14

2 � � �

African-Centered Psychology in the

Modern Era

DEFINITIONS

Those who have not had the benefit of reading the first, second, or third edi- tions of The Psychology of Blacks, or who are otherwise unfamiliar with the con- cept of a Black psychological perspective, may be asking themselves “What is this discipline called Black or African-American psychology?” As such, perhaps the most logical place to begin this fourth edition is with a definition of the con- struct (psychology of Blacks) and with a discussion of why an African-centered psychological perspective is necessary.

Nobles (1986) reminds us that in its truest form, psychology was defined by ancient Africans as the study of the soul or spirit. He writes:

A summary reading of our ancient mythology reveals that ancient Egyptian thought can be characterized as possessing (1) “ideas of thought” which represent the human capacity to hay “will” and to invent or create; (2) “ideas of command” which represent the human capacity to have “intent” and to produce that which one wills. Parenthetically these two, will and intent, are the characteristics of divine spirit and would serve as the best operationalization of human intelligence. (Nobles, 1986, p. 46)

Nobles further asserts that the psychology that was borrowed from Africa and popularized in Europe and America (so-called Western psychology) in some respects represents a distortion of ancient African-Egyptian thought. What the an- cients believed was that the study of the soul or spirit was translated by Europeans into the study of only one element of a person’s psychic nature, the mind.

In a similar vein, Akbar (1994) has persuasively argued that the Kemetic (so-called Egyptian) roots of psychology bear little resemblance to the modern-day

C o p y r i g h t 2 0 1 6 . P s y c h o l o g y P r e s s .

A l l r i g h t s r e s e r v e d . M a y n o t b e r e p r o d u c e d i n a n y f o r m w i t h o u t p e r m i s s i o n f r o m t h e p u b l i s h e r , e x c e p t f a i r u s e s p e r m i t t e d u n d e r U . S . o r a p p l i c a b l e c o p y r i g h t l a w .

EBSCO Publishing : eBook Collection (EBSCOhost) - printed on 5/31/2022 1:59 PM via PRINCE GEORGES COMMUNITY COLLEGE AN: 1081379 ; Thomas A Parham, Adisa Ajamu, Joseph L. White.; Psychology of Blacks : Centering Our Perspectives in the African Consciousness Account: s8994265.main.ehost

constructs. Akbar explains, for example, that the term sakhu represented in its original form illumination and enlightenment of the soul or spirit. However, this perspective lost its meaning when the Greeks reinterpreted it to mean behavior and created a discipline to quantify, measure, and materialize the construct ob- jectively.

Thus, the term “psychology” (in a Western context) is constructed from the words psyche (meaning mind) and ology (meaning knowledge or study of) and is generally assumed to be a study of human behavior. What is fascinating to see, even as we write this fourth edition text, is how little has changed in traditional psychology’s coverage of its African psychology roots. Over the past decade, there are dozens of new and revised introductory and general psychology texts that have been written, and still we find coverage of African psychology and its discipline’s Kemetic roots conspicuous by its absence. Nevid (2007), for example, in the several hundred page text, continues to define psychology in ways that not only avoids the soul or spiritual elements, but does not differ appreciably in its definitions from other text books from years past. Ironically, Myers (2010), in his magnificent 717-page introductory psychology text that many consider a standard in the field, defines psychology as “the science of behaviors and mental processes” (p.6). Behaviors in that context are defined as “anything an organism does (as an observable action),” while mental processes are defined as “internal subjective experiences we infer from behaviors (sensations, perceptions, beliefs, feelings).” Despite the fact that he does a wonderful job of desegregating the text with pictures of African-American adults and children, includes pictures and men- tion several well-known African-American psychologists from history’s past, and includes a brand new section of one chapter on the variable of culture, the entire book never discusses the notion of an African-centered psychology or an African cultural reality in the discipline. What makes this omission curious is the timeline of people and events in psychology that frames the beginning of the Myers text. It includes Francis Cecil Sumner (the first African American to receive a Ph.D in psychology in 1920), Kenneth and Mamie Clark (and their groundbreaking work on doll preference and racial self-identification that was used in the Brown 1954 Supreme Court decision), Inez Proser (the first African-American woman to re- ceive her Ph.D in America at the University of Cincinnati in 1933), and the fact that psychology differs across cultures. However, there is no mention of any cul- turally specific psychology or the plethora of literature on multiculturalism (Ponterotto, Casas, Suzuki, & Alexander, 2001; Sue, Ivey, & Pedersen, 1996; Sue & Sue, 2003), African psychology (Nobles, 1986; Myers, 1988; Kambon, 1992 Asante, 2003; Ani, 1994; Akbar, 2004; Neville, Tynes, & Utsey, 2009; White, 1972, 1984), and cultural competence (Pope-Davis, Coleman, Liu, & Toporek, 2003; Ivey, D’Andrea, Bradford-Ivey, & Simek-Morgan, 2002; Constantine & Sue, 2005) that dominate much of the counseling landscape. Within these realms, you find exten- sive references to psychology’s true origins, yet those students being introduced to the discipline for the first time find no such mention or coverage in their intro- ductory coursework. This is but one of the many reasons this text is so necessary.

As previously noted, psychology has been around for thousands of years and dates back to ancient KEMET (sometimes illustrated as KMT)

Chapter 2 • African-Centered Psychology in the Modern Era 15

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16 Chapter 2 • African-Centered Psychology in the Modern Era

(African-Egyptian) civilizations (Nobles, 1986). However, as a discipline, psy- chology, like history, anthropology, and many other fields of study, has fallen victim to the attempts by many to both: (1) destroy and/or otherwise erase its historical connections to ancient Africa and (2) transplant its roots into European civilization. We are reminded by Nevid (2007) and Myers (2010) that traditional psychology, as we know it in this country, was assumed to extend back only as far as the laboratories of Wilhelm Wundt in Germany around 1879. In its simplest form, traditional psychology was an attempt to explain the behaviors of the Europeans from a European frame of reference. After becom- ing popularized in America, Euro-American scientists began to engage in the same practice of defining and understanding the behaviors of various Euro- American peoples.

In their attempt to understand the mind and behaviors of their people, many European and Euro-American scholars began to develop theories of human behavior (i.e., Freud, Jung, Rogers). Theories are sets of abstract con- cepts that people assign to a group of facts or events in order to explain them. Theories of personality and/or psychology, then, are organized systems of be- lief that help us understand human nature and make sense out of scientific data and other behavioral phenomena. It is important to realize, however, that theo- ries are based on philosophies, customs, mores, and norms of a given culture. This has certainly been true for those theories that emerged out of the Euro- American frame of reference.

