The History of Psychology in South Africa and Decolonising Psychology
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Stellenbosch University (SUN)
This document provides detailed analysis and understanding of the western nature of psychology as a result of decolonisation. Additionally, it covers the decolonisation of psychology project in South Africa.
● Psychology is guilty of abstracting (removing) people from their context; history;
culture and religion and instead promotes individualism.
For example: Verwoed was a psychologist and his ideas formed the basis of
apartheid. Thus, the past comes to shape and influence the present.
● Knowledge production about psychology informs its teaching and practice in
the wider world.
the production of knowledge about psychology in South Africa, which informs how
we practice psychology through teaching, research, psychotherapy, psychometric
assessments etc.
Naidoo 1996 [Reading 1] proposes that the knowledge Psychology has created is
inherently western, Eurocentric, and positivist-empirical.
Positivist = to get knowledge it must be quantified and observed in a scientific
manner.
This form of causality eliminates individual context and experience.
● This creates an idealized world view that does not reflect the majority. Instead; it
represents the subjective views of Western; heterosexual; middle-class men.
● This positivism studies human nature and the human experience in a highly
unnatural environment.
Thus, is this information valuable to your life considering its origins and context? No.
There are large gaps in traditional social psychology. There is a tendency to
decontextualize experience and the subjectivities of others that creates individualistic
psychology.
Oftentimes, the nuance of the environment refracts its social reality.
e.g. someone's response to their context or history can create things such as
stereotypes. This holds the individual responsible without considering context. This can
collude with capitalism (bigger than the individual).
Ella Bosman - Psychology
, 2
This emptying out of context established psychology as a true science but at a large
cost to the morals.
Environmental policies and group behavior controls/ surveys in a way how we
behave. Some of these theories do apply with some essential and underpinning factors
in society.
How did Psychology fit into apartheid i.e. was it complicit or does it challenge the
system?
Bowman [Reading 2] gives a summary of pre and post 1994 psychology. There have
been noticeable changes between the two periods.
Background: South Africa was an apartheid state where life was segregated by race
and regulated by a racist regime. Psychology lent legitimacy to the apartheid state –
the two were mutually beneficial and therefore psychology gained strength.
Pre-1994 features of Psychology in SA:
● Humanitarian role - positioned to be upholding human rights.
● Psychology divisively looked at humans stripped from their social and political
reality.
● Psychology authorized racism through ‘scientific’ discoveries. E.g. Educational
psychology says that education should prepare people for their roles in life. Thus, black
people should not study science and math because they will be in the world of hard
labor. Thus, these policies policed people and psychology is complicit in the
indoctrination of racism.
● Documented the experience of white people and ignored that of black people.
Thus, the knowledge generated was not representative of the lived experience of
black people.
● Thus, psychology generated a racially skewed process of knowledge production
and training. This was only available to white people and this systematic process is still
engrained today.
● Created racially defined diagnostic systems. E.g. Bantu Hysteria (black people)
vs depression (white people). à thus further isolated white and black – as they could
never be the same. This further entrenched the separatist and oppressive views of the
apartheid regime. Alienating/ othering/ subjugating.
● Objectified black people as an object of grotesque ridicule or further as “others”
Ella Bosman - Psychology
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