African Concepts of Self and Self Attribution Theory
There are many important positions in the field of Black Psychology which again encompasses African Centered Psychology and African American Psychology. As previously described, some of the most important contributions include concepts of the collectivistic self and personhood, self attribution, racial identity formation, concepts of racism, and contemporary concepts that affect the mental health of the African American in the United States. The reason why it is important to introduce African models of self and personhood is because they fundamentally originate from a mindset that is very different from the western concept of self as a singular entity. Within African models of self and personhood, a person cannot exist without being in relation to others. This informs the way in which a person would live and move through their daily lives. Furthermore, within these African frameworks, a person cannot be separated from the fact that they are a spiritual entity or being. Within the African Centered Psychology framework, the introduction of the Akan Personality Model and the South African philosophy of Ubuntu will demonstrate these similarities and subsequently will illustrate their differences as compared to African American Psychology theories. In as much as these concepts are frameworks to structure thinking from, they are also philosophies to view the world, they are concepts that guide understanding and they are models of function demonstrating how concepts relate to one another. They all strive to codify and answer questions such as, what does it mean to be a person, how can we define the concept of “self,” and how do we understand the consequences of our actions.
African Models of Self: Akan Personality Model
The Akan Personality Model is an African personality construct that has some varying views as discussed by Ghanaian philosophers Kwasi Wiredu and Kwame Gyekye. [6] To simplify this model, a person is both a physical being and a spiritual entity and the idea that a person is an individual by themselves does not necessarily exist. A person’s spiritual essence is what gives that person their unique identity and purpose in life. The Akan Personality Model also exemplifies heavily the idea of a collectivistic existence meaning that a person cannot exist without being in relation to other people or the world. In fact, this model recognizes human beings but separates becoming a person into a distinct category that is focused on a person's level of taking self responsibility and taking a responsible role in the community. The Akan Personality Model also includes a merit based behavioral approach to defining what it means to be a good person. One cannot be a good person if the consequences of their actions have negative effects on others. It is given that we are all humans, but there is a process to coming into one's own as a person. In fact, in many African societies, social status is directly linked to the level of personhood one achieves which is directly reflected by communal shared values and practices. This is why it is important in many African cultures to get married and have children as it is seen as an essential function of fulfilling your duties or obligations as a person who is a part of a larger family. Therefore, personhood is inexplicably linked to the choices one makes and their consequences as it affects their family, the community at large and in turn their social status which affects themselves. As a child is a human who lacks intelligence and moral maturity, this child would also be considered an underdeveloped person within this model. This is also why in African culture, the oldest are seen to be the wisest and most respected and respecting elders is a crucial part of their culture. One factor that is debatable within this model is the level or degree of free will and autonomy that human beings have. Subsequently, the importance of making decisions that place the group's needs above one's own personal desires is also a present debate between Wiredu and Gyekye.
African Models of Self: Ubuntu Philosophy of the Person
Ubuntu: Umuntu ngumuntu ngabantu (a person is a person through other persons)
- Xhosa proverb (cited in Lassiter, 1999 and Tutu, 1999) [7]
The next African philosophical model for understanding what it means to be a person is the philosophy of Ubuntu. This is described in the quote at the beginning of this section of the chapter. Remembering that African conceptualizations of self include a collectivistic and spiritual aspect that can’t be divorced from the idea or concept of oneself, the South African statement from the Bantu language “I am because you are and because you are I am” vs the Eurocentric statement “I think therefore I am” (Rene Descartes) illustrates the main fundamental difference between African Centered Psychology and traditional Eurocentric Western Psychology also referred to as W.E.I.R.D. Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich and Democratic.[8] Therefore, Ubuntu is an African philosophy of interconnectedness and shared humanity which emphasizes the importance of community, compassion, and respect for others.
