Discussion 5

WATCH: Video (“African Psychology” with Dr. Ifetayo Flannery)

For each half-page post, students will be prompted to think about three different “Qs” as they relate to the assigned material of each learning module:

QUALITY: This is a personal reaction to/reflection on a specific part of the reading.

Step 1: Describe something from the reading that surprised you, challenged you, piqued your interest, or made you curious.

Step 2: Explain why it impacted you in this way.

QUOTE: Identify a specific part of the reading that you found memorable or quotable, and type it out in the form of a word-for-word quote (no more than two sentences).

Step 1: Type out the quote (Don’t forget the quotation marks (“”)!!!)

Step 2: Give the specific page number(s) from which you took your quote, if applicable.

QUESTION: Write a critical thinking question about the reading.

-This is not a critical thinking question: How old was Phyllis Wheatly when she wrote this poem?

-This is a critical thinking question: According to the background statement on Phyllis Wheatley, she was a teenager when she started writing—but also very young and poor when she died. This Wheatley poem was extremely positive about white colonial slaveholders and white Christianity, especially for someone who was enslaved. How might the tone of her poem be different if she had survived poverty, illness and disappointment and wrote it at an older stage in life?

*Please write the main word of the prompt (i.e., Quality, Quote, Question), and then your response for each. Please do not write out the whole prompt. 

** You may write about one reading, or about multiple materials in the same module, as they relate to these prompts.

14

2
� � �

African-Centered
Psychology in the

Modern Era

DEFINITIONS

Those who have not had the benefit of reading the first, second, or third edi-
tions of The Psychology of Blacks, or who are otherwise unfamiliar with the con-
cept of a Black psychological perspective, may be asking themselves “What is
this discipline called Black or African-American psychology?” As such, perhaps
the most logical place to begin this fourth edition is with a definition of the con-
struct (psychology of Blacks) and with a discussion of why an African-centered
psychological perspective is necessary.

Nobles (1986) reminds us that in its truest form, psychology was defined
by ancient Africans as the study of the soul or spirit. He writes:

A summary reading of our ancient mythology reveals that ancient
Egyptian thought can be characterized as possessing (1) “ideas of
thought” which represent the human capacity to hay “will” and to
invent or create; (2) “ideas of command” which represent the human
capacity to have “intent” and to produce that which one wills.
Parenthetically these two, will and intent, are the characteristics of
divine spirit and would serve as the best operationalization of
human intelligence. (Nobles, 1986, p. 46)

Nobles further asserts that the psychology that was borrowed from Africa
and popularized in Europe and America (so-called Western psychology) in some
respects represents a distortion of ancient African-Egyptian thought. What the an-
cients believed was that the study of the soul or spirit was translated by Europeans
into the study of only one element of a person’s psychic nature, the mind.

In a similar vein, Akbar (1994) has persuasively argued that the Kemetic
(so-called Egyptian) roots of psychology bear little resemblance to the modern-day

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constructs. Akbar explains, for example, that the term sakhu represented in its
original form illumination and enlightenment of the soul or spirit. However, this
perspective lost its meaning when the Greeks reinterpreted it to mean behavior
and created a discipline to quantify, measure, and materialize the construct ob-
jectively.

Thus, the term “psychology” (in a Western context) is constructed from the
words psyche (meaning mind) and ology (meaning knowledge or study of) and is
generally assumed to be a study of human behavior. What is fascinating to see,
even as we write this fourth edition text, is how little has changed in traditional
psychology’s coverage of its African psychology roots. Over the past decade,
there are dozens of new and revised introductory and general psychology texts
that have been written, and still we find coverage of African psychology and its
discipline’s Kemetic roots conspicuous by its absence. Nevid (2007), for example,
in the several hundred page text, continues to define psychology in ways that not
only avoids the soul or spiritual elements, but does not differ appreciably in its
definitions from other text books from years past. Ironically, Myers (2010), in his
magnificent 717-page introductory psychology text that many consider a standard
in the field, defines psychology as “the science of behaviors and mental
processes” (p.6). Behaviors in that context are defined as “anything an organism
does (as an observable action),” while mental processes are defined as “internal
subjective experiences we infer from behaviors (sensations, perceptions, beliefs,
feelings).” Despite the fact that he does a wonderful job of desegregating the text
with pictures of African-American adults and children, includes pictures and men-
tion several well-known African-American psychologists from history’s past, and
includes a brand new section of one chapter on the variable of culture, the entire
book never discusses the notion of an African-centered psychology or an African
cultural reality in the discipline. What makes this omission curious is the timeline
of people and events in psychology that frames the beginning of the Myers text.
It includes Francis Cecil Sumner (the first African American to receive a Ph.D in
psychology in 1920), Kenneth and Mamie Clark (and their groundbreaking work
on doll preference and racial self-identification that was used in the Brown 1954
Supreme Court decision), Inez Proser (the first African-American woman to re-
ceive her Ph.D in America at the University of Cincinnati in 1933), and the fact
that psychology differs across cultures. However, there is no mention of any cul-
turally specific psychology or the plethora of literature on multiculturalism
(Ponterotto, Casas, Suzuki, & Alexander, 2001; Sue, Ivey, & Pedersen, 1996; Sue &
Sue, 2003), African psychology (Nobles, 1986; Myers, 1988; Kambon, 1992 Asante,
2003; Ani, 1994; Akbar, 2004; Neville, Tynes, & Utsey, 2009; White, 1972, 1984),
and cultural competence (Pope-Davis, Coleman, Liu, & Toporek, 2003; Ivey,
D’Andrea, Bradford-Ivey, & Simek-Morgan, 2002; Constantine & Sue, 2005) that
dominate much of the counseling landscape. Within these realms, you find exten-
sive references to psychology’s true origins, yet those students being introduced
to the discipline for the first time find no such mention or coverage in their intro-
ductory coursework. This is but one of the many reasons this text is so necessary.

As previously noted, psychology has been around for thousands of
years and dates back to ancient KEMET (sometimes illustrated as KMT)

Chapter 2 • African-Centered Psychology in the Modern Era 15

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16 Chapter 2 • African-Centered Psychology in the Modern Era

(African-Egyptian) civilizations (Nobles, 1986). However, as a discipline, psy-
chology, like history, anthropology, and many other fields of study, has fallen
victim to the attempts by many to both: (1) destroy and/or otherwise erase its
historical connections to ancient Africa and (2) transplant its roots into
European civilization. We are reminded by Nevid (2007) and Myers (2010) that
traditional psychology, as we know it in this country, was assumed to extend
back only as far as the laboratories of Wilhelm Wundt in Germany around
1879. In its simplest form, traditional psychology was an attempt to explain the
behaviors of the Europeans from a European frame of reference. After becom-
ing popularized in America, Euro-American scientists began to engage in the
same practice of defining and understanding the behaviors of various Euro-
American peoples.

In their attempt to understand the mind and behaviors of their people,
many European and Euro-American scholars began to develop theories of
human behavior (i.e., Freud, Jung, Rogers). Theories are sets of abstract con-
cepts that people assign to a group of facts or events in order to explain them.
Theories of personality and/or psychology, then, are organized systems of be-
lief that help us understand human nature and make sense out of scientific data
and other behavioral phenomena. It is important to realize, however, that theo-
ries are based on philosophies, customs, mores, and norms of a given culture.
This has certainly been true for those theories that emerged out of the Euro-
American frame of reference.

In their attempt to explain what they considered to be “universal human
phenomena,” Euro-American psychologists implicitly and explicitly began to es-
tablish a normative standard of behavior against which all other cultural groups
would be measured. What emerged as normal or abnormal, sane or insane, rel-
evant or irrelevant, was always in comparison to how closely a particular
thought or behavior paralleled that of White Europeans and/or European
Americans. For many White social scientists and psychologists, the word
different (differences among people) became synonymous with deficient,
rather than simply different.

The presumptive attempt at establishing a normative standard for human
cognition, emotion, and behavior was questionable at best for obvious reasons.
The philosophical basis of this body of theory and practice, which claims to ex-
plain and understand “human nature,” is not authentic or applicable to all
human groups (Nobles, 1986). White (1972) in his article “Towards a Black
Psychology” speaks to this issue clearly when he contends that “it is difficult if
not impossible to understand the lifestyles of Black people using traditional
psychological theories, developed by White psychologists to explain White be-
havior.” White further asserts that when these theories are applied to different
populations, many weakness-dominated and inferiority-oriented conclusions
emerge. The foundation for an authentic Black psychology is an accurate un-
derstanding of the Black family, its African roots, historical development and
contemporary expressions, and its impact on the psychological development
and socialization of its members. One has only to examine the psychological lit-
erature as it relates to Black people to appreciate White’s point.

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Chapter 2 • African-Centered Psychology in the Modern Era 17

Appreciation of White’s (1972) perspective is enhanced when one looks
first at the so-called science of psychology and then at the resulting conclusions
that emerge from these research practices. In commenting on the science of
psychology, Boykin (1979) argues that there are inherent biases and subjectiv-
ity in the investigation and application of scientific principles despite their
claims to the contrary. Thus, he believes that biases inherent in Eurocentric per-
spectives render research investigations and resulting conclusions invalid at
most, or at least, inappropriate.

It is important to note, however, that questions of bias could be dealt with
in less confrontive ways if one believed the intent of scientists and psychologi-
cal scholars to be honorable. When one considers that scientific intent was and
is supported by racist ideologies (Guthrie, 1976; Hilliard, 1997; Nobles, 1986;
Thomas & Sillen, 1972;), then challenging and confronting those biases become
even more important. As such, one can now better appreciate the critique of
science and psychological (scientific) inquiry provided by Nobles (1986), who
argues that research has been used as a tool of oppression and represents a
form of “scientific colonialism.”

The construct of colonialism harkens back to times of old when many
European countries/nations (but not exclusively so) sought to conquer and
control the human and natural resources of a certain country or region of the
world. In essence, they were acquiring by force the people, land, and both
natural and economic resources belonging to a particular nation. The term
“scientific colonialism” then represents the political control of knowledge and
information, in order to advance a particular group’s agenda and/or prevent
another group from advancing its own. According to Nobles, scientific colonialism
is operationalized in several ways. These include:

Unsophisticated Falsification: deliberate attempts to erase and/or oth-
erwise disguise the African origins of an idea or the historical contribu-
tions of African people;

Integrated Modificationism: assimilation of a known concept into ex-
isting ideas such that the result is a distorted version of the original mean-
ing and intent; and

Conceptual Incarceration: where all information is viewed from a sin-
gle perspective to the exclusion of other world views or frameworks.

As a consequence of this biased and inappropriate method of inquiry,
much of the research and scholarship written by European Americans about
African Americans is severely tainted. Let us now turn our attention to the out-
comes and resulting conclusions of that science.

HISTORICAL THEMES IN PSYCHOLOGICAL RESEARCH

Historically, research on minorities in general and Blacks in particular has
shifted focus several times. In fact, Thomas and Silen (1972) and Sue (1978)
concluded that it is difficult to fully understand and appreciate the status of

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18 Chapter 2 • African-Centered Psychology in the Modern Era

ethnic minority research without reference to several general themes or models.
These models include: (1) the inferiority model, (2) the deprivations/deficit
model, and (3) the multicultural model. Table 2.1 provides a conceptual outline
of these research trends, and a brief review follows.

