The Application of Critical Consciousness and Intersectionality as Tools for Decolonizing Racial/Ethnic Identity Development Models in the Fields of Counseling and Psychology

Abstract

This chapter provides a critical analysis of how racial and ethnic identity models have been used and misused as frameworks for essentializing and patholologizing people of color. The chapter begins with a discussion of how racial/ethnic identity stage theories fail to capture the vast within-group differences in identity development found among members of racial and ethnic groups. It describes how some of these models subtly promote an assimilationist message, while simultaneously de-emphasizing the pervasive and persistent forces of white supremacy in contemporary US society. It also argues that focusing solely on the impact of race and/or ethnicity on identity development fails to consider the multiple social identity categories that intersect within one’s life, keeping invisible the forces of patriarchy, heternormativity, class oppression, ableism, and other forms of systemic, institutionalized discrimination. Finally, I present a case for moving the racial/ethnic identity development paradigm toward emphasizing the development of critical consciousness among people of color.