Stellenbosch University: SUNJournals
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The Guts to Fight Back
No full textAnita Craig is worried about many things The over-use of unstructured interviews misconceptions regarding the sex-lives of homosexuals, people who say "in my experience the importance of this cannot be underestimated" (sic), the hairstyles of black female TV continuity announcers, and so forth. We all have similar gripe lists and labour to convince others of the importance and deep coherence of what to them may seem arbitrary and bizarre. Craig uses a well-worn strategy to achieve this. First, she invokes the master signifier of a future-directed rationality set off against all the various forms of soppy emotionality, subjective gut feelings and unthought-through prejudices that supposedly characterise "life in general in South Africa nowadays". Second, she declares herself exempt from the injunction against subjectivity, speaking in the register of authoritative but highly subjective self-disclosure. Thus we are told again and again what Craig believes, finds attractive, agrees with, is enticed by worries about, feels unsure about, thinks, considers to be a "fine analysis" intuits, and so on, and paradoxically these intuitions all centre around a conviction that such subjective assertions do not constitute proper grounds for knowledge
In search of lost attachments: Kraemer, S and Roberts, J (eds) (1996) The politics of attachment: Towards a secure society. London: Free Association Books. ISBN 1-85343-344-6 pbk. 254 pages
No full textThe essential theme of this collection of essays is an exploration of the extent to which the theory of attachment can inform modern political principles and policy The basic claims of the theory - that the quality of early attachment for infants is a key to their developing into integrated people - is transposed to the broader social world. The hypothesis is that for individuals to fully develop in all their capacities, the social context in which they exist must be conducive. The essays are aimed at exploring the implications of this suggestion and range from theoretical considerations of attachment theory itself to the implications for welfare and voluntary activity in civil society, including a number of detailed case studies. In the words of the editors: “The purpose of this book is to add to the prevailing political language an account of what we know about fundamental human needs and so renew our confidence in the possibility of more complex yet more cohesive societies” (p1)
Where Does the Blood Come From?: True Stories and Real Selves at the TRC Hearings
No full textWhile much of the academic work on the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) has been broadly constructionist in character, such work typically draws a line around the physical and historical reality of abuse. In this article we consider the key elements necessary to a thorough-going constructionist reading of TRC survivor narratives. Read from a top-down perspective, survivor narratives are the product of the legal, political, religious and media discourses that went into the making of the TRC. Read from a bottom-up perspective, survivor narratives involve the recursive construction of a self able to reflect on itself as the subject of a human rights abuse
PHAMBILI WITH THE SPIRIT OF SELF-REFLECTION
No full textThe qualitative methods stream of the recent PsySSA conference (15-18 August 2000) attracted some of the most interesting papers and presentations of the event. This was particularly important, given the heated verbal exchanges of the AGM which threatened to distract attention away from the academic aspect of the conference. Of course there were a lot of titles on the programme of the qualitative methods stream that promised to be good, but which only made rt as far as the programme itself, and never got presented, for whatever reason.
One of the qualities of the presentations in this stream, that maintained interest in those who attended, seemed to be the diversity of the topics covered Some of the presenters located their papers generally within the broad ambit of the critical psychology approach, whereas others could be identified as actively using critical psychology principles given that they contained some ·evaluation of the theories and practices of psychology, in terms of how they maintain an unjust and unsatisfying status quo" (Fox & Prilleltensky, 1997:3). It is against this understanding that critical psychology, as an approach, will be used as a frame for this commentary
UNDERSTANDING: THE NATURE OF NURTURE - PART 2
No full textThat we learn from others is less a scintillating or profound idea than a common-place acknowledgement of the human condition. Yet it is not uncommon to find this self evident truth attributed to Vygotsky as if it were a major discovery that had long eluded centuries of thought and reflection about human nature. Outside the halls of arcane academic discourse, few would claim that we actually name ourselves, invent our own languages that miraculously are understood by others. devise our own belie/ systems and construct all the tools of our various trades, and all this all by our singular selves. Leaving aside potted versions of Vygotsky that reflect the most superficial interpretations of his subtle and intriguing theories and ideas, if originality is at issue then it Is surely Piaget who must take the honours for providing a counter-intuitive account of human learning. Piaget's insight was that despite the obvious and necessary fact of social or cultural learning and the role of others in the child's development, cultural and social factors are not sufficient to explain learning. This distinction between the necessary and the sufficient finds expression in Piaget's use of the terms learning and development to Indicate the difference. Piaget's theory that relies on a method designed to eliminate or minimize cultural and social factors, is intended not only to provide an account of the sufficient conditions that underpin cognitive development but also to plug the theoretical hole that any account based on the primacy of social learning must confront. This is the infinite regress of the teacher's teacher or the other's other. The problem is not only theoretical in the formal or logical sense but presents a problem for evolutionary psychology where human culture and language cannot be relegated to a given whose genesis does not require any explanation
INSTANT CRITICAL: Hepburn, Alexa (2003) An introduction to critical social psychology. London: Sage ISBN 0 7619 6210 7 pbk. Pages 278.