Inferiority Models

The inferiority model generally contends that Black people are inferior to
Whites. Its focus emerges out of the theories of genetics and heredity, which
contend that the development of the human species is determined by heredity
and views this process of development as “in the blood” or encoded in the
genes. This model apparently afforded for some a scientific basis for viewing
Blacks as inferior. Examples of these assertions of racial inferiority, as reported
by Clark (1972) were heard as early as 1799 when Professor Charles White
spoke of the Negro as being “just above the ape in the hierarchy of
animal/human development, having a small brain, deformed features, an ape-
like odor, and an animal immunity to pain.” These inferiority assertions contin-
ued into the mid-1800s, when studies on cranial capacities showed that a
European skull held more pepper seed than an African skull, and thus con-
cluded that Blacks have inferior brains and limited capacity for mental growth
(Clark, 1972). These assertions of racial inferiority continued well into the 1900s
and were promoted by many leading Euro-American psychologists. In fact, a
comprehensive examination of the literature related to the history and systems
of psychology would reveal that in every decade encompassing 1900 to 1970,
there was a prominent American psychologist (many of whom were presidents
of the American Psychological Association [APA]) who was a proponent of the
genetic inferiority hypothesis (Guthrie, 1976, 1998). Although such facts may be

TABLE 2.1 Historical Themes in Black Psychological Research

Inferiority Deficit-Deficiency Multi-Cultural

Definition Blacks are intellectu-
ally, physically, and
mentally inferior to
Whites

Blacks deficient
with respect to intelli-
gence, cognitive styles,
family structure

All culturally dis-
tinct groups have
strengths and
limitations.

Etiology of
Problem

Genetics/heredity, Lack of proper environ-
mental stimulation;
racism and oppressive
conditions, individual

Differences
viewed as differ-
ent; lack of skills
needed to
assimilate

Relevant
Hypothesis
and Theories

Genetic inferiority,
Eugenics

Cultural deprivation,
Cultural enrichment

Research
Examples

White (2010)
Morton (1839)
Jensen (1969)

Moynihan (1965)
Kardiner and
Ovesey (1951)

J. White (1972)
Nobles (1972;
1981)

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Chapter 2 • African-Centered Psychology in the Modern Era 19

new information for many students in psychology, certainly most students and
laypersons are aware of the well-publicized assertions of racial and intellectual
inferiority by Arthur Jensen (1969).

Deficit-Deficiency Model

The deficit-deficiency model began to emerge around the late 1950s to early
1960s, and suggested that Blacks are somehow deficient with respect to intelli-
gence, perceptual skills, cognitive styles, family structure, and other factors.
Unlike the inferiority model, the set of hypotheses suggested that environmen-
tal rather than hereditary factors were responsible for the presumed deficiencies
in Blacks. Dhe deficit model arose in opposition to the inferiority model and
was formed by more liberal-minded psychological and educational researchers
who sought to place on society the burden for Black people’s presumed men-
tal and intellectual deficiencies. For example, it was somehow concluded that
the effects of years of racism and discrimination had deprived most Black peo-
ple of the strengths to develop healthy self-esteems (Kardiner & Ovesey, 1951)
and legitimate family structures (Moynihan, 1965). From this deficit model came
such hypotheses as “cultural deprivation,” which presumed that because of the
inadequate exposure to Euro-American values, norms, customs, and lifestyles,
Blacks were indeed “culturally deprived” and required cultural enrichment.

Implicit in the concept of cultural deprivation, however, is the notion that
the dominant White middle-class culture established that normative standard
discussed earlier in these writings. Thus, any behaviors, values, and lifestyles
that differed from the Euro-American norm were seen as deficient. By and
large, the model of the Black family that has received the most attention has
been the deficit-deficiency model. This model begins with the historical
assumption that there was no carry over from Africa to America of any sophis-
ticated African based form of family life in communal living. The assumption
further indicates that either viable patterns of family life did not exist because
Africans were incapable of creating them or they were destroyed beginning
with slavery in the separation of biological parents and children, forced breed-
ing, the slave master’s sexual exploitation of Black women, and the cumulative
effects of three hundred years of economic social discrimination. The deficit-
deficiency model assumes that as a result of this background of servitude, depri-
vation, second-class citizenship, and chronic unemployment, Black adults have
not been able to develop marketable skills, self-sufficiency, future orientation,
planning and decision-making competencies, and instrumental behaviors
thought to be necessary for sustaining a successful two-parent nuclear family
while guiding children through the socialization process.

A variation of the deficit-deficiency model was the Black matriarchy
model. In a society that placed a premium on decisive male leadership in the
family, the Black male was portrayed as lacking the masculine sex role behav-
iors characterized by logical thinking, willingness to take responsibility for oth-
ers, assertiveness, managerial skills, achievement orientation, and occupational
mastery. In contrast, the Black female was portrayed by this model as a matriarch

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20 Chapter 2 • African-Centered Psychology in the Modern Era

who initially received her power because society was unwilling to permit the
Black male to assume the legal, economic, and social positions necessary to be-
come a dominant force within the family and community life. Having achieved
this power by default, the Black female was portrayed as being unwilling to
share it. Her unwillingness to share her power was presumed to persist even
when the Black male was present and willing to assume responsibility in the
family circle, since she was not confident of the male’s ability to follow through
on his commitments. Confrontation over decision making and family direction
was usually not necessary because either the Black male was not present in the
household on any ongoing basis or he was regarded as ineffective by the fe-
male when he was present.

Multicultural Model

The rise in the multicultural model has been stimulated by the contention that
behaviors, lifestyles, languages, and so on can only be judged as appropriate or
inappropriate within a specific cultural context (Grier & Cobbs, 1968; White,
1972; Pedersen, 1999; Sue, Ivey, & Pederson, 1996; Ponterotto et al., 2001; Sue
& Sue, 2003; White & Henderson, 2008). The multicultural model assumes and
recognizes that each culture has strengths and limitations, and rather than being
viewed as deficient, differences among ethnic groups are viewed as simply dif-
ferent. More recent contributions to the multicultural literature have followed in
these same footsteps and continue to contribute to a more enlightened under-
standing of culturally different people generally (Hall, 2010), African American
(Jones, 2003; Hilliard, 1997; Parham, 2002), Latinos (Santiago-Rivera,
Arredondo, & Gallardo-Cooper, 2002), Asian Americans (Loo, 1998), and even
persons with disabilities (Stone, 2005). Although the multicultural model is the
latest trend in research with respect to minorities in general and African
Americans in particular, and is certainly a more positive approach to research
with culturally distinct groups, it is by no means immune to conceptual and
methodological flaws that have plagued psychological research efforts both
past and present.

In some respects, this new emphasis on ethnic pluralism has helped re-
searchers focus on culture-specific models in a multicultural context. African
psychology has been the forerunner of an ethnic and cultural awareness in
psychology that has worked its way into the literature on child development,
self-image, family dynamics, education, communication patterns, counseling and
psychotherapy, and mental health delivery systems. The blossoming of African-
centered psychology has been followed by the assertion on the part of Asian
American (Sue & Wagner, 1973; Sue, 1981), Chicano (Martinez, 1977), and
Native American (Richardson, 1981) psychologists that sociocultural differences
in the experiential field must be considered as legitimate correlates of behavior.
The development of an ethnic dimension in psychology suggested that other
non-White Americans wanted to take the lead in defining themselves rather
than continuing the process of being defined by the deficit-deficiency models of
the majority culture. The evolution of the ethnic and cultural perspective enlarged

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Chapter 2 • African-Centered Psychology in the Modern Era 21

the scope of psychology. It served as a corrective step that reduced psychol-
ogy’s reliance on obsolete and inaccurate stereotypes in defining culturally dis-
tinct people. This movement has now exploded onto the field of counseling
psychology as more and more professionals recognize, as Sue, Ivey, and
Pederson (1996) so rightly acknowledge, that traditional theories of counseling
and psychotherapy inadequately describe, explain, predict, and deal with the
richness of a culturally diverse population. Their admonition is echoed by a
host of new and exciting research and scholarship that speaks to the necessity
of culturally specific and culturally diverse theories, assessments, and therapeu-
tic practices in the areas of Latino(a) psychology (Santiago-Rivera, Arredondo,
& Gallardo-Cooper, 2002), Asian psychology (Loo, 1998), traditional healing
practices (Moodley & West, 2005; Mc Neill & Cervantes, 2008), and even disabil-
ity studies (Stone, 2005).

Black Behavioral Norms

Given the negative conceptions of Black people and Black behavior that
emerged from the Euro-American frame of reference, it was clear that an alter-
nate frame of reference was not only appropriate, but absolutely necessary.
Whether one considers the awarding of Sumner’s degree in 1920, the establish-
ment of the Association of Black Psychologists (ABPsi) in 1968, or the era in
ancient KMT, as the marker for the establishment of the discipline of Black
psychology, is an interesting debate (Nobles, 1986). What is undebatable,
however, is the recognition that general psychology had failed to provide a full
and accurate understanding of the Black reality. As such, the discipline of Black
psychology and the new emergence of an African psychological perspective can
be defined as a discipline in science (continuing to evolve) that is attempting to
study, analyze, and define appropriate and inappropriate behaviors of Black
and African people from an Afrocentric frame of reference.

A second point made by White (1972) in his article that is reinforced by
White and Parham (1990) and Parham, White, and Ajamu (1999) is that Black
psychology as a discipline should emerge out of the authentic experiences of
Blacks in America. On the surface, White’s contention seems absolutely logical.
However, I believe that this premise requires closer scrutiny. For years, Black
psychologists in the discipline of Black psychology have concerned themselves
with trying to combat negativistic assumptions made about Black people by
White society in general and traditional psychology in particular. In doing so,
many of the writings have been reactionary in nature in their attempts to com-
bat the racist and stereotypic assumptions perpetuated by the Euro-American
culture. In that regard, Black psychology has served a vital purpose in the
evolution of thought about the psychology of African-American people. In their
attempt to negate the White middle-class norm and to assert the necessity for
analyzing African-American behavior in the context of its own norms, Black
psychologists have been attempting to establish this normative base that is
uniquely Afrocentric. In developing that norm, however, new questions are
now being raised about whether or not the behavior of Black people in

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Reactionary

Narrow Conception of Black
Behaviors, Thoughts,

Lifestyles
Weakness Dominated
Inferiority Oriented

Conclusions about Black
People

Emerges from an African Frame of
Reference; Does not validate in

Comparison to White Normative
Standards

African
Centered

African
American

Euro-American
Ghetto-
centric

Need for a Worldview That Emerges from an
African-Centered Frame of Reference

Problem:
• Normative Standard
• Generalizability of Norm
• Difference Equals Deficiency

22 Chapter 2 • African-Centered Psychology in the Modern Era

America constitutes a reasonable normative standard of what appropriate
and/or inappropriate behavior should be. In fact, if one examines the research
related to Blacks, the normative standard that developed emerged for the most
part from the analysis of behaviors and attitudes of Southern-born, working-
class, ghetto-dwelling Black people (Akbar, 1981). Although this norm was cer-
tainly more valid than the Eurocentric perspective, it introduced biases against
large numbers of Blacks who did not fit the newly developed stereotype of
what a “real” Black person should be. Figure 2.1 attempts to illustrate how
ghetto-centric norms are indeed based on a relatively small sample of Black
people, and are influenced by a Eurocentric perspective of what Black norma-
tive behavior should be.

One can readily see the problem in adapting this ghetto-centric norm to
all Black people in the criticism being shown at “The Cosby Show” in televi-
sion during the late 1980s and early 90s, and to some extent, shows like “My
Wife and Kids,” which stared Damon Wayans and Tisha Campbell in the 2000-
2005. Much of the negative press about “The Cosby Show,” and more recently
“My Wife and Kids,” that has emerged from the Black community has to do
with the assumption that the characters and/or the shows themselves are not
“Black enough.” Many assume (inappropriately so) that you cannot be Black,
middle-class, have two professional parents working, and have a loving fam-
ily that displays caring concern, strength, and character, all in a single
episode. Fast forward twenty years from those 1980s, and with the explosion
of cable news shows, you now have networks like CNN developing and air-
ing shows like “Black in America I & II” in spring and summer 2009. These

FIGURE 2.1

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Chapter 2 • African-Centered Psychology in the Modern Era 23

documentary-oriented stories help to chronicle both the challenges that con-
front African-descent people, as well as the successes that result from stable
families, hard work, and perseverance through adversity. However, even de-
spite the premier and re-run episodes of these shows on national and interna-
tional television, the biases this country and the world continue to harbor to-
ward people of African descent are quite remarkable, even as they seek to
create and sustain a “Black Norm” of what the typical African American is like.

