Kopano Ratele Research Articles

‘Do You Think I Can Kill You?’ Exploring Intimate Femicide in South Africa and Why Intimacy Hurts So Much

This article draws on two South African books published recently dealing with violence against women, namely Nechama Brodie’s <i>Femicide in South Africa</i> (2020), and Kopano Ratele’s <i>Why Men Hurt Women and Other Reflections on Love, Violence and Masculinity</i> (2022). Both authors explore strategies for the prevention of violence against women and this article supplements their strategies with an idea put forth by Hannah Arendt in <i>The Life of the Mind</i> (1978). The article argues that intimate femicide persists in South Africa, to an extent as a result of the construction of a certain type of ‘hard’, ‘patriarchal’, ‘traditional’ masculinity that cannot admit its own frailty, dependence, impotence and powerlessness, and attempts to conceal its needs by becoming violent. Arendt argues that violence and power are opposites and that equating male violence with power is a lie that violence perpetuates about itself. Arendt proposes that the antidote to this false mastery and control is the activity of thinking, as distinguished from knowing. The article argues that the activity of thinking acts as a brake on the fantasy of masculine mastery and control and can perhaps minimise violence.

"The world looks like this from here": Kopano Ratele's African psychology.

This contribution engages the work of the contemporary South African Psychologist, Kopano Ratele, to illustrate the facets of sociopolitical and psychological dimensions of psychology from the Global South and its relevance for reimagining psychology across the continent and the global world. Ratele's African psychology framework offers us both a contemporary and critical analytic lens to reflect on the psychic life of power from the vantage point of Africa. This article explores two thematic contributions of Ratele's African psychology: (a) culture and tradition and (b) Black interiority. Ratele's African psychology presents a marked departure from much African psychology scholarship in its attention to the psychopolitics of Black life and Black death. Furthermore, by presenting African psychology as orientation, Ratele can engage both ontological and methodological dimensions of Black subjectivity as diverse, complex, and nonessentialist. In putting forward Ratele's scholarship as a key contribution to African and Black psychology, this article thus addresses the current epistemological impasse that seems to exist in psychology in Africa. This article concludes that Ratele's African psychology may provide us with a means of addressing this impasse toward making psychology in Africa relevant. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

“Dominating the Man’s Cock”? (Re)Imagining Femininities and Masculinities in Selected Francophone and Lusophone Literary Texts

This article focuses on selected literary texts from francophone and lusophone Africa, parts of the continent that are often dwarfed and marginalised by anglophone literary production. The article analyses the following texts: Infidels by Abdellah Taïa (Morocco), Femme nue femme noire by Calixthe Beyala (Cameroon), Niketche by Paulina Chiziane (Mozambique) and O Último Voo do Flamingo by Mia Couto (Mozambique). The article examines how female protagonists find agency in and through sex and sexuality. Female protagonists in the selected novels use their voices as well as the physical and the erotic potentialities of their bodies to destabilise, resist and challenge patriarchal notions of women’s sexuality as subservient to, and serving the pleasure of, men. These texts show that hegemonic masculinity is not as untouchable and sacrosanct as is commonly considered. Theoretically, this article draws on Kopano Ratele’s ideas on contested masculinities and Pumla Dineo Gqola’s thoughts on dismantling patriarchy. Through comparative analyses, this article imagines how women can liberate themselves from the oppressive yoke of patriarchy by undermining the perceived dominance of masculinity.

Frequently asked questions about African psychology: another view

The South African Journal of Psychology, in pages 273–279, of 2017, published a very important and commendable editorial by Kopano Ratele aimed at re-igniting the debate on issues surrounding ‘decades-old confusion about the definition, scope, impetus for, and ultimate aims of an African psychology within South Africa (SA)’. His incisive contribution in response to these issues was submitted under the title: Frequently asked questions about African psychology. In attempting to join this debate, the aim is not to challenge but to complement the fine responses made by Ratele (2017b) to the questions he had raised. Specifically, the aim of this article is to keep this important debate about the state of African psychology alive by showing that there are still some unexplored questions about African psychology that need to be raised and responded to. It is the conviction of the present author that it is through such debates that a better understanding of the meaning and scope, and vision and mission of the nascent academic discipline of African psychology could be achieved.

