Liberation Now Ep 19: Textbooks as Tools for Liberation: Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion in the United States
Release Date: 01/12/2026
Liberation Now Ep 19: Textbooks as Tools for Liberation: Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion in the United States
Liberation Now Podcast
Episode Description In this episode of Liberation Now, Salman Safir and Helen Neville sit down with Dr. José Causadias to discuss his recent open access textbook, Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion in the United States. Drawing from his experiences as a Panamanian immigrant and scholar, Dr. Causadias describes the book as a “love letter” to the United States. In this powerful text he critically unpacks the myth of the American Dream, centers the lived experiences and scholarship of Women of Color, and exposes how laws and policies actively produce inequity. We...
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Liberation Now Ep 18: Future is a Weapon
Liberation Now Podcast
Episode Description In this episode, Radia DeLuna, Salman Safir, and Helen Neville speak with Dr. Devin Atallah about his decolonial and liberation psychology praxis. Together, they explore grief, hope, and possibility for Palestinians amidst ongoing genocide. This deep and moving conversation delves into love, loss, and the power of storytelling, highlighting how our stories root us in history while inspiring us to imagine and build just futures. We reflect on the idea of future as a weapon. You won’t want to miss it. ABOUT THE GUEST Dr. Devin George Atallah is an Associate Professor in the...
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Liberation Now Ep 17: Reparations and Reparatory Justice
Liberation Now Podcast
In this episode, Helen Neville speaks with Dr. Mary Frances Berry and Dr. Sundiata Cha-Jua about their powerful new edited collection (with V.P. Franklin), Reparations and Reparatory Justice: Past, Present, and Future. Listen in to explore the global fight for reparations, uncover pivotal moments in the U.S. movement, and hear bold visions of what justice, liberation, and healing could truly look like for African Americans. ABOUT THE GUESTS Mary Frances Berry is the Geraldine R. Segal Professor of American Social Thought at the University of Pennsylvania where she teaches American...
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Liberation Now Ep 16: Storytelling as Liberation
Liberation Now Podcast
In this episode, Helen Neville and B. Andi Lee speak with Dr. Matthew Miller about storytelling as liberation. Dr. Miller shares his personal journey and the origin story of the SPOKENproject, which promotes coping with, resisting, surviving, and healing from racism through storytelling. Listen in to explore the transformative power of storytelling—and get inspired to integrate it into your own life and work. ABOUT THE GUEST Matthew J. Miller (he/him) is a cisgender heterosexual Korean American male who has spent the latter half of his life trying to understand the many ways in...
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"We Are Not a Curse, We Are a Gift": Trans and Nonbinary Joy and Its Role in Liberation
Liberation Now Podcast
In this episode, Helen Neville and Radia DeLuna speak with psychologist Dr. Em Matsuno about the meaning and importance of trans and nonbinary joy to wellbeing and liberation. Dr. Matsuno shares insights from their research highlighting the strengths, resilience, and joy found within trans and nonbinary communities. Listen in to learn more about research and community practices celebrating joy among trans and nonbinary youth, families, and adults. ABOUT THE GUEST Dr. Em Matsuno (they/them) is an assistant professor in Counseling and Counseling Psychology at Arizona State University. Dr....
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Liberation Now Ep 14: Teaching for Social Justice in these Challenging Times
Liberation Now Podcast
In this episode, Helen Neville speaks with psychologists Drs. Roxanne Donovan, Grace Kim, and Karen Suyemoto about teaching for social justice in these challenging times. The authors share insights from their two books, Teaching Diversity Relationally and Unraveling Assumptions, both published by Routledge. They discuss psychological and social justice frameworks to teaching and learning about power, privilege, oppression, and resistance and they end with thoughts about practicing hope and engaging in self-care strategies amid domestic and global geopolitical crises. ABOUT THE GUESTS Dr....
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Liberation Now Ep 13: Decolonizing Methods in Psychology: Implications for Healing and Liberation
Liberation Now Podcast
In this episode, Salman Safir and Helen Neville speak with internationally recognized psychology and mental health scholar Dr. Joseph Gone. We cover topics related to decolonizing and Indigenous research methodologies and reclaiming American Indian therapeutic traditions. In this conversation, Dr. Gone outlines attributes of traditional knowledge, disrupts ideas about psychological mindset, discusses how some forms of counseling is ideological work, and complicates our understanding of collaborative partnerships. ABOUT THE GUEST Joseph P. Gone () is an international expert in the psychology...
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Liberation Now Ep 12: Ongoing Uprisings in Iran - Woman, Life, Freedom
Liberation Now Podcast
In this episode, Helen Neville speaks with Iranian American scholar-activists Dr. Mehrgol Tiv and Amir Maghsoodi about the current uprisings in Iran. We cover the nationwide protests and state responses since the murder of Mahsa Jina Amini on September 22, 2022. The guests provide context for the roots of the women-led liberation struggle, and the goals and hopes for Iran and her people. This episode was recorded on Nov 29, 2022. Since then, the Islamic Republic government has executed two young men for taking part in protests: Mohsen Shekari and Majidreza Rahnavard. As of...
