International Journal of Transpersonal Studies

Volume 35 Issue 1 Article 9

1-1-2016

A Critical Analysis of African-Centered Psychology: From Ism to Praxis

A. Ebede-Ndi California Institute of Integral Studies

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Recommended Citation Ebede-Ndi, A. (2016). A critical analysis of African-centered psychology: From ism to praxis. International Journal of Transpersonal Studies, 35 (1). http://dx.doi.org/10.24972/ijts.2016.35.1.65

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License. This Special Topic Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Journals and Newsletters at Digital Commons @ CIIS. It has been accepted for inclusion in International Journal of Transpersonal Studies by an authorized administrator of Digital Commons @ CIIS. For more information, please contact [email protected]. A Critical Analysis of African-Centered Psychology: From Ism to Praxis A. Ebede-Ndi California Institute of Integral Studies San Francisco, CA, USA The purpose of this article is to critically evaluate what is perceived as shortcomings in the scholarly field of African-centered psychology and mode of transcendence, specifically in terms of the existence of an African identity. A great number of scholars advocate a total embrace of a universal African identity that unites Africans in the and those on the continent and that can be used as a remedy to a Eurocentric domination of psychology at the detriment of Black communities’ specific needs. Another group of scholars argue for a relative African identity, emphasizing diversity and differences among African people both on the continent and in the diaspora. Considering that the earlier works in the field focused on laying its ideological foundation, this paper suggests that African-centered psychology and mode of transcendence should: (a) beyond discussions on ideologies and identities, (b) concentrate on developing practical applications of its guiding principles, and (c) reclaim the relevance of an African history, memory, and past. In other words, having reclaimed African history, memory, and past, African-centered psychology can move away from ism and advance toward more praxis..

Keywords: African-centered psychology, , , Négritude, Pan-Africanism

n their overview of transpersonal psychology’s growth of psychology to the needs of Black communities and trajectory, Hartelius, Caplan, and Rardin (2007) the ways to address those needs. Embedded in this reflected that “the growing transpersonal community discussion is the premise that one cannot argue for the Icould benefit greatly from transpersonal associations relevance of an African-centered psychology without an throughout Asia, , and Latin America—not so a priori recognition of the existence of an African history, Westerners might come as and teach the memory, and past. The following section attempts to transpersonal, but because the Western community define key concepts that are relevant to understand the needs the participation of these communities” (p. 17). In history of and the discussion within the scholarly field of addition, they argued that “if transpersonal psychology African-centered psychology. aspires to be a fully integrative human psychology, a psychology that is not only East-West but also North- The Question of an African Identity South, it will need to invite voices from the rest of the here are opposing views about the existence of world” (p. 17). Towards the purpose of redressing this Tan African identity and the nature of an African- imbalance, this article presents an overview of the field centered psychology. Africa is a continent of 54 countries, of African-centered psychology/studies and mode of and each country has its own tribes and cultures; it transcendence. The focus here is not to describe specific is then not possible to describe an African-centered African-centered transpersonal phenomena, but to psychology that represents all Africans. However, in critically evaluate the field and offer suggestions for a order to understand the conversation around the idea of more practical direction. an African-centered psychology, it is necessary to define This article aims not only to engage scholars related concepts. A quick search of the term “African- within the field of African-centered psychology, but centered” redirects one to the notions of “Afrocentrism,” also to inform psychologists of non-African-centered “Afrocentricity,” or “Africology,” which is the study of descent of the literature and praxis in the said field, and Black, African, African American, Africana and/or Afro- argue for more professional attention within the field American. InternationalAfrican-Centered Journal Psychology of Transpersonal Studies, 35(1), 2016,International pp. 65-77 Journal of Transpersonal Studies 65

Afrocentrism or Afrocentricity the positive features of basic that The term Afrocentrism is believed to have dictate the values, customs, attitudes, and behaviors of originated in 1962 (Moses, 1998) and Afrocentricity in Africans in Africa and in the New World (Nobles, 1980), the 1970s (Thairu & Wahinya, 1975). Both terms are and the reclamation, re-ascension, and revitalization of used essentially as a cultural ideology or worldview by an African psychology (Noble, 1986). mostly African and Africans of the diaspora. The end of in the United States in the Even though Afrocentric ideas may date back at least to 1860s and the decline of in Africa in the the 1890s (Conyers, 2004), the concept was revived in 1960s were major social changes that created conditions the 1960s and 1970s. African American intellectuals, for the rise of Black consciousness around the world. inspired by African-centered scholars’ groundbreaking But it was in the United States that such changes works of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries received transformational impetus. African American (i.e., Du Bois, 1903, 1915, 1933, 1939; Fanon, 1952, 1961; intellectuals, who constantly lived under Euro-American Guthrie, 1976; Jones, 1972; Nobles, 1974), and motivated organized and repression, needed to develop by the and the development of a counter-narrative where they could self-determine. African American Studies programs in universities in Afrocentrism became a counter-narrative that seeks to the United States, sought self-determination through the highlight the contributions of African people worldwide rehabilitation of their African cultural heritage. (Asante, 1980, 1998, 2000). The term Afrocentric has been traced by Critique of Afrocentrism Derrick Alridge to W. E. B. Du Bois who used it in Afrocentrism is generally defined