Ignacio Martín-Baró
Spanish-born Jesuit social psychologist in El Salvador
Jesuit priest and social psychologist at the Universidad Centroamericana in San Salvador who argued that psychology should serve the poor and address the social conditions of Latin America. He was killed in 1989.
Why this person matters
Martín-Baró is usually named as a leading figure in liberation psychology. He questioned psychological models built outside Latin America and asked what psychology does for the people it studies. He worked with colleagues at the UCA, and his writings reached English readers through editors and translators.
Main contributions
Psychology of liberation
A review in the Spanish Journal of Psychology traces three phases in his work: an early plan for clinical psychology influenced by psychoanalysis, a critical social psychology that sought to de-ideologise the oppressed classes of El Salvador, and a psychology of liberation for Latin America.
Influence on community and critical psychology
His work inspired liberation psychology in Latin America and has influenced community psychology, feminist psychology and critical health psychology. Writings for a Liberation Psychology, edited by Adrianne Aron and Shawn Corne, appeared in English from Harvard University Press.
Public opinion research at the UCA
He founded and directed the University Institute of Public Opinion (IUDOP) at the Universidad Centroamericana, and was vice-rector for academic affairs and head of the psychology department.
Context and limits
Martín-Baró worked during the Salvadoran civil war, and his career ended in the killings of Jesuits at his university. Sources disagree on some dates: Loyola University Chicago dates the founding of IUDOP to July 1989 and another source to 1986; one reference gives his birth year as 1943 instead of 1942. The English edition of his writings is dated 1994 or 1996 depending on the source.
In your introductory course
Culture and diversity.Appears in culture, community and critical social psychology sections. Students meet him as the figure who asked psychologists to take sides with the oppressed instead of claiming neutrality.
Related course reading: Psychology 2e, section 1.3. This is course context rather than a biographical source.
Years of active work
- 1979
Took a doctorate in social and organisational psychology at the University of Chicago, with a thesis on population density among the poorest classes in El Salvador.
- 1981
Became academic vice-rector of the UCA and a member of its board of directors.
- 1989
Murdered on 16 November on the UCA campus in San Salvador, with five other Jesuits.
Sources
- Spanish Journal of Psychology (Cambridge), A psychology of liberation for Central America: the unfinished work of Ignacio Martín-Baró (1942-1989)Publisher. Abstract inspected.
- Loyola University Chicago Special Collections, Fr. Martín-BaróUniversity. Institutional biography inspected.
- Wikipedia, Ignacio Martín-BaróReference work. Reference article inspected.