Not surprisingly, many Black psychologists continue to recognize, what
others have decades before, which is the difficulty that these historic and con-
temporary shortsighted perspectives have created for Black people. Akbar
(1981, 2004) has suggested that this “Black norm” has two major limitations.
First, it validates itself in comparison to a White norm. Thus, even as we write
this fourth edition in 2009-10, African Americans continue to be compared with
their White counterparts on statistical profiles ranging from educational achieve-
ment, economic viability, health status, crime and justice, employment status,
and relationship/family stability, and mental health, to name a few. Second, the
norm assumes that the adaptation to the conditions of America by Blacks con-
stitutes a reasonable normative statement about African-American behavior.
Akbar (1981, 2004) had the unique vision to recognize that oppression, discrim-
ination, and racism are unnatural human phenomena; as such, these conditions
stimulate unnatural human behavior. Thus, many of the behaviors displayed by
Blacks as they attempt to adjust and react to hostile conditions in America may
be functional but often prove self-destructive. For example, one who perceives
his or her employment options as limited or nonexistent (because of discrimina-
tion) may turn to a life of crime in order to provide himself or herself with what
are perceived as basic necessities. Such an individual might be seen selling
drugs for profit, burglarizing a local establishment, engaging in prostitution or
pimping, or other illegitimate endeavors. The problem with the ghetto-centric
norm is that it legitimizes such behavior.

Because of these questions, many psychologists are now suggesting that
statements about normative behavior should emerge from the values, norms,
customs, and philosophies that are African-centered. Truly, this debate about
what constitutes normative Black behavior is likely to rage on within the disci-
pline of Black psychology for many years. Readers may ask, however, “What is
this African-centered perspective or norm, and how does it manifest itself in the
Black community?” In the first edition of The Psychology of Blacks, White (1984)
offers an excellent synthesis of the African-centered value system; and not sur-
prisingly, that synthesis continues to be one of the best analyses even after
more than twenty-five years.

THE AFRICAN WORLDVIEW

White (1984) views the holistic, humanistic ethos described by Nobles (1972)
and Mbiti (1970) as the principle feature of African psychology. There appears to
be a definite correspondence between the African ethos and the Afro-American
worldview in terms of the focus on emotional vitality, interdependence, collective

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24 Chapter 2 • African-Centered Psychology in the Modern Era

survival, the oral tradition, perception of time, harmonious blending, and the
role of the elders. Some have questioned the utility of an African normative
base, given the enormous tribal and geographical variability among African
people. However, to discount the presence of an African norm because of dif-
ferences is analogous to missing the forest for the trees. Certainly, these are in-
dividual differences, but there are more commonalities than differences, and it
is those common themes that provide the foundation for the African worldview.

The African worldview begins with a holistic conception of the human
condition. There is no mind-body or affective-cognitive dualism. The human or-
ganism is conceived as a totality made up of a series of interlocking systems.
This total person is simultaneously a feeling, experiencing, sensualizing, sens-
ing, and knowing human being living in a dynamic, vitalistic world where
everything is interrelated and endowed with the supreme force of life. There is
a sense of aliveness, intensity, and animation in the music, dance, song, lan-
guage, and lifestyles of Africans. Emotions are not labeled as bad; therefore,
there is no need to repress feelings of compassion, love, joy, or sensuality.

The basic human unit is the tribe, not the individual. The tribe operates
under a set of rules geared toward collective survival. Cooperation is therefore
valued above competition and individualism. The concept of alienation is non-
existent in African philosophy since the people are closely interconnected with
each other in a way of life that involves concern and responsibility toward oth-
ers. In a framework that values collective survival, where people are psycholog-
ically interdependent on each other, active aggression against another person is
in reality an act of aggression against oneself (Nobles, 1972). The idea of interre-
latedness extends to the whole universe, arranged in a hierarchy that includes
God, humans, animals, plants, and inanimate objects in a descending order.

People are linked in a geographical and temporal frame by the oral tradi-
tion, with messages being transmitted across time and space by word of mouth
or the drums. Each tribe contains a griot, an oral historian, who is a living
record of the people’s heritage. The spoken word is revered. Words take on a
quality of life when they are uttered by the speaker. In the act of Nommo, the
speaker literally breathes life into a word. Nothing exists, including newborn
babies, until a name has been uttered with the breath of life. When words are
spoken, the listener is expected to acknowledge receiving the message by re-
sponding to the speaker. This is known as the call-response. The speaker sends
out a message or a call, and the listener makes a response indicating that he or
she has heard the message. The speaker and the listener operate within a
shared psycholinguistic space affirming each other’s presence.

Time is marked off by a series of events that have been shared with oth-
ers in the past or are occurring in the present. Thus, when an African talks
about time in the past tense, reference points are likely to be established by
events such as a daughter’s marriage or a son’s birth, events that were shared
with others. When an African is trying to make arrangements about meeting
someone in the immediate future, a specific time, such as three o’clock, is
avoided. The person is more likely to say, “I will meet you after I finish milking
the cows.” The primary time frames in African languages are past and present.

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Chapter 2 • African-Centered Psychology in the Modern Era 25

There is no word in most African languages for the distant future. The distant
future has not yet happened; therefore, it does not exist. In this fluid perception
of time, there is no guilt about wasting time. Time is not a monetary commod-
ity but an experience to be shared with others.

Time is also considered to be repetitive. The major events used to desig-
nate points in time, such as conception, birth, the naming ceremony, puberty,
and marriage, repeat themselves throughout the life cycle. There is a cyclical,
rhythmic pattern to the flow of events—the coming and going of the seasons,
the rising and the setting of the sun, and the movement through the stages of
life. Nature’s rhythms are believed to have been put in order by God, who
knew what He/She was doing. The essence of life is to be able to move harmo-
niously with the cyclical rhythms of the universe’s internal clock. The goal is not
to control or dominate the universe, but to blend creatively into the tempo and
pace of the seasons of life. Life is broken down into a series of stages beginning
with conception, followed by birth, the naming ceremony, puberty, initiation
rites, marriage, adulthood, and old age. Death is seen as a stage of life. The liv-
ing dead are still members of the tribe, and personal immortality is assured as
long as one’s memory is continuously passed down to each generation by the
tribe’s oral historian. Since immortality is guaranteed by the passing of one’s
memory forward, there is no pervasive fear of old age and death. The tribal eld-
ers are valued because they have accumulated the wisdoms of life’s teachings.
In the hierarchical arrangement of the cosmos, they occupy a position just
below that of the Supreme Being and the living dead.

PERSISTENCE OF THE AFRICAN-CENTERED WORLDVIEW

In order to better grasp the worldview that emerges from an African reality, it is
first necessary to understand, and in some cases re-examine, the notion of culture.
Culture has been inappropriately equated with a number of superficial variables
like food, music, clothing, and artifacts. Although each of these items is a represen-
tation or a manifestation of culture, they are not culture in and of themselves.

Culture is a complex constellation of mores, values, customs, tradition, and
practices that guide and influence a people’s cognitive, affective, and behavioral
response to life circumstances. In essence, culture provides a general design for
living and a pattern for interpreting reality (Nobles, 1986). Thus, in seeking to
clarify and understand the African-centered worldview, the relevant question be-
comes: How do African Americans construct their design for living, and what
patterns do they use to interpret reality? Take for example, a July 2009 incident
in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where Harvard Professor and African-American in-
tellectual Henry Louis Gates is arrested by that city’s police at his home for “dis-
turbing the peace and disorderly conduct.” The incident made national headlines
and was the subject of intense debate on all major networks for weeks, with
opinions being shared on both sides about the significance of race in this cir-
cumstance. However, there is more at play here than the fact that Professor
Gates is African American and the police officer(s) was White. What is clear is
that in that situation each participant’s mindset, and ultimate response that never

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26 Chapter 2 • African-Centered Psychology in the Modern Era

de-escalated until Gates was booked at the local jail, was influenced by his or
her design for living and pattern for interpreting reality. Contextually, Gates is re-
turning from a trip abroad and is just arriving home with his driver and bags in
toe. Because he experiences some difficulty in opening the door to his house, he
motions to his driver to provide him with some assistance. Now, you have two
Black males, on a porch in a predominantly White suburb of Boston, attempting
to gain entry into a house. A vigilant neighbor observes the two men, and calls
police, assuming that Gates and his driver are attempting to break in and gain
illegal entry. That’s when the police respond. Before they arrive, Gates has
entered his home and is putting things down. Once the police have arrived, he
is asked to show identification to verify his local address, but perceives that his
interrogation is moving way beyond the boundaries of what is acceptable,
particularly having just produced the identification the police demanded. Gates
reportedly demands to know the name and badge number of the officer in
charge, and emotions escalate, tempers flare, and ultimately, Professor Gates is
arrested for what can only be imagined as being belligerent to the police.

Professor Gates’ worldview is sensitive to issues of race and the hostile
and discriminatory practices police routinely use toward African-American
males. Thus, his emotional tone is born out of that experience. The police
officer is sensitive to the potential for a burglar to be at the Gates residence, and
whether influenced by race or not, is not about to tolerate any hostile feelings
coming from a citizen who was just a suspect in an alleged break-in. His emo-
tional tone and response is born out of that experience as a law enforcement
official who responds to a citizen call for police intervention for what is per-
ceived as a crime. Thus, irrespective of who the public thought was right or
wrong in this affair, what is abundantly clear is that neither man was able to
look past race to see the cultural perspective of the other, a perspective that
might have allowed the situation to resolve itself in a more peaceful manner.
But let us continue articulating the notion of culture.

One of the clearest expressions of an African-American cultural manifesta-
tion in psychology was provided by White (1984) in the first edition of The
Psychology of Blacks. White believed that the African ethos helped to create a
collective psychological space for African Americans independent of their op-
pressors where they could generate a sense of worth, dignity, affiliation, and
mutual support. Included in the delineation of that ethos, despite the historical
context of slavery and oppression, were principles and practices such as self-
determination and definition; the intergenerational continuity enhanced by and
through the oral tradition; a strong religious faith, including participation in or-
ganized worship; immediate and extended family supports; language and ex-
pressive patterns; and personal expressions through music and the arts.

African-Centered Psychology Comes of Age

In further delineating the persistence of the African ethos into the life space of
African Americans, Parham (1993, 2002) has synthesized the work of Nobles
(1972), White (1984), Myers (1988), and others through his comparisons of

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Chapter 2 • African-Centered Psychology in the Modern Era 27

cultural worldviews. Thus, let’s review these again to ensure that you have a
firm grasp of the differences in worldviews between certain cultural groups. In
contrasting the African-American and European-American worldview across
selected primary dimensions, Parham suggests that the “designs for living” be
seen in the adherence to particular value systems by each cultural group. He first
identifies eight variables that are then used to compare and contrast the two
culturally different worldviews. The dimensions are listed as self, feelings, sur-
vival, language, time, universe, death, and worth. On one end of the spectrum
is a Euro-American worldview; on the opposite end, the African American.