as the study the 1960s, but it was Asante who appropriated the term of African peoples using an Africa-centered lens. The and popularized it in Afrocentricity: The Theory of Social problem with this definition is the placement of Africa Change (1980) and later in The Afrocentric Idea(1998). at the center of any analysis of African history and Asante (2000) stated that the Afrocentric idea as a cultural culture, including the African American experience configuration was distinguished by five characteristics: (Oyebade, 1990). Conflating the African and African American experience could present some methodological 1. An intense interest in psychological location challenge. For example, in the early 1960s, Africa- as determined by symbols, motifs, rituals, and centered historiography scholars consciously grounded signs their research in African methodology; but, Oyebade 2. A commitment to finding the subject-place of (1990) argued, “the theoretical conceptualization of an Africans in any social, political, economic, or Africa-centered approach is the handiwork of Afrocentric religious phenomenon with implications for scholars such as , Tsheloane Keto, questions of sex, gender, and class Mualana Karenga, and a host of others based in the 3. A defense of African cultural elements as United States” (p. 233). Shifting the focus from historically valid in the context of art, music, methodology to theory may open the field to different and literature kinds of ideological interpretations. Yet, what the field 4. A celebration of centeredness and agency needs today is to move away from ideological ism and and a commitment to lexical refinement that focus more on methodological praxis. eliminates pejoratives about Africans or other Critics argued that Afrocentrism, as an ideology, people offers little more than “a psychological and therapeutic 5. A powerful imperative from historical sources feel-good-together philosophy” (Adeleke, 2009, p. to revise the collective text of African people. 180) or a new reconstruction of world history full of historical and legends (Shavit, 2001). Cain Hope Akbar (1991) argued that Afrocentricity involves Felder (1994) warned Afrocentrists not to demonize the identification of the continuous ancient voice in its categorically all white people, vilify European heritage call to a realization of an authentic African people. His to the point that Europe epitomizes all the evil in the aim was to develop an African agency that does not derive world, and that gross over-generalizations and using from the negative aspects of being “Black” people on the factually or incorrect material is bad history and bad continent or anywhere in the diaspora. He emphasized scholarship. Despite the critics’ opinion, Afrocentrism

66 International Journal of Transpersonal Studies Ebede-Ndi is an important aspect of a Pan-African conversation Blacks (PADEAP, 2011). In 1919, an African American, about the identity and the relevance of the knowledge of W. E. B. Du Bois, convened the first Pan-African Africans on the continent and in the diaspora. congress in Paris, France, demanding the independence Pan-Africanism and the Diaspora of African nations. Further congresses—essentially Pan-Africanism is an ideology and movement extended meetings of like-minded Africans searching for that encourages the solidarity of Africans worldwide. a way forward—were held in 1921 in , Brussels, It is based on the belief that unity is vital to economic, Paris, in 1923 in London and Lisbon, and in 1927 in New social, and political progress and aims to “unify and York (PADEAP, 2011). Arguably, the most important uplift” people of African descent. In psychology, Pan-African congress was held in 1945 in Manchester Pan-Africanism could be understood as the common where a large number of African representatives lived experience, felt emotion, and shared memory of from the continent attended for the first time, which African people on the continent and in the diaspora. resulted in a gained momentum that contributed to In his definition of diaspora, Safran (1991) said that its the independence movements of the 1950s and 1960s. constituent elements include: Throughout the twentieth century, cultural Pan- Africanism weaved through the political narrative— Dispersal from a homeland, often by violent forces, the Harlem , Francophone the making of a memory, and a vision of that of Négritude, Afrocentrism, Rastafarianism and Hip homeland, marginalization in the new location, a Hop (PADEAP, 2011)—advocating self-determination commitment to the maintenance/restoration of the of Blacks. In 1974 the 6th Pan-African Congress took homeland, and desire for return and a continuing place in Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania, fueled by the radical relationship and identity with the homeland that Black movements that swept the diaspora, espousing shapes the consciousness and solidarity of the group. militant , fighting White domination with (pp. 83-84) Black separatist organization, and advocating the global This definition illustrates the motivating unity of struggling for liberation. The sentiment behind the Pan-African movement of the early 7th Congress in Kampala, Uganda, in 1994 set up a twentieth century. Pan-African ideas could be traced permanent organizational structure to carry forward back to the first resistance on the slave ships—rebellions decisions taken at the Congress meetings. There were and suicides—through the constant plantation and and still are inherent divisions and debates within colonial uprising and the “Back to Africa” movements of the Pan-African movement, according to PADEAP the nineteenth century (PADEAP, 2011), and emerged as (2011): is Pan-Africanism a movement of the people or a distinct political movement initially formed and led by has it now been taken over by governments, are Black people from the diaspora who focused on the struggles of Africans of Sub-Saharan origin the only true Africans? the African people against enslavement and colonization. Pan-Africanism may not be different from any other The use of diaspora emerges directly out of the broad-based and passionate political movement, growing scholarly interest in the Pan-African movement namely the movement in the USA. in particular, and in Black Internationalism in general, Critique of (Pan) African Identity that began to develop in the 1950s. The need for the At the heart of the Pan-African debate is the reunification of diasporic and continental Africans was question of an African identity. Scholars argue that expressed decades earlier (Du Bois, 1933). This movement the very idea of an African identity is a