Abstract
This paper discusses black psychology and offers insights on black identity. It explains the need to lean towards the black radical school of thought as opposed to the traditional school of thought. Furthermore, this paper will explain the connection between the history of black psychology and black identity.
Karenga (2010) defines psychology as “the human science that systematically studies behavior in its relationship to the complexity of mental, emotional, physical and environmental factors which shape it“(pg.298). Within the study of psychology there exists a history of an interest in the psychological differences between Black and White people. In his book, Even the Rat was White, African American psychologist Robert
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Guthrie (2004) explains the studies conducted by modern day psychologists examining human characteristics in an effort to identify race related psychological differences between Blacks and Whites within Western society. He states that such research “not only provided inaccurate data that led to racist conclusions, but also questioned the intentions of psychological researchers” (p.51). In comparison to the field of Black Studies, African Americans within the field of psychology recognized the problematic nature of psychological research specifically pertaining to the study and assessment of African Americans. African American psychologists were concerned with the European centered influence in traditional psychology, its impact on the study of African Americans and the reported findings of such research. African-centered psychologist Kobi Kambon describes the inception of Black psychology as an alternative discipline to assess and address the psychological issues pertaining to the African American population (Kambon, 1998). This alternative discipline grew in popularity within the field of psychology as African Americans began to discover and embrace a sense of racial empowerment.
This sense of empowerment was gained through the establishment of independence from European organizations and structures dominating the field of psychology. Black psychology as a discipline allowed for the empowerment of African Americans within the field of psychology through its ability to evaluate the Black psyche from an African American perspective. Karenga (1993) argues for the inclusion of Black Psychology in Black studies programs and dedicates a chapter to the discipline in his Introduction to Black Studies text. Among his discussion of Black psychology he identifies the traditional school, the reformist school and the radical school as the three schools of thought to Black Psychology. Each school is a reflection of the changes in approach taken by Black psychologists in their efforts to examine and assess the African American …show more content…
population. The Three Schools of Thought of Black Psychology Definition Major Theorists/ Psychologists Traditional School - This school of thought is a reaction to Eurocentric psychology while still utilizing European centered psychological theory and methodology.
While it asserts to change white attitudes it does so without offering alternatives for correcting problems. - Kenneth Clark, Mamie Phipps Clark, William Grier and Price Cobbs Reformist School - This school of thought places emphasis on confronting public policies that maintain and support institutional racism.
While it advocates for a Black Psychology perspective it also combines it with traditional Eurocentric psychological methodology. - Charles Thomas, Joseph White, and William Cross Radical School - This school of thought places emphasis on an African worldview analysis as essential to understanding the psychology of people of African descent. (Karenga, 2010) presents that Black psychologists who subscribe to the Traditional school of thought recognize the need for a change in the attitudes pertaining to the psychological assessment of African Americans however still utilize Eurocentric
methodology. Black psychologists who advocate for the reformist school seek to implement change through the combination of Black psychology and traditional Eurocentric methods of analysis. Also, Radical Black Psychologists emphasize an approach to the assessment of African Americans rooted from Afrocentric psychological perspective. These three schools of Black psychological thought are a reflection of the different thoughts and approaches to the analysis and assessment of African Americans and people of African descent among Black psychologists. While Jamison (2008) argues for the inclusion of Black psychology as a whole in the field of Black studies, I extend his argument by suggesting that the Radical school of Black Psychology in particular should be central in the examination and analysis of people of African descent in the field of Black studies. African/Black psychologists argue that such varying schools of thought are the result of Eurocentric misconceptions being brought unconsciously by Black Psychologists to the field (Kambon, 1998; Karenga, 2010). While each school of thought varies, it is the Radical school of thought that is African centered and rooted in an African worldview. Black men offers an analysis of the problematic maleness and challenge the manhood. According to Na’im Akbar, critique of the traditional psychology model begins with the historical fact that African Americans have been victims of intellectual as well as physical oppression. He also criticizes White scientists for “acquiring great scholarly renown for documenting deficits of Afro-Americans. In addition, he always criticizes black traditionalists like Grier and Clark and argues that these and other traditional psychologists fail to take into consideration “two essential variables in determinants of the human behavior (pg. 409)”. Radical Black Psychologists emphasize the need to assess African Americans from an Afrocentric psychological perspective. Kobi K. Kambon focuses on the function of definitional systems in liberation and expression. According to Kambon definitional systems are very vital because they determine how we experience the variations phenomena that characterize the ongoing presence of everyday existence. Kambon also stresses that, the definitional system represents the ideological or philosophical base of a social system or a people. He, thus argues that it resolves the meanings and values an individual attaches to their experience including their everyday life experiences and how they react to it. Wade Nobles and Frances also shed light on the concept of black radical school and offers similar standpoint as Kambon. Wade Nobles argues that black psychology is more than the psychology of the underprivileged and the ghettoized. Furthermore, Frances Cress Wesling that white supremacy is a driven idea behind racism and that third world countries are victims. Despite the differing thoughts on black psychology from these individuals, they all, however argue that the radical school of thought is the best for the African American and black community in general. Overall, in order for us to better understand black identity, we have to perceive the black society from the radical point of view. The radical point of view insists on and are developing a psychology that has its roots in the African worldview which is opposite of and opposed to the European worldview. In order for us to gain insight into black psychology, we have to adopt an Afrocentric point of view as opposed to the Eurocentric.
