African Mind Research Articles

God and the Covenant in the South African Wilderness

When South African Prime Minister Hendrik Verwoerd was assassinated on September 6, 1966, a writer in the Cape Town Afrikaans newspaper,Die Burger, included an instructive comment. He said, “May the God in whom we believe make clear to us in His own good time what this terrible event is to signify to our country and her people.” This statement reminds us of a dimension in South African nationalism which goes beyond the normal interests of a nation. A theological motif is introduced which remains dominant in the South African mind. In the eyes of Afrikaners this theological concern lifts their problems out of the area of purely political and economic discussion for their whole cultural effort involves fulfilling a divine mission.2Therefore, the death of Hendrik Verwoerd was more than a tragedy for the nation—it was a tragedy with divine implications.

A report on "The African mind in health and disease" by J.C. Carothers.

A report on "The African mind in health and disease" by J.C. Carothers.

The African Mind in Health and DiseaseparJ. C. Carothers

The African Mind in Health and Disease<i>par</i>J. C. Carothers

: The African Mind in Health and Disease: A Study in Ethnopsychiatry . J. C. Carothers.

: The African Mind in Health and Disease: A Study in Ethnopsychiatry . J. C. Carothers.

The African Mind in Health and Disease. By J. C. Carothers. Published by World Health Organization, Geneva, 1953. Pp. 177.

The African Mind in Health and Disease. By J. C. Carothers. Published by World Health Organization, Geneva, 1953. Pp. 177.

The African mind in health and disease. A study in ethnopsychiatry. By J. C. Carothers. (World Health Organisation Monograph Series No. 17.) 177 pp. World Health Organisation, Geneva. 1953. $2.00

American Journal of Physical AnthropologyVolume 12, Issue 3 p. 459-461 Review The African mind in health and disease. A study in ethnopsychiatry. By J. C. Carothers. (World Health Organisation Monograph Series No. 17.) 177 pp. World Health Organisation, Geneva. 1953. $2.00 Erwin H. Ackerknecht, Erwin H. Ackerknecht University of Wisconsin Medical SchoolSearch for more papers by this author Erwin H. Ackerknecht, Erwin H. Ackerknecht University of Wisconsin Medical SchoolSearch for more papers by this author First published: September 1954 https://doi.org/10.1002/ajpa.1330120320AboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinked InRedditWechat No abstract is available for this article. Volume12, Issue3September 1954Pages 459-461 RelatedInformation

The African Mind in Health and Disease. A Study in Ethnopsychiatry

The African Mind in Health and Disease. A Study in Ethnopsychiatry

Review of The African mind in health and disease: A study in ethnopsychiatry.

Review of The African mind in health and disease: A study in ethnopsychiatry.

The African Mind in Health and Disease: A Study in Ethnopsychiatry

The African Mind in Health and Disease: A Study in Ethnopsychiatry

The African Mind in Health and Disease: A study in ethnopsychiatry. By J. C. Carothers. Geneva: World Health Organization (Monograph Series, no. 17). 1953. Pp. 177. 10s.

The African Mind in Health and Disease: A study in ethnopsychiatry. By J. C. Carothers. Geneva: World Health Organization (Monograph Series, no. 17). 1953. Pp. 177. 10<i>s</i>.

The African Mind in Health and Disease, a Study in Ethnopsychiatry

The African Mind in Health and Disease, a Study in Ethnopsychiatry

Some contemporary developments in sub‐Saharan Africa

SYNOPSIS Racial tensions in Africa revolve round questions of the status of the black man and his security in land tenure. The African's cultural adjustment to his changing environment has four main aspects: (a) his desire for western education; (b) his re‐assessment of his social institutions in the light of that education; (c) his reaction to foreign immigrants ; and (d) a new cultural rationale for racism. Racial tensions are highest in South Africa where European settlement has the longest history, and similar tensions are now developing elsewhere in Africa. Various Governments have adopted different methods for dealing with the resulting problems. New arguments such as those of Dr. J. C. Carothers in The African Mind in Health and Disease, are employed to justify the Europeans' claims to superiority over Africans. These arguments are criticized. Ed.

