Staging liberation: Role-play, the social unconscious, and the decolonisation of postgraduate psychology education in South Africa

This paper examines how embodied learning can place social justice at the centre of postgraduate psychology education in South Africa. Drawing on a two-year participatory action research project with two cohorts of postgraduate students (N = 40), the strategy combined role-play, reflective writing, and facilitated dialogue. Grounded in the group psychoanalytic concept of the social unconscious in dialogue with decolonial and critical pedagogy, and Cultural-Historical Activity Theory, it sought to unsettle Eurocentric assumptions and make visible the sociopolitical forces shaping identity, power, and therapeutic practice. Reflective essays, debrief transcripts, and role-play performances were interpreted through Braun and Clarke’s reflexive thematic analysis, attending to affective language, silences, contradictions, and embodied moments of tension. Four interrelated shifts emerged: movement from surface to deep reflexivity; performance as a mirror for unconscious bias; critique of systemic injustice in psychology; and the transformative potential of collective reflection. Findings suggest that embodied learning enables a reimagining of psychology as politically conscious and socially engaged. Holding discomfort within a collaborative, reflexive space enabled students to embody a liberatory praxis - developing ways of knowing, relating, and practising that moved psychology beyond pathology toward healing, justice, and epistemic transformation.