In their attempt to explain what they considered to be “universal human phenomena,” Euro-American psychologists implicitly and explicitly began to es- tablish a normative standard of behavior against which all other cultural groups would be measured. What emerged as normal or abnormal, sane or insane, rel- evant or irrelevant, was always in comparison to how closely a particular thought or behavior paralleled that of White Europeans and/or European Americans. For many White social scientists and psychologists, the word different (differences among people) became synonymous with deficient, rather than simply different.

The presumptive attempt at establishing a normative standard for human cognition, emotion, and behavior was questionable at best for obvious reasons. The philosophical basis of this body of theory and practice, which claims to ex- plain and understand “human nature,” is not authentic or applicable to all human groups (Nobles, 1986). White (1972) in his article “Towards a Black Psychology” speaks to this issue clearly when he contends that “it is difficult if not impossible to understand the lifestyles of Black people using traditional psychological theories, developed by White psychologists to explain White be- havior.” White further asserts that when these theories are applied to different populations, many weakness-dominated and inferiority-oriented conclusions emerge. The foundation for an authentic Black psychology is an accurate un- derstanding of the Black family, its African roots, historical development and contemporary expressions, and its impact on the psychological development and socialization of its members. One has only to examine the psychological lit- erature as it relates to Black people to appreciate White’s point.

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Chapter 2 • African-Centered Psychology in the Modern Era 17

Appreciation of White’s (1972) perspective is enhanced when one looks first at the so-called science of psychology and then at the resulting conclusions that emerge from these research practices. In commenting on the science of psychology, Boykin (1979) argues that there are inherent biases and subjectiv- ity in the investigation and application of scientific principles despite their claims to the contrary. Thus, he believes that biases inherent in Eurocentric per- spectives render research investigations and resulting conclusions invalid at most, or at least, inappropriate.

It is important to note, however, that questions of bias could be dealt with in less confrontive ways if one believed the intent of scientists and psychologi- cal scholars to be honorable. When one considers that scientific intent was and is supported by racist ideologies (Guthrie, 1976; Hilliard, 1997; Nobles, 1986; Thomas & Sillen, 1972;), then challenging and confronting those biases become even more important. As such, one can now better appreciate the critique of science and psychological (scientific) inquiry provided by Nobles (1986), who argues that research has been used as a tool of oppression and represents a form of “scientific colonialism.”

The construct of colonialism harkens back to times of old when many European countries/nations (but not exclusively so) sought to conquer and control the human and natural resources of a certain country or region of the world. In essence, they were acquiring by force the people, land, and both natural and economic resources belonging to a particular nation. The term “scientific colonialism” then represents the political control of knowledge and information, in order to advance a particular group’s agenda and/or prevent another group from advancing its own. According to Nobles, scientific colonialism is operationalized in several ways. These include:

Unsophisticated Falsification: deliberate attempts to erase and/or oth- erwise disguise the African origins of an idea or the historical contribu- tions of African people;

Integrated Modificationism: assimilation of a known concept into ex- isting ideas such that the result is a distorted version of the original mean- ing and intent; and

Conceptual Incarceration: where all information is viewed from a sin- gle perspective to the exclusion of other world views or frameworks.

As a consequence of this biased and inappropriate method of inquiry, much of the research and scholarship written by European Americans about African Americans is severely tainted. Let us now turn our attention to the out- comes and resulting conclusions of that science.

HISTORICAL THEMES IN PSYCHOLOGICAL RESEARCH

Historically, research on minorities in general and Blacks in particular has shifted focus several times. In fact, Thomas and Silen (1972) and Sue (1978) concluded that it is difficult to fully understand and appreciate the status of

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18 Chapter 2 • African-Centered Psychology in the Modern Era

ethnic minority research without reference to several general themes or models. These models include: (1) the inferiority model, (2) the deprivations/deficit model, and (3) the multicultural model. Table 2.1 provides a conceptual outline of these research trends, and a brief review follows.

Inferiority Models

The inferiority model generally contends that Black people are inferior to Whites. Its focus emerges out of the theories of genetics and heredity, which contend that the development of the human species is determined by heredity and views this process of development as “in the blood” or encoded in the genes. This model apparently afforded for some a scientific basis for viewing Blacks as inferior. Examples of these assertions of racial inferiority, as reported by Clark (1972) were heard as early as 1799 when Professor Charles White spoke of the Negro as being “just above the ape in the hierarchy of animal/human development, having a small brain, deformed features, an ape- like odor, and an animal immunity to pain.” These inferiority assertions contin- ued into the mid-1800s, when studies on cranial capacities showed that a European skull held more pepper seed than an African skull, and thus con- cluded that Blacks have inferior brains and limited capacity for mental growth (Clark, 1972). These assertions of racial inferiority continued well into the 1900s and were promoted by many leading Euro-American psychologists. In fact, a comprehensive examination of the literature related to the history and systems of psychology would reveal that in every decade encompassing 1900 to 1970, there was a prominent American psychologist (many of whom were presidents of the American Psychological Association [APA]) who was a proponent of the genetic inferiority hypothesis (Guthrie, 1976, 1998). Although such facts may be

TABLE 2.1 Historical Themes in Black Psychological Research

Inferiority Deficit-Deficiency Multi-Cultural

Definition Blacks are intellectu- ally, physically, and mentally inferior to Whites

Blacks deficient with respect to intelli- gence, cognitive styles, family structure

All culturally dis- tinct groups have strengths and limitations.

Etiology of Problem

Genetics/heredity, Lack of proper environ- mental stimulation; racism and oppressive conditions, individual

Differences viewed as differ- ent; lack of skills needed to assimilate

Relevant Hypothesis and Theories

Genetic inferiority, Eugenics

Cultural deprivation, Cultural enrichment

Research Examples

White (2010) Morton (1839) Jensen (1969)

Moynihan (1965) Kardiner and Ovesey (1951)

J. White (1972) Nobles (1972; 1981)

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Chapter 2 • African-Centered Psychology in the Modern Era 19

new information for many students in psychology, certainly most students and laypersons are aware of the well-publicized assertions of racial and intellectual inferiority by Arthur Jensen (1969).