Regarding the sense of self, Euro-Americans relate to a fragmented per-
sonality in which cognitive, affective, and behavioral dimensions are seen as
separate and distinct. Regardless to whether the psychological theories are clas-
sical (i.e., Freud’s three structures of personality) or contemporary (i.e., Burne’s
transactional analysis), their analysis and application include an imposition of a
“difference equals deficiency” logic to particular segments of the personality
structure. The African-American self begins with a holistic integration of its parts
rather than fragmentation. At the core of the African self is an understanding of
the fundamental nature of the self as spiritual, which permeates the cognitive,
affective, and behavioral dimensions.

Regarding feelings, the Euro-American tradition values suppression of
emotions in favor of rational imperatives. In the African-American tradition,
emotions and feelings are intended to be expressed while serving as a check on
expressions that are more rationally based.

The survival dimension in the Euro-American context embraces an individu-
alistic and competitive relationship to people and the society at large. In contrast,
the African worldview promotes a more collective orientation to people, family,
and social interactions. This value of collective survival is reflected in the Asante
proverb: “I am because we are; and because we are, therefore I am.” In essence,
this truth explains that an individual is only important to the degree that he or she
contributes to the maintenance and the well-being of the tribe or the group.

Regarding language, the Euro-American culture gives credence to that
which is written, that communicating with a style that appears to be formal and
detached. In the African tradition, much more credence is given to the oral tradi-
tion with an emphasis on the interconnectedness between the speaker and the
listener. With respect to time and space, Euro-Americans tend to be very future-
oriented and perceive time as a commodity to be invested (i.e., “time is money”).
African Americans are more present-centered with a reference to the past. Time
is also seen as something to be experienced in the moment, rather than invested
with special emphasis or meaning given to circumstances surrounding an event.

In relationship to the universe, Euro-Americans relate it with a desire and
need for control and manipulation of things and people. In the African-
American worldview, the orientation is usually toward harmony and balance, as
everything is seen as interrelated.

Regarding the concept of death, Euro-Americans see death of the body as
the end. Therefore, there is an urgent, almost obsessive, desire to preserve life
and avoid the realities of getting old. In the African-American worldview, death

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28 Chapter 2 • African-Centered Psychology in the Modern Era

is seen as another transition from this life into the next. And because of the be-
lief of spirit as the essence of the human being, one is able to better accept and
embrace the spiritual transition of those who have joined the community of an-
cestors. Finally, worth in the Euro-American tradition is determined and measured
by material attainment and possession. In the African tradition, one’s worth was
measured by contribution to community and collective uplifting. Parham’s
analysis, while allowing for individual variations, nonetheless recognizes how
the African-American design for living and pattern for interpreting reality are
reflected in the culture of the people.

With the persistence of the African ethos in the historical and contempo-
rary life space of African Americans, more recent scholars have utilized its prin-
ciples as the foundation for this African-centered psychological perspective.
Regardless of whether the topic or analysis is African-American families in ther-
apy (Boyd-Franklin, 1989), African-American male-female relationships
(Powell-Hopson & Hopson, 1998), identity development (Cross, 1991), per-
sonal biographies (Gates, 1994), or the experiences of being a Black man in
America (McCall, 1994; Obama, 2004), these themes discussed above continue
to resonate with clarity and consistency.

What we are arguing here is the recognition that the notion of culture is cen-
tral to a more deep-structured analysis of African psychology that seeks to move
beyond the basic level understandings of the discipline. In helping us to embrace
this idea more thoroughly, Ani (1994) has provided us with an analysis of culture
at the deep structural level. Her work suggests that culture (1) unifies and orders
our experience by providing a worldview that orients our experience and interpre-
tation of reality; (2) provides collective group identification built on shared history,
symbols, and meanings; and (3) institutionalizes and validates group beliefs, val-
ues, behaviors, and attitudes (Ani, 1994). In a similar way, Nobles (1986) helps to
inform our thinking about the concept of culture by suggesting that it represents
the inner essence and outer envelope of human beingness.

As we seek to engage these constructs of culture, Grills (2002), Parham
(2002, 2006), and King, Dixon, and Nobles (1976) before them, provide us with
a more formalized structure through which to examine how culture is opera-
tionalized across various racial/ethnic groups. Individually and collectively, they
suggest that there are five domains of information that represent elements of
culture at the deep structure level, and that these domains are central to devel-
oping a better working knowledge of the construct. The five domains include:
Ontology (nature of reality), Axiology (one’s value orientation), Cosmology (re-
lationship to the Divine force in the universe), Epistemology (systems of knowl-
edge and discovering truth), and Praxis (consistency in the context of one sys-
tem of human interaction).

Ontology Axiology Cosmology Epistemology Praxis

Nature of Value System Relationship to System of Systems of
Reality the Divine Knowing and Human

What is Truth Interaction

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Chapter 2 • African-Centered Psychology in the Modern Era 29

ONTOLOGY An integration of personal and familial lived experiences; reli-
gious/spiritual insight and history.

AXIOLOGY Collectivistic; one’s worth is based on one’s contribution to the
group’s well-being and advancement; present and past oriented; group/cultural
survival and ownership.

COSMOLOGY Spiritual/religious connection as integration of family and cul-
ture; divinity falls on a spectrum of ancestral hierarchy that dictates a reverence
for those that have preceded us; connection, conservation, and protection to
mother earth.

EPISTEMOLOGY Oral history (i.e., ancestral history), direct lived experiences;
Western science is limited and not the universal truth of insight and understanding.

PRAXIS Connectedness to others and congruence with others; religious/spiri-
tual guidance and standard for one’s thoughts and behaviors; family guidance
and shared wisdom; shared lived experiences influence the integration and ac-
ceptance into one’s behavioral repertoire.

Examination of these five domains within the context of African-American
people’s lives allows us to develop a template that is useful in distinguishing
areas of convergence and divergence between persons of African descent
and other cultural groups, and even Eurocentric psychology Parham (1993)
has invited us to consider before. Table 2.2 illustrates our comparison of cul-
tural manifestations.

As a consequence of this discussion, it opens the way for us to explore
the extension of these cultural elements into a set of assumptions that guide
the work of African-centered psychologists in theory and practice. Thus,

TABLE 2.2 Value Systems

Euro American Dimensions African-American

1. Fragmented
Dichotomized
Dualistic

SELF Holistic Spiritness made evident

2. Suppressed/
Controlled

FEELINGS Legitimate/Expressed/Vitality/Aliveness

3. Individual/
Competitive

SURVIVAL Collective/Group “I am because we are, and
because we are, therefore I am.”

4. Written/Detached LANGUAGE Oral/Expressive/Call Response
5. Metric/Linear TIME Events Cyclical
6. Control UNIVERSE Harmony-Ontological Principal of Immortality
7. End DEATH
8. Material Possession WORTH Contribution to One’s Community

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30 Chapter 2 • African-Centered Psychology in the Modern Era

African-centered psychology, in using African values, traditions, worldview as
the lens through which perceptions of reality are shaped and colored, exam-
ines processes that allow for the illumination and liberation of the spirit (one’s
spiritual essence). Thus, if culture does provide a general design for living and
a pattern for interpreting reality, then African-centered psychology, in relying
on the principles of harmony within the universe as a natural order of human
existence, recognizes:

• The spiritness that permeates everything that exists in the universe.
• The notion that everything in the universe is interconnected.
• The value that the collective is the most salient element of existence.
• And the idea that self-knowledge is the key to mental health.

African psychology then is the dynamic manifestation of the unifying African
principles, values, and traditions whereby the application of knowledge is used to
resolve personal and social problems and promote optimal human functioning.

THE DEVELOPMENT OF BLACK PSYCHOLOGY—
THE MODERN ERA

In the opinion of the senior co-author of this text, the modern era of Black psy-
chology begins in 1968 with the formation of the ABPsi. Graduate schools in
psychology were still turning out a combined national total of only three or four
Black Ph.Ds in psychology per year.

Some major departments of psychology at this late date had not produced
a single Black Ph.D psychologist. The grand total of psychologists among the
more than ten thousand members of the APA, Psychology’s most prestigious or-
ganization, was less than one percent. At the annual convention of the APA in
San Francisco in August/September of 1968, approximately fifty-eight Black
psychologist delegates and their guests came together to give form and sub-
stance to the idea of a national organization of Black psychologists.

In the more than forty years since its formal beginning in 1968, the modern
era of Black or African psychology has established its presence across several
areas of psychology. The impact of the efforts of African-centered psychologists
has been felt in the fields of counseling and clinical psychology, community men-
tal health, education, intelligence and ability testing, professional training, foren-
sic psychology, and criminal justice. Black psychologists have presented their
findings at professional conferences, legislative hearings, and social policymaking
task forces. They have also served as expert witnesses in class action suits de-
signed to make institutional policies more responsive to the needs of African peo-
ple. In light of the social phenomena and institutional policies that continue to af-
fect the mental health needs of the African- American community, we believe that
ABPsi is a vital and necessary resource and will remain so in the future.

In order to better appreciate the ways in which ABPsi responds to more
contemporary mental health needs of the African-American community, it is
important to understand where we have come from in the forty years since
ABPsi’s inception. It was the Algerian psychiatrist Frantz Fanon (1967) who

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Chapter 2 • African-Centered Psychology in the Modern Era 31

remarked that each generation, out of relative obscurity, must reach out and ei-
ther fulfill its legacy or betray it. Those sentiments speak volumes about the
challenge to carve out a place for an African-centered worldview within the
discipline of psychology that the ABPsi has taken up. It is important to under-
stand that, in Parham’s view, the foundation for the ABPsi, indeed the disci-
pline of African psychology, was more than just a group of frustrated men and
women who were unhappy with the APA’s posture regarding persons of
African descent. Clearly, there were angry sentiments about what many per-
ceive as the incongruence between what APA professed and what the organi-
zation and its affiliates practiced. But that doesn’t come close to telling the en-
tire story. The context for this initiation of the ABPsi was born out of a social
struggle for civil rights, where the themes of “I am somebody,” “Black Power,”
and “self-determination” became the rally cries for most Black Americans at
that time. Within that struggle was a challenge confronting Black psychologists
about whether an “integrationist” (work within the APA to achieve progress)
vs. a “nationalist” (break away from the APA and form an independent organi-
zation) philosophy was the best strategy to achieve social and professional
progress for Black psychologists. In addition, the bias against persons of African-
descent promoted by many prominent White members of the APA demon-
strated clear prejudices in intelligence and personality measurement, and
helped to usher in a practice where testing and assessment practices were used
as tools of oppression. Clearly, the betrayal of objectivity of APA’s pseudo-scientific
theories and instruments was very pronounced. Consequently, we argue that
the struggle for an African-centered psychological prospective was less about a
personality clash between African-American and White members of an associ-
ation; it was essentially about a what Thomas Parham (2009) has termed a “cul-
tural war,”

In reminding ourselves that culture is a complex constellation of mores,
values, customs, and traditions that provide a general design for living and a
pattern for interpreting reality, it is important to understand the context in
which that war was waged. Given that the cultural sterility within traditional
psychology was quite pronounced, it was incumbent upon professionals and
students alike to engage in a battle that was waged on four fronts. These fronts
include: a war of ideology, a war of values, a war of self-determination, and a
war of cultural relevance. This, we believe, is what the Association of Black
Psychologists has been about for the past four decades.

WAR OF IDEOLOGY The ideological conflict centered on who and what
African people are. Black psychologists were right to argue, as Hilliard
(1997) reminds us, that there is something wrong with a psychology and a
psychological prospective that leaves any group of people strangers to them-
selves, aliens to their culture, oblivious to their condition, and inhuman to their
oppressors. Furthermore, Carter G. Woodson, in his groundbreaking work on
The Mis-Education of the Negro, reminds us that if you allow people to control
the way you think, you do not have to assign them to an inferior status; if nec-
essary, they will seek it for themselves. Indeed, it has been a war of ideology.

