African Psychology Lecture 1 of 2 Sept 2024 PDF

AFRICAN PSYCHOLOGY Lecture 1 of 2, Sep 2024 READINGS Ratele, K. (2017). Four (African) Nwoye, A. 2015. What is African psychologies. Theory & psychology the psychology of?. Theory & Psychology, 27(3), 313-327. Psychology, 25(1), 9...

AFRICAN PSYCHOLOGY Lecture 1 of 2, Sep 2024 READINGS Ratele, K. (2017). Four (African) Nwoye, A. 2015. What is African psychologies. Theory & psychology the psychology of?. Theory & Psychology, 27(3), 313-327. Psychology, 25(1), 96-116.  Prescribed reading for this week. It will be covered in the exam. Henrich, J., Heine, SJ., & Norenzayan Ara. 2010. Most people are not WEIRD Westerners. Nature, 466|1 July. Arnett, J. J. (2009). The neglected 95%, a challenge to psychology's philosophy of science. American Psychologist, 64(6), 571– 574. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0016723  Recommended readings for interested students who want to understand more on criticisms against Euroamerican psychology. Not examinable Are people across different societies more similar or more different from each other? Do people have a similar psychology (motivation/emotional structures/self-conception, etc?, regardless of background, or are different backgrounds associated with different psychologies? “In the tropical forests of New Guinea the Etoro believe that for a boy to achieve manhood he must ingest the semen of his elders. This is accomplished through ritualized rites of passage that require young male initiates to fellate a senior member (Herdt, 1984; Kelley, 1980). In contrast, the nearby Kaluli maintain that male initiation is only properly done by ritually delivering the semen through the initiate’s anus, not his mouth. The Etoro revile these Kaluli practices, finding them disgusting. To become a man in these societies, and eventually take a wife, every boy undergoes these initiations. Such boy‐inseminating practices, which are enmeshed in rich systems of meaning and imbued with local cultural values, were not uncommon among the traditional societies of Melanesia and Aboriginal Australia (Herdt, 1993), as well as in Ancient Greece and Tokugawa Japan. MOST PEOPLE ARE NOT WEIRD Phrase popularized by Joseph Henrich, Steven J. Heine and Ara Norenzayan. ‘Much research on human behaviour and psychology assumes that everyone shares most fundamental cognitive and affective processes, and that findings from one population apply across the board. A growing body of evidence suggests that this is not the case.’ Henrich, J.,  Heine, S. J., & Norenzayan, A. (2010). Most people are not WEIRD. Nature, 466(7302), 29-29.  THE WEIRDEST PEOPLE “The evidence that basic cognitive and motivational processes vary across populations has become increasingly difficult to ignore. For example, many studies have shown that Americans, Canadians and western Europeans rely on analytical reasoning strategies — which separate objects from their contexts and rely on rules to explain and predict behaviour — substantially more than non-Westerners. Research also indicates that Americans use analytical thinking more than, say, Europeans. By contrast, Asians tend to reason holistically, for example by considering people’s behaviour in terms of their situation. Yet many long-standing theories of how humans perceive, categorize and remember emphasize the centrality of analytical thought.”  Heine, S. J., & Norenzayan, A. (2010). Most people are not WEIRD. Nature, 466(7302), 29-29.  DEBATE BETWEEEN AUGUSTINE NWOYE AND KOPANO RATELE DEBATES ON AFRICAN PSYCHOLOGY Debates have involved several people However, attention is drawn to the debates between Nwoye and I DEBATES, CONTINUED DEBATES, CONTINUED DEBATES, CONTINUED POINTS OF AGREEMENT Nwoye’s question: Is of concern to all those with interest in psychology in relation to this continent Challenges the imperial and colonial foundations of psychological knowledge Demands ongoing engagement Nwoye’s effort toward advancing African psychology has to be seen as part of making psychology more situated in actual societies less western, less American-centric, less Eurocentric, more global. This is my aim too. POINTS OF DISAGREEMENT Augustine Nwoye African psychology as a discipline African psychology is unified Ratele African psychology as a set of orientations African psychology to be made of debates, different approaches, theories, methods.  The difference between the term African psychology and Africa(n)-centred psychology. THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN “AFRICAN  African psychology refers to a broad category of the PSYCHOLOGY” body of knowledge and practices that encompasses all of AND AFRICA(N)- what psychologists in, or in relation to, Africa do. CENTRED PSYCHOLOGY  Africa(n)-centred psychology is a distinctive orientation within and towards psychology and Africa. RATELE’S PROPOSAL The proposal:  Ratele proposes a framework to understand African Psychology  A provisional way of thinking of African psychology in Theory-making, empirical research, university teaching, sociopolitical activism, and therapy.  There is not one psychology but rather Four (African) Psychologies THE FOUR AFRICAN PSYCHOLOGY ORIENTATIONS Western- oriented Cultural African Psychology in Psychology Africa Critical African Psychological Psychology African Studies  The four African psychologies are: differentiated by the way the ideas of Africa and psychology are understood and approached orientations, approaches or stances to Africa DELINEATING THE and psychology FOUR AFRICAN These psychologies are also how academics, clinicians and counsellors: PSYCHOLOGIES Understand psychology’s role in Africa 1/3SYCHOLOGIES Think of their own identities as experts Interpret the discipline’s effect on their research, teaching and practice  The four psychologies are not subdisciplines or DELINEATING branches DELINEATING The four psychologies do not correspond to THE FOUR categories of registration or divisions of the professional associations of psychology AFRICAN PSYCHOLOGIES Instead, they will be found within the 2/3R AFRICAN subdisciplines, within the registration categories, and within the divisions of the professional PSYCHOLOGIES association  Some, more than others, will evidence more debates on African psychology  Three of the four orientations are transdisciplinary DELINEATING Africa(n)-centred psychologists are informed by other THE FOUR disciplines AFRICAN Consult and borrow from fields like African philosophy, PSYCHOLOGIES religion, literature, history, and politics. 3/3 Consult lived experiences and realities of existing in Africa That’s it for today.