Deficit-Deficiency Model

The deficit-deficiency model began to emerge around the late 1950s to early 1960s, and suggested that Blacks are somehow deficient with respect to intelli- gence, perceptual skills, cognitive styles, family structure, and other factors. Unlike the inferiority model, the set of hypotheses suggested that environmen- tal rather than hereditary factors were responsible for the presumed deficiencies in Blacks. Dhe deficit model arose in opposition to the inferiority model and was formed by more liberal-minded psychological and educational researchers who sought to place on society the burden for Black people’s presumed men- tal and intellectual deficiencies. For example, it was somehow concluded that the effects of years of racism and discrimination had deprived most Black peo- ple of the strengths to develop healthy self-esteems (Kardiner & Ovesey, 1951) and legitimate family structures (Moynihan, 1965). From this deficit model came such hypotheses as “cultural deprivation,” which presumed that because of the inadequate exposure to Euro-American values, norms, customs, and lifestyles, Blacks were indeed “culturally deprived” and required cultural enrichment.

Implicit in the concept of cultural deprivation, however, is the notion that the dominant White middle-class culture established that normative standard discussed earlier in these writings. Thus, any behaviors, values, and lifestyles that differed from the Euro-American norm were seen as deficient. By and large, the model of the Black family that has received the most attention has been the deficit-deficiency model. This model begins with the historical assumption that there was no carry over from Africa to America of any sophis- ticated African based form of family life in communal living. The assumption further indicates that either viable patterns of family life did not exist because Africans were incapable of creating them or they were destroyed beginning with slavery in the separation of biological parents and children, forced breed- ing, the slave master’s sexual exploitation of Black women, and the cumulative effects of three hundred years of economic social discrimination. The deficit- deficiency model assumes that as a result of this background of servitude, depri- vation, second-class citizenship, and chronic unemployment, Black adults have not been able to develop marketable skills, self-sufficiency, future orientation, planning and decision-making competencies, and instrumental behaviors thought to be necessary for sustaining a successful two-parent nuclear family while guiding children through the socialization process.

A variation of the deficit-deficiency model was the Black matriarchy model. In a society that placed a premium on decisive male leadership in the family, the Black male was portrayed as lacking the masculine sex role behav- iors characterized by logical thinking, willingness to take responsibility for oth- ers, assertiveness, managerial skills, achievement orientation, and occupational mastery. In contrast, the Black female was portrayed by this model as a matriarch

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20 Chapter 2 • African-Centered Psychology in the Modern Era

who initially received her power because society was unwilling to permit the Black male to assume the legal, economic, and social positions necessary to be- come a dominant force within the family and community life. Having achieved this power by default, the Black female was portrayed as being unwilling to share it. Her unwillingness to share her power was presumed to persist even when the Black male was present and willing to assume responsibility in the family circle, since she was not confident of the male’s ability to follow through on his commitments. Confrontation over decision making and family direction was usually not necessary because either the Black male was not present in the household on any ongoing basis or he was regarded as ineffective by the fe- male when he was present.

Multicultural Model

The rise in the multicultural model has been stimulated by the contention that behaviors, lifestyles, languages, and so on can only be judged as appropriate or inappropriate within a specific cultural context (Grier & Cobbs, 1968; White, 1972; Pedersen, 1999; Sue, Ivey, & Pederson, 1996; Ponterotto et al., 2001; Sue & Sue, 2003; White & Henderson, 2008). The multicultural model assumes and recognizes that each culture has strengths and limitations, and rather than being viewed as deficient, differences among ethnic groups are viewed as simply dif- ferent. More recent contributions to the multicultural literature have followed in these same footsteps and continue to contribute to a more enlightened under- standing of culturally different people generally (Hall, 2010), African American (Jones, 2003; Hilliard, 1997; Parham, 2002), Latinos (Santiago-Rivera, Arredondo, & Gallardo-Cooper, 2002), Asian Americans (Loo, 1998), and even persons with disabilities (Stone, 2005). Although the multicultural model is the latest trend in research with respect to minorities in general and African Americans in particular, and is certainly a more positive approach to research with culturally distinct groups, it is by no means immune to conceptual and methodological flaws that have plagued psychological research efforts both past and present.

In some respects, this new emphasis on ethnic pluralism has helped re- searchers focus on culture-specific models in a multicultural context. African psychology has been the forerunner of an ethnic and cultural awareness in psychology that has worked its way into the literature on child development, self-image, family dynamics, education, communication patterns, counseling and psychotherapy, and mental health delivery systems. The blossoming of African- centered psychology has been followed by the assertion on the part of Asian American (Sue & Wagner, 1973; Sue, 1981), Chicano (Martinez, 1977), and Native American (Richardson, 1981) psychologists that sociocultural differences in the experiential field must be considered as legitimate correlates of behavior. The development of an ethnic dimension in psychology suggested that other non-White Americans wanted to take the lead in defining themselves rather than continuing the process of being defined by the deficit-deficiency models of the majority culture. The evolution of the ethnic and cultural perspective enlarged

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Chapter 2 • African-Centered Psychology in the Modern Era 21

the scope of psychology. It served as a corrective step that reduced psychol- ogy’s reliance on obsolete and inaccurate stereotypes in defining culturally dis- tinct people. This movement has now exploded onto the field of counseling psychology as more and more professionals recognize, as Sue, Ivey, and Pederson (1996) so rightly acknowledge, that traditional theories of counseling and psychotherapy inadequately describe, explain, predict, and deal with the richness of a culturally diverse population. Their admonition is echoed by a host of new and exciting research and scholarship that speaks to the necessity of culturally specific and culturally diverse theories, assessments, and therapeu- tic practices in the areas of Latino(a) psychology (Santiago-Rivera, Arredondo, & Gallardo-Cooper, 2002), Asian psychology (Loo, 1998), traditional healing practices (Moodley & West, 2005; Mc Neill & Cervantes, 2008), and even disabil- ity studies (Stone, 2005).

Black Behavioral Norms

Given the negative conceptions of Black people and Black behavior that emerged from the Euro-American frame of reference, it was clear that an alter- nate frame of reference was not only appropriate, but absolutely necessary. Whether one considers the awarding of Sumner’s degree in 1920, the establish- ment of the Association of Black Psychologists (ABPsi) in 1968, or the era in ancient KMT, as the marker for the establishment of the discipline of Black psychology, is an interesting debate (Nobles, 1986). What is undebatable, however, is the recognition that general psychology had failed to provide a full and accurate understanding of the Black reality. As such, the discipline of Black psychology and the new emergence of an African psychological perspective can be defined as a discipline in science (continuing to evolve) that is attempting to study, analyze, and define appropriate and inappropriate behaviors of Black and African people from an Afrocentric frame of reference.