Figure \(\PageIndex{1}\): Portrait of former South African President Nelson Mandela. (CC-BY-SA; Awake Mzansi via Wikepedia)
The late South African president Nelson Mandela used the spirit of Ubuntu to try to make a better world in South Africa after apartheid ended. He focused on the fact that all people are a part of a larger community affected by each others actions, people should treat each other with respect and compassion, people should put the needs of others before their own, people should forgive those who had done wrong and that people should work together to end social injustice and create a better world. If a person lives their life exhibiting the spirit of Ubuntu, then they cannot sit down and eat if they see that their brother or sister is hungry. They must either bring food for everyone or offer up their food first. This is the spirit of taking care of the community and then therefore your community takes care of the individuals within it.
Thus, when trying to understand what a Black African’s sense of self is within an Afrocentric mindset, it is impossible to conceptualize a person without understanding and including their family and community. A person plays a role in society which is very important. A person is a mother, father, child, sister, brother, teacher, student, doctor, nurse, patient, lawyer, banker etc. A person cannot simply be a person without the titles of who they are in relation to. A teacher cannot be a teacher without students in as much as a parent cannot be a parent unless they have a child. Thus, to understand the concept of personhood in an African construct, it is necessary to do so in relation to other people, and one cannot simply exist alone without these relations. Therefore, “I am because We are, and because We are, therefore I am.”
African American Models of Self from an Afrocentric Worldview
There are many different models of self and below are a few prominent perspectives from an Afrocentric Worldview.
W. E. B. DuBois
In 1903, W. E. B. DuBois famously published his seminal book titled The Souls of Black Folk where he stated “It is a peculiar sensation, this double-consciousness, this sense of always looking at one's self through the eyes of others, of measuring one's soul by the tape of a world that looks on in amused contempt and pity. One ever feels his twoness, an American, a Negro; two souls, two thoughts, two unreconciled strivings; two warring ideals in one dark body, whose dogged strength alone keeps it from being torn asunder.”[9] This double consciousness and awareness of needing to exist in two realities could manifest in things such as code switching, changing cultural behavior in the workplace to be seen as more acceptable and perhaps trying to “act white” to fit into your education system to name a few examples. His collection of essays sought to explain the enigma of Black identity development in his times known as post-reconstruction and his words are still ever salient and applicable to present day for the Black experience still includes a wrestling of these two oppositional concepts. Furthermore, he stressed the importance of African Americans being able to see themselves outside of the labels that white America placed onto them. These ideas spurred further research and inquiry in this field and scholars such as Dr. Wade Nobles continued to explore and examine the process that Black people in the United States go through in a racially charged society to develop their sense of self and their racial identity development. [10]
Wade Nobles
Dr. Nobles, in his 1980 publishing of The Extended Self, explains that the so called “Negro” self concept is psychologically shackled by the language used and its origins which are of the Eurocentric Worldview.[11]Black people certainly did not make up the term Negro which connotes negative images and ideas of being inferior to whites. Dr. Nobles stated that these psychological barriers were a result of scientific colonialism where the oppressor removes the wealth and value of the oppressed, where the right to access and claim oneself is remitted as well as the shift of power from being internal to external wherein a person does not have control over their own lives and future. Thus, the process that the “Negro” has gone through would indicate that they have been subject to the values and improper assessment of the oppressor. Additionally, the values of the oppressed and the oppressor vary wildly and to be classified by the oppressor according to their values results in a deficit model regardless of how it is colored. Some of the noted Eurocentric Worldviews and values that were used to classify the Negro by the oppressed were individuality, separateness, individual rights, independence, survival of the fittest and control over nature. However, the African Worldview and values held by Black people at the time centered around concepts such as community, communality, groupness, cooperative collection, survival of the tribe and being one with nature according to Nobles. His conclusion was that a person acting within their own values and worldview who is subsequently categorized by their oppressor will always be seen as less than and inadequate in many ways. According to this logic, the “Negro” would always be seen as abnormal to white people.
