Black Psychology Exam/ Due Monday by 6:00
Ojillius22
Ch.1PSYC3230.pptxCh. 1: Foundations for an African American Psychology: Extending roots to an Ancient Kemetic past
Psychology of The Black Experience
Ingrid L. Cockhren, M.Ed
Traditional psychology fails to capture the ethos, or emotional tone, of people of African descent.
Emotional substance of a cultural group solidified by a set of common experiences, common heritage, and common culture.
Emotional tone creates a shared synthesis of energy or spirit, which helps to symbolize and even define our uniqueness as a people.
A Broken compass
Much of the history of person of African descent is told from the context of slavery. Thoughts?
Much of psychology is centered on a racist worldview that saw African people as genetically, intellectually, and emotionally inferior, as well as culturally inferior when compared to European and American counterparts.
Historical contributors of psychology were contaminated with the social zeitgeist (spirit of the time)of America’s obsession with race.
Ziit-guy-ttst
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Slavery, and the African Maafa (Swahili term meaning "Great Disaster") represents only a snapshot in time, rather than the beginning of the African presence on this planet.
As Psychology moved to a science based on observations and measurable behaviors, traditional psychology applied its theories and techniques in ways that contributed to the dehumanization of persons of African Descent.
Racist ideology contaminated the diagnostic nosologies used to classify mental health for persons of African descent
Ex. Drapetomania – flight from-home-madness
Myopic research and scholarship within traditional psychology prompted black psychologists to take reactionary posture with addressing the idea of Black people and their sense of self, the family, and the community.
Limitations:
Anchors the study of African descent people’s psychology in an inaccurate space & time
Analysis measures only & reveals how we reacted & adapted to social oppression and says little about “who” we were and “how” we were before the Maafa experience
You cannot allow your obstacles define you!
Resulting identity studies focus on racial, rather than cultural, identity
Race is not a biological construction but rather a social construction;
It is used to create a hierarchy that assigns worth, and access to opportunity and privilege on the basis of skin tone.
Culture is at the core of beingness
Culture unifies and allows us to see from a worldview which orients our interpretation of reality.
Culture provides collective group identification built on shared history, symbols, and meanings.
Culture institutionalizes and validates group beliefs, values, behaviors, and attitudes.
national Association of Black Psychologists (ABPsi)
Withdrew from APA due to frustrations
Own headquarters
Own journal (Journal of Black Psychology)
Own convention
Addressing issues such as:
Testing Black children
Educating Black students
Training counselors & psychologists
Providing care to Black clients
African psychology’s kemetic roots
Tendency to use a European American norm as a standard by which ”normal” behavior in different cultural groups is measured
African psychology’s kemetic roots
Places Black people (and other groups) at a conceptual disadvantage, resulting in a tendency to characterize our behavior as pathological
Inappropriate to use traditional psychological theories, that were developed by White psychologists to explain the behaviors of White people, on Black folks
Can lead to gross omissions of necessary information as well as distortions in the phenomenon one is attempting to study
African Psychology
African Psychology is an invention created by black intellectuals in the Americas (mainly the united States) who wanted to engage in Sankofa
Sankofa pic & meaning
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African Psychology’s Kemetic Roots
African Psychology’s Kemetic roots are key because they help to characterized the cultural norm.
One’s consciousness and proper conduct in relationships were indigenous to African folks before contamination from the European influences.
Kemet pic
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African Psychology’s Kemetic Roots
African Psychology extends across space and time.
When we look across the Diaspora and we see that African scholars and thinkers reflect a historical continuity, cultural continuity, historical consciousness with what it means to be African; we can see that there was a universal understanding of ordered behavior.
African Psychology’s Kemetic Roots
Ma’at is define as a code of conduct and a standard of aspiration for the ancient Africans, and is characterized by seven principals
Truth
Justice
Righteousness
Harmony
Order
Balance
Propriety (politeness or modesty)
African Psychology’s Kemetic Roots
Ancient African Psychology was based on “being” and “becoming”
One has to understand where he/she is at any given moment and time in one’s life.
Humans have an innate desire to continue to self-actualize and grow with new possibilities.
African Psychology’s Kemetic Roots
African-centered psychology includes the following:
Spiritness
Interconnected
Collective
Self-knowledge
Fundamental Principles and Questions
Frantz Omar Fanon introduced three questions to examine and explore the relationship between conscious recognition of an idea and how that principal was operationalized into the life space of each individual.
“Who am I?”
“Am I who I say I am?”
“Am I all I ought to be?”
Perspectives That Helped African Psychology Lose its Way
Scientific Colonialism – the challenge of maintaining ones sanity or mental health rest with the preserving of ones sense of agency or power over a particular situation or circumstance.
i.e. learned helplessness
The Power of “Yet”
Hurrican Katrina, MLK quote, TEB Talk- the Power of Yet
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Hurrican Katrina, MLK quote, TEB Talk- the Power of Yet
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Social Pathology of American Life
Dr. Cornell West writes in his essay “chamber of horrors” he describes the vicious attacks on Black people’s beauty, intelligence, moral character, behavior, capability, and life itself.
Social Pathology of American Life
Psychological adaptation- Black Strivings
Black Strivings are:
singing the blues when times were hardest
Singing gospel as a way of keeping the faith and keeping hope alive
Using gallows of humor in comedy as a way to laugh to keep from crying
The essence of “Keep, keeping on” is at the root of African Psychology
Potential negative consequences?
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Balancing Two Competing Worldviews
Within the course of normal or ordered development, each individual should engage with an environmental space that allows for a nurturing and supportive experience.
Oppressive forces are not conducive to a productive environment; as a result, individuals react in ways that are ultimately functional, but sometimes maladaptive
i.e. foster care adjustment issues
Little man pic
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Balancing Two Competing Worldviews
W.E.B. Du Bois text The Souls of Black Folk ably depicts the struggle of being Black in America.
Pic; read
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Du Bois illustrates the struggle of achieving social progress while not being “too Black” while also staying true to one’s heritage
Some love their Blackness, but learn to “tone it down” to reduce the discomfort level of White peers
Others wear it as a badge of cultural pride, but realize it may restrict access to opportunities
Kapernick pic; WCMS pic
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How would you rate your ability to “code switch”?
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Ellison’s “Invisible Man” describes the chronic assaults, or microaggressions, experienced by persons of color.
What would you do?
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Leary’s (2005) Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome
Explanation of how oppression continues to impact culture today
Colorism pic; link?
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Applications
NTU Psychotherapy Model
African centered approach to therapy & treatment
Utilizes the principals of the Nguzo Saba as guidelines for harmonious living
Basic principles: harmony, balance, interconnectedness, cultural awareness, & authencity
Phases: harmony, awareness, alignment, actualize, synthesis
“Role of Men” program
designed to teach responsible fathering ;
dedicated to building stronger Black families through outreach, therapy, and training
Bakari Project
Designed to instruct youth in the development of responsible adulthood attitudes & behaviors
Utilizes six areas of mastery taught across four years of programmatic intervention
MEN ON THE MOVE
Men on the Move pics
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considerations
Much of the problematic behaviors displayed by AA clients is less about mental health instability and more about reactions to social cultural and environmental issues
African psychology must design structured interventions that reorient the consciousness of clients
We cannot just treat those who have made mistakes as disposable capital
Link to Sherriff Daron Hall
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