A second point made by White (1972) in his article that is reinforced by White and Parham (1990) and Parham, White, and Ajamu (1999) is that Black psychology as a discipline should emerge out of the authentic experiences of Blacks in America. On the surface, White’s contention seems absolutely logical. However, I believe that this premise requires closer scrutiny. For years, Black psychologists in the discipline of Black psychology have concerned themselves with trying to combat negativistic assumptions made about Black people by White society in general and traditional psychology in particular. In doing so, many of the writings have been reactionary in nature in their attempts to com- bat the racist and stereotypic assumptions perpetuated by the Euro-American culture. In that regard, Black psychology has served a vital purpose in the evolution of thought about the psychology of African-American people. In their attempt to negate the White middle-class norm and to assert the necessity for analyzing African-American behavior in the context of its own norms, Black psychologists have been attempting to establish this normative base that is uniquely Afrocentric. In developing that norm, however, new questions are now being raised about whether or not the behavior of Black people in

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Reactionary

Narrow Conception of Black Behaviors, Thoughts,

Lifestyles Weakness Dominated Inferiority Oriented

Conclusions about Black People

Emerges from an African Frame of Reference; Does not validate in

Comparison to White Normative Standards

African Centered

African American

Euro-American Ghetto- centric

Need for a Worldview That Emerges from an African-Centered Frame of Reference

Problem: • Normative Standard • Generalizability of Norm • Difference Equals Deficiency

22 Chapter 2 • African-Centered Psychology in the Modern Era

America constitutes a reasonable normative standard of what appropriate and/or inappropriate behavior should be. In fact, if one examines the research related to Blacks, the normative standard that developed emerged for the most part from the analysis of behaviors and attitudes of Southern-born, working- class, ghetto-dwelling Black people (Akbar, 1981). Although this norm was cer- tainly more valid than the Eurocentric perspective, it introduced biases against large numbers of Blacks who did not fit the newly developed stereotype of what a “real” Black person should be. Figure 2.1 attempts to illustrate how ghetto-centric norms are indeed based on a relatively small sample of Black people, and are influenced by a Eurocentric perspective of what Black norma- tive behavior should be.

One can readily see the problem in adapting this ghetto-centric norm to all Black people in the criticism being shown at “The Cosby Show” in televi- sion during the late 1980s and early 90s, and to some extent, shows like “My Wife and Kids,” which stared Damon Wayans and Tisha Campbell in the 2000- 2005. Much of the negative press about “The Cosby Show,” and more recently “My Wife and Kids,” that has emerged from the Black community has to do with the assumption that the characters and/or the shows themselves are not “Black enough.” Many assume (inappropriately so) that you cannot be Black, middle-class, have two professional parents working, and have a loving fam- ily that displays caring concern, strength, and character, all in a single episode. Fast forward twenty years from those 1980s, and with the explosion of cable news shows, you now have networks like CNN developing and air- ing shows like “Black in America I & II” in spring and summer 2009. These

FIGURE 2.1

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Chapter 2 • African-Centered Psychology in the Modern Era 23

documentary-oriented stories help to chronicle both the challenges that con- front African-descent people, as well as the successes that result from stable families, hard work, and perseverance through adversity. However, even de- spite the premier and re-run episodes of these shows on national and interna- tional television, the biases this country and the world continue to harbor to- ward people of African descent are quite remarkable, even as they seek to create and sustain a “Black Norm” of what the typical African American is like.

Not surprisingly, many Black psychologists continue to recognize, what others have decades before, which is the difficulty that these historic and con- temporary shortsighted perspectives have created for Black people. Akbar (1981, 2004) has suggested that this “Black norm” has two major limitations. First, it validates itself in comparison to a White norm. Thus, even as we write this fourth edition in 2009-10, African Americans continue to be compared with their White counterparts on statistical profiles ranging from educational achieve- ment, economic viability, health status, crime and justice, employment status, and relationship/family stability, and mental health, to name a few. Second, the norm assumes that the adaptation to the conditions of America by Blacks con- stitutes a reasonable normative statement about African-American behavior. Akbar (1981, 2004) had the unique vision to recognize that oppression, discrim- ination, and racism are unnatural human phenomena; as such, these conditions stimulate unnatural human behavior. Thus, many of the behaviors displayed by Blacks as they attempt to adjust and react to hostile conditions in America may be functional but often prove self-destructive. For example, one who perceives his or her employment options as limited or nonexistent (because of discrimina- tion) may turn to a life of crime in order to provide himself or herself with what are perceived as basic necessities. Such an individual might be seen selling drugs for profit, burglarizing a local establishment, engaging in prostitution or pimping, or other illegitimate endeavors. The problem with the ghetto-centric norm is that it legitimizes such behavior.

Because of these questions, many psychologists are now suggesting that statements about normative behavior should emerge from the values, norms, customs, and philosophies that are African-centered. Truly, this debate about what constitutes normative Black behavior is likely to rage on within the disci- pline of Black psychology for many years. Readers may ask, however, “What is this African-centered perspective or norm, and how does it manifest itself in the Black community?” In the first edition of The Psychology of Blacks, White (1984) offers an excellent synthesis of the African-centered value system; and not sur- prisingly, that synthesis continues to be one of the best analyses even after more than twenty-five years.

THE AFRICAN WORLDVIEW

White (1984) views the holistic, humanistic ethos described by Nobles (1972) and Mbiti (1970) as the principle feature of African psychology. There appears to be a definite correspondence between the African ethos and the Afro-American worldview in terms of the focus on emotional vitality, interdependence, collective

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24 Chapter 2 • African-Centered Psychology in the Modern Era

survival, the oral tradition, perception of time, harmonious blending, and the role of the elders. Some have questioned the utility of an African normative base, given the enormous tribal and geographical variability among African people. However, to discount the presence of an African norm because of dif- ferences is analogous to missing the forest for the trees. Certainly, these are in- dividual differences, but there are more commonalities than differences, and it is those common themes that provide the foundation for the African worldview.

The African worldview begins with a holistic conception of the human condition. There is no mind-body or affective-cognitive dualism. The human or- ganism is conceived as a totality made up of a series of interlocking systems. This total person is simultaneously a feeling, experiencing, sensualizing, sens- ing, and knowing human being living in a dynamic, vitalistic world where everything is interrelated and endowed with the supreme force of life. There is a sense of aliveness, intensity, and animation in the music, dance, song, lan- guage, and lifestyles of Africans. Emotions are not labeled as bad; therefore, there is no need to repress feelings of compassion, love, joy, or sensuality.