In the article, “A Letter My Son,” Ta-Nehisi Coates utilizes both ethical and pathetic appeal to address his audience in a personable manner. The purpose of this article is to enlighten the audience, and in particular his son, on what it looks like, feels like, and means to be encompassed in his black body through a series of personal anecdotes and self-reflection on what it means to be black. In comparison, Coates goes a step further and analyzes how a black body moves and is perceived in a world that is centered on whiteness. This is established in the first half of the text when the author states that,“white America’s progress, or rather the progress of those Americans who believe that they are white, was built on looting and violence,”
The novel The Garies and their Friends is a realistic examination of the complex psychology of blacks who try to assimilate through miscegenation and crossing the color barrier by “passing as white.” Frank J. Webb critiques why blacks cannot pass as being white through the characters Mr. Winston and Clarence Jr.
It is commonly thought that one has to struggle in order to be black. Black people tend to have a stronger sense of group identification than any other racial group in the United States. The question is whether or not this is helpful or detrimental to the black population. In “Promoting Black (Social) Identity” Laura Papish criticizes Tommie Shelby’s We Who Are Dark. Shelby argues that the black population’s sense of group identity is vital to furthering their collective political agenda. Shelby believes that best way to make sure that their political ideologies are cohesive is for black individuals to have a “thick conception of black identity” (Papish 2).” Having a thick sense of black identity calls for “ African Americans think of themselves as and act as a ‘nation’ constituted not by physical borders, but by a shared ethnic, cultural, or biological trait that imbues the community with a ‘general will’ and this “ will” typically includes political motives (Papish 2). Papish argues that it not part of the duty of a black person to have any sense of loyalty or solidarity with other African-Americans and that not doing so does not make them any less black than those that choose to have a thick sense of black identity. Those who don’t grow up with a strong black group identity in their lives are just as black and go through some of the same struggles that other black people do. In the video “Black Like Who?” Debbie Reynolds did not have a strong sense of blackness because she was raised in a white neighbor. The other ladies in the short film talk about how they thought that she had a “ real problem with [her] ethnicity like [she] had a problem with the fact that [she] born African-American (Reynolds). This along with the documentary on Lacey Schwartz show that a person’s sense of blackness is very much a product of what others around them define blackness as. However, it is not clear
Williams is defiantly a man of two worlds. In one world he had promise and comfort, in the other he lived in deprivation and repression where one had to work in order to just survive. Williams's recollection of his ?life on the color line? is a unique testimonial of the life of an individual who has walked in both the shoes of a White man and then those of a Black man. His story provides examples of real life experiences and events that can further the research of social psychologists by offering insight into the understanding of many social psychological theories and concepts, such as modern racism, in-group favoritism and confirmation bias just to name a few.
For a moment be any black person, anywhere, and you will feel waves of hopelessness” is a profound notion that highlights William Grier and Price Cobbs’ work in Black Rage. With astonishing information backed with real case studies, from previous black patients, they explore the terrain of the black experience in America. The unearthing critique of America they developed in the late sixties remains relevant in today’s turbulent times. Grier and Cobbs (GC) paint a very valid picture of black rage from its inception to its impact in the lives of black people.