conflation; it was born out of the necessity to confront or heal the slavery is the main fallacy upon which the concept of an legacy through racial organization: through ideologies of largely depends on for its validation a real or symbolic return to Africa (Edwards, 2001). In this (Hartman, 2007; Mengestus, 2007). African identities, way, Africans of the diaspora imagined a unified identity such as African languages, are inventions, mutually that was dependent on a common relationship to Africa. constitutive existential and epistemic constructions: In 1900, from Trinidad “Invention implies a history, a social process; it called a conference that took place in London, UK, to denaturalizes cultural artifacts and practices, stripping protest the stealing of the lands in the colonies, racial them of primordial authenticity and essentialism” discrimination, and other relevant issues of interest to (Zeleza, 2006, p. 14). The idea of Africa is complex African-Centered Psychology International Journal of Transpersonal Studies 67 and any attempt to define it may swing unsteadily in this place at this particular time? What kind of life between the poles of essentialism and contingency. situation allowed this person to travel to, live in, love The essentialist pole comes from a critique of in, or be captured in this place? Instead of focusing on racial purity in Euro-America and posits that Africa place and the mobility of people, DNA research should arises from similarly complex crossings across race give insight into the practices of community formation and ethnicity. With this stance, some scholars may and re-formation: siblings who traveled together and argue, Du Bois (1915, 1939) may be taking interethnic apart to form unique and related family groups; ethno- crossing to be as identity-constituting and identity- groupings that are occasional, disrupted, and disruptive fracturing as interracial crossing. The flip side of that (Keguro, 2008). Therefore, one might discover that argument, they might say, is the view that imposes a Africans are more continental, more multi-ethnic, and model of racial homogeneity onto ethno-diversity, less rooted and homogeneous than they imagine. In flattening important differences among various African such a scenario, Keguro concluded, diasporic African people, and underscoring the question of who is the researches into and complications of identity have much only true African. However, this position may be to teach some Africans about their own forms of diversity, shortsighted especially when looked at it through the about the historically situated aspect of how they have lens of postmodern essentialism. When Du Bois (1903) come to be specific, and the stories of how they have discussed the notion of double consciousness he was always been more diverse than they imagine or claim. suggesting that Blacks were simultaneously inside and The point Keguro made could be used to outside the West and developed two senses of self: one debunk the essentialist argument of imposing racial from within their respective communities and the other homogeneity onto ethnic diversity by showing that Pan- from a larger Eurocentric dominant culture. This double Africanism is more heterogeneous than homogeneous. consciousness may not only apply to the perceptions However, what Keguro is not addressing is that the and representations related to interracial and interethnic problem of an African identity is not necessarily crossings but could be applied to interracial marriages one of diversity but is one of validity and self- as well. The general point Du Bois was making with determination. DNA focus on place is one aspect, his color-line theory was to reflect on the role of race contingent practices of community formation and and racism in history and society, calling the world’s re-formation is another. DNA findings and research attention to an eventual response of the oppressed, in community practices may lead to the development who happened to be people of color to the oppressors, of praxis that would contribute to the rehabilitation who happened to be Whites or people of European of an African history and memory, the legitimation descent. Such an argument did not necessarily of an African knowledge, and the validation of an contradict Du Bois’ Pan-African ideas and demand African science, regardless of how heterogeneous or for the liberation of African nations and Black (color) homogeneous African people are. Such praxis “cannot people everywhere, on the contrary, it confirmed it. be something imposed from above, but must be found On the other hand, the contingency pole in the authentic lives of the people as they maintain comes from a critique of racial homogeneity in Africa their own sense of dignity” (Asante, 2009, p. 3). and posits that DNA research may show that Africans Diasporic and continental African relationships are more diverse than homogeneous and cannot be are nuanced and finding a historical, political, and used to support the Pan-African ideas of an African cultural unity can be challenging. On the one hand, identity and/or common lived experience. Keguro Du Bois and Safran assumed that there is a nationalistic (2008) argued that the promise of DNA testing for tie that binds all “Negro peoples” together by virtue of many diasporic people is that it might reveal where their some inherently shared relationship to Africa. On the ancestors may once have lived and loved, traveled and other hand, Hartman and Mengestus critiqued this link married. Such research, this view maintains, tells one that supposedly ties the diaspora together. For example, more about movement and travel. It tells a contingent Hartman (2007) argued that the simplistic reduction story: at this moment, in this year, this individual was involved in defining a diasporic community with an in this place—and in telling such a story it opens up identifiable kinship to “an African continental family” narrative possibilities. How did this person come to be (p. 6) is one that exists in a constructed realm dependent 68 International Journal of Transpersonal Studies Ebede-Ndi on the concept of race which was “developed in the modern period and in the context of the slave trade” Eurocentric Critique (p. 5). Mengestus (2007) presented a more nuanced of African-Centered Studies view that neither agrees nor disagrees with this imagined frican-centered studies or African studies focus on racial connection and instead takes a middle ground Astudying African cultures and communities and also position and acknowledges the complexly different work for the knowledge and emancipation of the African trajectories