Six theses on African Psychology for the world

Thesis 1: All of human psychology is African psychologyRead from below, from the perspective of victims of slavery, colonialism and contemporary racism, histories of knowledge are reminders of subjection. Europe’s triumphant march of progress expresses the destruction of indigenous know-how. European civilisation implies the dehumanisation of locals. Any history of indigenous African psychology is therefore a history of subjugated knowledge. Like all histories of victims of legislated dehumanisation, be they of the first nations, indigenous people, blacks, women and queers, such a history will always be entangled. It is outside history, against the archive, reflective of conquest. It speaks to loss, haunted by attempts at rediscovery. Thesis 2: The spirits of European philosophers and United States (US) poets in psychology in AfricaPsychology in the non-colloquial sense refers to disciplined knowledge. It is the systematic study of the psyche. That is one definition. It is not undisputed. Other psychologists prefer the study of behaviour. That is another definition. Not everyone agrees with it. There is actually no universally agreed upon definition. Thesis 3: A need exists for more interchanges and more openness to influence each otherTo state that psychology in Africa has been influenced by European presuppositions, notions and morals is not to be interpreted as arguing for expunging all foreign ideas. In his contribution to the present issue, Augustine Nwoye, contends “although some Eurocentric theories of the human personality or personhood … already exist, including those developed by some African American psychologists … some of which are very relevant to our experience, a continental African version of the theory of African human personhood is still needed”. Nwoye is arguing for a universal psychology of pluriversal psychologies, a multiplicity of views of the personhood instead of a domineering Euro-American centred perspective of the self. In passing, given the dearth of African centred theories of personality, I conjecture that over time Nwoye’s article, “An Africentric theory of human personhood”, is going to be very influential and well-debated. Thesis 4: Black psychology is linked to but not identical with African psychologyIn 1969 Noel Chabani Manganyi (2013) published his paper on hysteria among African women. The following year he completed a doctorate in psychology at the University of South Africa. Because he is black, Manganyi could be seen as the rightful father of African psychology and, therefore that the history African psychology begins in the late 1960s. Thesis 5: A distinction is made between extraverted, Western European/US American-centric psychology in Africa and introverted, African-centred psychologySo confusion reigns when surveying African psychology. Elsewhere I have said, unless one twists oneself into knots, “all of psychology done in and for Africa, about Africans, by Africans as well as non-Africans (working on Africa) is African psychology” (Ratele, 2017b: 1). It is clearly a straightforward matter, I averred, except when it is not. And the latter, not the former, is usually the state of affairs. Thesis 6: A critical African-centred psychology between African psychology and critical psychologyFollowing the founding of the African Psychology Forum in 2009 as a division of Psychological Society of South Africa, the debates on, among other things, the uses, definition, status, aims, and approaches of African psychology were reignited. However, there is still often more heat than light about what is African Psychology and why we might need it or not

Analysing males in Africa : certain useful elements in considering ruling masculinities

Th is article examines the questions why and how African males have been analysed, informed by the view that across several societies in Africa undeclared yet public gender wars of words and deeds go on daily, and may even be intensifying. It argues that though interventions with males from feminist perspectives have gained ground over the last few decades, more radical, to the gendered African worlds and masculinities have failed to materialise because analyses of boys and men’s lives have tended to be blind to the imbrications of the experience of maleness with the experience of other signifi cant social categorisations, such as being without gainful employment. Consequently, many interventions, such as those around violence against women and girls, have failed to grasp some of the critical factors underlying males’ reluctance to support feminist action. Th e article therefore routes its examination of males through a number of categories of social-psychological experience and practice, namely (a) occupational and income attainment and, (b) age, categories theoretically tied to maleness and to practices geared towards the attainment of ruling masculinity. Th e article reveals the manner in which the psychosocial and the political inter-penetrate each other in the lives of African males. In conclusion, the recognition of the heterogeneous nature of masculinities also, ironically, aff ords mounting new feminist interventions into changing traditional ruling ideas of being a man or boy.Institute for Social and Health Science