The black man is hence for white culture the “the burden of original sin” (Fanon 168). Racism in this way is essentially a kind of defense reaction, which, in a way, explains why racism so powerfully enforces and reaffirms relations of separation and distance – the white man wants as much distance
The Souls of Black Folk by W.E.B Dubois is a influential work in African American literature and is an American classic. In this book Dubois proposes that "the problem of the Twentieth Century is the problem of the color-line." His concepts of life behind the veil of race and the resulting "double-consciousness, this sense of always looking at one's self through the eyes of others," have become touchstones for thinking about race in America. In addition to these lasting concepts, Souls offers an evaluation of the progress of the races and the possibilities for future progress as the nation entered the twentieth century.
Ogbar, Jeffrey. Black Power Radical Politics and African American Identity. Baltimore: John Hopkins UP, 2004, 124.
The aspect of African-American Studies is key to the lives of African-Americans and those involved with the welfare of the race. African-American Studies is the systematic and critical study of the multidimensional aspects of Black thought and practice in their current and historical unfolding (Karenga, 21). African-American Studies exposes students to the experiences of African-American people and others of African descent. It allows the promotion and sharing of the African-American culture. However, the concept of African-American Studies, like many other studies that focus on a specific group, gender, and/or creed, poses problems. Therefore, African-American Studies must overcome the obstacles in order to improve the state of being for African-Americans.
Journal of Black Studies, 546-578. Roberts, J. R. C. (2013). "The Species of a Species. " Racial Microaggressions, Stress, and Depression in African Americans: A Test of a Model.
"African American Communities and Mental Health." Mental Health America. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 May 2014. .
The effects of this colonization has left the Black community with deep soul wounds, ones that have not been simple to heal. One of the leftover side-effect of colonization is what being “Black” means and represents. The term Black has come to represent everything that white is not. What this means is that if white represents purity, virginity, beautiful, and innocent then being black represents dirty, sullied, ugly, and guilty. It is this understanding of Black that has created the stereotypical image of what being Black represents. This stereotypical image remained, for the most part, unchanged by the end of the Civil Rights Movement nor did it change with the introduction of a new understanding of what culture was by Franz Boas. Boas’
The Association of Black Psychologist (ABP) (2013) defines colorism as skin-color stratification. Colorism is described as “internalized racism” that is perceived to be a way of life for the group that it is accepted by (ABP 2013). Moreover, colorism is classified as a persistent problem within Black American. Colorism in the process of discriminatory privileges given to lighter-skinned individuals of color over their darker- skinned counterparts (Margret Hunter 2007). From a historical standpoint, colorism was a white constructed policy in order to create dissention among their slaves as to maintain order or obedience. Over the centuries, it seems that the original purpose of colorism remains. Why has this issue persisted? Blacks have been able to dismantle the barriers faced within the larger society of the United States. Yet, Blacks have failed to properly address the sins of the past within the ethnic group. As a consequence of this failure, colorism prevails. Through my research, I developed many questions: Is it right that this view remain? How does valuing an individual over another cause distribution to the mental health of the victims of colorism? More importantly, what are the solutions for colorism? Colorism, unfortunately, has had a persisted effect on the lives of Black Americans. It has become so internalized that one cannot differentiate between the view of ourselves that Black Americans adopted from slavery or a more personalized view developed from within the ethnicity. The consequences of this internalized view heightens the already exorbitant mental health concerns within the Black community, but the most unfortunate aspect of colorism is that there is contention on how the issue should be solved.
A main theme in this novel is the influence of family relationships in the quest for individual identity. Our family or lack thereof, as children, ultimately influences the way we feel as adults, about ourselves and about others. The effects on us mold our personalities and as a result influence our identities. This story shows us the efforts of struggling black families who transmit patterns and problems that have a negative impact on their family relationships. These patterns continue to go unresolved and are eventually inherited by their children who will also accept this way of life as this vicious circle continues.
Therefore Black Consciousness’ main belief was, that racial domination had become internalized, thus causing low self-esteem, which in turn allowed room for political disunity and encouraged a dependence on white leadership. The philosophy of Black Consciousness was to break this set of attitudes and form a new belief in black self-reliance and dignity. It was only when this was achieved could black the man truly be liberated both physically and mentally. The Black Consciousness philosophy was an agenda for ideological realignment and political revitalization, which could rebuild and recondition the mind of the oppressed. This ideology brought a new sophistication and insight into the analysis of African psychology.