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32 Chapter 2 • African-Centered Psychology in the Modern Era

WAR OF VALUES Consistent with the descriptions referenced previously in this
chapter, there is a different set of cultural values that are embraced in an
African-centered worldview. These have become the foundation of the African
and African-American psychological prospective. These values include the ne-
cessity and importance of spirituality, the inner connectedness of all things that
exist on the planet and in the universe, that the collective is the most salient el-
ement of existence, the idea that self knowledge is the key to mental health, a
belief in the transformative possibilities of the human spirit, and the need for
self knowledge that was rooted in one’s own cultural traditions.

WAR OF SELF-DETERMINATION The ABPsi had to struggle with the idea of
whether to be part of the APA or totally separate from it. In this regard, we are
reminded of the words of the Honorable Marcus Garvey, who challenges us
to remember that chance has never satisfied the hope of a suffering people. It
is only through hard work, persistence, and self-reliance by which the op-
pressed have ever realized the light of their own freedom. In that regard, the
ABPsi up until most recently has been the only autonomous ethnic psychol-
ogy association in this country. The conflict over self-determination was a
quick battle as the ABPsi decided to establish its own headquarters
(Washington D.C.); create its own newsletter (Psych Discourse); develop its
own scholarly journal (Journal of Black Psychology); and host its own conven-
tion, which meets annually each August in cities all across this country, and
occasionally, internationally.

WAR OF CULTURAL RELEVANCE The ABPsi, and indeed the discipline of
African psychology, has always believed that psychology had to be relevant to
a broad array of persons of African descent. Said another way, psychology had
to be relevant to the people. African psychology had to be relevant in improv-
ing the lives of people it devised theories to describe, and treatment modalities
to administer. In addition, it had to be able to shape a future that not only trans-
formed lives, but also instilled hope and possibility for a brighter future. Indeed,
if Fanon was right that each generation has an opportunity to fulfill its legacy or
betray it, the ABPsi over the past forty-plus years has reached out and seized
that opportunity to fulfill their legacy.

In summary, African-centered psychology, and the psychology of
Blackness, is an attempt to build conceptual models that organize, explain, and
facilitate understanding of the psychosocial behavior of African Americans.
Without question, these models are based in the primary dimensions of an
African-American/African worldview. Having now been exposed to the basic
tenets of African psychology, one should be able to see specific areas of em-
phasis, which although rooted in an African-centered worldview, provide con-
gruence and continuity with the principles on which the discipline was founded
in 1968. The discipline of African-centered psychology continues to define the
construct in meaningful ways, render African psychological principles relevant

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Chapter 2 • African-Centered Psychology in the Modern Era 33

to the contemporary needs of the African-American community, achieve better
integration of the concept of spirituality, and help to define and in some cases
redefine the task of therapists and healers. In addition, the discipline continues
to promote the need for social advocacy and to plan interventions in the larger
social arenas where public policy impacts on the mental health of people in the
African-American community.

For those interested in the organization, we can report that the ABPsi has
grown from a handful of concerned professionals into an independent, au-
tonomous organization of more than 1000 members, who see their collective
mission and destiny as the liberation of the African Mind, empowerment of the
African Character, and illumination of the African Spirit. ABPsi has been guided
for the last forty years by a member-elected board of directors, regional repre-
sentatives, and national staff. The chronology of ABPsi presidents are as fol-
lows, with those who have transitioned to be with the Ancestors denoted with
an asterisk*:

CHRONOLOGY OF THE PRESIDENTS OF THE ASSOCIATION
OF BLACK PSYCHOLOGISTS

Charles W. Thomas, Ph.D. (1968–1969),* Robert Green, Ph. D. (1968–1969)

Henry Tomes, Ph. D. (1969–1970), Robert L. Williams, Ph.D. (1969–1970)

Stanley Crockett, Ph.D. (1970–1971), Reginald L. Jones, Ph.D. (1971–1972)*

James S. Jackson Ph.D. (1972–1973), Thomas O. Hilliard, Ph.D. (1973–1974)*

George D. Jackson, Ph.D. (1974–1975), William Hayes, Ph.D. (1975–1976)

Ruth E.G. King, Ed.D (1976–1977), Maisha Bennett, Ph.D. (1978–1979)

Joseph Awkard, Ph. D. (1979–1980), Daniel Williams, Ph.D. (1980–1981)

David Terrell, Ph.D. (1981–1982), Joseph A. Baldwin, Ph.D. (1982–1983)

William K. Lyles, Ph.D. (1983–1984),* W. Monty Whitney, Ph.D. (1984–1985)

Melvin Rogers, Ph. D. (1985–1986), Halford H. Fairchild, Ph.D. (1986–1987)

Na’im Akbar, Ph.D. (1987–1988), Dennis E. Chestnut, Ph.D. (1988–1989)

Suzanne Randolph, Ph. D. (1989–1990), Linda James Myers, Ph.D. (1990–1991)

Timothy R. Moragne, Psy.D. (1991–1992), Maisha Hamilton Bennett, Ph.D.
(1992–1993)

Anna M. Jackson, Ph.D. (1993–1994), Wade Nobles, Ph.D. (1994–1995)

Thomas A. Parham, Ph.D. (1995–1996), Frederick B. Phillips, Psy.D. (1996–1997)

Kamau Dana Dennard, Ph.D. (1997–1998), Afi Samella B. Abdullah, Ph.D.
(1998–1999)

Mawiya Kambon, Ph.D. (1999–2000), Anthony Young, Ph.D.(2000–2001)

Mary Hargrow, Ph.D. (2001–2002), Harvette Gray, Ph.D.(2002–2003)

Willie Williams, Ph.D. (2003–2004, James Savage, Ph.D. (2004–2005)

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34 Chapter 2 • African-Centered Psychology in the Modern Era

Robert Atwell, Ph.D. (2005–2007), Dorothy Holmes, Ph.D. (2007–2009)

Benson Cooke (2009–2011), and Cheryl Tawede Grills (2011–13)

Each administration has also committed itself to nurturing ABPsi, an organiza-
tion whose mission is to advance the discipline as a whole. Thus, although the
necessity for the development of an African-centered psychology goes almost
without question, the recognition that general psychology had failed and con-
tinues to fail to provide African Americans full and accurate understanding of an
African reality and that applications of Eurocentric norms result in the dehu-
manization of African people, were and are major forces that stimulate the
growth of the contemporary African psychology movement.

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3
� � �

The Spiritual Core
of African-Centered

Psychology

Over the past one hundred years, the discipline of psychology has exploded
onto the academic and scientific scene, advancing theories of human behavior,
theories of normal and abnormal development, and theories of the personal
and situational variables that contribute to one’s personality makeup. In fact,
there are entire schools of thought that have been developed as a way to syn-
thesize the vast array of ideas proposed by various theorists who are convinced
that their theory is the most compelling in the understanding of the human
psyche. There are Euro-American schools of thought that are labeled psychody-
namic, neo-analytic, behaviorism, humanistic, cognitive-behavioral, and exis-
tential (Myers, 2010).

MISSING ELEMENTS

In illustrating this point, many psychoanalytic theories are anchored in the
works of Sigmund Freud, who viewed human nature as a dynamic interplay be-
tween the unconscious, preconscious, and conscious mind. Each domain is be-
lieved to be responsible for navigating perspectives that influence how each
individual responds to internal instinctual drives (unconscious), repressed or
stored memories (preconscious), or to the demand of the external environment
(the conscious). Freud’s approach advanced the notion that the personality
comprised three interrelated parts labeled the ID (basic instincts that operate ac-
cording to what is pleasurable and satisfaction seeking), EGO (conscious
choices that are anchored in perceptions of reality), and the SUPER EGO (a
mental conscience influenced by parental values and principles of morality).
Psychoanalytic theory also proposed five stages (oral, anal, phallic, latency, and
genital) of development in a person’s life, each focusing on a region of the

35

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36 Chapter 3 • The Spiritual Core of African-Centered Psychology

body that aligned with the instinctual and pleasure seeking tendencies that
were believed to be the most salient at that point in time. The goals of a psy-
chodynamic clinician include: helping clients/patients recognize how unre-
solved issues in childhood continue to exert an influence in their lives and
helping clients gain insights into the roots of dysfunctional or maladaptive cop-
ing or lifestyle choices.

A contemporary of Freud who advanced a theory of his own was Alfred
Adler. His Adlerian approach, which is also referred to as individual psychology,
believed that human nature was primarily influenced and motivated by social in-
terests. If the development of those social interests proceeded in an orderly fash-
ion, he believed that individuals would help to connect to society as a social
whole, develop an interest in and empathy for other members of the community
and society, and contribute to the general social good, while taking a high de-
gree of responsibility for their own actions that aligned with those outcomes.
Unlike Freud, however, Adler believed that the conscious rather than uncon-
scious aspects of an individual’s personality exerted the most salient influence, in
helping them to strive for perfection in navigating social interactions. In recog-
nizing that people possessed a strong desire for social validation, Adlerian clini-
cians also recognize that unsuccessful resolution of that desire and need would
lead to complexes of inferiority, or superiority, each of which might influence a
person in negative or unproductive ways. The goal of Adlerian therapy then is to
assist individuals in developing productive, wholesome, and healthy lifestyles,
free from the self-centered tendencies that erode social networks; and to help
people gain insights into how maladaptive or inaccurate feelings developed in
childhood will continue to exert a negative influence in their lives unless they
can be successfully revisited and resolved in therapy.

A third school of thought that emerged from traditional psychology is the
Behavioral school. Owing its origins to theorist like B.F. Skinner, John Watson,
Albert Bandura, and others, Behaviorists believe that all behavior, whether
adaptive or maladaptive, is learned and reinforced in some way within one’s
environment. They focus on the present and here and now, rather than one’s
developmental past, and believe that with insight and specific behavioral analy-
sis, new schedules of learning and reinforcement can assist individuals in devel-
oping and sustaining good and healthy adaptations and adjustments to life
circumstances. Thus, their therapeutic focus is on helping clients modify or
eliminate less constructive behaviors from their lives, while helping them develop
and learn more healthy and useful ways of being in the world. In a related way,
the Cognitive-Behavioral school of thought was developed and influenced by
individuals such as Albert Ellis. He believed that people learned to conceptual-
ize their world in ways that gave too much attribution to events and situations
and not enough to their own ability to think rationally or irrationally. Cognitive-
Behavioral clinicians understand that it is not situations or circumstances that
cause people to feel certain emotions or behave in particular ways. Rather, they
believe that it is their belief system about those events that has the most influ-
ence. Therapy then becomes a process of discrimination and analysis where
internal dialogues about oneself, other people, or situations are examined as a

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Chapter 3 • The Spiritual Core of African-Centered Psychology 37

way of identifying what is both rational and irrational. Clients then gain insight
into how they contribute to the emotional distress or unsatisfactory behavioral
outcomes in their lives, while learning to replace irrational unproductive think-
ing with thoughts that are more healthy and rational.

Interestingly, each of these differing schools of thought is grounded in a
set of assumptions about the nature of reality, the development of one’s person-
ality, how and why people develop distress in their lives, and what role the
counselor or clinician should play in helping to alleviate their discomfort. Yet,
while each of these theoretical schools of thought in Eurocentric psychology di-
verges on many of these variables, they do converge on a common belief that
the individual personality is composed of intellectual (cognitive), affective
(emotional), and response (behavioral) dimensions. Admittedly, they do differ
on which dimension of one’s personality they believe is the most salient in
managing the dynamics of one’s life and lifestyle choices, and which dimension
should be targeted for therapeutic intervention.

