Stellenbosch University: SUNJournals
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Motherhood: Making meaning: Kaplan, M M (1992) Mothers' Image of Motherhood: Case studies of twelve mothers. London: Routledge.
No full textThis is an interesting study that does not, however, deliver as much as it promises. Perhaps psychologists will make more of the theoretical discussion, the methodologies employed and the very detailed (yet somehow opaque) case studies themselves. As a sociologist/historian with a particular interest in gender relations, I found the study too limited to contribute much to an exploration of the meaning(s) of motherhood theoretically. The empirical findings, too, are interesting but slight, and ultimately of a negative rather than positive value. They prompt questions about the validity of other studies, notably Nancy Chodorow's highly influential work, The reproduction of mothering (1978), but they do not lead the author to alternative theoretical claims or even hypotheses. After 200 pages, half of them describing her twelve case studies in great detail, Kaplan emphasises the value of "small-scale, systematic qualitative research" for "exploring and building theory" (p203), but then concedes two pages on, in her concluding paragraph: It would be difficult to know how to generalize from these twelve women to all mothers.
Critical Psychology and the Problem of Mental Health
No full textIn December 1977, Noam Chomsky delivered the Johan Huizinga lecture in Leiden, Holland, in memory of the man who wrote In the shadow of tomorrow (1935), and Homo Ludens (1938), and was held under arrest during the Nazi occupation of Holland. In the lecture, Chomsky cites The crisis of democracy, a document produced in the 1970s by the Trilateral Commission, a private organisation of the elites of the United States, Western Europe and Japan set up by David Rockefeller to urge "moderation in democracy"
FEAR AND LOATHING IN NORTHERN JOHANNESBURG: THE SECURITY PARK AS HETEROTOPIA.
No full textThis is somewhat of an unconventional paper. It is essentially a "sketching of ideas", a speculative generation of hypotheses that precedes a larger empirically-based research project on identity and space in the South African security park. It opens with a brief discussion of how space - much like discourse more widely - is able to inform identity. It then moves onto a focus on the South African security park, that exclusive and affluent living space so favoured by the inhabitants of Northern Suburban Johannesburg. Foucault's conception of the heterotopia is applied to this focus as a means of exploring (and generating hypotheses around) the inter-relatedness of the categories of space, power and identity. The paper turns then to briefly consider the shortcomings of the notion of the heterotopia, before closing by asserting a series of general (and hypothetical) conclusions about the apparent interconnectedness of power, space and identity in such a place as the security park
PSYCHOLOGY IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES: PEOPLE-CENTRED DEVELOPMENT AND LOCAL KNOWLEDGE
No full textIn developing countries, psychology is faced with the challenge of providing knowledge and services that contribute to national development. However, opinions on how psychology can play a role in processes of rapid social change vary between psychologists of different persuasions. A short overview is presented of the various possible roles of psychology, congruent with different development paradigms. Adoption of a people centred development paradigm, which is based on people's participation and empowerment and which relies on people's local knowledge is proposed. Subsequently the Participatory Action Research approach is introduced as a social science paradigm congruent with a people centred approach. The main characteristics of the approach are discussed and examples are provided of Participatory Action Research in practice
In the name of the father: Verwoerd, W (1997) My winds of change. Randburg: Ravan Press. ISBN 0-86975-513-7. 176 pages. (Verwoerd, W (1996) Viva Verwoerd? Cape Town: Human & Rousseau - Afrikaans edition).
No full textIn the autobiography by Wilhelm Verwoerd, grandson of the architect of apartheid, issues of names and lineages are, not surprisingly, dominant. The Afrikaans edition has the title Viva Verwoerd?, the question mark calling into question the meanings of the name, and the legacy handed down from his father and grandfather
Grounding cognition is the evolutionary past: Heyes, C & Huber, L (eds) (2000) The evolution of cognition. Cambridge, Ma.: The MIT Press. ISBN 0-262-08286-1. Pages xi+ 386.