The basic human unit is the tribe, not the individual. The tribe operates under a set of rules geared toward collective survival. Cooperation is therefore valued above competition and individualism. The concept of alienation is non- existent in African philosophy since the people are closely interconnected with each other in a way of life that involves concern and responsibility toward oth- ers. In a framework that values collective survival, where people are psycholog- ically interdependent on each other, active aggression against another person is in reality an act of aggression against oneself (Nobles, 1972). The idea of interre- latedness extends to the whole universe, arranged in a hierarchy that includes God, humans, animals, plants, and inanimate objects in a descending order.

People are linked in a geographical and temporal frame by the oral tradi- tion, with messages being transmitted across time and space by word of mouth or the drums. Each tribe contains a griot, an oral historian, who is a living record of the people’s heritage. The spoken word is revered. Words take on a quality of life when they are uttered by the speaker. In the act of Nommo, the speaker literally breathes life into a word. Nothing exists, including newborn babies, until a name has been uttered with the breath of life. When words are spoken, the listener is expected to acknowledge receiving the message by re- sponding to the speaker. This is known as the call-response. The speaker sends out a message or a call, and the listener makes a response indicating that he or she has heard the message. The speaker and the listener operate within a shared psycholinguistic space affirming each other’s presence.

Time is marked off by a series of events that have been shared with oth- ers in the past or are occurring in the present. Thus, when an African talks about time in the past tense, reference points are likely to be established by events such as a daughter’s marriage or a son’s birth, events that were shared with others. When an African is trying to make arrangements about meeting someone in the immediate future, a specific time, such as three o’clock, is avoided. The person is more likely to say, “I will meet you after I finish milking the cows.” The primary time frames in African languages are past and present.

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Chapter 2 • African-Centered Psychology in the Modern Era 25

There is no word in most African languages for the distant future. The distant future has not yet happened; therefore, it does not exist. In this fluid perception of time, there is no guilt about wasting time. Time is not a monetary commod- ity but an experience to be shared with others.

Time is also considered to be repetitive. The major events used to desig- nate points in time, such as conception, birth, the naming ceremony, puberty, and marriage, repeat themselves throughout the life cycle. There is a cyclical, rhythmic pattern to the flow of events—the coming and going of the seasons, the rising and the setting of the sun, and the movement through the stages of life. Nature’s rhythms are believed to have been put in order by God, who knew what He/She was doing. The essence of life is to be able to move harmo- niously with the cyclical rhythms of the universe’s internal clock. The goal is not to control or dominate the universe, but to blend creatively into the tempo and pace of the seasons of life. Life is broken down into a series of stages beginning with conception, followed by birth, the naming ceremony, puberty, initiation rites, marriage, adulthood, and old age. Death is seen as a stage of life. The liv- ing dead are still members of the tribe, and personal immortality is assured as long as one’s memory is continuously passed down to each generation by the tribe’s oral historian. Since immortality is guaranteed by the passing of one’s memory forward, there is no pervasive fear of old age and death. The tribal eld- ers are valued because they have accumulated the wisdoms of life’s teachings. In the hierarchical arrangement of the cosmos, they occupy a position just below that of the Supreme Being and the living dead.

PERSISTENCE OF THE AFRICAN-CENTERED WORLDVIEW

In order to better grasp the worldview that emerges from an African reality, it is first necessary to understand, and in some cases re-examine, the notion of culture. Culture has been inappropriately equated with a number of superficial variables like food, music, clothing, and artifacts. Although each of these items is a represen- tation or a manifestation of culture, they are not culture in and of themselves.

Culture is a complex constellation of mores, values, customs, tradition, and practices that guide and influence a people’s cognitive, affective, and behavioral response to life circumstances. In essence, culture provides a general design for living and a pattern for interpreting reality (Nobles, 1986). Thus, in seeking to clarify and understand the African-centered worldview, the relevant question be- comes: How do African Americans construct their design for living, and what patterns do they use to interpret reality? Take for example, a July 2009 incident in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where Harvard Professor and African-American in- tellectual Henry Louis Gates is arrested by that city’s police at his home for “dis- turbing the peace and disorderly conduct.” The incident made national headlines and was the subject of intense debate on all major networks for weeks, with opinions being shared on both sides about the significance of race in this cir- cumstance. However, there is more at play here than the fact that Professor Gates is African American and the police officer(s) was White. What is clear is that in that situation each participant’s mindset, and ultimate response that never

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26 Chapter 2 • African-Centered Psychology in the Modern Era

de-escalated until Gates was booked at the local jail, was influenced by his or her design for living and pattern for interpreting reality. Contextually, Gates is re- turning from a trip abroad and is just arriving home with his driver and bags in toe. Because he experiences some difficulty in opening the door to his house, he motions to his driver to provide him with some assistance. Now, you have two Black males, on a porch in a predominantly White suburb of Boston, attempting to gain entry into a house. A vigilant neighbor observes the two men, and calls police, assuming that Gates and his driver are attempting to break in and gain illegal entry. That’s when the police respond. Before they arrive, Gates has entered his home and is putting things down. Once the police have arrived, he is asked to show identification to verify his local address, but perceives that his interrogation is moving way beyond the boundaries of what is acceptable, particularly having just produced the identification the police demanded. Gates reportedly demands to know the name and badge number of the officer in charge, and emotions escalate, tempers flare, and ultimately, Professor Gates is arrested for what can only be imagined as being belligerent to the police.

Professor Gates’ worldview is sensitive to issues of race and the hostile and discriminatory practices police routinely use toward African-American males. Thus, his emotional tone is born out of that experience. The police officer is sensitive to the potential for a burglar to be at the Gates residence, and whether influenced by race or not, is not about to tolerate any hostile feelings coming from a citizen who was just a suspect in an alleged break-in. His emo- tional tone and response is born out of that experience as a law enforcement official who responds to a citizen call for police intervention for what is per- ceived as a crime. Thus, irrespective of who the public thought was right or wrong in this affair, what is abundantly clear is that neither man was able to look past race to see the cultural perspective of the other, a perspective that might have allowed the situation to resolve itself in a more peaceful manner. But let us continue articulating the notion of culture.