Fortunately, the complex nature of the human psyche does not easily lend
itself to tight or even concise explanations. Therefore, most presentations of
personality development present these schools of thought as a broad lens
through which to seek understanding of the human condition. Interestingly, our
concern in this chapter is less about which school one considers adopting as
his/her best explanation of the individual psyche, and more about a specific
element of the psyche that to us, appears conspicuous by its absence. In psy-
chology’s traditional realms of understanding, analysis of the individual person-
ality has been constrained by an assumption that the most salient aspects of the
personality are the id, ego, or super ego (e.g., theories of Freud, Jung, Adler),
or composed of the cognitive (the way people think, e.g., theories of Ellis),
affective (the way people feel, e.g., theories of Rogers), and behavioral domains
(the way people respond to their reality, e.g., theories of Skinner, Bandura, or
Watson). Thus, when teaching students about the structures of the psyche, or
conceptualizing a client’s degree of debilitation who presents themselves for
mental health treatment, the analysis is typically limited to these three domains,
irrespective of which school of thought plays the most prominent role in a pro-
fessor’s or clinician’s thinking. This practice does a tremendous disservice to
people of African descent and other members of the human family, because it
ignores what is arguably the most important element of a person’s beingness,
their spirit (Parham, 2002; Nobles, 2008). Imagine you are a client of African de-
scent who in presenting yourself to a clinician for some counseling and therapy
is greeted with clinical eyes that appear to look through you. They look to your
left, to your right, and even over your head, seeing aspects of your self but
never really connecting with the authentic you. That is illustrative of what hap-
pens in many therapeutic encounters when the core of who you are is ignored
or not otherwise acknowledged.

The failure of traditional psychology to embrace the notion of genuine
and authentic spirit has occurred for several reasons. These include: rigid ad-
herence to an outdated belief that psychological constructs and variables must
be measured; failure to embrace the full spectrum of psychological health and

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38 Chapter 3 • The Spiritual Core of African-Centered Psychology

wholeness in deference to an obsession to weakness and pathology; and a ten-
dency to cloud discussions of “spirit” with discussions of religious and spiritual
beliefs. The first point about rigid adherence to outdated beliefs that all psycho-
logical constructs must be measured to rate relevance is a curious one in that
there is so much discussion about the affective and intuitive nature of the indi-
vidual psyche. Psychological and counselor educators spend countless hours
training students to rely on clinical instincts when attempting to empathize with
clients whom they are treating. Yet, attempting to measure the instincts or intu-
itions that often inform decisions about which questions to query clients about
or which directions to pursue in therapy would prove a difficult task, even for
the most seasoned clinicians. The failure to embrace the full spectrum of psy-
chological health and wholeness is a tendency many psychologists and coun-
selors are beginning to question, partly because of the movement of “positive
psychology.” This movement is beginning to gain some traction within the dis-
cipline but has yet to be fully embraced in a way that the majority of those
counselors and clinicians doing therapeutic work incorporate such perspectives
into their client conceptualizations. In part, the conceptualization issue is fueled
by the reliance on psychological instruments that continue to be pathology-
oriented, even in their revised forms (e.g., MMPI-II). The tendency to cloud dis-
cussions of “spirit” with discussions on religious and spiritual beliefs is problem-
atic as well. The fact that people chose to align their lifestyles with a particular
religion simply implies that they are believers in GOD, and support the doc-
trines of that denomination. In recognizing that people’s faith is a strong anchor
in one’s life and can be a major support system in times of trouble and adver-
sity, many psychological service providers do ask about religious affiliation as a
standard part of an intake interview. They also refer to a client’s religious affili-
ation and adherence to doctrines of theology as a way of gaining insights into
past behaviors, as well as perspectives into how an individual client might
rely on that body of ideas as a support in navigating their way through certain
life challenges.

This latter point is significant in its impact because it anchors spirituality in
a cognitive activity of belief systems analysis, rather than an experiential base
that aligns one’s energy and life force with that, which already exists in the
world, in connections with other members of the human family, and with the
DIVINE. This tendency to look at spirituality within the context of religious af-
filiation and belief system analysis can be seen in the work of Armstrong and
Crowther (2002), who talk about the importance of client spiritual and religious
beliefs in helping them navigate challenges in their life. Spirituality and religios-
ity are also seen as a prime coping mechanism in helping people cope with the
challenges of academic life (Herndon, 2003), health concerns (King, Burgess,
Akinyela, Counts-Spriggs, & Parker, 2005; Holt, Lewellyn, & Rathwell, 2005),
and even racism and oppression (Manning, Cornelius, & Oklindaye, 2004).
Similarly, Constantine, Lewis, Connor, and Sanchez (2000) argued for the neces-
sity for clinicians to be “aware” of client’s spiritual and religious beliefs in any
therapeutic recommendations, and that such perspectives should be incorporated
into graduate training. It is no wonder then why clinicians and academicians alike

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Chapter 3 • The Spiritual Core of African-Centered Psychology 39

are becoming more in tune with spiritual and religious beliefs, given that grad-
uate training programs and counseling/clinical training sites report the incorpo-
ration of religion and spirituality in curriculum modules (Brawer, Handall,
Fabricatore, Roberts, & Wajda-Johnston, 2002). Despite this fact, trainees and
students have occasionally reported discomfort with such discussions (Souza,
2002). Thus, while the recognition and importance of spirituality are more uni-
versally accepted in this new millennium, it is our belief that the profession
continues to suffer from both the absence of spirituality in the core or revised
theories of personality, and a failure to adequately distinguish spirituality from
religion and religiosity (Schulte, Skinner, & Claiborn, 2002; Souza, 2002; Serlin,
2005; and Wendell, 2003). Nevid’s (2007) second edition of Psychology:
Concepts and Applications, for example, mentions spirituality only once in the
entire text, and even then, associates the concept with the positive psychology
movement. Despite the fact that Nevid attributes the origins of positive psychol-
ogy to the work of Seligman (2003), rather than with African-centered psychol-
ogists like Myers (1988); White (1972, 1984); Nobles (1986); White, Parham, and
Parham (1980); and others who were talking about strength-based psychology
decades before, he gives no coverage to the construct of spirituality in any
depth. Similarly, Myers (2010) introduction to psychology text mentions spiritu-
ality very briefly, and only then in the context of a factor correlated with faith,
health, and healing in helping individuals managing their stress.

Thankfully, there are those scholars who have sought to distinguish be-
tween the two constructs (Mattis & Jeager, 2001; Berkel, Armstrong, & Cokley,
2004), and their work has provided some clarifying perspectives. Two decades
ago, Burkhardt (1989) sought to explore the concept of spirituality by suggest-
ing that it was a process involving the unfolding mystery through harmonious
inner-connectedness that springs from inner strength. In suggesting that life’s
experiences provide challenges that allow us to confront the purpose and
meaning of life, individuals are believed to discover that purpose in relation to
a higher being (God) and others in their lives. Meraviglia (1999) also weighed
in on the discussion by asserting that spirituality is the experience and expres-
sions of one’s spirit in a unique and dynamic process reflecting faith in God or
a supreme being; connectedness with oneself, others, nature, or God; and an
integration of the dimensions of mind, body, and spirit. Also contributing to the
discourse on spirituality is the work of Mattis (2000); and while her perspectives
were anchored in the opinions of a primarily female sample, she captures a po-
tent definition from the narratives provided by her women participants. Mattis
concludes that spirituality was a belief in and connectedness to a higher inter-
nal and external power; consciousness and meta-physicality; understanding and
acceptance of self; guidance and life instructions; peace, calm, and centered-
ness; positively influencing relationships with others; life purpose and meaning;
and facilitation of efforts to manage adversity through support, strength, ability,
and willingness to cope.

In extending the discussion, Mattis and Jager (2001) argue for a relational
framework in studying religiosity and spirituality among African Americans.
They advance the assumptions that religion and spirituality are relational

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40 Chapter 3 • The Spiritual Core of African-Centered Psychology

phenomena and the very act of faith and belief in a higher power (God) places
each of us in relationship with that divine force, as well as others in our lives.
They define “religion” as a shared system of beliefs, mythology, and rituals
associated with a God, and religiosity as an individual’s adherence to those
practices, beliefs, and doctrines. Spirituality on the other hand refers to an ac-
knowledgement of a non-material force that permeates all affairs, human and
non-human. Cervantes and Parham (2005) also discuss both the importance of
spirituality in a counseling framework, and the necessity to distinguish between
true spirituality and religiosity. In supporting the work of Nobles (1998), they
argue that “spirit” is the core, animating principle and energy, and is the
essence and substance of all matter. Spirit is described as the basis of all exis-
tence, including what we see and do not see. Spirit, they believe, likes Nobles
and others before them, is the energy and life force in each human being,
which acting like a Divine spark, gives humans their beingness.

In extending the discussion on spirituality, other authors have moved be-
yond mere definition to outline a multidimensional perspective on the construct
(Jones, Wainwright, & Yarnold, 1986; Saint-Laurent, 2000). These dimensions,
when taken individually, are represented in many definitions of spirituality.
They include heightened awareness, connectedness to all living things, enlight-
enment, self-transcendence, compassionate wisdom, loving kindness, increased
appreciation of how sacred life is and can be, and the capacity to serve others.
Not only do these dimensions of spirituality distance themselves from religion
and religiosity, but they also provide a way to view how spirituality is mani-
fested in the life of each individual. These multidimensional aspects of spiritual-
ity represent an evolution of sorts, as some describe the construct as a process,
rather than a product. Here, Brussat and Brussat (1996) inform our thinking by
suggesting that embracing spirituality is really about embracing life’s journey
toward wholeness, where awareness is expanded, one’s internal center is
strengthened, one’s purpose achieves clarity, inner demons are transformed,
conscious intention is directive, and movement toward a deeper connection to
one’s spiritual self evolves.

In examining the various concepts of spirituality, one begins to see a par-
allel between these definitions and the conceptual template used for centuries
by African people to describe their experience. While time and book length do
not allow for an exhaustive review of differing African tribes, customs, and tra-
ditions, we focus here on the ancient Kemetic people of North Africa, the
Yoruba people, the Bantu-Congo tradition, and the Akan people of Ghana, and
their concept of spirituality, as articulated by Anthony Ephirim-Donkor in his
1997 text on African Spirituality. In doing so, we acknowledge that over the
last three decades there has been a gradual but steady reengagement with in-
digenous African spiritual traditions in the United States brought about largely
by influx of Cubans and Haitians into the United States and by African American
traveling to and from the African continent. As result, there has been a steady
increase in the African-American adherents to traditions like Vodun (by way of
Haiti), Palo Mayombe (Bantu-Congo system), Santeria (by way of Cuba/West
Africa), Ifa (by way of Nigeria) and the Akan tradition (by way of Ghana). Not

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Chapter 3 • The Spiritual Core of African-Centered Psychology 41

surprisingly, a number of African-American psychologists have also become initi-
ates into these traditions. Some have even begun to explore the psycho-spiritual
modalities of these traditions and their potential heuristic and healing value in
the psycho-therapeutic process (Grills and Rowe, 1998; Rowe & Msemaji, 2004;
Nobles, 2008).

Within the African worldview, the basis of all knowledge is self-knowledge,
and the self when distilled to its essence is spirit. Thus, within the African concep-
tion the basis of all knowledge is spiritual knowledge because all that
exists is first and foremost spirit. Right away, it becomes apparent that we are
dealing with a very different epistemology—a different order of knowledge—one
that supplants the Western materialist mode of knowing and replaces it with an
affective epistemology. Cheryl Grills (2004), along with Piper-Mandy and Rowe
(2010), asserts that this epistemic shift is fundamental to the African-centered per-
spective, while Nobles (2008) notion of Sakhu positions African-centered psy-
chology outside of the Western epistemological frame and recenters it within a
Kemetic vis-a-vis indigenous African order of knowledge, thus suggesting a
rethinking of relationships between the knowing, the knower, and the known.

