Defense Date

4-26-2023

Graduation Date

Summer 8-5-2023

Availability

One-year Embargo

Submission Type

dissertation

Degree Name

PhD

Department

Clinical Psychology

School

McAnulty College and Graduate School of Liberal Arts

Committee Chair

Leswin Laubscher

Committee Member

Eva Simms

Committee Member

Yarimar Rosa-Rodríguez

Keywords

Hope, Hoping, Hopelessness, Colonialism, Coloniality, Decolonization, Puerto Rico, Phenomenology, Grounded Theory, Community

Abstract

As the United States continues to restrict Puerto Rico’s self-determination and imposes oppressive institutions such as the Oversight Board, the people of the archipelago live in precarity and hopelessness. Limited psychological research on colonialism has focused on the detrimental impact of oppression and its influence on the development of fatalism and the inferiority complex. On the other hand, existing psychological theories of hope fail to describe how it is lived within the post-colonial context and to explain the ways in which this psychological phenomenon arises even in the face of systematic dehumanization. As Puerto Ricans show evident signs of hope through their continuous attempts to survive and to change their material conditions, this multi-method qualitative study describes the lived experiences of hopelessness, hope, and hoping within the colonized context of Puerto Rico and analyzes the factors and dynamics that influenced their development.

In open-ended interviews eight participants were asked about their experiences of hope and hopelessness since 2016. Through the critical existentially-informed hermeneutic phenomenological method, I generated an evocative description of the lived experience of these phenomena and identified four structures of experience: (1) Hope as Desire for and Action Towards Wellbeing, (2) The Enlivening of the Living Dead, (3) Existential Connection after Alienation and (4) Recognition of Collective Possibility after Individual Helplessness. Then, the constant comparative method was used to generate a critical constructivist grounded theory on the development of hope and hopelessness within the colonized context of Puerto Rico. Among the factors that influenced the development of hopelessness were (1) lack of resources and support, (2) self-passivity and the passivity of others in the face of adversity, (3) previous experiences of adversity. On the other hand, among the factors that influenced the development of hope were (1) access to resources or support, often provided by friends, family or community, (2) inspiration imagination, and motivation generated by the actions of others, and (3) living through new positive experiences. These actions were interpreted using the lens of psychology as a human science, including but not limited to decolonial theory.

Language

English

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