology. 

The 26th Annual South African Psychology Congress will be held in Johannesburg, South Africa from the 26th to 28th October 2022.

PsySSA looks forward to hosting you!