No full textTHE CONJUGALISATION OF REPRODUCTION IN SOUTH AFRICAN TEENAGE PREGNANCY LITERATURE
No full textThe "conjugalisation of reproduction", in which childbearing is legitimated only within a marital alliance, underlies some of the pathologisation of the single, female-headed household in the pre-democracy South African teenage pregnancy literature. I utilise a post-structural feminist framework that draws on elements of Derrida's and Foucault's work to analyse the conjugalisation of reproduction in South African research. The conjugalisation of reproduction relies on (1) the insidious "unwed" signifier which interpenetrates the term 'teenage pregnancy'; allowing the scientific censure of non-marital adolescent re-production without the invocation of moralisation, and (2) the fixation of the husband-wife and parents-children axes of alliance as the main elements for the deployment of sexuality and reproduction in the form of the family. Pregnant teenagers are, in Derridean terms, undecidables: they are neither children (owing to their reproductive status) nor adults (owing to their age), but simultaneously both. Marriage is the authority that decides them, allowing them to join the ranks of adult reproductive subjects
THERAPY AT THE CULTURAL INTERFACE: IMPLICATIONS OF AFRICAN COSMOLOGY FOR TRAUMATIC STRESS INTERVENTION
No full textWithin· the field of psychotherapy the topic of intercultural or multicultural therapy continues to stimulate much debate. One of the key themes that is constantly revisited is whether psychotherapies derived primarily from Eurocentric and essentially Western orientations are applicable to people from non-Western cultures. Such questioning concerns not only the theoretical premises upon which understanding of pathology and distress are based, but also aspects of the style and process of intervention. Based upon clinical experience of direct intervention and supervision in the trauma field in South Africa over some 20 years, this paper seeks to contribute to this debate by examining a specific kind of dilemma and a specific arena of intervention. The dilemma arises out of critical observations of circumstances in which conventional African wisdom, as understood by clients presenting for trauma counselling, appeared to be counterproductive for their recovery in terms of western intervention principles. Almost invariably intercultural counselling training emphasizes respect for cultural beliefs as a core dimension of appropriate intervention. The therapist is thus confronted by a particularly difficult dilemma when faced with a clinical situation in which the non challenging of cultural belief systems seems counter-therapeutic. How does one subscribe to the imperative to respect alternative cosmologies whilst retaining therapeutic integrity in terms of being informed by rigorous theory and pursuing the best interests of the client? Within the arena of psychotherapy for traumatic stress, including traumatic bereavement, such tensions appear to arise particularly strongly because of the inevitable search for meaning in the face of extraordinary life events. Focusing particularly on aspects of meaning making, cognitive intervention, schema realignment and reframing within trauma therapy, the paper elaborates areas of potential conflict with reference to both theory and clinical case material. Aspects of causal attributions for misfortune and their implications as understood both within African cosmology and within Western trauma theory frameworks are counterpoised. Having highlighted central points of tension in working at this cultural interface, the paper concludes with some suggestions as to how to manage such complexities in intercultural therapeutic work A clinical case example is drawn upon to illustrate how a particular therapist-client dyad negotiated this tension in the course of a short-term psychotherapy
WHEN TABLES TURN: DISCURSIVE CONSTRUCTIONS OF WHITES AS VICTIMS OF AFFIRMATIVE ACTION IN A POST-APARTHEID SOUTH AFRICA
No full textThis paper considers how white people in post-apartheid South Africa manage to oppose affirmative action policies, yet still inoculate themselves from accusations of racism. Data was collected from six focus groups comprised of 40 white university students. These students were asked to discuss their perceptions of affirmative action policies in the current South African context. These students regarded affirmative action policies as unfair and unethical whilst also constructing themselves as victims of these policies. It is argued that in an effort to manage the dilemma of opposing affirmative action policies without appearing to be racist, white people use the strategy of appealing to discourses of "Othering" and fairness and justice. These discourses help nurture a construction of victimhood. This paper draws attention to how this victimhood is appropriated and how it serves as an insulating device against claims of racism that might be aimed at opponents of affirmative action policies