THE CORE OF SPIRITUALITY

In exploring the core of spirituality in its African manifestation, it is important to
travel back in time and engage the construct where civilizations first began. In
doing so, perhaps no place better represents the concept of spirituality than an-
cient Kemet (Egypt), for it is there along the Nile Valley that early manifestations
are evident. Concepts such as GOD, spirit and spirituality, systems of human in-
teraction, and spirit energy existing in several domains are very evident.
Kemetic people believed in supreme beings or deities who were thought to be
responsible for creation, ruling the world, and controlling the universe. They
also believe that rulers or pharaohs were the human manifestation of divine en-
ergy endowed by the CREATOR to rule over particular kingdoms or dynasties.
Thus, as early as recorded time, you see a connection between GOD as a
supreme being and those charged with managing the affairs of the people. The
connection to the CREATOR was not simply a belief manifested in the titles
given to or offices held by particular rulers, but rather was articulated in the ex-
pectation that those in high office should rule in ways that were pleasing to
GOD. In essence, leadership in ancient times involved a social contract where
one’s position was intended to uplift the people and community, and address
the needs of the collective before ministering to oneself. This is evident as one
explores the concept of Ma’at (Karenga, 1990; Parham, 2002). Dr. Karenga
(1990) explains that Ma’at was a code of conduct and a standard of aspiration
for all of the ancient Kemetic people. It was characterized by seven cardinal
virtues: truth, justice, righteousness, harmony, order, balance, and propriety.
Thus, each citizen of a kingdom, whether pharaoh or servant, was expected to
adhere to these behavioral aspirations. In doing so, one operationalizes the
connection to the divine CREATOR by ruling and behaving in ways that would
prove most aligned with the spiritual system of the time. Thus, there was no

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42 Chapter 3 • The Spiritual Core of African-Centered Psychology

domain of daily life, including education, social, economic, political, religious,
or family where Ma’at was not the attitudinal or behavioral aspiration. Beyond
the aspirational nature of human conduct, it is also important to understand
why such systems of human interaction carried such a high degree of salience
for both ruler and citizen alike. The ancient Africans believed that at the end of
one’s life, people could achieve a oneness with the CREATOR by having their
heart weighed against the feather of truth (Ma’at). If their heart was found to be
as light as a feather, then they were judged by the assessors to have lived a
good life, and were then presented before GOD’s throne by the Son of GOD
(no one comes to the Father except through the Son). That feat was achieved
by living one’s life in harmony with what was known as the forty-two sacred
truths (or declarations of innocence), which included such admonitions as:
“honor thy father and mother, thou shall not kill, steal or lie, and thou shall not
bare false witness against thy neighbor or covet thy neighbor’s material posses-
sions.” Indeed, this was a very elaborate and complex spiritual system.

Parallels can also be found in the Yoruba system and philosophy of spiri-
tuality, who like their Kemetic and Nubian Brothers and Sisters, believed in a
SUPREME BEING, a heaven and earth, divine spirits or deities, and the exis-
tence of ancestral spirits beyond their earthly human forms. The Yoruba believe
in a SUPREME BEING called OLDUMARE, who is the CREATOR and ruler of all
things. They also believe in the existence of Orishas, who while serving as
emissaries of OLDUMARE, earned their divine status through their great deeds.
Thus, we see common elements of the concept of CREATOR, spirit beings, and
the necessity of proper conduct in this African belief system. For the Yoruba,
there is a belief in a power or energy that permeates the entire universe of
human beings, plants, animals, and even inanimate objects. This energy em-
anates from the CREATOR and connects everything to the divine force in the
universe, while various deities serve as the intermediaries between God and
man. There is also an invisible and visible world, the latter of which has a phys-
ical and spiritual dimension. Physical disease in the Yoruba conception is a
function and structure of body organs, but mental disorders are believed to be
a result of several domains: natural sources, supernatural sources, preternatural
sources, and inherited sources. Believing also in the relationship between peo-
ple and the social environment in which they live and conduct their affairs,
mental illness does have a social significance for interpersonal relationships.
Thus, the Yoruba believe that irregularities in the physical/biological or social
realm, which might be caused by deficiencies at birth, as a function of heredity,
or resulting from certain social afflictions, can be the basis of mental illness.
However, despite the techniques of traditional psychology and even medicine
to diagnose and treat problems in individual domains, the Yoruba believe that
assessments and interventions must be conducted in the biological, spiritual,
psychological, and social. Those intervening are typically healers, who often
specialize in being a herbalist, rainmaker, or diviner. Often, it is the diviners
who are the most popular and inspire the most faith among the people, for
they have the power to see beyond the physical to explore the spiritual, and
it is in that realm where healing must take place. The Yoruba also believe that

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Chapter 3 • The Spiritual Core of African-Centered Psychology 43

individuals acquire and choose their destiny prior to the transformation into a
corporal being, but they are induced to forget the contents of that destiny prior
to birth. Thus, the only way for a human being to access that destiny is through
the power of divination; where in accessing the spiritual aspects of the visible
and invisible world, aspects of their destiny are revealed to them by what are
referred to as “witnesses to destiny.” Mention should also be made here that the
Yoruba believe that every aspect of mental illness cannot be cured, nor can it
be cured permanently. They do however understand and believe that mental ill-
ness in people is often controlled by spirits and, because it may represent a
spiritual attack, can only be addressed spiritually.

The Akan spiritual system also merits discussion here. Within the context
of metaphysics, the Akan believe that each person has a nature that is both phys-
ical and spiritual. For the Akan, the interchange between the soul that originates
from the CREATOR (kra); the physical body that serves as a container for the
vital organs (nipadua); and the spirit or energy (sunsum) that, while immaterial
in its power and nature, accounts for one’s intellect, personality disposition,
character, and individuality is the essence of African people’s lived experiences.
Ephirim-Donkor (1997) helps us understand that in the formation of an individ-
ual’s life, the spirit (ntoro) of the male mingles with the blood (mogya) of the
female to form the physical component of the personality. Thus, human beings
were believed to have two components: one biological that was derived from
the mother and one spiritual that was derived from the father. The father’s sun-
sum is transmitted to his children during sexual intercourse and procreation, so
that the “ntoro-sunsum” molds the child’s personality and disposition during a
child’s formative years. So important was a father’s influence on a child that chil-
dren who do not come under that aegis may experience unhealthy lives, psy-
chological maladies, or even death. Thus, in dealing with a psychological ail-
ment later in life, one could not simply address the physical symptom consistent
with the way Western medicines deal with illness and disease. Rather, one must
address the spiritual core of the problem. In that regard, the Akan system would
simply ask how one who struggles with a particular ailment could be properly
treated without dealing with the spiritual elements of an individual’s personality.

The Bantu-Congo system of cosmology also provides some fascinating in-
sight into the concept of spirituality, that intangible energy and life force we
have been speaking about. This system, as articulated by Fu-Kiau (1991, 2001)
in his writings, argues that individuals are sacred at birth; and as human beings
(muntu), we have the capacity for self-healing power. Humans are believed to
be a “rising and living sun” who at the moment of their birth enter into a living
community with a radiating potential for health and healing. That potential, or
divine spark that constitutes their electrical energy, is bolstered or weakened by
the circumstances surrounding their conception. Life then is about a process of
perpetual and mutual communication of radiating waves of energy that are given
off and received by individual human beings. Those waves, or oceans of energy
as Fu-Kiau (2001) describes them, can be both positive and negative, and indi-
viduals can either be sensitive to or immune to the energy, in reacting to life cir-
cumstances in adaptive or maladaptive ways.

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44 Chapter 3 • The Spiritual Core of African-Centered Psychology

There are several factors believed to impact one’s self-healing power; one
of these is conception. Fu-Kiau explains that parents are the first and most im-
portant variable involving the functioning capacity of an individual’s self-healing
power. Collectively, they are believed to be responsible for children who are
weak or strong or healthy or not. The Bantu-Congo believe that parents can be
deliberate or unwitting players in the development of their children by what
they do when selecting each other as mates and how they come to engage in
the act of procreation. By selecting each other as partners, they seal the bio-
genetic rope that determines the composition of that seed of possibility that will
become their children. The circumstances surrounding the act of lovemaking
(both the mental state of mind and the physical state of being) then contribute
to that energy that bonds the two parents together, influencing the character
and overall mental and physical health of that child whose being is a result of
that act between the mother and the father. Because both biogenetic and situa-
tional factors influence outcome in this case, adults attempt to avoid any
circumstance during the act of love making or procreation that potentially
depletes or contaminates the energy flow between those individuals, including
angry or hostile spirits, alcohol or drug use, etc.

Another factor is gestation, or the physical environment in which the fetal
child is carried and nurtured in the womb. The womb becomes the first phys-
ical environment that the child grows up in, and this environment influences
both their eventual physical health and their self-healing power. Thus, nutri-
ents or contaminants/toxins that a mother takes into her body can have the
effect of either reinforcing a healthy first environment or contributing to the
deterioration of one, making a child more vulnerable to illness once he or she is
born. This latter circumstance is what is believed to contribute to health chal-
lenges a person experiences later in life, and a depletion of their self-healing
power’s potential.

That self-healing power and potential is central to an individual’s well-
being, according to the Bantu-Congo philosophy. Illness, both physical and
mental, is believed to be related to a state of “body electron regression.” In this
regard, the body’s and mind’s loss of functioning efficiency and power is be-
lieved to be caused by a loss of the body’s balance of energy, rather than by
bacteria or virus. Thus, mental disorder and life dissatisfaction are related to a
person’s self-healing power being able to produce and regulate sufficient spiri-
tual energy to manage daily stresses, life adversities, occasional depression, and
situational anxiety. Thus, with this system of beliefs, much like that of the
Ancient Kemetic, Akan, or others, one questions how any intervention by a
mental health professional who does not address the fundamental nature of
spirit, energy, and life force in a person could be effective.

THE ASSUMPTIONS OF SPIRITUALITY

The exploration of these belief systems still begs the question of what we mean
by spirituality and how spirituality is manifested within African psychology
principles and practices. Perhaps it makes sense to continue this segment of our

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Chapter 3 • The Spiritual Core of African-Centered Psychology 45

discussion by delineating the assumptions that guide our thinking here. It is our
position that the ultimate nature of reality is spirit, and that everything on this
earth and in the universe that lives is spirit. We also believe that human beings
are divine spirit energy manifested in human forms, and to be human is to be
spirit energy in motion. We also assume that consciousness represents the abil-
ity of the human being to be aware of oneself in relationship to others, and all
material things; and that the connection to the human condition is experienced
through a review of one’s history, one’s experiences in the present, and one’s
anticipation of the future. As such, we also assume that our humanity is af-
firmed by recognizing the humanity in others, where reciprocal human relations
and proper conduct are the experiential anchors of our beingness. What we are
saying here, as Nobles (1986) and Ani (1994) have before us, is that spirit in its
most elementary form is an energy or life force that is the inner essence and
outer envelop of human beingness. Human beings emit energy that is both
given and received by self and others across the spheres of time, place, person,
and space. The modes of expression that serve as conduits to those spiritual
connections to others are consciousness, emotions (joy, laughter, love, affirma-
tion, belonging, pain, anger, and even hurt), and behaviors (both verbal and
nonverbal). It is also our belief that life experiences provide opportunities to
manifest spirit in relation to other people and the world around us. We also be-
lieve that humans are on a trajectory in life, seeking to align their consciousness
with their destiny (this is the essence of the principle “Ori-Ire”). Consequently,
there are forces in the universe that will both facilitate and/or inhibit that
journey, and one’s culture then helps to insulate the modes of expression
from those forces that would negatively alter one’s trajectory toward their own
divine destiny.

