Unisa Press

Beyond the Pretty White Affair

Training Africa-centring Psychologists for the Future

Author: Sipho Dlamini
Published: October 25, 2024
ISBN: 978-1-77615-204-9
Number of pages: 121
This book is not available in electronic format

About the book

The training of psychologists in South Africa has been marred by a history of racism, in large part driven by Euroamerican-centricism, in training and, by extension, practice. This Euroamerican-centred training of psychologists, which permeated South Africa along with the advent of colonialism and Apartheid, continues to persist. In the book Beyond the Pretty White Affair, Sipho Dlamini highlights how the longstanding Euroamerican-centrism in psychology training programmes serves to alienate and estrange Black psychologist, when their lifeworlds are ignored or their personal experiences pathologized. He calls for a re-orientation towards African-centred psychology training and practice which stands to ask new and different questions about the human condition, taking on board those who have been historically racially marginalised. The Africancentred psychology, as Dlamini suggests, requires recontemplations of training curricula that must be centred on Africa not only in their application, but also in therapeutic practices, conceptualisations, community psychology, and psychological assessments. The book is an insightful read for psychological practitioners, academics, and students, who are keen to reflect on the state of the profession in South Africa and prospects for its transformation.

Table of content

PART I: Psychology for Africa/ns 1
Chapter 1:

A Psychology that Identifies with Africa/ns

3

Chapter 2:

From African psychology to African-centred Psychology

11

PART II:

(Un)whitening the Profession                                                                       

19

Chapter 3:

It’s a Pretty White Affair

21

Chapter 4:

Erasures in Meritocracy

40

Chapter 5:

We Need New Languages

54

Chapter 6:

Shifting the Geography of Reason

64

Chapter 7:

The Prosthetic God

80

PART III:    

Towards a New Paradigm for the Training of African Psychologists

89

Chapter 8:

Africa/n-centring Professional Training

91

 

Bibliography

102

 

Index

121