A critical review of practices of inclusion and exclusion in the psychology curriculum in higher education

Psychology as a discipline has historically served the interests of dominant groups in society. By contrast, contemporary trends in psychological work have emerged as a direct result of the impact of violent histories of slavery, genocide and colonisation. Hence, we propose that psychology, particularly in its social forms, as a discipline centred on the relationship between mind and society, is well placed to produce the critical knowledge and tools for imagining and promoting just and equitable social relationships and social structures. Starting with an overview of the historical assumptions of the discipline that served to legitimate systems of slavery, colonisation and apartheid, this article then introduces a framework for centring decolonial, feminist ways of doing psychological work with a focus on the particularities of the African context. We argue that a decolonial feminist approach to psychology curricula and psychological research is necessary for the discipline to remain relevant in contemporary African contexts.

Section: A Decolonial Feminist Agenda For Psychology In Africamentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Centre/ing decolonial feminist psychology in Africa

Kessi

Boonzaier

2018

“…These participants were predominantly female and White. Although this demographic profile was similar to the national trend of students and professionals (e.g., Carolissen et al, 2015; Van Eeden et al, 2016), the lack of gender and racial variation could be considered a limitation with regard to the generalisability of the findings. However, a potential advantage of a predominantly female and White sample group related to the development of an increased awareness of the multicultural requirements of their placements, thus bringing the client into sharper focus in these participants’ texts.…”

Section: Findings and Discussionmentioning

confidence: 65%

“…The South African context poses unique challenges in terms of the latter. Carolissen et al (2015) refer to students’ perception that psychology at present lacks relevance in terms of the needs of the majority of the population. Applied training should provide for the educational, social, racial, and gender issues specific to the local context (Bantjes et al, 2016).…”

Section: Competence Identity and Agency As Elements Of Professionalismmentioning

confidence: 99%

Beyond competence: negotiating identity and agency in the professional development of student psychometrists

Hagen

Deventer

Eeden

2020

Professional training in Psychology in South Africa is focussed extensively on developing the knowledge and skills required for professional practice. However, although attaining the required levels of knowledge and skills is a necessary condition for professionalism, it is not sufficient. Professionalism requires agential action beyond knowledgeable and skilful behaviour. The aim of this study was to explore how and to what extent the practical placements of student psychometrists contributed to the development of professionalism. Using purposive sampling, the portfolios and supervisor reports of 12 students were selected for analysis. A hybrid model of analysis was employed using thematic analysis, discourse analysis, and positioning theory. Thematic analysis confirmed the discursive context as one of knowledge and skill development, which manifested as an expert–novice discourse within the texts. The discourse offered four subject positions, hierarchically related in mentor–mentee and insider–outsider configurations, supporting an apprenticeship model of increased socialisation into professional practice. However, the outsider position warranted a student–client positioning in a democratic relationship that resisted and disrupted the hierarchical relationships of the expert–novice discourse, demonstrating the presence of agential actions characteristic of professionalism. In conclusion, it is argued that such disruptions of mentor–mentee and insider–outsider positioning should be tolerated and accommodated in practical training settings.

“…Reflections on the ability of psychology to respond to oppression and marginality are not new. Carolissen, Shefer, and Smit (2015) provide a critical review of attempts to reshape the discipline of psychology over the last 30 years. Reconstructing the discipline of psychology then was a response to calls for ‘relevance’ during the 1980s that questioned the individualistic nature of the discipline, its Euro-American foundations applied inappropriately in a southern context, and the inability of psychologists and psychological theory to deal effectively with the impacts of extreme and repressive state violence.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Epistemological resistance towards diversality: teaching community psychology as a decolonial project

Carolissen

Canham

Fourie

et al. 2017

Self Cite

In contexts of political instability and change, the value of disciplinary knowledges and the processes that constituted them is often questioned. Psychology is not exempt from this process. Little South African work has illustrated what teaching for decoloniality may mean in South African psychology. We draw on examples of curriculum design in community psychology from the Universities of the Witwatersrand, South Africa and Stellenbosch, three large South African public universities, in an attempt to surface what we regard as the decolonial frameworks that underpin their development and delivery. Capacities for reflexivity and the ability to hold multiple epistemologies encourage economies of knowledge that may prevent abyssal thinking, while contributing to cognitive justice and minimising opportunities for epistemicide. Some challenges to our pedagogy involve the potential for romanticising decoloniality.