Week 1
A History of ‘community’ and community psychology in
South Africa
Jeffery Yen Page | 1
Should take into account the history of development of community because:
1. Can throw light on socially constructed nature of psychological terms +
concepts [culture, community – raise awareness of how our use of language
plays role in legitimating/reproducing oppressive relations in our practice of
community psychology]
o How meanings + uses of concepts have changed over time – they do
not have to continue to be thought of in this way
2. Individuals + communities must be understood in relation to their social +
historical contexts – historical account allows us to see how certain ideas +
trends in community psychology have developed in response to social
conditions [re-evaluate appropriateness to current situations + problems]
THE LANGUAGE OF COMMUNITY PSYCHOLOGY
Community: social groups to which we feel we belong, or to those to which we
assume others belong
• Politicians, researchers + community psychologists refer to it as the targets of
their interventions + assume that we know whom they are referring to
Generally has positive connotations
BUT community was a key term in apartheid ideology of separate development:
Community was deliberately confused with legislated racial categories in ways that
implied that these ‘racial communities’ were obviously different from each other with
own distinct culture
Term was used interchangeably with race, ethnic group, nation, peoples =
implication that these communities existed naturally rather than as social
constructions [presently – many people still speak of communities in this way]
Introduction to Psychological Interventions and Community Psychology
, Week 1
This kind of discourse was integral to the way that apartheid government justified its
insistence that each community should develop separately + be responsible for
meeting its own needs = central to government’s justification of inequalities in
resources + power between groups
Page | 2
Central tenets of mental health model of community psychology thus
complemented the discourses of community employed in apartheid ideology
➢ This model defines community in terms of geographical location + aims to
prevent mental illness within ‘catchment area’
SO effects of history of term community would be reproduced even when it was used
with good intentions
o ‘Community’ was used by BCM to bolster sense of solidarity among those
classified as African, Coloured + Indian [‘black community]
o Other times referred to apartheid-imposed communities [such as townships
created through forced removal]
Emphasis on community empowerment + pride in communities created artificially
through Group Areas Act also tacitly reproduced racial categories that such
liberatory discourses were attempting to oppose
▪ Quote page 7
Term community problematic one:
1. Is sometimes assumed to exist where it in fact does not
2. Has potential to recall apartheid terminology + essentialist ideas of racial
difference while also implying romanticized notion of homogenous/unified
communities
BUT these critiques do not account for the ways in which these socially constructed
community IDs have become important ways in which many S.A. citizens see +
experience themselves
Introduction to Psychological Interventions and Community Psychology
A History of ‘community’ and community psychology in
South Africa
Jeffery Yen Page | 1
Should take into account the history of development of community because:
1. Can throw light on socially constructed nature of psychological terms +
concepts [culture, community – raise awareness of how our use of language
plays role in legitimating/reproducing oppressive relations in our practice of
community psychology]
o How meanings + uses of concepts have changed over time – they do
not have to continue to be thought of in this way
2. Individuals + communities must be understood in relation to their social +
historical contexts – historical account allows us to see how certain ideas +
trends in community psychology have developed in response to social
conditions [re-evaluate appropriateness to current situations + problems]
THE LANGUAGE OF COMMUNITY PSYCHOLOGY
Community: social groups to which we feel we belong, or to those to which we
assume others belong
• Politicians, researchers + community psychologists refer to it as the targets of
their interventions + assume that we know whom they are referring to
Generally has positive connotations
BUT community was a key term in apartheid ideology of separate development:
Community was deliberately confused with legislated racial categories in ways that
implied that these ‘racial communities’ were obviously different from each other with
own distinct culture
Term was used interchangeably with race, ethnic group, nation, peoples =
implication that these communities existed naturally rather than as social
constructions [presently – many people still speak of communities in this way]
Introduction to Psychological Interventions and Community Psychology
, Week 1
This kind of discourse was integral to the way that apartheid government justified its
insistence that each community should develop separately + be responsible for
meeting its own needs = central to government’s justification of inequalities in
resources + power between groups
Page | 2
Central tenets of mental health model of community psychology thus
complemented the discourses of community employed in apartheid ideology
➢ This model defines community in terms of geographical location + aims to
prevent mental illness within ‘catchment area’
SO effects of history of term community would be reproduced even when it was used
with good intentions
o ‘Community’ was used by BCM to bolster sense of solidarity among those
classified as African, Coloured + Indian [‘black community]
o Other times referred to apartheid-imposed communities [such as townships
created through forced removal]
Emphasis on community empowerment + pride in communities created artificially
through Group Areas Act also tacitly reproduced racial categories that such
liberatory discourses were attempting to oppose
▪ Quote page 7
Term community problematic one:
1. Is sometimes assumed to exist where it in fact does not
2. Has potential to recall apartheid terminology + essentialist ideas of racial
difference while also implying romanticized notion of homogenous/unified
communities
BUT these critiques do not account for the ways in which these socially constructed
community IDs have become important ways in which many S.A. citizens see +
experience themselves
Introduction to Psychological Interventions and Community Psychology
