This book describes how those individuals who are often most marginalised in postcolonial societies draw on age-old, non-western knowledge systems to adapt to the hardships characteristic of unequal societies in transformation. It highlights robust indigenous pathways and resilience responses used by elders and young people in urban and rural settings in challenging Southern African settings (South Africa, Namibia, Lesotho and Swaziland) to explain an Indigenous Psychology theory. Flocking (rather than fighting, fleeing, freezing or fainting) is explained as a default collectivist, collaborative and pragmatic social innovation to provide communal care and support when resources are constrained, and needs are par for the course. Flocking is used to address, amongst others, climate change (drought and energy use in particular), lack of household income and securing livelihoods, food and nutrition, chronic disease (specifically HIV / AIDS and tuberculosis), barriers to access services (education, healthcare, social welfare support), as well as leisure and wellbeing. The book further deliberates whether the continued use of such an entrenched socio-cultural response mollifies citizens and decision-makers into accepting inequality, or whether it could also be used to spark citizen agency and disrupt longstanding structural disparities.

Understanding human behaviour, thoughts, and emotional expressions can be challenging in the global context. Due to cultural differences, the study of psychology cannot be de-contextualised. This calls for unearthing of the explanatory systems that exist in Africa to understand and account for behaviour, emotions, and cognition of Africans. This call is addressed through the emergence of African Psychology (AP) or Indigenous Psychology in Africa (IPA) as a legitimate science of human experience. This Element discusses the motivations for AP, centrality of culture, demarcations of AP, and the different strands within AP. It highlights issues related to African philosophy, African cultural anthropology, African philosophy of science, and suitable methodological approaches for AP research. It also discusses some selected theoretical contributions and applications of AP. The Element concludes that AP researchers and practitioners need to pursue interdisciplinarity and avoid meaningless rejection of good ideas from other cultural settings.

Understanding human behaviour, thoughts, and emotional expressions can be challenging in the global context. Due to cultural differences, the study of psychology cannot be de-contextualised. This calls for unearthing of the explanatory systems that exist in Africa to understand and account for behaviour, emotions, and cognition of Africans. This call is addressed through the emergence of African Psychology (AP) or Indigenous Psychology in Africa (IPA) as a legitimate science of human experience. This Element discusses the motivations for AP, centrality of culture, demarcations of AP, and the different strands within AP. It highlights issues related to African philosophy, African cultural anthropology, African philosophy of science, and suitable methodological approaches for AP research. It also discusses some selected theoretical contributions and applications of AP. The Element concludes that AP researchers and practitioners need to pursue interdisciplinarity and avoid meaningless rejection of good ideas from other cultural settings.

This book aims to serve as a foundational text in the emerging field of African psychology, which centers the knowledges and experience of continental African realities and postcolonial concerns in psychology. Drawing from the author's key essays as a leading thinker in the field, African Psychology: The Emergence of a Tradition describes this discipline's meaning and scope, as well as its epistemological and theoretical perspectives. Part I presents the theoretical context for the book, proposing the Madiban tradition as a framework of inclusion for the study of psychology in African universities. Part 2 focuses on the epistemological, methodological, and theoretical perspectives in African psychology. Part 3 of the book introduces the reader to the field of African therapeutics, and Part 4 highlights the healing rituals and practices provided to the traumatised in contemporary Africa. The ultimate objective of the book is to give postcolonial Africans a fresh vision of themselves and their psychology and culture.

The indigenous psychologies (IPs) stress the importance of research being grounded in the conditions and culture of the researcher's own society due to the dominance of Western culture in mainstream psychology. The nature and challenges of the IPs are discussed from the perspectives of science studies and anthropology of knowledge (the study of human understanding in its social context). The Element describes general social conditions for the development of science and the IPs globally, and their development and form in some specific countries. Next, some more specific issues relating to the IPs are discussed. These issues include the nature of the IPs, scientific standards, type of culture concept favored, views on the philosophy of science, understanding of mainstream psychology, generalization of findings, and the IPs' isolation and independence. Finally, conclusions are drawn, for example with respect to the future of the IPs.

