Myers, department of black studies, the ohio state university, 486 university hall, 230 north oval mall, columbus, ohio. An overview of south african psychology article pdf available in international journal of psychology 472. Eastern spirituality posted on january 24, 2012 by michael cunningham osho who was a widely followed indian guru from the 60s80s brings up some very interesting and insightful points about the differences between western psychology and eastern spiritualitys approach to. Effective counselling should provide appropriate help to people living in a contemporary and diverse society.
Abstract psychological counselling relates to basic humanity and universal values such as the regard for human dignity, healthy socialisation, and emotional health. Psychological counselling relates to basic humanity and universal values such as the regard for human dignity, healthy socialisation, and emotional health. Or, put another way, what constitutes the subjectmatter of african psychology. He ascribes to africas psychology and culture the potential to heal the western world of its shortcomings in holism. The practice of psychology in south africa cannot be complete without its multicultural nature and.
University of the western cape 1996 adapted from a paper presented at the psychology and societal transformation conference, university of the western cape, bellville, south africa. The main differences appear to concentrate on how individuals relate with each other and in communities. Black psychology, also known as african american psychology and african black psychology, is a scientific field that focuses on how people of african descent know and experience the world. Regarding developmental psychology, ingelby 1995 noted that its tools were constructed to suit, reveal, and constitute members of the western world, or, more accurately, the modern child. African experience muhammed mamud baba abubakar tafawa balewa university, bauchi. Therapy why african americans avoid psychotherapy black people shy away from psychology s solutions to mental health problems. Why african americans avoid psychotherapy psychology today. The psychology associated with the east differs so greatly from that associated with the west that often the eastern version is not considered psychology at all. This will be done by highlighting and compering central ideas inherent in each perspective. The thrust of this paper is to heighten awareness, stimulate new thoughts and generate discussion on the wealth of indigenous knowledge.
I think the article was first presented at the 1st international conference on african psychology held in 2014 at the university of limpopo. The handbook of african american psychology provides a comprehensive guide to current developments in african american psychology. What is psychology in africa, or should it be african psychology. Abnormal psychology alban burke oxford university press. This situation was inimical to any early efforts to entrench african psychology as an academic discipline in african universities. Neither health nor ill health occurs randomly within populations.
Counselling individuals who experience emotional or relational problems is a function of the helping and health care professions. Psychology in africa or african psychology is a million dollar question that remains to be debated by psychologists in africa and those in diaspora as to the true status of psychotherapy and psychology practice in africa. What is the difference between african psychology and. Different cultures can operate together, rather than being seen as conflicting it is not me vs. West, and suggest exploring more dynamic ways explaining the ways in which these cultures operate. Fundamentally, these perspectives are summarized by the following simple proverb. Pins psychology in society 54 2017 42 abstract the principal objective of this article is to work out an africentric theory of human personhood. African american psychology exam 1 flashcards quizlet. Thus, the narrow scope of the theories and methods of a euroamerican psychology cannot aptly fit african social thought and praxes e.
So i can talk about psychology and about africa because there are many different types of people who. Mental health and psychotherapy through the eyes of culture. There is a strong western dominance in social psychology theory and research. Crosscultural issues in comtemporary counselling practice. Cherly, 2006 the root of this framework is rooted in a worldview ie. His field of expertise is crosscultural developmental psychology, and particularly culture and cognition, wherein he has published extensively, alone and as coauthor with leading scholars of the field. The heresy of africancentered psychology naa oyo a. The practice of psychology in south africa cannot be complete without its. The black psychological approach concerns itself with the psychological consequence of being black in america.
Moreover, they insist on and are focused on developing a psychology thats rooted in the african worldview. In what ways can african psychology be distinguished from western psychology. Western psychology focuses on the human being as an object, rather than an entity that is comprised of spiritual, physical and biological attributes. We have thus written the terms and african westernin lower case, to represent. We thus advocate the notion of western psychology and african psychology as two contributors to the mainstream, in an equal dialogical relationship with all other psychologies globally, that constitute the mainstream or total psychology landscape. This situation was inimical to any early efforts to.
What are the basic differences between eastern and western. Western domination of social psychology wikiversity. Psychology researcher daphna oyserman and her colleagues advocate for a less static view of separate cultures east vs. Thus, modern scientific psychology, drawing exclusively upon the empirical, positivistic, mechanistic, and. The africentric framework is a genre of thought and praxis based in the cultural picture and interest of people of african descent. Jan 17, 2016 i consider, as one of many african psychologists, these orientations which is what i think african psychologies are, even though i know why others might understand african psychology as a thing or a field raise the simple but consequential fact that african psychology or psychologies is or are not american psychology.
The concept of mental disorder is determined by many factors, including the historical context, cultural influence, level of scientific knowledge and capacity to carry out scientific enquiry, level of education in certain circumstances, as well as many others. Among other procative questions it asks is, could the anglophile jan christiaan smuts pictured, be regarded as the first father of african psychology. Challenging the hegemony of eurocentric psychology. African and western psychology african american psychology can be distinguished from western psychology, not only by the population studied i. Pdf african vs western psychology macmillan zikalala. Mental health and psychotherapy through the eyes of. Origin and development of scientific psychology in africa. However, baldwin argues that because african people existed before european people as a distinct culblack psychology is african psychology.
This situation was inimical to any early efforts to ent. During the l960s a group of african american intellectuals in the newlyformed black studies departments. This essay shall seek to describe some of the fundamental tenants of african and western psychology. A western person is accredited with living an individualistic form. Culturefocusing for multicultural competence addresses various topics on the psychology of african people.