One of the clearest expressions of an African-American cultural manifesta- tion in psychology was provided by White (1984) in the first edition of The Psychology of Blacks. White believed that the African ethos helped to create a collective psychological space for African Americans independent of their op- pressors where they could generate a sense of worth, dignity, affiliation, and mutual support. Included in the delineation of that ethos, despite the historical context of slavery and oppression, were principles and practices such as self- determination and definition; the intergenerational continuity enhanced by and through the oral tradition; a strong religious faith, including participation in or- ganized worship; immediate and extended family supports; language and ex- pressive patterns; and personal expressions through music and the arts.

African-Centered Psychology Comes of Age

In further delineating the persistence of the African ethos into the life space of African Americans, Parham (1993, 2002) has synthesized the work of Nobles (1972), White (1984), Myers (1988), and others through his comparisons of

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Chapter 2 • African-Centered Psychology in the Modern Era 27

cultural worldviews. Thus, let’s review these again to ensure that you have a firm grasp of the differences in worldviews between certain cultural groups. In contrasting the African-American and European-American worldview across selected primary dimensions, Parham suggests that the “designs for living” be seen in the adherence to particular value systems by each cultural group. He first identifies eight variables that are then used to compare and contrast the two culturally different worldviews. The dimensions are listed as self, feelings, sur- vival, language, time, universe, death, and worth. On one end of the spectrum is a Euro-American worldview; on the opposite end, the African American.

Regarding the sense of self, Euro-Americans relate to a fragmented per- sonality in which cognitive, affective, and behavioral dimensions are seen as separate and distinct. Regardless to whether the psychological theories are clas- sical (i.e., Freud’s three structures of personality) or contemporary (i.e., Burne’s transactional analysis), their analysis and application include an imposition of a “difference equals deficiency” logic to particular segments of the personality structure. The African-American self begins with a holistic integration of its parts rather than fragmentation. At the core of the African self is an understanding of the fundamental nature of the self as spiritual, which permeates the cognitive, affective, and behavioral dimensions.

Regarding feelings, the Euro-American tradition values suppression of emotions in favor of rational imperatives. In the African-American tradition, emotions and feelings are intended to be expressed while serving as a check on expressions that are more rationally based.

The survival dimension in the Euro-American context embraces an individu- alistic and competitive relationship to people and the society at large. In contrast, the African worldview promotes a more collective orientation to people, family, and social interactions. This value of collective survival is reflected in the Asante proverb: “I am because we are; and because we are, therefore I am.” In essence, this truth explains that an individual is only important to the degree that he or she contributes to the maintenance and the well-being of the tribe or the group.

Regarding language, the Euro-American culture gives credence to that which is written, that communicating with a style that appears to be formal and detached. In the African tradition, much more credence is given to the oral tradi- tion with an emphasis on the interconnectedness between the speaker and the listener. With respect to time and space, Euro-Americans tend to be very future- oriented and perceive time as a commodity to be invested (i.e., “time is money”). African Americans are more present-centered with a reference to the past. Time is also seen as something to be experienced in the moment, rather than invested with special emphasis or meaning given to circumstances surrounding an event.

In relationship to the universe, Euro-Americans relate it with a desire and need for control and manipulation of things and people. In the African- American worldview, the orientation is usually toward harmony and balance, as everything is seen as interrelated.

Regarding the concept of death, Euro-Americans see death of the body as the end. Therefore, there is an urgent, almost obsessive, desire to preserve life and avoid the realities of getting old. In the African-American worldview, death

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28 Chapter 2 • African-Centered Psychology in the Modern Era

is seen as another transition from this life into the next. And because of the be- lief of spirit as the essence of the human being, one is able to better accept and embrace the spiritual transition of those who have joined the community of an- cestors. Finally, worth in the Euro-American tradition is determined and measured by material attainment and possession. In the African tradition, one’s worth was measured by contribution to community and collective uplifting. Parham’s analysis, while allowing for individual variations, nonetheless recognizes how the African-American design for living and pattern for interpreting reality are reflected in the culture of the people.

With the persistence of the African ethos in the historical and contempo- rary life space of African Americans, more recent scholars have utilized its prin- ciples as the foundation for this African-centered psychological perspective. Regardless of whether the topic or analysis is African-American families in ther- apy (Boyd-Franklin, 1989), African-American male-female relationships (Powell-Hopson & Hopson, 1998), identity development (Cross, 1991), per- sonal biographies (Gates, 1994), or the experiences of being a Black man in America (McCall, 1994; Obama, 2004), these themes discussed above continue to resonate with clarity and consistency.

What we are arguing here is the recognition that the notion of culture is cen- tral to a more deep-structured analysis of African psychology that seeks to move beyond the basic level understandings of the discipline. In helping us to embrace this idea more thoroughly, Ani (1994) has provided us with an analysis of culture at the deep structural level. Her work suggests that culture (1) unifies and orders our experience by providing a worldview that orients our experience and interpre- tation of reality; (2) provides collective group identification built on shared history, symbols, and meanings; and (3) institutionalizes and validates group beliefs, val- ues, behaviors, and attitudes (Ani, 1994). In a similar way, Nobles (1986) helps to inform our thinking about the concept of culture by suggesting that it represents the inner essence and outer envelope of human beingness.

As we seek to engage these constructs of culture, Grills (2002), Parham (2002, 2006), and King, Dixon, and Nobles (1976) before them, provide us with a more formalized structure through which to examine how culture is opera- tionalized across various racial/ethnic groups. Individually and collectively, they suggest that there are five domains of information that represent elements of culture at the deep structure level, and that these domains are central to devel- oping a better working knowledge of the construct. The five domains include: Ontology (nature of reality), Axiology (one’s value orientation), Cosmology (re- lationship to the Divine force in the universe), Epistemology (systems of knowl- edge and discovering truth), and Praxis (consistency in the context of one sys- tem of human interaction).

Ontology Axiology Cosmology Epistemology Praxis

Nature of Value System Relationship to System of Systems of Reality the Divine Knowing and Human

What is Truth Interaction

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Chapter 2 • African-Centered Psychology in the Modern Era 29

ONTOLOGY An integration of personal and familial lived experiences; reli- gious/spiritual insight and history.

AXIOLOGY Collectivistic; one’s worth is based on one’s contribution to the group’s well-being and advancement; present and past oriented; group/cultural survival and ownership.