Watch your man: Young black males at risk of homicidal violence

This article will argue that masculine domination is a crucial factor in black male homicidal victimisation in South Africa, but that this is not always appreciated. Under apartheid it was black men who were most likely to be at the receiving end of fatal political violence. Currently black men are still most likely to die violently from interpersonal conflicts. This article aims to underline the fact that it is important for political leaders, policy makers and police chiefs to speak out more often, publicly and without beating around the bush, that young black males are at the highest risk of homicide in South Africa. The article also offers an explanation why young black males are most vulnerable to homicidal violence

Watch your man: Young black males at risk of

This article will argue that masculine domination is a crucial factor in black male homicidal victimisation in South Africa, but that this is not always appreciated. Under apartheid it was black men who were most likely to be at the receiving end of fatal political violence. Currently black men are still most likely to die violently from interpersonal conflicts. This article aims to underline the fact that it is important for political leaders, policy makers and police chiefs to speak out more often, publicly and without beating around the bush, that young black males are at the highest risk of homicide in South Africa. The article also offers an explanation why young black males are most vulnerable to homicidal violence

Frequently asked questions about African psychology

Recent work on African psychology (Long, 2016; Makhubela, 2016; Nwoye, 2015) has restaged, and at times perhaps worsened, the decades-old confusion about the definition, scope, impetus for, and ultimate aims of an African psychology within South Africa (SA). A clarification – and perhaps more than just a clearing up – is warranted about the stimulus, prevailing and possible meanings, end-goal, and horizons, but also how, in light of the call for the decolonisation of higher education in SA, we – meaning students, teachers, researchers, therapists – might design African psychology university courses, research, professional programmes and therapies, as well as networks. An attempt is made to explicate what appear to be basic misperceptions by responding, after a fashion, to some frequently asked questions about African psychology – as well as other questions that usu ally remain unaskedInstitute for Social and Health Studies (ISHS

Four (African) psychologies

n “What is African psychology the psychology of?,” Augustine Nwoye asks a question that continues to trouble those with an interest in psychology in relation to African societies. This question, in various semblances, is not entirely new. And, to be sure, it is far from unique to Africa but instead tends to worry many socially conscious psychologists in countries in the global South. The effort Nwoye makes toward advancing African psychology warrants an extended response. In broad terms, I agree with the argument to advance an African psychology. However, there are differences between how we conceive of African psychology. Thus, this article asserts that the growth of Africa(n)-centred psychology is hindered by the view that it is singular and static instead of composed of dynamic and manifold orientations. The article presents four orientations to psychology in Africa, namely, psychology in Africa, cultural African psychology, critical African psychology, and psychological African Studies.Institute for Social and Health Studies (ISHS

African (situated) psychologies of boys, men and masculinities

How might psychology less alienatingly study African men and boys? What potential contribution, in other words, might a situated psychology make towards understanding men and boys? Urged by these questions, and grounded in the view that there is still relatively little concerning Africa for itself, as well as much that is dehumanising of Africans within (North American and western European-centred) psychology this article seeks to present what I refer to as (African) situated psychologies, and more specifically (African) situated psychologies of boys, men and masculinities. Whilst the article is generally meant to contribute to the development of African psychology, because of an abiding interest in boys, men and masculinities, the article is also specifically intended to show how we might go about centring Africa in psychological studies of boys, men and masculinities. The basic argument is that attachment to (North American- or Western European centred) psychology and Africa is inherently estranging, and what may be necessary is to critically trouble globally hegemonic traditions into which psychology students, teachers, therapists, and researchers located in Africa and with an interest in boys and men are hailed. Four different orientations in studies of psychology of masculinities are outlined, namely, a psychology of African boys, men and masculinities; psychological African studies of boys, men and masculinities; a more cultural African psychology of boys, men ad masculinities; and a more critical African psychology of boys, men and masculinities.Institute for Social and Health Studies (ISHS

