AMMA Psyche and Blackness Institute

God AMMA, African entity responsible for the divine breath and the original verb; spiral of creation and expansion of the world.

For various groups from Black Africa, the spiral represents the power of creation, life’s dynamic, circular movement in continuous evolution and expansion.

Instituto AMMA Psique e Negritude (AMMA Psyche and Blackness Institute) was created out this concept, in September, 1995. This nonprofit organization was founded by a group of black Psychologists: Maria Lúcia da Silva, Marilza de Souza Martins, Silvia Souza and Ana Maria Silva. The four of them engaged in treating emotional wounds and traumas caused by racism, discrimination and prejudice.

AMMA Institute’s purpose is to provide black people self-knowledge, as well as consciousness of their own potential, bringing back self-esteem and identity. Another purpose is to reinforce respect for the differences, establishing positive and transforming human relationships.

AMMA intends to approach the complex inter-ethnic racial relations, especially those that take place among phenotypically different populations, from a psychosocial, clinical, educational and organizational point of view. The Institute understands that many representations living in Brazilian imaginary have been build up from racist ideas that keep reproducing, causing serious consequences to black people’s psychical health.

In 2006, AMMA Institute won the Franz de Castro Holzwarth Human Rights Award, granted by the Ordem dos Advogados do Brasil (Brazilian Bar Association) – Seção SP, in the Honorable Mention category.

AMMA’s current staff is the Psychologists Maria Lúcia da Silva, Marilza de Souza Martins, Jussara Dias, Maria Aparecida Miranda, Maria Cristina Francisco, Clélia Prestes; and the Psychiatrist and Psychoanalyst Marisa Correa da Silva.

Visit the website of the AMMA Institute Psyche and Negritude