Bridging the Gap of the Afri–Eurocentric Worldview Divide in a Postcolonial South Africa
Abstract
:1. Introduction
1.1. Positive Psychology
1.2. Afrocentric Versus Africentric
1.3. A Global Generation
2. Research Design and Methods
2.1. Participants
2.2. Data Collection and Analysis
2.3. Ethical Considerations
2.4. Reflexivity
3. Findings
3.1. Visual Data
3.1.1. Lihile’s Timeline
3.1.2. Tanaka’s Timeline
3.1.3. Diana’s Timeline
“They make the most amazing mothers, these black women—they have raised our white children in this country. They have this built-in instinctive maternal acceptance…Lettie laid down her life for us and was even locked up because my mother did not do what was right for her (in renewing her dompas, a travel pass). But her commitment to us children was that she came back”.
3.2. Themes
3.2.1. Theme 1: The Key Developmental Role of Primary Caregivers
“We are actually, skin-tone-wise, all mixed. Some are lighter, some are darker—we’re not all the same shade, even our hair is not the same texture {laughs}… So, some members in my family actually transitioned from black to colored—they completely changed the pronunciation of their surnames, their names, everything. I don’t know how the others managed to stay Xhosa over the whole entire time of apartheid”.
“Lettie was my first encounter with a person from a different culture and who then became my primary caregiver … [She] basically raised my sister and I. She was always there—she lived in and she’d make sure we were bathed and fed and put to bed, and I was introduced to the Tokoloshe and … and Lettie used to keep us entertained for hours with stories about her culture, her life and her family … She was a Ndebele woman”.
3.2.2. Theme 2: The Influence of Contact Zones
“They used to say we are like ‘salad’… [an acronym for] stupid Africans, following [loving] American [dress] ways, or styles or whatever … So, I feel like we were raised in a Western way. Even though we knew our culture. It was up to us. It … was not forced on us. It was something that we had to decide on …”
“The confusion comes in, especially since I am in the middle of being a Christian and a traditionalist, because now I can’t merge the two beliefs together that I’ve been taught. So now I am in the middle of both, you know”.
3.2.3. Theme 3: Surviving the Legacy of Social Injustices
3.2.4. Theme 4: Well-Being and Self-Transcendence
“It’s not just about me at the end of the day. It’s about assisting another person as well and not coming across as being prejudiced or judgmental. So, I would put my differences aside and focus on a particular client and try and assist without adding what I believe is right, without implying [imposing] my beliefs on them and making them choose or decide that what I believe is right and what they believe is wrong”.
“I think, first of all, a person doesn’t have to feel like their culture or their religion is the best and is the one and only that is out there. Because it’s more like churches. We all worship God, but we have different ways of doing it. Some worship under a tree, some in buildings … So, you have to … understand and respect them, respect the differences that you have. We are different, but we are the same”.
“We are all human; we all coexist on this planet. The fact that you eat different food, get married in a particular way, or give cows to pay labola (bride wealth) has absolutely no bearing on my reaching out to you as a fellow human being”.
4. Discussion
5. Conclusions
Author Contributions
Funding
Institutional Review Board Statement
Informed Consent Statement
Conflicts of Interest
References
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Participants | P1 | P2 | P3 |
---|---|---|---|
Name | Lihile | Tanaka | Diana |
Gender | Female | Female | Female |
Age | 23 | 24 | 62 |
Marital status | Single | Single | Married |
Children | None | None | Three |
Religion | Christian | Christian | Christian |
Name of church/ faith community | Apostolic Faith Ministries | Apostolic Faith and Mission Church | Newborn Revival Church |
1st language | Xhosa | Shona | English |
2nd language | English | Xhosa | IsiZulu (101) |
3rd language | Afrikaans | English | Afrikaans |
Country of birth | South Africa | Zimbabwe | England |
Place of birth | De Aar | Murehwa | South Shields County, Durham |
Schools attended | One primary school; One secondary school | Five primary schools; Three high schools | One junior school in England; a primary school and two high schools in Gauteng |
Current studies (2021) | Third year BA | Third year BA | BA Honors |
Major/s | Psychology | Psychology | Counseling communication |
Plans for future | Study postgrad; work in a mental health field | Study Honors; teach English | Trauma counseling by means of dramatic arts |
Word | Count | Example |
---|---|---|
Family | 131 | “I was actually raised by my grandparents on my mother’s side of the family”. (Lihile) |
Mother/ mum/mom/ sister/grandmother and maternal | 324 | “Up to the age of five, I was living with my mom … She was the one person who was mostly influential to me because I was always with her”. (Tanaka) “Growing up, my neighbor would actually discipline me—like beat me—if she saw me doing something that was wrong … And my mom was actually okay with that … So it’s more like, it takes a village to raise a child. (Tanaka) |
Dad/paternal/ husband | 82 | “From my father’s side of the family, I never really had a bond with him—when I was born until I was a teenager. (Lihile) |
Culture/ cultures/cultural | 150 | “The culture I was born into was bohemian, eclectic, and arty. My grandparents were cosmopolitan and liberal”. (Diana) |
West/ern/ westernized | 66 | “I struggle with it, because being a black person, you are actually told that everything, … who you are, comes actually from your ancestors, your roots. And now with the Western side, it’s almost as if: ‘Who do I believe now?’ because this is actually theory, and the other one is your history”.(Lihile) |
Africa/South African (SA) | 114 | “If I have a child who goes to school in SA, he will be exposed to many cultures. Because of these experiences in this country he’s more likely to drift from the Shona culture to becoming whatever culture he is exposed to”. (Tanaka) |
Shona | 52 | “Firstly, I think it’s important to teach your child about their roots, where they come from. I’ll probably teach my child about the rules, the Shona culture, everything, everything about Shona, including the language”. (Tanaka) |
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Johnson, S.; Van Schalkwyk, I. Bridging the Gap of the Afri–Eurocentric Worldview Divide in a Postcolonial South Africa. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2022, 19, 1165. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19031165
Johnson S, Van Schalkwyk I. Bridging the Gap of the Afri–Eurocentric Worldview Divide in a Postcolonial South Africa. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. 2022; 19(3):1165. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19031165
Chicago/Turabian StyleJohnson, Sharon, and Izanette Van Schalkwyk. 2022. "Bridging the Gap of the Afri–Eurocentric Worldview Divide in a Postcolonial South Africa" International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 19, no. 3: 1165. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19031165