COSMOLOGY Spiritual/religious connection as integration of family and cul- ture; divinity falls on a spectrum of ancestral hierarchy that dictates a reverence for those that have preceded us; connection, conservation, and protection to mother earth.

EPISTEMOLOGY Oral history (i.e., ancestral history), direct lived experiences; Western science is limited and not the universal truth of insight and understanding.

PRAXIS Connectedness to others and congruence with others; religious/spiri- tual guidance and standard for one’s thoughts and behaviors; family guidance and shared wisdom; shared lived experiences influence the integration and ac- ceptance into one’s behavioral repertoire.

Examination of these five domains within the context of African-American people’s lives allows us to develop a template that is useful in distinguishing areas of convergence and divergence between persons of African descent and other cultural groups, and even Eurocentric psychology Parham (1993) has invited us to consider before. Table 2.2 illustrates our comparison of cul- tural manifestations.

As a consequence of this discussion, it opens the way for us to explore the extension of these cultural elements into a set of assumptions that guide the work of African-centered psychologists in theory and practice. Thus,

TABLE 2.2 Value Systems

Euro American Dimensions African-American

1. Fragmented Dichotomized Dualistic

SELF Holistic Spiritness made evident

2. Suppressed/ Controlled

FEELINGS Legitimate/Expressed/Vitality/Aliveness

3. Individual/ Competitive

SURVIVAL Collective/Group “I am because we are, and because we are, therefore I am.”

4. Written/Detached LANGUAGE Oral/Expressive/Call Response 5. Metric/Linear TIME Events Cyclical 6. Control UNIVERSE Harmony-Ontological Principal of Immortality 7. End DEATH 8. Material Possession WORTH Contribution to One’s Community

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30 Chapter 2 • African-Centered Psychology in the Modern Era

African-centered psychology, in using African values, traditions, worldview as the lens through which perceptions of reality are shaped and colored, exam- ines processes that allow for the illumination and liberation of the spirit (one’s spiritual essence). Thus, if culture does provide a general design for living and a pattern for interpreting reality, then African-centered psychology, in relying on the principles of harmony within the universe as a natural order of human existence, recognizes:

• The spiritness that permeates everything that exists in the universe. • The notion that everything in the universe is interconnected. • The value that the collective is the most salient element of existence. • And the idea that self-knowledge is the key to mental health.

African psychology then is the dynamic manifestation of the unifying African principles, values, and traditions whereby the application of knowledge is used to resolve personal and social problems and promote optimal human functioning.

THE DEVELOPMENT OF BLACK PSYCHOLOGY— THE MODERN ERA

In the opinion of the senior co-author of this text, the modern era of Black psy- chology begins in 1968 with the formation of the ABPsi. Graduate schools in psychology were still turning out a combined national total of only three or four Black Ph.Ds in psychology per year.

Some major departments of psychology at this late date had not produced a single Black Ph.D psychologist. The grand total of psychologists among the more than ten thousand members of the APA, Psychology’s most prestigious or- ganization, was less than one percent. At the annual convention of the APA in San Francisco in August/September of 1968, approximately fifty-eight Black psychologist delegates and their guests came together to give form and sub- stance to the idea of a national organization of Black psychologists.

In the more than forty years since its formal beginning in 1968, the modern era of Black or African psychology has established its presence across several areas of psychology. The impact of the efforts of African-centered psychologists has been felt in the fields of counseling and clinical psychology, community men- tal health, education, intelligence and ability testing, professional training, foren- sic psychology, and criminal justice. Black psychologists have presented their findings at professional conferences, legislative hearings, and social policymaking task forces. They have also served as expert witnesses in class action suits de- signed to make institutional policies more responsive to the needs of African peo- ple. In light of the social phenomena and institutional policies that continue to af- fect the mental health needs of the African- American community, we believe that ABPsi is a vital and necessary resource and will remain so in the future.

In order to better appreciate the ways in which ABPsi responds to more contemporary mental health needs of the African-American community, it is important to understand where we have come from in the forty years since ABPsi’s inception. It was the Algerian psychiatrist Frantz Fanon (1967) who

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Chapter 2 • African-Centered Psychology in the Modern Era 31

remarked that each generation, out of relative obscurity, must reach out and ei- ther fulfill its legacy or betray it. Those sentiments speak volumes about the challenge to carve out a place for an African-centered worldview within the discipline of psychology that the ABPsi has taken up. It is important to under- stand that, in Parham’s view, the foundation for the ABPsi, indeed the disci- pline of African psychology, was more than just a group of frustrated men and women who were unhappy with the APA’s posture regarding persons of African descent. Clearly, there were angry sentiments about what many per- ceive as the incongruence between what APA professed and what the organi- zation and its affiliates practiced. But that doesn’t come close to telling the en- tire story. The context for this initiation of the ABPsi was born out of a social struggle for civil rights, where the themes of “I am somebody,” “Black Power,” and “self-determination” became the rally cries for most Black Americans at that time. Within that struggle was a challenge confronting Black psychologists about whether an “integrationist” (work within the APA to achieve progress) vs. a “nationalist” (break away from the APA and form an independent organi- zation) philosophy was the best strategy to achieve social and professional progress for Black psychologists. In addition, the bias against persons of African- descent promoted by many prominent White members of the APA demon- strated clear prejudices in intelligence and personality measurement, and helped to usher in a practice where testing and assessment practices were used as tools of oppression. Clearly, the betrayal of objectivity of APA’s pseudo-scientific theories and instruments was very pronounced. Consequently, we argue that the struggle for an African-centered psychological prospective was less about a personality clash between African-American and White members of an associ- ation; it was essentially about a what Thomas Parham (2009) has termed a “cul- tural war,”

In reminding ourselves that culture is a complex constellation of mores, values, customs, and traditions that provide a general design for living and a pattern for interpreting reality, it is important to understand the context in which that war was waged. Given that the cultural sterility within traditional psychology was quite pronounced, it was incumbent upon professionals and students alike to engage in a battle that was waged on four fronts. These fronts include: a war of ideology, a war of values, a war of self-determination, and a war of cultural relevance. This, we believe, is what the Association of Black Psychologists has been about for the past four decades.

WAR OF IDEOLOGY The ideological conflict centered on who and what African people are. Black psychologists were right to argue, as Hilliard (1997) reminds us, that there is something wrong with a psychology and a psychological prospective that leaves any group of people strangers to them- selves, aliens to their culture, oblivious to their condition, and inhuman to their oppressors. Furthermore, Carter G. Woodson, in his groundbreaking work on The Mis-Education of the Negro, reminds us that if you allow people to control the way you think, you do not have to assign them to an inferior status; if nec- essary, they will seek it for themselves. Indeed, it has been a war of ideology.