of the continent’s many languages and people. The field includes essentially the study of history: cultures. Nevertheless, the question of race and kinship pre-colonial (before the 19th century), colonial (between between diasporic and continental Africans becomes 19th and 20th centuries), and post-colonial (after WWII, obsolete once one recognizes that there was an Africa in the 1950s, 1960s, and beyond); demography: ethnic before slavery and colonization, which had a history and tribal groups; religion: , , traditional and memory. The wisdom and knowledge contained in religions; culture, politics, economy, and languages. The the many languages and cultures of the continent could main approach is critical, questioning epistemological then lay the foundation for Africa’s ability for knowledge paradigms, theories, and methods used in traditional/ production in service of humanity: mainstream disciplines and how they relate to African ways of knowing and/or references. In general, African- Contrary to popular perceptions, Black psychology, centered studies are interdisciplinary, comprehensive, as being developed in the United States, is neither and appropriately designed to tackle the complexity of narrowly race-specific nor limited ethnically or issues related to African-centeredness. geographically. It is the self-conscious “centering” Considering the background and context of the of psychological analyses and applications in concepts previously defined, it seems more appropriate African realities, cultures, and epistemologies. to talk about African-centered studies in a much broader (Nobles, 2013, pp. 292-299) sense than to talk about African-centered psychology Although the subject of African identities is vast more specifically. The diversity of the African people and complex as the continent itself, it could become a around the world warrants a complex approach to distraction. For methodological purposes, one could study their reality. Such approach was hinted at in select an area of research and develop appropriate the definition of Afrocentrism and Pan-Africanism. praxis. For example, there are religious, ecological, These concepts revealed intersections between history, linguistic, and even ethnic taxonomies. There is psychology, anthropology, sociology, philosophy, and also Africa as biology/racial, image/representational, even political science. space/geographical, and memory/historical (Zeleza, One may not be able to fully describe African- 2006). Africa as memory is relevant for this article as centered studies without a priori acknowledging the it represents a racial, representational, and geographical existence of an African history and memory, recognizing link between diasporic and continental Africans, who the validity of African knowledge, and denouncing the share similar experiences and related cultural and negative effect of colonialism and to some extent slavery historical worldviews. Diasporic or on the African people and their knowledge. Such have experienced slavery, involuntary relocation, social efforts were attempted in Pan-African and Afrocentric and racial discrimination and alienation in the new movements. However, one of the main critiques of land. Continental Africans have experienced slavery, Afrocentric scholars was their alleged falsification of colonization, and alienation in their own land. Both are African/Black history and their “bad scholarship.” experiencing a global despise and/or rejection of their This critique, as fair as it may sound, forces one to very existence, arguably, and maybe solely, based on how reflect on its possible implicit assumption. Africans they look, behave, and possibly their skin color. This have been made to believe that they do not possess commonly lived experience could explain their strong the tools and knowledge to write their own history: emotional attachment to their shared memory expressed The Negro…exhibits the natural man in his in Pan-Africanism or today’s Black Lives Matter completely wild and untamed state. We must lay movement and other related emancipatory movements aside all thought of reverence and morality – all that and could not just be mere inventions. African-Centered Psychology International Journal of Transpersonal Studies 69 we call feeling – if we would rightly comprehend a great extent, an African mind here and an African him; there is nothing harmonious with humanity to mind there from being completely torn asunder. be found in this type of character. (Hegel, 1956, p. Though extremely destructive, Hegel’s lie was and 93, as cited in Nobles & Cooper, 2013, p. 347) is nothing more than a phantom (a bodiless energy without real existence) that on closer examination This point of view has been used, like a Pavlov dissolves, yet tends to leave a lingering doubt about reflex, to condition African people to think they are an its veracity, implanting its insinuation in a brake to inferior race. Hegel (1956) went further to say, “at this collective action. (Nobles & Cooper, 2013, p. 347) point we leave Africa, not to mention it again. For it is no historical part of the World; it has no movement or One could make a cogent argument that development to exhibit” (p. 99) and he concluded, “what because African communities favor oral transmission we properly understand by Africa, is the Unhistorical, of knowledge, and that orally transmitted knowledge Undeveloped Spirit, still involved in the conditions of mere may be altered or lost from generation to generation, it is nature, and which had to be presented here only as on the challenging to recognize and/or document their history. threshold of the World’s History” (p. 99). Hegel strongly The counter argument could also be that with research in believed that one cannot read anything an African writes genetics, archeology, linguistics, and artifacts, one could without seeing “anathema” all over it. Interestingly, reconstruct or reclaim an African history, memory, and Hegel’s argument was also echoed by prominent African knowledge. The question is who has the authority to scholars. Senghor (1964), a highly respected African do that work and/or validate that knowledge. Africans intellectual, stated, “L’émotion est Nègre, comme la raison have been made to believe that it is not them. Senghor, est Héllène” (emotion is Negro, as reason is Hellenic; p. for example, believed that without France, Africa was 288). Senghor, like Hegel, believed that a Black person lost and in a speech said that Africans do not want to could not use his or her neocortex or rational mind because leave the French compound, they have grown up in s/he was still stuck in his/her