Indigenous psychology is an emerging new field in psychology, focusing on psychological universals in social, cultural, and ecological contexts - Starting point for psychologists who wish to understand various cultures from their own ecological, historial, philosophical, and religious perspectives

Part of a set containing the contributions of authors from a variety of nations, cultures, traditions and perspectives, this volume offers an up-to-date assessment of theoretical developments and methodological issues in the rapidly-evolving area of cross-cultural psychology.

Connecting modern psychology to its Indigenous roots to enhance the healing process and psychology itself • Shares the healing wisdom of Indigenous people the author has worked with, including the Ju/’hoansi of the Kalahari Desert, the Fijians of the South Pacific, Sicangu Lakota people, and Cree and Anishnabe First Nations people • Explains how Indigenous perspectives can help create a more effective model of best practices in psychology • Explores the vital role of spirituality in the practice of psychology and the shift of emphasis that occurs when one understands that all beings are interconnected Wherever the first inhabitants of the world gathered together, they engaged in the human concerns of community building, interpersonal relations, and spiritual understanding. As such these earliest people became our “first psychologists.” Their wisdom lives on through the teachings of contemporary Indigenous elders and healers, offering unique insights and practices to help us revision the self-limiting approaches of modern psychology and enhance the processes of healing and social justice. Reconnecting psychology to its ancient roots, Richard Katz, Ph.D., sensitively shares the healing wisdom of Indigenous peoples he has worked with, including the Ju/’hoansi of the Kalahari Desert, Fijians native to the Fiji Islands, Lakota people of the Rosebud Reservation, and Cree and Anishnabe First Nations people from Saskatchewan. Through stories about the profoundly spiritual ceremonies and everyday practices he engaged in, he seeks to fulfill the responsibility he was given: build a foundation of reciprocity so Indigenous teachings can create a path toward healing psychology. Also drawing on his experience as a Harvard-trained psychologist, the author reveals how modern psychological approaches focus too heavily on labels and categories and fail to recognize the benefits of enhanced states of consciousness. Exploring the vital role of spirituality in the practice of psychology, Katz explains how the Indigenous approach offers a way to understand challenges and opportunities, from inside lived truths, and treat mental illness at its source. Acknowledging the diversity of Indigenous approaches, he shows how Indigenous perspectives can help create a more effective model of best practices in psychology as well as guide us to a more holistic existence where we can once again assume full responsibility in the creation of our lives.

This groundbreaking volume explores the capacity of Indigenous psychologies to counter the effects of longstanding colonization on traditional cultures and habitats. It chronicles the editor’s extensive research in the Lacandon Rainforest in southern Mexico, illustrating respectful methodologies and authentic friendship—a decolonized approach by a committed scholar—and the concerted efforts of community members to preserve their history and heritage. Descriptions of collaborations among children, parents, students, and elders demonstrate the continued passing on of indigenous knowledge, culture, art, and spirituality. This richly layered narrative models cultural resilience and resistance in their transformative power to replace environmental and cultural degradation with co-existence and partnership. Included in the coverage: • Indigenous psychologies: a contestation for epistemic justice. • The ecological context and the methods of inquiry and praxes. • Environmental impact assessment of deforestation in three communities of the Lacandon Rainforest. • Public policy development for community and ecological wellbeing. • Oral history, legends, myths, poetry, and images. With stirring examples to inspire future practices and policies, Indigenous Psychologies in an Era of Decolonization will take its place as a bedrock text for indigenous psychology and community psychology researchers. It speaks needed truths as the world comes to grips with pressing issues of environmental preservation, restorative justice for marginalized peoples, and the waging of peace over conflict.

The Oxford Handbook of Human Development and Culture provides a comprehensive synopsis of theory and research on human development, with every chapter drawing together findings from cultures around the world. This includes a focus on cultural diversity within nations, cultural change, and globalization. Expertly edited by Lene Arnett Jensen, the Handbook covers the entire lifespan from the prenatal period to old age. It delves deeply into topics such as the development of emotion, language, cognition, morality, creativity, and religion, as well as developmental contexts such as family, friends, civic institutions, school, media, and work. Written by an international group of eminent and cutting-edge experts, chapters showcase the burgeoning interdisciplinary approach to scholarship that bridges universal and cultural perspectives on human development. This "cultural-developmental approach" is a multifaceted, flexible, and dynamic way to conceptualize theory and research that is in step with the cultural and global realities of human development in the 21st century.