No full textECG Quiz 71
No full textA 68-year-old man has an electrocardiogram (ECG) performed in the emergency room for an acute episode of palpitations. The patient received an oral antiarrhythmic drug before this ECG
A psychotherapist speaks
No full textBook review
I Jerman, N (1987) Why psychotherapy? London: Free Association Books, ISBN O 946960 72 0 pbk.
Why psychotherapy? is a highly personal view of the role of psychotherapy and its process at both the individual and the social level. The personal nature of the text affects not only the content of the book but its structure and its mode of expression. While the documentation of Herman's therapeutic philosophy is interesting, the eulogistic style of expression is often intrusive and irritating. Although the book is divided into clear chapters, its structure is determined more by the conversational style of the text
"To Rule And Own, Or To Live Like Shy Deer": The Dilemmas of a Profession (1)
No full textAt its 1989 and 1990 annual conferences, the Psychological Association of South Africa (PASA), showed the clearest evidence a yet of going through a process of self-examination as a result of changing political realities in this country. At the 1990 conference, this was operationalized a need to restructure the Association to provide a home for all South African psychologists. Without negating the debates conducted al these annual meetings, I believe, however, that there is an underlying, deeper issue at stake here. For me, this is related to the process of professionalization (2).
Since the essay is not intended as a conceptual analysis of what a profession is, I shall simply use the definition given by Abbott (1988): " ... professions are exclusive occupational groups applying somewhat ab tract knowledge to particular cases" (p8). By extension, professionalization then is the process via which the occupational group establishes its exclusivity over a specific knowledge domain (see J. Louw, 1990, pl4 for a definition of the professionalization of psychology).
Professionalization can be examined at a number of levels of abstraction. For example: in terms of the role of intellectuals in society, or in terms of the division of expert labour in society. At a somewhat less abstract and more empirical level one might consider the process of professionalization as it unfolds in a particular occupation. At a fairly concrete level, one might examine practical measures a profession has at its disposal to advance its position vis-a-vis other professions, or to provide better services in society. Given the context of this essay, it treats the topic at fairly concrete levels of analysis.
The discussion opens with two theses, which are essential to clarify the contentions made subsequently. These take the form of ten practical suggestions as to how the profession might respond to its current dilemmas
The National Health Services Commission Report Of 1944: Lessons from the Past for the Reconstruction of Social Services in a Post-Apartheid South Africa
No full textThe National Health Services Commission Report (NHSCR) of 1944 has recently regained popularity and is frequently cited as the first such study that compiled a comprehensive report on the need for a national health service in South Africa. It has been described as an "enlightened" (De Beer, 1984) and "visionary" (Benatar, 1990) report. While these perceptions of the Commission's report may be contested, indeed it has been criticized by Marks (1987) and Packard (1989), the report (to the best of knowledge of the author) has not been evaluated in terms of its findings and recommendations with respect to social services.
The issue that the Commission researched in the late 1930s and early 1940s is indeed relevant today - given the numerous calls for a unitary health service (e.g., Coovadia:1987); and Benatar:1990). The current literature on the transformation of South African health policy has tended to, with a few exceptions, ignore the issue of "social services" (this concept, popularized by the Organization of Appropriate Social Services of South Africa, is preferred and includes practices that are usually labelled mental health and social welfare). This paper attempts to revisit the NHSCR to evaluate its treatment of the role and location of social services in a national health service and to explore its possible lessons for current health and social service policy analysts