reptilian brain and that it and it was good for them to be alive in it (Nugent, anything rational must come from Helena, the symbol 2004). He then became the first African to be elected of Greece’s beauty and the cradle of Western rationalism in l’Académie Française. Later in his life, in a conscious and civilization. , and later Eduardo Duran awakening, probably because of his disillusionment in and Bonnie Duran, in a different context but similar France, he realized the strong dominance of French idea, called such phenomenon “lactification,” a process culture in Africa, and the perception that Africa did whereby any indigenous (Black/Brown person) must not have culture developed enough to stand alongside obtain the approval of a White person in order to validate that of Europe. With Aimé Césaire and Léon Damas, his or her knowledge (Duran & Duran, 1995, p. 4; Senghor created the concept of Négritude, an important Fanon, 1952, p. 47). intellectual movement that sought to assert and to This way of thinking goes to show that the valorize what they believe to be distinctive African non-recognition of the existence of an African history characteristics, values, and aesthetics. and memory is similar to the non-recognition of the Négritude existence of African knowledge and by extension Martiniquean poet Aimé Césaire, Léopold African-centered studies. This could also be called Sédar Senghor, a future President of Senegal, and “bad scholarship,” especially when it is known that Léon Damas of French Guiana, and others, created people have lived in Africa for more than three million Négritude as a literary and ideological philosophy in years and, therefore, should possess a rich and varied the 1930s when the general mood among Blacks was history as illustrated by the Egyptian pyramids and about the affirmation of Blackness and the fight for hieroglyphics, the ancient kingdoms of Zimbabwe, the decolonization of African nations. These African- Ghana, Mali, Congo, and others. Furthermore, Nobles centered scholars were dissatisfied and disgusted by and Cooper gave the proper answer to Hegel’s distortion: French colonialism and argued that the best strategy to reject it was to encourage a common racial identity In spite of our Westernization, the antibody of our for Black Africans worldwide, a Pan-African identity of common core ancestral cultural legacy has kept, to some sort. They intentionally chose the term Négritude

70 International Journal of Transpersonal Studies Ebede-Ndi and meant to be provocative by appropriating it, because philosophy, but it only confirms the racial characteristic it came from Latin niger and was used exclusively in a of said term that the aforementioned scholars wanted to racist context within France when referring to Black expose. people. They maintained that Blacks did have a history It is also worth noting that the Négritude and a worthy culture, and that it was capable of standing philosophy developed alongside a few likeminded alongside the cultures of other countries as equals while, movements, namely the and at the same time, denouncing Europe’s alleged lack of Noirisme. The Harlem Renaissance was the name given humanity, and the rejection of Western domination and to the cultural, social, and artistic explosion that took ideas. place in Harlem between the end of World War I and the Négritude became immediately controversial. middle of the 1930s. During that period, Harlem was In 1948, Jean-Paul Sartre analyzed the Négritude a cultural center, drawing Black writers, artists, philosophy in an essay called “Orphée Noir” (Black musicians, photographers, poets, scholars, and authors Orpheus) and characterized it as the opposite of colonial (such as Claude McKay and Langston Hughes), who racism in a Hegelian dialectic, a description of the laid groundwork for Black expression, which helped relationship between the master and the slave, and with to inspire Senghor, Damas and Césaire when they it, he helped to introduce Négritude issues to French developed Négritude. On the other hand, Noirisme intellectuals as a valid academic contribution to his could be understood as radical, psychological, cultural, existential theory. Sartre believed that Négritude was a ethnological and political ideology, which argued for “racisme antiraciste” (anti-racist racism), a strategy with Black supremacy in Haitian politics. Although some a final goal of racial unity (p. xiv). Even some Black saw Noirisme as the Haitian version of Négritude, scholars critiqued Négritude philosophy. The Nigerian most writers of the Négritude philosophy were quick to icon and 1986 Nobel Peace Prize, Wole Soyinka, distance themselves from Noirisme when they realized believed that by deliberately and outspokenly being the extent of its radicalism. proud of their ethnicity, Black people were automatically In an effort to respond to critics, the founders on the defensive and said, “Un tigre ne proclame pas sa of Négritude argued that their philosophy was by no tigritude, il saute sur sa proie et la dévore” (a tiger does not means an anti-White racism, but rather emphasized the proclaim its tigritude (tigerness); it jumps on its prey and importance of dialogue and exchange among different devours it; as cited by Madinin-Art, 2006, para. 19). The cultures, a point that was obviously rejected by Jean-Paul implication of Soyinka’s point is that one should be proud Sartre. Nevertheless, (1974), a giant of an achievement, being Black is not an achievement, but of African intellectualism, sounded the alarm a long time it is a natural, essential, and existential fact. Following ago, denouncing the double standard when critiquing the same logic, the South African Keorapetse Kgositsile African scholars: argued that the term was based too much on Blackness Have foreign intellectuals, who challenge our according to a Caucasian aesthetic, and was unable to intentions and accuse us of all kinds of hidden motives define a new kind of perception of Africanness that or ridiculous ideas, proceeded any differently? When would free Black art from Caucasian conceptualizations they explain their own historical past or study their altogether (Kgositsile, 1968). languages, that seems normal. Yet, when an African Related Concepts does likewise to help reconstruct the national It is important to note that an archaic use of the personality of his people, distorted by colonialism, term Négritude was identified much earlier in America that is considered backward or alarming. (p. xiii) in the context of race. American physician, Benjamin Rush, a signer of the United States Declaration of Consequently, and based on the complexity of