THE MANIFESTATION OF SPIRITUAL ENERGY

In understanding that the core of our humanity is spiritual energy and life
force, it seems appropriate to understand how that energy is manifested in the
lives of African-descent people, and other members of the human family. In
viewing the different systems and philosophies of various African traditions,
the spiritual essence of human being is said to exist in the spirit of the ances-
tors, the biogenetic makeup of their parents, the intrauterine environment of
the womb, the world of the mundane after birth, and back to the spirit world
in which status as an ancestor is the goal. However, once arrived in the world
where the spiritual and material join, the goal is to both search out and em-
brace one’s destiny, while also leading a life that is ethically and morally
proper. For the Akan, Ephirim-Donkor (1997) reminds us that they believe that
prior to consciousness, children are endowed with a clairvoyance that enables
them to maintain close rapport with the spirit counterparts in the ancestral
world. Thus, children are both highly valued and cared for safely because of
their telepathic ability and the possibility that they could be the ancestors arriv-
ing from the spirit world. Once growing in consciousness and with the cessation
of their paranormal activity, children enter a phase of deliberate indoctrination

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46 Chapter 3 • The Spiritual Core of African-Centered Psychology

and education with the cultural mores, values, and ethos of African people de-
signed to help them become good citizens. The goal here is to prepare young
children, and subsequently adolescents for the adult world, complete with the
obligations and responsibilities that accompany it. As a result of this deliberate
socialization, young people begin to exhibit the characteristics that allow them
to function effectively within the social, economic, political, spiritual, and
psychological domains of life, managing their affairs with standards of ethics
and morality.

In sum then, spirit energy reigns in various realms of reality (the past,
present, and future; the yet to be born, living, and deceased), and we contend
that the energy is then mobilized to meet the needs of the human organism, be
they physical, emotional, psychological, behavioral, or spiritual. Within the
African psychological tradition, that energy is often expressed across a number
of domains, and that can include relationship to the DIVINE force in the
universe, self-awareness of one’s being and becoming, personal growth and
development, relationship and inner connectedness to others, alignment with
fundamental principles or truths (i.e. Ma’at), religiosity, and even the capacity
for resilience when life’s hardships intervene to throw major challenges and
obstacles in the path of each man and woman. What are we saying with this
latter point? We are saying that there is a duality to our spirituality. And so, we
understand that anytime you have spirituality, particularly as it relates to African
descent and oppressed people, you will always find, as West (1999) reminds us,
instances of unjustified suffering, unmerited pain, and undeserved harm. The
question is not why does oppression or adversity occur, but rather, how do we
cope with it? The question, as we see it, in using our African-centered cultural
competencies in building for eternity is: How do we learn to transform the pain;
transcend the harm; and improvise on the suffering to achieve some level of in-
tellectual, emotional, behavioral, and spiritual liberation for ourselves and the
clients we work with? And the recognition of this duality further requires that
we understand that where there is pain, there is healing; where there is despair,
there is hope; where there is suffering, there is comfort; and where there is a
mistake, there is redemption. That is the promise that our African-centered psy-
chological theories should make to us; not that life will be trouble free or that
we are labeled with a diagnosis each time we show human vulnerability, but
that principled strength will be that rock to cling to in the storms of life.
Furthermore, once we find ourselves and the psychological spaces our clients
occupy taxed in ways that instigate excessive feelings of anxiety, depression,
fear, guilt, anger, and hurt, we should help ourselves and our clients understand
that there is a self-healing power within each of us that resides at the spiritual
core of our being.

Given this review, it now seems appropriate to ask ourselves several
questions and examine the tenets of the spiritual nature of one’s personality
in an African-centered context: what are the assumptions that should guide a
clinician’s discussions of spirituality; what does spirituality do for clients as
well as each of us; and what can it offer to our clients, students, community
folks, and indeed to the discipline of African psychology as a whole? By way

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Chapter 3 • The Spiritual Core of African-Centered Psychology 47

of assumptions, we have argued that there is a spiritual essence that perme-
ates everything that exists in the universe. It is also assumed that spirit is
DIVINE, as each individual’s energy and life force is connected to that DIVINE
force in the universe. We also assume that since spirit is energy, which can
neither be created nor destroyed, it existed before, during, after, and beyond
material existence. Finally, we are clear in assuming that the spirituality and
religion are not the same. Within the context of these assumptions, we now
ask ourselves: What can spirituality do for each of us as members of the
human family, and why is it important for African people?

• First, spirituality becomes connected to authentic personhood, by provid-
ing an attachment to the Divine Force in the universe.

• Second, spirituality allows us to think more holistically about the personal
nature of our being and one of the sources of our personal debilitations.

• Third, spirituality provides for and affirms our sense of power, by acknowl-
edging the healing potential in all of us, and each person’s ability to trans-
form and transcend situational circumstances in ways that are beneficial.

• Fourth, spirituality helps demonstrate our connectedness to other mem-
bers of the human family, as well as our relationship to all other things in
GOD’s universe that have life.

• Fifth, spirituality provides an assured sense of purpose, by instigating and
alignment between one’s consciousness and one’s destiny (consistent
with the Yoruba concept of Ori-Ire).

• Sixth, spirituality as an energy and life force becomes an aspiration in life
such that it assists in our striving for a more ethically and morally centered
way of being in the world. In that way, as children grow into adolescents,
adolescents into adults, and then adults move into being eldership, being
deemed an elder is less a function of arriving at a certain age plateau com-
miserate with retirement, but rather a title one earns by achieving some
level of existential perfection in managing one’s affairs with integrity and
righteous character.

These are among the primary benefits that spirituality offers to each of
us who constitute a healing presence in the lives of the students we teach,
the clients we treat, and the people we touch. And it seems to us that our
mission is to incorporate the notion and concept of spirituality into our in-
struction in the classroom, the counseling and clinical work we provide in
therapy offices, and in the community centers we all find time to touch and
interact with.

CLOSING

In closing this chapter, we would leave you with an important note of caution.
We have deliberately introduced this notion of spirituality in this fourth edition
because it is too important of the concept to be ignored in our work as psychol-
ogists and healers. We want you to see, much like the Bantu-Congo tradition

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48 Chapter 3 • The Spiritual Core of African-Centered Psychology

articulated by Fu-Kiau (1991), or more recently the concept of spirituality
addressed by Wade Nobles (2008) that makes plain the tri-fold unfolding nature
of human beingness. They believe that to be human is to be an unfolding radi-
ating spirit existing in the realms of the yet-to-be born, the living, and the after-
life (see tri-fold) that expresses itself as an ongoing process of being, belonging,
and becoming through the complex experiences of culture and tradition
(Nobles, 2008). That spiritual energy, as in interacts with our consciousness,
continues to evolve in ways that allow for insights into who we are at the core
of our being, who we belong to in the context of synthesizing cultural space
and time, what power we possess in interacting with one’s environment, and
what possibilities we have to become a fuller manifestation of our divine poten-
tial. In essence, to be human is to be spirit in motion.

SPIRITUAL ILLNESS

While the understanding and articulation of the composition of spirit is impor-
tant for our comprehension, we cannot close this chapter, however, without
some mention of how one’s spirit becomes ill or otherwise contaminated. Recall
that whether one’s spirit is nurtured in the womb or impacted after birth, there
is a constant interaction with the environment. If that environment is healthy,
nurturing, and otherwise supportive, then the flow of good energy is unabated,
there is a conscious recognition of oneself and one’s relationship to the DIVINE,
there is a community connectedness to other members of one’s cultural group
as well as other members of the human family, there is an alignment of one’s
behaviors in support of a healthy and affirming lifestyle, and there is a social
order guided by a respect for interpersonal contact and intimate relationships
that are grounded in the tenets of Ma’at. However, if that environment becomes
contaminated by chronic exposure to environmental toxins of the material or
psychological variety, or agents of aggression that impose hostile and aggressive
acts of malice, brutality, and hatred, then the being, belonging, and becoming
motions of that spiritual energy are likely to be infected. And, given the spiritual
connection to one’s ancestral lines, it is highly possible that the infection, impu-
rity, or contamination can be manifested in intergenerational ways, being
passed down from adults to children, and beyond. Parenthetically, it should
also be noted that much like an infected person can become a carrier of disease
and illness, so to do people, once sufficiently infected by the virus of dehuman-
ization and negative spiritual energy, begin to infect others in ways that are
analogous to self-imposed destruction. In essence, if the “host” culture of brutality
and racial denigration is racism and White supremacy perpetuated by particular
racial groups (i.e., White people), and that chronic mental, spiritual, and physi-
cal brutality is imposed on African-American people over space and time, then
it is possible that African-American people, once infected and unable to resist
the spread of that mental disease, will no longer depend on White people and
racism to contribute to their dehumanization: They adapt that mantle them-
selves. Remember, it was Carter G. Woodson (1933) who reminded us that if
you allow people to control the way you think, then you do not have to assign

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Chapter 3 • The Spiritual Core of African-Centered Psychology 49

them an inferior status; if necessary, they will seek it for themselves. Thus,
when one looks at the condition of African-descent people in America and
globally, one can see the vestiges of that contaminated spiritual energy that man-
ifests itself in the ideas of reference African Americans ascribe to themselves
(derogatory labels like nigger, nigga); the negative attitudes and feelings we proj-
ect onto other Black people (Black people are less than human, so I ascribe no
value to their life or existence [see the out of control homicide statistics for young
Black males nationally]); the deteriorating relations we have with other people of
African descent who represent our children, family, and our community (increas-
ing incidence of child and elder abuse, sexual assault, family disintegration, un-
healthy male-female relationships, and gang participation); and the patterns of
behavior we display in response to life situations and circumstances (use and
abuse of alcohol, drugs, and tobacco; consumption of unhealthy foods that con-
tribute to obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular disease; and other illnesses).

Thus, if you are a clinician or counselor committed to treating an individual
who may be depressed about a situation, anxious about certain aspects of their
life, unsatisfied with the quality of their familial or intimate relationships, con-
cerned about their relationship with their children or parents, troubled by their
lack of productivity, confused about their identity, unhappy with their self-image,
or angry about instances of unfairness and inequality in their life, you cannot as-
sume that the target of your therapeutic intervention is relegated to their thoughts,
feelings, or behaviors. For in reality, there is some degree of spiritual contamina-
tion that is negatively impacting their lives, and it is the spiritual nature of their
existence and humanity that must be addressed if healing is going to occur.

Finally, it is our belief that people can never learn to love, appreciate, and
respect things in other people that they first do not understand, love, and appre-
ciate in themselves. Professionals and students alike cannot expect to align their
spirit and the energy and life force it represents, with another member of the
human family (particularly African-American clients), if they themselves are out
of touch with their own energy, and disconnected from the source of their ulti-
mate power, which is their spirituality. For it is in spirit and spirituality that
human authenticity lies, and it is there that African-centered psychology differs
from Freud, Adler, Rogers, Ellis, Perls, and the other personality theorists who
are caught in the throws of conceptual incarceration that only sees their
Eurocentrically oriented theories focused on cognition, affect, and behavior as
the gateway to our psyche. And even in cases where the importance of spiritual-
ity is mentioned or recognized, much like in the works of Corey (2005), it con-
tinues to be anchored in an acknowledgment of a counselor’s need to recognize
the client’s religious preferences and what importance they play in the client’s
life. This is essentially belief system analysis. In this current space and time, that
simply will no longer do. African psychology has embraced a different reality
than the one we have all been trained and indoctrinated with. For in reality, we
are not human beings having occasionally spiritual experiences; but rather, we
are spiritual beings having occasional human ones (Yogi Yogananda, 1946).

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