People in western cultures, he suggests, tend to view intelligence as a means for individuals to devise categories and to engage in rational debate, while people in eastern cultures see it as a way for members of a community to recognize contradiction and complexity and to play their social roles successfully. What is the difference between african psychology and western. Throughout the past halfcentury, the formal study of psychology in african universities has been colonized by mainstream western psychology. Indigenous psychology assumes that every culture conceives of human nature in its own terms, and organizes development according to that image.
What is afican psychology the psychology of abstract1. The various branches of the social sciences, including psychology, understand that neither health nor ill health occur randomly within populations. While a student at oxford university, smuts is said to have completed a. It was also his professorial inaugural lecture at the university of kwazulu natal ukzn, south africa. Especially for spiritual healing, it is important for the client. Pdf what can western psychology learn from indigenous. This is our african psychology, psychiatry, pharmacology and medical practice. Essandoh, in comprehensive clinical psychology, 1998. We s t e r n journal of black studies on african psychology, duane schultz on africanamerican personality a major mainstre a m p s y c h o l o g i s t s c h o l a r, schultz has authored several textbooks on the h i s t o r y of psychology and personality theories, and imari obadele. The formation of the forum of african psychology fap division by the psychological society of south africa psyssa in 2009 has reanimated the politics of the relevance of psychology in south africa, that had been thought to have in part been negotiated by the intervention by nsamenang 1990 and the then journal of african psychology. What can western psychology learn from indigenous psychologies. Blackafrican centered psychology, as a system of thought and action, examines the. A person born in the west, looks for the means, and thus prefers a lifestyle where he is the center of his activities. Nobles asserts in african psychology that western psychology misses the central point by focusing on human behaviors rather than examining the human as a spiritual being.
Eastern, holistic perspectives recognize the interactive nature of reality, similar to the views of general systems theory. What are the differences between western psychology and. The book refers to both international classification of diseases icd10 and diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders dsmivtr criteria to classify and define mental disorders it is very accessible to students and outcomesbased. This ethnocentric western approach to the study of social behaviour has been led by america and is embedded with theoretical, content and methodological cultural biases that. Psychological counselling, western oriented, counselling, indigenous african psychology. Six theses on african psychology for the world is an editorial published in the journal pins psychology in society. African indigenous knowledge and research owusuansah. Chapter pdf available january 2005 with 4,297 reads. The field, particularly in the united states, largely emerged as a result of the lack of understanding of the psychology of black people under traditional, westernized notions of psychology. But insofar as each has a view of the mind and the self, or of the psyche, both can be said to have a psychological view.
The practice of psychology in south africa cannot be complete without its multicultural nature and historical background. Kwate1 this paper contends that africancentered models of psychopathology represent a heretical challenge to orthodox north american mental health. Study of blackfolk through a lens if you want to understand black life you have to look at them through an african lens. It is the selfconscious centering of psychological analyses and applications in african realities, cultures, and epistemologies. The field, particularly in the united states, largely emerged as a result of the lack of understanding of the psychology of black people under traditional. Based on the pioneering scholarship of cheikh anta diop and g.
The history and visions of african american psychology. These domains comprise the adaptations and expressions of behavior that are fundamental to experience, and give rise to basic cultural psychology as defined by experiencenear concepts. The aim is to attempt an african psychological rendering of that. Indigenous psychology an overview sciencedirect topics. Multiple pathways to place, space, and authority bertha garrett holliday american psychological association the author describes the multiple pathways of events and strategies that served to nurture african american psychology in.
According to kleinman 1980, patients and healers have their own explanatory models that is their particular understanding of what a human being is and how psychosocial disorders that may appear are to be accounted. Eastern versus western psychology saybrook university. Though some controversy remains, and the definitions of what personality is from an african perspective are quite different than those we might recognize in traditional western psychology, this work has led to some interesting insights. Learn vocabulary, terms, and more with flashcards, games, and other study tools. Black psychology, also known as african american psychology and africanblack psychology, is a scientific field that focuses on how people of african descent know and experience the world. This could be yet another uncomfortable story for south african psychology, but it may point to an unrecognised set of achievements of psychology in the democratic era. James in 1954, afrocentricity afrocentrism postulates that an africancentered worldview places african cultural unity, history, and philosophy as the central perspective for which the world is experienced, interpreted, and engaged. If these fields of study are demonized it is as much because of the lack of transparency and openness to empirical study by its practitioners as dismissal by the superior white man. It presents theoretical, empirical, and practical issues that are foundational to african american psychology. By seeking to negate western psychology with folk psychology, ethnographic african psychologists actually provide credence to the regrettable practice, common in colonial scholarship, of pitting western science against african folk traditions instead of comparing similar things.
If you are asking if black people think differently, then i am not sure if this question is racist or not, but i would avoid answering it. Some postgraduates of south african psychology departments are certainly making their mark on south african society in ways that are historically significant. Blackafrican centered psychology is a dynamic manifestation of unifying african principles, values and traditions. Forum of african psychology, polokwane, limpopo province, 27 29 march 2014 abstract throughout the past halfcentury, the professional study of psychology in africa has been dominated by the euroamerican approaches.
One of their many strengths is their ability to engender faith and hope in the therapeutic process frank, 1978. African researchers need to persist in developing and using alternative methods of studying our reality and refrain from sticking to the research pathways mapped out by western methodologies, within which many have been trained. Traditional healers use a variety of techniques that have been empirically proven effective in western psychotherapy. What are the principal goals of african psychology. What constitutes the epistemological foundations of african psychology. In a very real sense, african psychology dreams of redeeming, not only the discipline and profession of psychology, but of the entire human condition.
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