Independence, used the term Négritude to imagine a the topic, African-centered studies or African-centered rhetorical “disease” which he said was a mild form of psychology presents many challenges created by a leprosy whose only cure was to become White (Jackson, stubborn denial of a well-established African history and 2002). This early use of the term may not have been the existence of an African memory and past. Morrison known to Aimé Césaire, Léon Damas, and Leopold (1984) also made the case that some of Africans’ beliefs Sedar Senghor when they developed the Négritude and practices were “discredited knowledge,” discredited African-Centered Psychology International Journal of Transpersonal Studies 71 only because Black people were discredited therefore the reformist, and the radical. According to Jamison what they knew was “discredited” (p. 62). (2008) and Karenga (1992), the traditional theoretical The discredit of African knowledge is based on orientation is characterized by scholars who are not criteria from other paradigms. Those criteria are mostly necessarily interested in the existence and/or development predetermined frameworks of analysis developed from of African/Black psychology, but continue to support predefined parameters by ways of Western categories “traditional” Eurocentric psychological models with rather than the ones that emerge from Africans’ lived minor changes. Those scholars believe in changing experiences. This often results in a constant compare- White attitudes by being critical of the models they and-contrast analysis rather that an analysis in and subscribe to without suggesting new approaches to solve of itself. Defining African knowledge and concepts the problems. parallel to Western concepts actually proceeds from and The reformists have a more ideological reinforces an understanding of the dominant position orientation. Like the traditional theoretical orientation, of the Euro-American culture and risks constructing an the reformists also believe in changing White attitudes, African identity by its relationship to Western template. but focus on confronting public policies that maintain This, in turn, might imply advocating the acceptance and support institutional racism (Karenga, 1992). The of African worldview or ways of knowing in a Western reformist theoretical orientation “tend[s] to emphasize the world. African wisdom and science represents a legitimate American slavery legacies of the continuing oppression of mode of social and human science exploration, without Blacks in America” (Kambon, 1998, p. 231). On the apology to Western exclusive way of knowing. The goal other hand, the radical theoretical orientation is not should not be to have to base the existence or integrity of concerned with changing White attitudes. Members of African knowledge on an oppositional relationship, but this orientation, Nobles (1974), Akbar (1994), Kambon to find a language that is accessible to African and non- (1998), and others, believe that an African worldview African audiences. In order for this to happen, African- analysis is essential to understanding the psychology of centered scholars should be able to develop methods people of African descent, because an African-centered and praxis capable of assessing and explaining the steps psychology cannot be developed in a Euro-American involved in traditional healing sessions, describing mental organization; therefore they need to return to African processes and behavior patterns as suggested in legends, values, philosophy, and psychology in order to develop fables, folklore, folktale, movement, and symbols. tools and instruments necessary to meet the needs of Black people everywhere, thus marking a shift from African-Centered Psychology and the ideological ism to more cultural and methodological Transpersonal Dimension praxis. iven the difficulty to define an African identity Methodological Perspective Gas shown in Afrocentrism and Pan-Africanism, The methods that deal with Black issues are as the complexity of the relationship between Africans complex as the issues themselves. Banks (1982) identified of the diaspora and those on the continent, and the those critical approaches or methods as deconstructive, need for an African-centered psychology, scholars from reconstructive, and constructive. The deconstructionists the Association of Black Psychologists (ABPsi) have denounce and expose the biases and weaknesses in the attempted to develop a few theories and methods to scientific literature about Black people, but they stop facilitate the conversation. there. The reconstructionists take it a step further by Theoretical Orientation correcting those biases and by attempting to modify and There is agreement among African-centered reconstruct existing models into more culturally relevant scholars about the goal of an African-centered models for Blacks (Kambon, 1998; Nobles, 1986). The psychology, which is the liberation of the African mind, reconstructionist approach has been taken by scholars empowerment of the African character, and enlivenment such as White (1980), Hayes (1991), Savage and Adair and illumination of the African spirit. However, the (1977), and Boykin (1979). theories and methods about how to achieve that goal The constructionists have a more critical are different. Karenga (1992) has identified essentially approach to so-called empirical methods as they question three main theoretical orientations: the traditional, the argument that empiricism is the only valid way of

72 International Journal of Transpersonal Studies Ebede-Ndi knowing (Harrell, 1999; Kambon, 1992, 1998). They are Another move from ism to praxis is Kambon’s not very much interested in exposing or correcting biases (1992) African Self-Consciousness (ASC), African in the literature about Black people as much as they are Self-Extension Orientation (ASEO), and Cultural interested in researching and creating “new paradigms and Misorientation (CM) measures that have been used in methodologies that stem from an organic, authentically studies to show that African American college students African epistemological and ontological base” (Harrell, with an African worldview orientation do well in 1999, p. 45). Constructionists are represented by such academic self-concept than those with a Eurocentric scholars as Akbar (1981), Nobles (1973, 1986), Kambon worldview orientation (Iyanu, 2013). Scholars are now (1992) and Wilson (1978, 1991), Pasteur and Toldson using this model to explain healing modalities based on (1982), Azibo (1996) and Myers (1988). African cultures and traditional practices. From Ideological Ism to Praxis The