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Liberation Now Ep 11: The Practice of Radical Hope
Liberation Now Podcast
In this episode, Liberation Lab members B. Andi Lee, Briana Williams, and Helen Neville speak with creator and healer Dr. Della Mosley (a.k.a., Dr. Della) about her first-authored paper entitled “.” Dr. Della discusses the practice of radical hope in her personal life and community work. Listen in to learn about the psychological framework of radical hope and how to apply it to daily life. ABOUT DR. DELLA MOSLEY Dr. Della intentionally uses her education and training in counseling, skills and experience conducting culturally mindful and award-winning research, history counseling Black...
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Liberation Now Ep 10: Approaching Therapy from an Anti-Oppressive & Anti-Racism Lens
Liberation Now Podcast
In this episode, Cherese Waight and Helen Neville speak with award winning psychologists Dr. Candice Hargons and Dr. Nikki Coleman about practicing therapy and professional work from an anti-oppressive and anti-racist lens. They share stories about their training and practice, and they talk about what it means to be authentic in and outside of the therapy room. Learn more about specific ways mental health settings and the field of counseling psychology can decolonize their training efforts. ABOUT THE GUESTS Dr. is an award-winning associate professor of counseling psychology at the University...
info_outlineEpisode Description
In this episode of Liberation Now, Salman Safir and Helen Neville sit down with Dr. José Causadias to discuss his recent open access textbook, Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion in the United States. Drawing from his experiences as a Panamanian immigrant and scholar, Dr. Causadias describes the book as a “love letter” to the United States. In this powerful text he critically unpacks the myth of the American Dream, centers the lived experiences and scholarship of Women of Color, and exposes how laws and policies actively produce inequity. We explore why accessibility matters, how stories and case studies can cultivate critical consciousness, and what it means to ground JEDI work in ethics, care, and humanization. This is a powerful conversation you won’t want to miss if you’re committed to justice, collective action, and liberation.
ABOUT THE GUEST
Dr. José M. Causadias (he/him) is a Panamanian developmental psychologist, activist, and author of "Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion in the United States" a new Open Access textbook published by Cambridge University Press. He earned a bachelor’s in psychology at Universidad Santa Maria La Antigua in Panama in 2001, a master in psychotherapy at Universidad Complutense de Madrid in Spain in 2004, and a PhD in Child Psychology at the University of Minnesota in 2014. He worked as faculty in the School of Family and Human Development at Arizona State University from 2015 to 2025. He received tenure in 2021 and was promoted to Associate Professor. He is currently the Director of the Education Research Center in Panama.
He pursues innovation in theory and research on culture, development, and mental health to improve the lives of Latinx children, youth, and families, especially Panamanian. He has employed systematic reviews and meta-analyses to document the link between risk, protective, and promotive factors in the development of psychopathology, including familism values, racial discrimination, and ethnic neighborhood concentration. He has examined the role of rituals and celebrations during the pandemic and developmental transitions, and their link to mental health, including graduations and funerals. He has co-edited several handbooks and special issues in journals such as American Psychologist, Cultural Development and Ethnic Minority Psychology, Development and Psychopathology, and Journal of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology. In 2025, he was named Salzburg Global scholar.
Selected Publications
Causadias, J. M. (2025). Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion in the United States. Cambridge University Press. ISBN: 9781009098151
Causadias, J. M., & Neblett, E. W. (2024). PARQUES: Dreaming a future for our Latinx children, youth, and families. Journal of Clinical Child & Adolescent Psychology, 53(1), 129-140. https://doi.org/10.1080/
Tyrell, F., Neville, H. A., Causadias, J. M., Cokley, K., & Adams-Wiggins, K. (2023). Reclaiming the past and transforming our future: Introduction to the special issue on foundational contributions of Black scholars in psychology. American Psychologist, 78(4), 367–375. https://doi.org/10.1037/
Causadias, J. M., Alcalá, L., Morris, K. S., Yaylaci, F. T., & Zhang, N. (2022). Future directions on BIPOC youth mental health: The importance of cultural rituals in the COVID-19 pandemic. Journal of Clinical Child & Adolescent Psychology, 51(4), 577-592. https://doi.org/10.1080/
Cahill, K. M., Updegraff, K. A., Causadias, J. M., & Korous, K. M. (2021). Familism values and adjustment among Hispanic/Latino individuals: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Psychological Bulletin, 147(9), 947-985. https://doi.org/10.1037/
Causadias, J. M. (2020). What is culture? Systems of people, places, and practices. Applied Developmental Science, 24(4), 310-322. https://doi.org/10.1080/
Causadias, J. M. (2013). A roadmap for the integration of culture into developmental psychopathology. Development and Psychopathology, 25(4pt2), 1375-1398. https://doi.org/10.1017/
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EPISODE CREDITS
Music: Amir Maghsoodi and Briana Williams
Podcast Artwork: B. Andi Lee & Amir Maghsoodi
Episode Intro/Outro: Helen Neville
Episode Production: Helen Neville and Salman Safir