98 research outputs found
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. Europeâs 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 âalthough 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 neededâ. 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 Nwoyeâs article, âAn Africentric theory of human personhoodâ, 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, âall of psychology done in and for Africa, about Africans, by Africans as well as non-Africans (working on Africa) is African psychologyâ (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
menâs 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 malesâ 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
We Wonât be Able to Change How We Fight Without Changing How We Love
This article draws from and elaborates on some ideas conveyed in my book, Why Men Hurt Women and Other Reflections on Love, Violence and Masculinity (2022), to reflect on the relationship between love and violence. It contends that as a society we will not be able to change how we fight or oppose each other, at least we will find it more difficult to reduce the magnitude of menâs violence against women, without changing the dominant narrative of love. Although the reflection on the relation between violence and love applies to other kinds of aggression and intimacy, such as between menâs violence against and love for other men, the focus of this article is menâs violence against women they love. Love and violence, the article shows, are not necessarily and always incompatible but instead are sometimes nested in each other
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 â and perhaps
more than just a clearing up â 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 â meaning students, teachers, researchers, therapists â 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 â as well as other questions that usu ally remain unaskedInstitute for Social and Health Studies (ISHS
Four (African) psychologies
n âWhat is African psychology the psychology of?,â 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 womenâ. This view on menâs sexual (Following feminists such as Tamale
[2011. African Sexualities: A Reader. Nairobi: Pambazuka Press] that thinking
on âsexuality without looking at gender is like cooking pepper soup with
pepperâ, 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 âthe traditionalâ expressed by Kimmel is
shared with other leading scholars on masculinities. Yet, in situating queer
sexualities against âthe traditionalâ 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 âthe traditionalâ. Arguing that it is at
the moment that the word âcriticalâ or its equivalents is uttered that a tradition
leaks through, the article offers a critique of anti-âtraditional masculinityâ
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 Womenâs 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 studentsâ 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
- âŠ