Therefore, Dr. Nobles found it important to acknowledge the fact that Black people see themselves in relation to others and that the notion of self could not be singular. The notion of self must be extended to include concepts that reflect the African Worldview of being in relation to one another. Thus, he coined the term “Extended Self” to reflect this phenomenon. This would also be seen in the use of interdependence as opposed to simply independence when describing the Extended Self. Independence as a Eurocentric Worldview and value is understood to be important, rewarded, seen as beneficial and celebrated. In the Afrocentric Worldview, interdependence is the healthy collective experience of leaning on one another to accomplish a common goal or an individual goal. This is commonly seen in the Black community and Dr. Nobles mentions that if it is not present, then the individual might be experiencing a separation from the connection to historical cultural practices and may have adopted Eurocentric ideals in a perpetual state of confusion. This person might then be unconsciously fighting between two contradictory worldviews as a result of the long term exposure of the oppressor. This idea of being disconnected from an African self was first introduced by W.E.B. DuBois years earlier and continues to be seen in all four orientations of Black Psychology previously mentioned as well as constructionist Black Psychology literature. This then could lead to a low self concept where a Black person begins to believe the negative stereotypes and society's messages about the inferiority of Black people. Clark et al even makes the connection that the disconnect from one's true self as a Black person, the disconnect from Afrocentric ideals of community, the disconnect from values such as survival of the tribe and interdependence, could then lead to dysfunction. [12]This dysfunction could manifest as tearing down one's own community in a self destructive way, violence, drug use, depression and other mental illnesses, various criminal activity and maladjustments. By that same token, he would propose that a person exuding a strong sense of self who acknowledges the values of an Afrocentric Worldview would consequently be able to fight against these ailments and come back to their true self.
Robert L. Williams II
Robert L. Williams II wrote a book on Black personality theory titled “The Collective Mind: Toward an Afrocentric Theory of Black Personality” in 1981. This book was groundbreaking because it spoke to the strength and resilience of the Black people regarding their ability to collectively think of themselves as one. The focus on explaining that the collective Black experience exists in the shared mind, knowledge, beliefs, values and language is essential to Black life. This supports Black people who are exposed to racism on an on-going basis and these traits help to counter the psychological distress of racism on Black bodies, on the Black mind, and on the Black collective experience. Among many other great accomplishments, in 1973 Williams coined the term “ebonics,” combining “ebony” and “phonics,” to capture the nuanced unique nature of how African Americans communicate. This dialect was determined to be a recognized language and is presently referred to as African American Vernacular English (AAVE) instead of a pathology that deviates from standard English.
Kobi Kambon
Kobi Kambon, also known as Joseph Baldwin, published material regarding the African Self Consciousness Model (ASCM), Cultural Misorientation (CM) and the African Self-Extension Orientation (ASEO).
The reason why the African Self Consciousness Scale is salient to the field of Black Psychology is because early researchers had concluded that Black people had a poor sense of self, low self esteem and chronic self hatred. Therefore, later Black Psychology researchers were determined to find out if these findings were valid and/or provide context for the results. The scale is a 42-item Afrocentric personality questionnaire published in the Western Journal of Black Psychology that measures African-oriented values, beliefs, and attitudes in African Americans. It included questions such as “I feel that I am a person of worth, at least on an equal plane with others. I feel I have a number of good qualities. I am able to do things as well as most other people. I take a positive attitude toward myself.” These questions were designed to determine the collective self-esteem of the African American people. This collective self-esteem is the belief that others feel positive about their cultural group and that this is an important part of the Black self concept. The findings from Kambon and Bell’s study report that African American youth who used positive cultural affirming coping strategies such as relying on family, community, spiritual support organizations and social support networks also had high levels of collective self esteem. These Afrocultural coping styles also aided in the mental health of the participants of the study.
The African Self Consciousness Model proposes that a strong sense of African identity is essential for the mental and emotional well-being of African Americans. Those African Americans who are more aware of their connection to Africa would acknowledge their African ancestry, culture and history. Also, this acknowledgement would include recognition of the survival of the African people who went through the TransAtlantic Slave Trade and therefore their descendants as African Americans. This resilience and strength to overcome slavery would promote a psychological sense of pride in oneself and in one's own heritage of coming from such a strong collective people. Having a high sense of self according to Kambon in many ways would resonate with a Black person who supports Black businesses, the Black community and even the racial socialization of raising children to know who they are with a strong foundation of what it means to be Black. This pro-Blackness would then in turn support positive emotional development and mental health. When studies were done to test the viability of the theory, those who had a stronger sense of pride in being Black did exude a positive self identity as well and conversely, those who had a more negative view of being Black also had a poorer sense of self. This would indicate that community and family involvement in pro-Black positive racial identity education and events might lead to a more psychologically sound and strong well balanced Black community.
