Six theses on African Psychology for the world

• Published in: Psychology in Society
• Main Author: Ratele, Kopano
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Faculty of Arts & Social science, Department of Psychology 2017
• Subjects: African psychology; First Nations
• Online Access: http://www.journals.ac.za/pins/article/view/6070; https://doi.org/10.17159/2309-8708/2017/n54a1

Thesis 1: All of human psychology is African psychologyRead from below, from the perspective of victims of slavery, colonialism and contemporary racism, histories of knowledge are reminders of subjection. Europe’s triumphant march of progress expresses the destruction of indigenous know-how. European civilisation implies the dehumanisation of locals. Any history of indigenous African psychology is therefore a history of subjugated knowledge. Like all histories of victims of legislated dehumanisation, be they of the first nations, indigenous people, blacks, women and queers, such a history will always be entangled. It is outside history, against the archive, reflective of conquest. It speaks to loss, haunted by attempts at rediscovery. Thesis 2: The spirits of European philosophers and United States (US) poets in psychology in AfricaPsychology in the non-colloquial sense refers to disciplined knowledge. It is the systematic study of the psyche. That is one definition. It is not undisputed. Other psychologists prefer the study of behaviour. That is another definition. Not everyone agrees with it. There is actually no universally agreed upon definition. Thesis 3: A need exists for more interchanges and more openness to influence each otherTo state that psychology in Africa has been influenced by European presuppositions, notions and morals is not to be interpreted as arguing for expunging all foreign ideas. In his contribution to the present issue, Augustine Nwoye, contends “although some Eurocentric theories of the human personality or personhood … already exist, including those developed by some African American psychologists … some of which are very relevant to our experience, a continental African version of the theory of African human personhood is still needed”. Nwoye is arguing for a universal psychology of pluriversal psychologies, a multiplicity of views of the personhood instead of a domineering Euro-American centred perspective of the self. In passing, given the dearth of African centred theories of ...