African Perspectives Flashcards
Give three reasons that motivate for the creation of an African Psychology
- psych used to oppress American black people and support the African colonial project through comparison of “primitive” to “modern”
- to date, psych has had little to do with the poor black populations in Africa
- imported psychologies do not portray African life and mentality - appropriateness and applicability in question
There is a debate around how to create an African psychology. What are the two positions?
- Rejection of Essentialism: Africans do not have a “unique” psyche, rather develop a psychology based on the needs and lives of African people
- Support for an African Psychology: Africans have a distinct psychology, rooted in the belief that there is a unique African reality or way of being
One of the critiques of the African psychology is that is postulates a..
“generic African self”
- is this plausible across the vast diversity of Africa?
African psych is founded on a holistic and….
which means…
anthropocentric ontology
humans form an indivisible whole with the cosmos (God, nature, people etc) and function as centre of the universe from which everything is understood and explained
Within the indivisible cosmic whole of the “African”, there are three cosmic orders/realities that can be distinguished.
What are they?
- the macro-cosmos
- the meso-cosmos
- the micro-cosmos
Outline the macro-cosmos
- the domain in which God is encountered
- (inherent) religious existence of traditional Africans grounded here
- no distinction between the sacred and the worldly in African existance
- religion thus focuses not in the individual, but on the community, is interlinked with its collective functioning
Outline the meso-cosmos
- situated in individual and collective imagination
- no man’s land where spiritual powers hold sway, and living reality and physical reality exist as well
- in this level that behaviour, conflicts and events are explained
- MOST NB level for psych, as African perspective attributes behaviour to external agents in this realm (challenge western idea of freedom/autonomy)
What is one of the results of modernisation and colonialism on the African psyche?
Africans have lost their rootedness in the macro- and meso-cosmic orders that should serve as guidelines for their dialy lives in the micro-cosmic order
Outline the micro-cosmic order
- domain of the individual in their daily COLLECTIVE EXISTENCE (wholly influenced by macro- and meso-cosmos)
Compare the Western and African perspective of an individual’s ethos
Western:
- survival of the fittest
- “control and rule nature”
- competition, uniqueness, autonomy
- e.g., ego, self-concept, SA
African
- survival of the community
- union with nature
- co-op, interdep, agreement, communality
- e.g., us, we people-identity, extended self
- extended self = unbroken circle encompassing infinite past, infinite future and all contemporary African
The personhood or identity is entirely embedded in his or her…..
collective existence
“I am, because we are; and since we are, therefore I am”
How does the African view of self as one of collective existence impact the application of Western psychology?
It confounds the notion of actualisation of the self, or development of the personality as the centre theme/driving force behind human life and study
What are the two functions of Nwoye’s African psych theories?
- protest against western psych and its neglect of the black life
- rehabilitation of the culture and orientation of research in African universities
Nwoye’s African psych wants to be:
- developed from the perspective of Africans and for Africans - relevant to their lives and struggles
Nwoye sees the African psychology as more…
inclusive and extensive than the Westerns notions of self - thus the two schools can exist together and learn from one another
Nwoye’s theory is…
Meaning….
synoptic
It is not reductionist personality theory, but wants to understand the individual as socially and culturally mediated
How ought the 8 personality dimensions be seen?
Not as isolated structural components, but as a blended, indivisible mesh.
Each dimension functions as a source of self-fulfilment and social belonging or stress and psychopathology
Name and outline the first 4 of the 8 Personality dimensions according to Nwoye
- The embodied self
- the aspect of the self that is open and visible to others
- negative feedback on the (black) body a source or stress and self-alienation - The generative self
- agentic and enterprising capacities of the person, the seat of ambitions and plans for betterment
- subject to status anxiety and sense of failure (poverty of black people) - The communal self
- the relational and inclusive self (living and dead)
- source of social and emotional sustenance
- can be a burden (black tax etc) - The melioristic self
- the self’s resident therapist, helps find meaning in life
- keeps one mindful and past and potential future (gives hope)
- danger: draw more inspiration from it than it can provide (destructive/illogical hope or optimism)
Each Generation Commits Murder
Outline the second 4 of the 8 personality dimensions according to Nwoye
- The narratological self
- reflects sediments and influence of cultural memory
- internalised story-telling that connects the modern African to a larger historical imagination
- where self- and community consciousness collide
- pos and neg: drawing meaning and value from tradition; enslaved by a rigid/authoritarian traditional values - The structural self
- inner seat of individual thinking, feelings and will (psych counterpart of embodied self)
- located in organs of the body
- pos: psych vocab to articulate thoughts/feelings
- neg: mythology of suspicion, hate, organ trading for ill intent - The liminal self
- being in a state of transition
- African’s particularly exposed to this to crisis and transitions (unemployment, a refugee camp - limbo, suspended being) - The transcendental self
- emphasis Africans place on sacred dimension of everyday life
- Belief in:
a. God
b. spiritual agencies (+&-)
c. Ancestors
d. Words have power
Nathan Succeeds in Learn This
What is the idea of a “good life” for the African individual according to Nwoye?
- not synonymous with absence of pathology
- the outcome of being blessed with 5 major good things
1. life
2. prosperity
3. health
4. children
5. Peace and joy
What are some of the benefit to development that African psych sees in the African people (2 points)
- holistic view of person and world encourages use of both brain hemispheres and minimizes anxiety
- functioning as part of a collective existence offers security to counteract anxiety and tension (not constantly referred back to self and competition as in the West)
How is psychopathology seen in an African psychology
- role of ancestors, spirits and sorcerers play NB role
- a stage of fragmentation, or disharmony with ancestors
- not what but WHO brought ailment about
- mind and body are one, so all mental disorders are psychosomatic
List the 14 differences between African and Western healing practices
- Practical vs Idealised relationship
- Open vs confiding relationship
- Directive vs Indirective
- Super + natural vs Natural
- Who caused vs What’s happening
- Aim: Social cohesion vs indi empowerment
- Healer tells client vs client tells healer
- Mostly pharmacology vs sometimes pharmacology
- Often ritualistic vs seldom ritualistic
- Broad boundaries vs restricted boudaries
- Conscious motivation vs Uncon motivation
- Dream as comms vs Dreams as symbolic
- Healer’s values intrinsic vs therapist’s values subjugated
- Tools are materials (bones etc) vs Tools are verbal
Practical, Open, Directive, Who, Social, Healer(tells clien), Pharmacology, Rituals, Boundaries, Motivation, Dreams, Values, Tools
P O D S W S H P R B M D V T
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What is one of the main critiques of African psych?
- essentialises cultural differences and romanticizes the African traditional experience, ignoring the messiness and contradictions of everyday life
- risks reifying and romanticizing the black/African experience