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32 Chapter 2 • African-Centered Psychology in the Modern Era

WAR OF VALUES Consistent with the descriptions referenced previously in this chapter, there is a different set of cultural values that are embraced in an African-centered worldview. These have become the foundation of the African and African-American psychological prospective. These values include the ne- cessity and importance of spirituality, the inner connectedness of all things that exist on the planet and in the universe, that the collective is the most salient el- ement of existence, the idea that self knowledge is the key to mental health, a belief in the transformative possibilities of the human spirit, and the need for self knowledge that was rooted in one’s own cultural traditions.

WAR OF SELF-DETERMINATION The ABPsi had to struggle with the idea of whether to be part of the APA or totally separate from it. In this regard, we are reminded of the words of the Honorable Marcus Garvey, who challenges us to remember that chance has never satisfied the hope of a suffering people. It is only through hard work, persistence, and self-reliance by which the op- pressed have ever realized the light of their own freedom. In that regard, the ABPsi up until most recently has been the only autonomous ethnic psychol- ogy association in this country. The conflict over self-determination was a quick battle as the ABPsi decided to establish its own headquarters (Washington D.C.); create its own newsletter (Psych Discourse); develop its own scholarly journal (Journal of Black Psychology); and host its own conven- tion, which meets annually each August in cities all across this country, and occasionally, internationally.

WAR OF CULTURAL RELEVANCE The ABPsi, and indeed the discipline of African psychology, has always believed that psychology had to be relevant to a broad array of persons of African descent. Said another way, psychology had to be relevant to the people. African psychology had to be relevant in improv- ing the lives of people it devised theories to describe, and treatment modalities to administer. In addition, it had to be able to shape a future that not only trans- formed lives, but also instilled hope and possibility for a brighter future. Indeed, if Fanon was right that each generation has an opportunity to fulfill its legacy or betray it, the ABPsi over the past forty-plus years has reached out and seized that opportunity to fulfill their legacy.

In summary, African-centered psychology, and the psychology of Blackness, is an attempt to build conceptual models that organize, explain, and facilitate understanding of the psychosocial behavior of African Americans. Without question, these models are based in the primary dimensions of an African-American/African worldview. Having now been exposed to the basic tenets of African psychology, one should be able to see specific areas of em- phasis, which although rooted in an African-centered worldview, provide con- gruence and continuity with the principles on which the discipline was founded in 1968. The discipline of African-centered psychology continues to define the construct in meaningful ways, render African psychological principles relevant

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Chapter 2 • African-Centered Psychology in the Modern Era 33

to the contemporary needs of the African-American community, achieve better integration of the concept of spirituality, and help to define and in some cases redefine the task of therapists and healers. In addition, the discipline continues to promote the need for social advocacy and to plan interventions in the larger social arenas where public policy impacts on the mental health of people in the African-American community.

For those interested in the organization, we can report that the ABPsi has grown from a handful of concerned professionals into an independent, au- tonomous organization of more than 1000 members, who see their collective mission and destiny as the liberation of the African Mind, empowerment of the African Character, and illumination of the African Spirit. ABPsi has been guided for the last forty years by a member-elected board of directors, regional repre- sentatives, and national staff. The chronology of ABPsi presidents are as fol- lows, with those who have transitioned to be with the Ancestors denoted with an asterisk*:

CHRONOLOGY OF THE PRESIDENTS OF THE ASSOCIATION OF BLACK PSYCHOLOGISTS

Charles W. Thomas, Ph.D. (1968–1969),* Robert Green, Ph. D. (1968–1969)

Henry Tomes, Ph. D. (1969–1970), Robert L. Williams, Ph.D. (1969–1970)

Stanley Crockett, Ph.D. (1970–1971), Reginald L. Jones, Ph.D. (1971–1972)*

James S. Jackson Ph.D. (1972–1973), Thomas O. Hilliard, Ph.D. (1973–1974)*

George D. Jackson, Ph.D. (1974–1975), William Hayes, Ph.D. (1975–1976)

Ruth E.G. King, Ed.D (1976–1977), Maisha Bennett, Ph.D. (1978–1979)

Joseph Awkard, Ph. D. (1979–1980), Daniel Williams, Ph.D. (1980–1981)

David Terrell, Ph.D. (1981–1982), Joseph A. Baldwin, Ph.D. (1982–1983)

William K. Lyles, Ph.D. (1983–1984),* W. Monty Whitney, Ph.D. (1984–1985)

Melvin Rogers, Ph. D. (1985–1986), Halford H. Fairchild, Ph.D. (1986–1987)

Na’im Akbar, Ph.D. (1987–1988), Dennis E. Chestnut, Ph.D. (1988–1989)

Suzanne Randolph, Ph. D. (1989–1990), Linda James Myers, Ph.D. (1990–1991)

Timothy R. Moragne, Psy.D. (1991–1992), Maisha Hamilton Bennett, Ph.D. (1992–1993)

Anna M. Jackson, Ph.D. (1993–1994), Wade Nobles, Ph.D. (1994–1995)

Thomas A. Parham, Ph.D. (1995–1996), Frederick B. Phillips, Psy.D. (1996–1997)

Kamau Dana Dennard, Ph.D. (1997–1998), Afi Samella B. Abdullah, Ph.D. (1998–1999)

Mawiya Kambon, Ph.D. (1999–2000), Anthony Young, Ph.D.(2000–2001)

Mary Hargrow, Ph.D. (2001–2002), Harvette Gray, Ph.D.(2002–2003)

Willie Williams, Ph.D. (2003–2004, James Savage, Ph.D. (2004–2005)

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34 Chapter 2 • African-Centered Psychology in the Modern Era

Robert Atwell, Ph.D. (2005–2007), Dorothy Holmes, Ph.D. (2007–2009)

Benson Cooke (2009–2011), and Cheryl Tawede Grills (2011–13)

Each administration has also committed itself to nurturing ABPsi, an organiza- tion whose mission is to advance the discipline as a whole. Thus, although the necessity for the development of an African-centered psychology goes almost without question, the recognition that general psychology had failed and con- tinues to fail to provide African Americans full and accurate understanding of an African reality and that applications of Eurocentric norms result in the dehu- manization of African people, were and are major forces that stimulate the growth of the contemporary African psychology movement.

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