UNIT2 - AFRICAN PSYCHOLOGY - AFRICAN PERSEPCTIVES UNDERLYING PSYCHOLOGY Flashcards
What is a clan, according to the clan-centred perspective?
A clan is an organization consisting of a network of individuals linked by immediate and distant kinship. It’s the basic structure of an organized integrated system, ruled by leaders who are custodians of law and order.
What are the key characteristics of clanship?
Clanship is characterized by features such as lifestyle, rituals, traditions, customs, and other distinguishing features unique to the clan.
Why were lifestyle, rituals, traditions, and customs considered important in the indigenous Afrocentric worldview?
They gave a clan an identity and constituted indigenous African psychology, helping with survival and enabling the functioning of the clan.
How did clan leaders ensure the continuity of the clan?
By teaching younger members methodologies that promoted a mindset of clan safety and unity, emphasizing participation in the protection of the clan, nature, and animals.
What values were promoted through teachings on clan safety and unity?
Interdependence, a sense of unity, and a common purpose.
What were some of the subjects included in the traditional clan curriculum?
Health, spirituality, adulthood, occupation/job orientation, agriculture, and recreational activities.
What was the understanding of collective existence within a clan?
Clan members were made aware that the extinction of one element (e.g., animals, nature) would make other elements vulnerable, threatening the clan’s existence.
What does the cognitive-centred and wisdom-acquisition perspective encompass?
All historical narratives, folklore, and relics provided to clan members to enable mental and physical reasoning.
What are the two viewpoints within the cognitive acquisition perspective?
(i) Reasoning and common-sense development and
(ii) the advancement of clan well-being for inclusive development.
How was reasoning and common sense developed in traditional clans?
Through integrated experiences gained through intellectual and physical training, including various ceremonies, activities, and narratives.
Give examples of activities that contributed to intellectual and physical training.
Birth, death, marriage, dances, festivals, games, music and songs, proverbs/riddles, sports like wrestling, stories about legends, folktales, myths, historical narratives, traditional poems, and incantations.
How was common sense and wisdom learned and practiced beyond formal training?
Through clan judicial systems, clan politics, other human affairs, mediation, counseling, and social work involving clan affairs.
What did the “advancement of well-being for inclusive development” viewpoint entail?
Caring for nature, animals, and the environment, which are all part of a clan. It also heavily emphasized the well-being of the clan members themselves through healthy diets, exercise, stress reduction, and healing practices.
How was well-being valued in traditional clans?
Highly valued, with attention paid to the nutritional value of food, organic food practices, and regulated daily activities for physical and mental well-being.
How was stress managed in traditional clans?
Through socialization at clan gatherings, village meetings, and daily work activities accompanied by songs.
What were some aspects of healing practices in clans?
Consultation, diagnosis, treatment, consultation to confirm healing, and nurturing the sick with empathy and consistency.
In the Affective centered aspect what role did emotion play in a clans cultural ideology?
Emotion was an element of a clan’s cultural ideology of daily living.
How was emotional expression and control developed and strengthened within a clan?
Through the sound of the beating patterns of musical instruments, artefacts, drawings, and dances.
What was emotional control considered to be?
A manner of behaving in private and public spaces without displaying signs of weakness.
How was emotional control enforced?
With clan praises, calming songs, and the beating pattern of traditional instruments.
What was the consequence of failing to display emotional control?
Exclusion from society.
What did the ability to suppress emotions symbolize?
Emotional strength and resilience amid life’s challenges.
