Psych 213
Chapter 17- African Perspectives
I. Background
A. Western perspective such as those previously covered neglects the experiences of
black people and traditions of thinking about the person and society that are
indigenous to Africa
B. They still inform and structure the experiences and practices of millions go people
on this continent
C. Also in African diaspora
D. Psychology, still says very little about non-Western societies and individuals
1. It assumes that its models of personhood and behavioural dynamics are
universally applicable and
2. That it does not require any systematic engagement with indigenous
psychology
a) With the way people in other societies and from other cultures make sense
of themselves and their relationships and make sense of “psychic” distress
and develop modalities of “therapy”, independent of psychology as a
scienti c discipline
E. This neglect can be attributed to the tendency towards a positive conception of
science in much of psychology
1. Because it has been discussed earlier on and with its privileging of universal
“laws” of behaviour
F. Psychology founded on certain epistemological principles o ers no conceptual
space for culture di erence
1. Culture is rendered psychologically meaningless and is reduced to mere
surface variations on the underlying themes of universal psychological
mechanisms and processes
2. This neglect of cultural diversity and Africa and Africans has a more
problematic history
a) The epistemological assumptions on which psychology rests, and its own
intellectual development, is closely associated with a history of scienti c
racism and scienti c colonialism
G. Psychology contributes to a situation in which Western culture has been seen as
the cultural norm and other cultures are seen as primitive, less developed and less
able to develop than Westerners
H. Scienti c racism refers to instances where racism is given legitimacy and is
justi ed on the grounds of scienti c “evidence”
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fi fifi fiff fi ff fi
, 1. This was an important ingredient in the ideological justi cation of Western
imperialism and the colonial subjugation and exploitation of the non- Western
World
I. Paul Broca was a leader in the development of scienti c racism and considered
non Westerners as intellectually less endowed than Westerners
J. Francis Galton also denigrated the intellectual abilities of non- Europeans and
especially Africans
K. Majority of psychologists today, reject these ideas and profess the equal value of
all people and the principle of anti-racism
1. However, scienti c colonialism has deeper roots and is more di cult to dispel
from psychology
a) Refers here rstly to the ethnocentric and euro- and American centric nature
of psychology
L. Cultural assumptions and values informing that psychology and how these
assumptions and values are then imposed upon people in other parts of the world
1. Leads to the misrepresentation and mistreatment of cultural others
M. When psychology is taken on by Africans themselves, in African universities and
other sites of psychological thinking and practice, the neo-colonial structure of the
discipline is not always successfully challenged
1. Western theories and concepts are assumed as superior snd dominate the
curricula
N. These perspectives rstly function as a critique of existing psychologically,
focusing on its neglect and misrepresentation of Africa and Africans and secondly
as an alternative psychology, developing an autonomous set of accounts of the
psychology of Africans, or developing a psychology responsive to Africans and
their everyday lives
O. ‘Black psychology’ developed in the 1960s in reaction to the dominance of
‘Eurocentric psychology’
1. Association of Black Psychologists (ABP) was established in America in 1968
and they wrote a journal called The Journal of Black Psychology
a) Still a major forum for the development of African-centric ideas in the
discipline
P. Holdstock critically examines mainstream psychology’s view and provides to date,
the most comprehensive overview of an African perspective on psychology
1. Accuses mainstream psychology of neglecting the possibility that Africa may
have psychological dimensions that are singularly ‘unique and valid’
2. He holds the opinion that ‘relevant and applicable methodologies are required
to unravel and understand the African psyche
Q. African psychology is developing strongly in South Africa at the moment, with the
development of a professional organisation and much creative theoretical work
2 of 12
fi fi fi fifi ffi
Chapter 17- African Perspectives
I. Background
A. Western perspective such as those previously covered neglects the experiences of
black people and traditions of thinking about the person and society that are
indigenous to Africa
B. They still inform and structure the experiences and practices of millions go people
on this continent
C. Also in African diaspora
D. Psychology, still says very little about non-Western societies and individuals
1. It assumes that its models of personhood and behavioural dynamics are
universally applicable and
2. That it does not require any systematic engagement with indigenous
psychology
a) With the way people in other societies and from other cultures make sense
of themselves and their relationships and make sense of “psychic” distress
and develop modalities of “therapy”, independent of psychology as a
scienti c discipline
E. This neglect can be attributed to the tendency towards a positive conception of
science in much of psychology
1. Because it has been discussed earlier on and with its privileging of universal
“laws” of behaviour
F. Psychology founded on certain epistemological principles o ers no conceptual
space for culture di erence
1. Culture is rendered psychologically meaningless and is reduced to mere
surface variations on the underlying themes of universal psychological
mechanisms and processes
2. This neglect of cultural diversity and Africa and Africans has a more
problematic history
a) The epistemological assumptions on which psychology rests, and its own
intellectual development, is closely associated with a history of scienti c
racism and scienti c colonialism
G. Psychology contributes to a situation in which Western culture has been seen as
the cultural norm and other cultures are seen as primitive, less developed and less
able to develop than Westerners
H. Scienti c racism refers to instances where racism is given legitimacy and is
justi ed on the grounds of scienti c “evidence”
1 of 12
fi fifi fiff fi ff fi
, 1. This was an important ingredient in the ideological justi cation of Western
imperialism and the colonial subjugation and exploitation of the non- Western
World
I. Paul Broca was a leader in the development of scienti c racism and considered
non Westerners as intellectually less endowed than Westerners
J. Francis Galton also denigrated the intellectual abilities of non- Europeans and
especially Africans
K. Majority of psychologists today, reject these ideas and profess the equal value of
all people and the principle of anti-racism
1. However, scienti c colonialism has deeper roots and is more di cult to dispel
from psychology
a) Refers here rstly to the ethnocentric and euro- and American centric nature
of psychology
L. Cultural assumptions and values informing that psychology and how these
assumptions and values are then imposed upon people in other parts of the world
1. Leads to the misrepresentation and mistreatment of cultural others
M. When psychology is taken on by Africans themselves, in African universities and
other sites of psychological thinking and practice, the neo-colonial structure of the
discipline is not always successfully challenged
1. Western theories and concepts are assumed as superior snd dominate the
curricula
N. These perspectives rstly function as a critique of existing psychologically,
focusing on its neglect and misrepresentation of Africa and Africans and secondly
as an alternative psychology, developing an autonomous set of accounts of the
psychology of Africans, or developing a psychology responsive to Africans and
their everyday lives
O. ‘Black psychology’ developed in the 1960s in reaction to the dominance of
‘Eurocentric psychology’
1. Association of Black Psychologists (ABP) was established in America in 1968
and they wrote a journal called The Journal of Black Psychology
a) Still a major forum for the development of African-centric ideas in the
discipline
P. Holdstock critically examines mainstream psychology’s view and provides to date,
the most comprehensive overview of an African perspective on psychology
1. Accuses mainstream psychology of neglecting the possibility that Africa may
have psychological dimensions that are singularly ‘unique and valid’
2. He holds the opinion that ‘relevant and applicable methodologies are required
to unravel and understand the African psyche
Q. African psychology is developing strongly in South Africa at the moment, with the
development of a professional organisation and much creative theoretical work
2 of 12
fi fi fi fifi ffi