Masculinities without Tradition

The fear of being perceived as gay, as not a real man, keeps men exaggerating all the traditional rules of masculinity, including sexual predation with women’. This view on men’s sexual (Following feminists such as Tamale [2011. African Sexualities: A Reader. Nairobi: Pambazuka Press] that thinking on ‘sexuality without looking at gender is like cooking pepper soup with pepper’, meaning that they are mutually imbricated with and shape one another, unless I wish to stress a point or indicate otherwise, whenever sexuality and associated concepts are used here it is meant gendered sexuality) and gender practices in relation to ‘the traditional’ expressed by Kimmel is shared with other leading scholars on masculinities. Yet, in situating queer sexualities against ‘the traditional’ or outside tradition, studies on masculinities have engendered a paradox which needs untangling in any serious attempt to unsettle traditionalist positions that clash with claims for the recognition of sexual equality. The main purpose of this article is to offer a different reading of the relation between masculinities and ‘the traditional’. Arguing that it is at the moment that the word ‘critical’ or its equivalents is uttered that a tradition leaks through, the article offers a critique of anti-‘traditional masculinity’ critiques which reinforce the homogenisation and retribalisation of African (While acknowledging the complexity accompanying the use of the terms in South Africa, as well as recognising their ideology-ladenness, in this article African and black are used interchangeably and refer to those historically defined as Bantu.) tradition and culture. At the same time, the article examines and seeks to undo some of the arguments of patriarchal hetero-masculinist traditionalism resistant to the recognition of desires and rights of women and men who are attracted to others of the same sex through foregrounding claims for equality for queer attraction and recognition

Risk and protective factors to male interpersonal violence: Views of some male university students

This article reports on a study that sought to elicit the views of male university students on risk and protective factors to male interpersonal violence. The participants were 116 third-year students who participated in a final year research project in the Women’s and Gender Studies (WGS) Programme at the University of Western Cape (UWC). Each of the students conducted six semistructured face to face interviews with male students. Following initial analyses of the interviews, a video-recorded class discussion was held to discuss the research findings. The data from the class discussion was captured under the four levels of individual, relationship, community and society, utilised by the World Health organization (WHO) in its World Health Report on Violence and Health. The analysis of the class discussion and the students’ own research reports revealed that at the individual level, risk and protective factors primarily revolve around the challenges of constructing a viable masculinity in specific social and economic contexts; at the relationship level, the key factors appear to be the experiences and expectations around gender roles and family dynamics; at the community level, it seems that weak or non-existent community networks and activities feed into increasing the risk of male community members becoming involved in violence. Each of these three levels needs to be understood against the historically specific backdrop of the societal ecological level: the gendered cultural values expressed in and reflectedby the wider social, economic and political contexts

Suicidal Behaviour in South Africa and Bangladesh: A Review of Empirical Work

Suicidal behaviour is as significant a public-health concern in the global South as it is worldwide. In this article we offer a review of studies on suicidal behaviour in two countries in the global South – one in Asia (Bangladesh) and one in Africa (South Africa). A total of 20 South African and 16 Bangladeshi articles published between 2008 and 2018 were selected using PubMed and Google Scholar databases. Only empirical, research-based articles with an explicit focus on the prevalence and causes of suicide in both countries were screened and selected for this review. The review confirms that in both countries suicidal behaviour tends to be higher among certain younger age groups and people of low socio-economic status. In South Africa, non-fatal suicide attempts are more evident among females, whereas fatal suicidal behaviour is more common among males. In Bangladesh, both fatal and non-fatal suicidal behaviour are more evident among females than males. Mental-health-related problems are prominently reflected as strong factors associated with suicidal behaviour in South African literature, while social factors such as marital disharmony, violence, and family problems pervade the Bangladeshi literature. From studying the extant literature, we propose that while large-scale surveys and observatories are needed, it is equally necessary for researchers to conduct more in-depth qualitative research, specifically taking into account gender, to have a richer and more nuanced appreciation of the psychosocial issues and socio-cultural contexts of suicidal behaviour. Comparative, transnational research between the two countries is also recommended. The development of national and subnational databases and surveillance systems, the extension of mental-health support, reduction of gender and economic inequalities, and promotion of social cohesiveness are some of the critical intervention strategies necessary to prevent suicidal behaviour in both South Africa and Bangladesh