The African Mind in Health and Disease: a Study in Ethnopsychiatry

The African Mind in Health and Disease: a Study in Ethnopsychiatry

Reviews of Books

Books Reviewed in this article:CHURCH AND SYNAGOGUE: Kirche und Synagoge: Motive und Formen der Auseinandersetzung der Kirche mit dem Judentum im Laufe der Geschichte. By Wilhelm Maurer.DENUNCIATION OF CHRISTIAN MISSIONS: Al‐Tabshīr wa‐l‐Isti'māar fi‐l‐Bilàdi‐l‐'Arabiyya.AN INDIAN CHRISTIAN'S EXPERIENCE OF SALVATION: Preface to Personality: Chri¯stology in Relation to Radhakrishnan's Philosophy.OPIUM FOR WESTERN INTELLECTUALS: Vedanta for Modern Man. Edited with an introduction by Christopher Isherwood.DISRUPTIVE MOVEMENTS WITHIN THE CHURCH: Schism in the Early Church: Being the Edward Cadbury Lectures delivered in the University of Birmingham, 1949–50. By S. L. Greenslade.EARLY YEARS IN THE C.S.I.: The Pilgrim Church: An Account of the first five years in the life of the Church of South India. By A. Marcus Ward.THE CHURCH IN SIERRA LEONE: The Story of a Mission: The Sierra Leone Church: First Daughter of C.M.S. By T. S. Johnson.THE HONESTY OF MUHAMMAD: Muhammad at Mecca. By W. Montgomery Watt.A PICTURE OF ISRAEL TO‐DAY: The State of Israel. Six lectures given at the Royal Society of Arts to Members of the Anglo‐Israel Association.CAN COMMUNISM SURVIVE IN CHINA?: Revolution in China. By Charles P. Fitzgerald.MARITAL RELATIONS IN AFRICA: Survey of African Marriage and Family Life. Edited and with an Introduction by Arthur Phillips.UNDERSTANDING THE AFRICAN: The African Mind in Health and Disease: A study in Ethnopsychiatry. By J. C. Carothers.SOUTH AFRICAN TRIBAL STUDIES: The Southern Sotho. By V. G. J. Sheddick. The Tswana. By I. Schapera.ON THE UPPER ZAMBESI: The Lozi Peoples of North‐Western Rhodesia. By V. W. Turner.AMERICAN MISSIONARIES IN SOUTH AFRICA: Letters of the American Missionaries, 1835–1838. Edited by D. J. Kotze.WITH LIVINGSTONE ON THE ZAMBESI: The Zambesi Journal of James Stewart, 1862–1863. With a selection from his Correspondence. Edited by J. P. R. Wallis.A TRUE FRIEND OF THE AFRICAN: R. J. In appreciation of the life of John David Rheinallt Jones and his work for the betterment of race relations in Southern Africa. By the Hon. Edgar H. Brookes.

Kenya's answer to the Mau Mau challenge

An extract from a lecture - If you are prepared to accept my premise that Mau Mau is African, that these problems are essentially part of the African scene, that we will meet them from time to time elsewhere, and that in order to understand them one has to understand Africa—it will surely follow that in order to combat them one must do so on lines which will have their influence and effect upon the African’s mind. I do not for one moment say that the potentialities of the African mind are different from the potentialities of the European mind. I simply do not know. Scientists assure us that there is no difference, and I am prepared to accept that, but I would emphasise to you that with the different traditions behind the African, we must not expect their reactions to European ideas and standards to be precisely the same as would be expected, and normally would be forthcoming, from Europeans themselves.

Two Nigerian Poems

A considerable poetry has sprung up in the English press of Nigeria and elsewhere in West Africa. It often violates academic laws. but, like so much in African culture, it is alive. We give two examples below, with acknowledgements to the Nigerian Spokesman, from which they are taken. The first illustrates the direct and concrete nature of the African mind, the second, his political emotion. Tony Enahoro is a young editor from Benin recently sentenced to 9 months imprisonment for criminal libel, and the author belongs to a chief's family from the same town. Imoudu is the Nigerian labour leader. Wallace Johnson, the Sierra Leone labour leader, was interned in Sherbro Island during the war.

Mental Tests in the Study of the African

The phrase ‘the mentality of the native’ is much on the lips of those whose work brings them into contact with Africans. The need for the study of African mentality is widely recognized; and an immense body of knowledge has accrued from the labours of administrators, missionaries, anthropologists, and others. Yet those whose knowledge is deepest are the first to admit that we still know only in part and darkly. Now it may be that, to achieve a fuller and clearer knowledge of the African mind, not only more study but additional methods of study are required. The main method up till now has necessarily been observation—observation of the behaviour of Africans in natural, everyday situations; and the result of this method has been the description of such behaviour. To this method we owe almost all of our present knowledge of the mentality of the African; and it seems likely that this must for long remain the chief source of our knowledge. It is not, however, the ideal scientific method. Our knowledge could probably be extended and made in some ways more precise by the method of studying the behaviour of Africans not in natural, everyday situations but in situations experimentally arranged and controlled. This method would result not merely in description but in measurement. Results obtained in controlled situations and expressed in quantitative terms would be results precise and verifiable. This method of study is not to be adopted prematurely, before the conditions of its technique can be fulfilled. But the advance of scientific understanding will sooner or later demand some such scientific method. One such method which is already being experimented with does involve the observation of the behaviour of Africans in controlled situations and does yield quantitative results. This is the method of mental testing.

The Evolution of the South African Native Mind

Opening Paragraph‘One must be a native in order to understand the native.’ So we are categorically told by one of our prominent native leaders. Justified race-pride of an awakening people may have prompted that leader to say so, but he can hardly have meant to say that the native mind shall for ever be a sealed book to us. Otherwise we could retort and claim that one must be a European in order to understand the European mind which finds its expression in our culture, and we could quote instances where we see African people trying to do what they believe Europeans do, with but poor or deplorable results.

Christianity and the African Mind

Christianity and the African Mind