Therefore, Kambon conceptualized the term Cultural Misorientation (CM) to represent a person who has cognitive distance and psychological barriers around identifying with their cultural values and beliefs. A person suffering from CM would not accept their inherent cultural values that they were born into and would accept or adopt the discriminatory, negative and anti-Black values of the dominant society. This would result in self-hatred, self denial, cultural or physical self-deprecation and cultural assimilation to the dominant oppressive culture. More specifically, this could look like a Black person who does not acknowledge or understand the connection between colonization and the perpetuation of the religion of the colonizers being forced upon its subjects. Subsequently, rejecting indigenous African spiritual beliefs as crazy or witchcraft aligns with the CM theory because this negative narrative was used to disconnect African descendants in the diaspora to their indigenous roots. These beliefs are predicated by colonization, supported by historical, structural and individual racism. This was a coordinated effort to dissociate these positive cultural identifiers that grounded the identities of Africans and would have been passed down from one generation to the next had it not been for the interruption of TransAtlantic Slave Trade. Lastly, the African Self-Extension Orientation is also known as African Self-Transcendence, is a philosophy which reiterates that Black people see themselves as a collective and have a tendency to express a connection to each other in their communities. This specifically relates back to Ubuntu and emphasizes the fact that if the community succeeds then each individual succeeds. To bring shame on the community is seen as taboo and forbidden.[13]
To know oneself and be firmly grounded in a positive belief system that helps to define who a person is means that this person has a strong sense of self. They understand their place and how they fit into the world, they can operate from a strong base and foundation and it is harder to sway them with untruths. This can take many years to understand and develop for an individual. A person with a strong foundational sense of who they are will also be able to deflect ideas that are placed onto them by others whether they be in the form of negative stereotypes, baseless assumptions, false accusations or the like. Therefore, having a strong, positive, strengths based belief system informed by an Afrocentric worldview psychologically would result in a Black person who exudes strength of character, confidence, respect for others and positivity. Remember, it is important to have Afrocentric or African centered models of self and personhood because the traditional psychological European models of self look at the Black community from a deficit model as if something was inherently obscure with Black people.
Theories of Identity Development
While there are many theories of identity in the field of psychology, it was Black Psychologists who pioneered the path of understanding how racial identity develops in Black Americans.
Nigrescence Model of Racial Identity Development
Initially, the concept of racial identity development was studied, researched and developed by African American psychologists to capture the experiences of African Americans in the United States who recognized collective social experiences between their internal self and the external world as it pertains to race. This is important to recognize because the United States is a racially charged environment and the traditional Eurocentric psychologists lacked any expressed interest with researching racial identity development. This can most likely be attributed to the fact that they identified as white, were operating in a Eurocentric society benefiting from white privilege and therefore did not know that racial identity development existed. Additionally, the distinction between racial identity development being an African American construct versus an African construct is important to note because race is seen very differently on the continent of Africa vs the diaspora. Considering that in most Subsaharan African countries Black people are the majority, the category of Black as a race ceases to be a point of division and rather people develop other social groups to identify with such as a familial group or tribe. These groups tend to be easily distinguished by last name, geographic region or religion. This is important because race is a social construct and therefore a Black person from the continent most likely won’t go through the same stages of racial identity development as an African American living in the United States. This is one of the main differences when categorizing African American psychology vs Africana Psychology and although both fall under the umbrella of Black Psychology, they each have distinct differences from one another. This concept and understanding of race is explained in the video below.