Transpersonal Dimension African-centered psychology should move Early in this article, the concepts of Afrocentrism, beyond ideologies and away from the claim that people Pan-Africanism, and Négritude were discussed. The have different ways of expressing themselves because of common theme in these concepts was the idea of “Africa” their cultural and social experience, which is already in African-centeredness. The question that emerges is known extensively across disciplines. Instead, African- whether or not Africans both in the diaspora and on the centered scholars should focus more on praxis. In other continent share the same psychological experience. After words, they should build upon the ideological “ism” and all, most African-descents in the diaspora were born and adopt practical approaches to research, reflecting on how raised in the ambient culture, how do they then connect they can articulate what they do in ways that are practical, with those on the continent? In addition to Nobles and relevant, and that meet the needs and expectations of the Cooper’s (2013) answer to Hegel mentioned earlier, people concerned. Asante (1984) had also suggested an answer to that Such a move is perceptible in the radical question in the following quote: theoretical orientation and constructionist’s practical The African American is to a degree a most inclination. For example, Akbar’s (1994) and Nobles’ Westernized African, yet has retained the Sudic (2013) ideas of redefining psychology as Sakhu Sheti and Ideal of harmony, achieved by rhythm, and passed Sakhu Sheti/Djaer, respectively, as a penetrating search and on to other cultures. There is a unique experience of understanding of phenomena both visible and invisible. transcendence among Africans in the West, whether Nobles (2013), being one of the finest theoreticians in the they are Cubans, Brazilians, Haitians, Jamaicans, field, advocates the construction of an African version Ecuadorians, or citizens of the United States; they of the Western Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of share forms of the same experience in Samba the Mental Disorders (DMS) that can describe the nosology Brazilian dance, Sango the Cuban folk religion, and nosography of African illnesses that are both visible Umbanda the Brazilian folk religion, Voodoo and invisible: “The development of an African-centered the Haitian folk religion, or Myal a Jamaican classification of disease, that is, nosology, should at a religion. At the center of all of these forms of minimum (a) use African languages and logic and (b) human expression is the same source of energy, the explore the application and relevance of these ideas and rhythm of polyrhythms that drive the spirit towards notions in illuminating….‘the suffering of the spirit’” (p. transcendence. (p. 168) 239). Through ABPsi, African-centered psychologists and counselors have used African philosophical concepts A sense of community living, attachment to such as Ubuntu and different community healing cultural and ancestral values, and rhythm should be the mechanisms to provide counsel to Black communities bridge that links Africans in the diaspora with those suffering from police brutality and other forms of social, on the continent and ought to be the basis upon which political, economic oppression, and natural disasters in research is done both in African-centered psychology America and elsewhere, for example, the Michael Brown and transpersonal psychology. The conversation around case in Ferguson or the victims of Haiti earthquake. Afrocentrism, Pan-Africanism, and Négritude was an Though Nobles’ and others’ practical works are still in example of the quest for connectedness and harmony progress, they are moving in the right direction. among Africans and African-descents around the world. African-Centered Psychology International Journal of Transpersonal Studies 73 Though their respective psychological experiences may 2009). Within such a framework, African-centered vary, they mostly rely on the following guiding principles scholars can scientifically ground the study of African in the study of their lived experience: core principles such as ancestor/spirit veneration, social collectivity, and the spiritual basis of existence. 1. Spirit permeates everything Practical Application and Relevance of Africa’s Past 2. Everything in the universe is interconnected Building on transpersonal psychology’s 3. Collective/community living is the most framework and platform, African-centered scholars salient element of existence should be motivated by the aforementioned African 4. Communal self-knowledge is the key to core principles and reclaim Africa’s past. Africa’s past mental health (Nobles, 2013, pp. 292- is based on the Kemetic notion of what it means to be 293). a human. The Kemetic or ancient Egyptian knowledge According to Myers (1988), an optimal African presents three essential modalities within every human worldview consists of: (a) viewing the spiritual and being, which are ka, ba, and sad (Mayi, 2010). Ka is a material as one, (b) knowing the self through symbolic person viewed as a specific modality of an individualized imagery and rhythm, (c) valuing positive interpersonal cosmic being, which is universal and eternal. In other relationships among people, (d) emphasizing the words, ka represents the psycho-affective and psycho- union of opposites, (e) processing the interrelatedness cognitive aspects of human beings, which are immortal of human and spiritual networks, (f) identifying the and eternal. Ba is viewed as a person in terms of his or her extended self and the multidimensionality of self, (g) moving capability, which means that ba is the entity that assuming self-worth is intrinsic in being, (h) valuing can move in and out of the body independently. From a spiritualism, oneness with nature and communalism, purely biological perspective, ba is also viewed as blood (i) being positively consistent despite appearances due to and to some extent race, family, character, and so forth. relationship with the source, and (j) having a life space Sad is the living body, which decomposes after death. that is infinite and unlimited (pp. 11-12). It should be noted that each modality comprises Moreover, it is Diop’s Two Cradle Theory that an element of mortality and immortality. This represents summarizes best the main principles of the African the Kemetic principle of duality, which allows for multiple worldview upon which is based the quest for harmony, readings of the patient’s condition while considering connectedness, and transcendence: ancestor/spirit the fact that a person is destined to eternal life