Returning to the Source: An Archeology and Critical Analysis of the Intellectual Foundations of Contemporary Black Psychology

摘要

The psychological theories that developed into contemporary Black psychology have roots that are deeply embedded in Africana diasporic intellectual traditions. These intellectual traditions provide the foundation for what constitutes the core of psychological inquiry that critically investigates and interrogates the psychological experiences of people of African descent. In order to fully understand the nature of the research that has characterized contemporary Black psychology, it is important to examine the historical, social, and political context in which it emerged. A major purpose of the study is to delineate where the Africana diasporic antecedents of Black psychology and contemporary Black psychologists converge and diverge on the themes of cultural worldviews that manifest as a distinct Black psychology and to examine how particular scholars in the Africana intellectual tradition have examined the theme of cultural consciousness. Cultural specific approaches to understanding reality are major issues that are pertinent to contemporary Black psychology. The theorists whose social philosophies are being considered as forming the intellectual foundations for the theories found in contemporary Black Psychology are Cheikh Anta Diop, Edward Wilmot Blyden and W.E.B. Du Bois. The theories of these thinkers, who were not psychologists proper, will be compared and contrasted with major theories in contemporary Black psychology.