As Cross’ first publication titled “The Negro-to-Black Conversion Experience: Towards a Psychology of Black Liberation,” he describes his model for Black racial identity development titled Nigrescence Stages of Racial Identity Development. The model was first of its kind and proposed that there are five stages of development that a Black person can go through while developing their understanding of their racial identity. The stages are Pre-encounter, Encounter, Immersion/Emersion, Internalization and Internalization-Commitment. [14]The stages are not always linear but for some can be cyclical in nature allowing for movement back and forth fluidly depending on the experiences the individual is having and how they are processing or understanding what it means within themselves. Keep in mind again that these stages pertain to an African Americans experience with race in the United States but could be applicable also in other diasporic countries where there has been a history of slavery and colonization as they would have similar racial social structures and hierarchies still in place.
In the Pre-encounter stage a Black person could be seen to be unaware of race and how it affects their lives. This individual might even subconsciously adhere to white being seen as right and Black being seen as wrong without realizing it. [15]
In the Encounter stage, a Black person is usually forced by a situation or experience to acknowledge their Blackness, their “otherness,” and the consequences of these events throughout their life. This person would be made aware that there are racial groups and that society has placed them into a group regardless of them being aware of it or not. A Black person might at this time have their first experience being called a negative term in childhood where they ask an adult to explain what the negative term means. When discussed, Black people identify this stage as “finding out that they are Black.” [16]
As its name indicates, in the Immersion/Emersion stage a Black person would be awakened to their racial identity and would therefore seek out identifying symbols or artifacts that express their Blackness or identification with being Black. There may even be an active attempt to avoid things that are white and energy spent in exploring the history and culture of being Black in the United States.[17]
In the Internalization stage, a Black person would feel more secure in their racial identity and pro-Black activities might be seen such as public demonstrations of being proud to be Black and supporting the larger African American community. Also, this person would be willing to have discussion with others outside of their racial identity group as a means to understand others and share their own perspectives on race. Psychologically, this sense of security acts as a strong foundational base and this person is not threatened by venturing outside of their group to have meaningful relationships with those who would identify themselves as being from other races. [18]
Lastly, in the Internalization-Commitment stage, a Black person would take charge of the social justice theme in their life and would find ways to engage with their Blackness as part of an opportunity to move the whole Black community forward. This person is comfortable with their race in any setting and can operate accordingly with a strong sense of knowing who they are. This strength is part of the collective strength that a Black person feels in the stage from being a part of the Black community. [19]According to Plummer, a person moving through the stages of Nigrescence is not necessarily correlated to their age but rather their opportunities for cultural and life experiences. [20]
Other scholars have further adapted Cross’ model to expand it to other ethnicities such as those who identify as bi-racial, ethnic minority, white, people of color and then lastly there is an integrated model. [21]The integrated model still has 5 stages but is split into two columns, one set of stages for people of color and one set of stages for white people. The stages for people of color are Dissonance, Immersion, Emersion, Internalization and then Integrated Awareness. The stages for white people are Acceptance, Resistance, Retreat, Emergence and Integrated Awareness. The ending stages are the same for both groups signifying that they can reach the same point of enlightenment. For the last stage of Integrated Awareness, both people of color and white people can come to the realization that a person can be proud of their racial group without it negatively affecting another and that there is more to understanding a person beyond just race as humans are multifaceted beings.