and is veneration, social collectivity, and spiritual basis of mortal, therefore susceptible to corruption (Mayi, existence (Wobogo, 1976). In other words, a more 2010). According to Mayi, duality is not conflictual, appropriate approach to African-centered psychology ka, ba, and sad co-exist and their co-existence creates and mode of transcendence includes “introspection a vital energy that affects both the psyche and the and inclusion of constructs related to the soul and body. When the therapist understands this duality, he spirit and the centrality of such cultural constructs as or she will be able to assess a patient who presents with interdependence, connection to nature, social collectivity psychosomatic illness. This duality can also be observed in defining human functioning, and the consubstantial in Freud’s concepts of libido, Eros, and Thanatos co- nature of things in the world” (Grills, 2002, p. 22). existing within the individual, except that for Freud, the Comparatively, transpersonal psychology might duality is conflictual. African-centered scholars can use provide a platform that is outside of the ideological the Kemetic principle of duality, as described above, to divisions within African-centered psychology and be develop practical approaches to mental health and move more conducive to this area of study than mainstream beyond ideologies. psychology or religious study. The scholarly field of transpersonal psychology embraces the spectrum of Conclusion human affairs: spirituality, consciousness, culture, istory, memory, and past are essential parts of language, gender (Puhakka, 2008). It also attempts Han African-centered psychology and mode of to integrate timeless wisdom with Western modern transcendence. Denying the existence of an African psychology and translate spiritual principles into history is a crime against memory. It is a discreet crime scientifically grounded, contemporary language (Caplan, because of its subtle nature. Yet, such a crime paves

74 International Journal of Transpersonal Studies Ebede-Ndi the way for cultural hegemony where one cultural bloc Asante, M. K. (2000). The painful demise of . dominates the other and creates conditions for cultural Trenton, NJ: Africa World Press. blocs, risking total annihilation of the dominated culture. Asante, M. K. (2009, July). Commitment to the civil There can be no African psychology without an African society: The role of an Afrocentric ideology in history, memory, and past. To speak, then, of an African reducing religious, regional, and ethnic obstacles to psychology, it is important, even imperative, to excavate national integration. Paper presented at a conference its past, exhume its memory, and rehabilitate its history. in Dakar, Senegal. However, the challenge in the establishment of Azibo, D. A. (1996). African psychology in historical a viable and relevant African-centered psychology is to perspective and related commentary. 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76 International Journal of Transpersonal Studies Ebede-Ndi PADEAP (2011). The history of Pan-Africanism. Retrieved from http://www.padeap.net/the-history- About the Author of-pan-africanism Pasteur, A. & Toldson, I. (1982). Roots of soul: The A. Ebede-Ndi, PhD, is an Adjunct Assistant Professor and psychology of Black expressiveness. New York, NY: a global researcher interested in cultural, multicultural, Anchor Press, Doubleday. cross-cultural, intercultural, and transcultural human Puhakka, K. (2008). Transpersonal perspective: An interactions and behaviors. He obtained his doctorate in antidote to the postmodern malaise. The Journal of East West Psychology (EWP) at the California Institute Transpersonal Psychology, 40(1). of Integral Studies (CIIS) and his BA and MA in Safran, W. (1991). in modern societies: Myths psychology at the University of Yaoundé in Cameroon, of homeland and return. Diaspora, 1(1), 83–99. West Africa. While pursuing a PhD at CIIS, he was a doi:10.1353/dsp.1991.0004 fellow and senior fellow at the Center for Writing and Sartre, J-P. (1948). Orphée noir (Black Orpheus). In L. Scholarship, and co-developed a curriculum for training S. Senghor Anthologie de la nouvelle poésie nègre et fellows. His doctoral research explored the interface malgache [Anthology of the new poetry for negro and between African healing practices and psychoanalysis, Malagasy people]. Paris, France: Presses Universitaires and proposed a new 5-factor model for working with de France. clients. Since graduating, Ebede has been teaching Savage, J. & Adair, A. (1977). Testing minorities: Research Colloquium, a proposal writing preparation Developing more culturally relevant assessment course, and a new course: African Spirituality and systems. Negro Educational Review, 28, 220–228. Psychology. He also serves as chair and committee Senghor, L. S. (1964). Liberté I, Négritude et humanisme member on students’ dissertation/theses committees, [Liberty I, Négritude and humanism]. Paris, France: and has supervised students’ independent study/research Seuil. at the Institute. Shavit, Y. (2001). History in Black: African Americans in search of an ancient past. London, UK: Frank Cass. About the Journal Thairu, K. & Wahinya, N. (1975). The African civilization. East African Literature Bureau. The International Journal of Transpersonal Studies is a White, J. (1980). Toward a Black psychology. In R. peer-reviewed academic journal in print since 1981. It is Jones (Ed.) Black psychology (2nd ed.). New York, NY: sponsored by the California Institute of Integral Studies, Harper & Row. published by Floraglades Foundation, and serves as the Wilson, A. N. (1978). The developmental psychology of official publication of the International Transpersonal the Black child. New York, NY: Africana Research Association. The journal is available online at www. Publications. transpersonalstudies.org, and in print through www. Wilson, A. N. (1991). Black on Black violence: The lulu.com (search for IJTS). psychodynamics of Black self-annihilation in service of White domination. New York, NY: Afrikan World InfoSystems. Wobogo, V. (1976). Diop’s two cradle theory and the origin of white racism. Black Books Bulletin, 4(4), 20–72. Zeleza, P.T. (2006). The inventions of African identities and languages: The discursive and developmental implications. In Selected Proceedings of the 36th Annual Conference on African linguistics, Olaoba F. Arasanyin and Michael A. Pemberton (Eds.), 14–26. Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Proceedings Project. Retrieved from http://www.lingref.com/ document#1402

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