Multidimensions of Ethnic Identity Development
Although the next model for understanding ethnic identity was not created by a Black person, Dr. Jean Phinney was heavily influenced by Dr. Cross and established The Multigroup Ethnic Identity Measure (MEIM). [22]This questionnaire illustrates that there are many facets of a person's identity that people can use to help them understand themselves such as Natal Measures, Behavioral Measures, Situation-Contextual Measures and Subjective Measures. Natal Measures have to do with birthplace, who a person's parents or grandparents are and extended family influences. This would also include ancestral lineages which can be important to Black people since slavery violently displaced so many from Africa. Some African Americans have attempted to use DNA tests to try to find out which familial group or tribe they descend from as a way of reclaiming a part of their identity. Behavioral measures include common language use patterns among friends and affiliates, musical followings, clothing trends, media choices, food preferences, religious practices, routine social club or group attendance and community organizations. These social behaviors can influence the culture that a person is exposed to or chooses to identify with and can have psychological benefits of belonging to a group that has shared behaviors. Situation-contextual Measures include home life, family life, work life, level of education, community involvement, recreation habits, ceremonial events/rites of passage, religious or spiritual events etc. These measures help to shape the daily lives, values and beliefs of a person and inform the way a person thinks about themselves and the world. Lastly, Subjective Measures include self-identification of a particular ethnic group, the level of a person's acculturation or assimilation into the larger society, values, concept of self, role models, preferred groups that identify as like minded.[23]
These four areas inform the ethnic identity and the culture that a person chooses to identify with. A person's outward appearance and their various measures do not always align as people can be raised in communities that are diverse and therefore be exposed to other cultures and ethnicities. Many times the invisible things that people might not realize influence them on a daily basis are actually cultural or ethnically related to their personhood and development. This helps to understand the whole person's sense of self and personhood.
There are many theories postulated and measurement tools created regarding Black personality and identity development whether they be informed from African philosophies or generated by African Americans. One common theme is the collective nature of the Black cultural experience as it ties back to the cultural heritage and roots of Africa. Secondly, studies have shown that exposing Black children to positive diverse cultural experiences growing up leads to producing members of the Black community who progress in development, tend to have more positive outward expressions of Black culture, deepen their understanding of Black life and are culturally grounded in their understanding of themselves in the world. Therefore, research has demonstrated that the resilience of Black people who strengthen and embrace their psychological connection to their culture and race produces a strong sense of self coupled with positive racial identity attitudes across one's lifespan. [24] In true Afrocentric fashion, the building up and maintaining of oneself simultaneously builds a stronger community.
Endnotes
[6] Lassiter, James, “African culture and personality: Bad social science, effective social activism, or a call to reinvent ethnology?” African Studies Quarterly, 3, no. 2 (1999): 1.
[8] Henrich, Joseph, Steven J. Heine, and Ara Norenzayan. "The Weirdest People in the World?" Behavioral and Brain Sciences 33, no. 2-3 (2010): 61-83. doi:10.1017/S0140525X0999152X.
[9] Du Bois, W. E. B. The souls of Black folk. (Oakland, CA: Eucalyptus Press. 2013)
[11] Nobles, Wade. W. “Extended Self: Rethinking the So-Called Negro Self-Concept.” Journal of Black Psychology 2, no. 2 (1976): 15–24.
[12] Clark, C. X., McGee, D. P., Nobles, W., & Weems, L. X., “Voodoo or IQ: An Introduction to African Psychology.” Journal of Black Psychology, 1 no. 2, (1975): 9–29.
[13] Baldwin, Joseph A; Bell, Yvonne R. ”The African Self-Consciousness Scale: An Africentric Personality Questionnaire,” The Western Journal of Black Studies 9, no. 2 (1985): 61.
[14] Kambon, K., & Bowen-Reid, T. “Africentric theories of African American personality: Basic constructs and assessment.” In H. A. Neville, B. M. Tynes, & S. O. Utsey (Eds.), Handbook of African American Psychology. Sage Publications, Inc.(2009) 61–74.
[15] Cross, W.E., Jr. “The Negro-to-Black conversion experience: Toward a psychology of Black liberation,” Black World 20 (1971): 13-27.
[21] Plummer, D. L., “Black Racial Identity Attitudes and Stages of the Life Span: An Exploratory Investigation,” Journal of Black Psychology 22 no. 2 (1996): 169–181. doi:10.1177/00957984960222003
[22] Hud-Aleem R, Countryman J., “Biracial identity development and recommendations in therapy.” Psychiatry (Edgmont) 5 no. 11 (2008): 37-44. PMID: 19724716; PMCID: PMC2695719.
[23] Phinney, J. S., “The Multigroup Ethnic Identity Measure: A New Scale for Use with Diverse Groups,” Journal of Adolescent Research 7 no. 2 (1992): 156-176. https://doi.org/10.1177/074355489272003