Liberating Masculinities by Kopano Ratele

Book Review

Narrating an Other and Each Other: Collaborative Constructions of Selfhood in There Was This Goat: Investigating the Truth Commission Testimony of Notrose Nobomvu Konile

ABSTRACTThe aim of this article is to examine the textual constructions of selfhood in the South African narrative There Was This Goat: Investigating the Truth Commission Testimony of Notrose Nobomvu Konile (2009), co-authored by Antjie Krog, Nosisi Mpolweni and Kopano Ratele. There Was This Goat is dedicated to understanding Mrs Konile and her Truth and Reconciliation Commission testimony given in Xhosa, a testimony which many found incomprehensible. I trace and read Mrs Konile through the lens of Judith Butler and her ideas about self-narration and through Sarah Nuttall’s concept of entanglement. These two approaches underline the social aspects of both self-narration and identity formation through narration, and therefore assist me in approaching the authors as simultaneous characters in the text, recipients of Mrs Konile’s narrative, and creators of the textually represented Mrs Konile. The authors’ dual function as writers of and characters within the narrative is an important factor which has been only briefly considered in much of the previous scholarly research on this multivoiced life writing text. This article argues that Mrs Konile is disempowered by the structure of the narrative, which positions her as a passive object of study rather than an active subject of her own life narrative.

A postcolonial theory of African Psychology: A reply to Kopano Ratele

This article explores Kopano Ratele’s paper entitled “Four (African) Psychologies” published in Theory & Psychology, and written largely as a response to my recent article entitled “What is African Psychology the Psychology of?” A postcolonial theory of African Psychology is offered to serve as a background for this exploration. The paper concludes by suggesting that Ratele’s article, although a thoughtful contribution to the debate provoked by my article, is opposed to the current awareness by many African psychologists of the need to build African Psychology as a specialized postcolonial study within the discipline of Psychology in African universities. In opposition to this perspective, Ratele proposes implication that African Psychology should not aspire to the status of centralized academic discipline but should operate from “segregated parishes,” particularly as an African adaptation of Western Psychology. This article suggests why Ratele’s vision is against the spirit of the times and therefore unacceptable.

The unsettling of shame: Examining There Was This Goat: Investigating the Truth Commission Testimony of Notrose Nobomvu Konile in the light of Elspeth Probyn’s construction of shame

In their book, There Was This Goat, Antjie Krog, Nosisi Mpolweni and Kopano Ratele investigate Mrs Notrose Nobomvu Konile’s testimony at the 1995 South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC). The authors explore the way the TRC disregarded Mrs Konile’s testimony about her son’s murder because they did not see it as a clear and straightforward narrative of victimhood. In the process of trying to understand Mrs Konile’s testimony and life, all three authors as racialized persons living in South Africa are confronted with various aspects of shame. The article uses excerpts from There Was This Goat to explore Australia-based writer Elspeth Probyn’s conception of shame as a productive force that has the power to radically transform notions of the self and the political arena. Comparing Probyn’s account in Blush: Faces of Shame and other texts of her visit to Uluru in Australia’s Northern Territory with the trip to Indwe in the Eastern Cape made by the authors of There Was This Goat, it discusses how shame can be embedded in space. It critiques Probyn’s argument that shame can be transformative of power dynamics by looking at Krog’s feelings of displacement as a white South African. Probyn’s construction of shame may challenge social inequalities, but it is also a privileged and elusive shame that can reproduce colonial structures and relationships.

A CONVERSATION WITH ANNE PHILLIPS ON MULTICULTURALISM

During March 2015, Professor Anne Phillips of the London School of Economics was a visiting fellow at Stellenbosch Institute for Advanced Study (STIAS). On 13 March a group of nine gender scholars from different disciplines held a one-day workshop to explore the notion of multiculturalism with her. At the end of the workshop it was suggested that Gender Questions should conduct an electronic interview with Professor Phillips and that the scholars who attended the workshop would write responses to the interview. What follows are the interview with Professor Phillips and responses from four of the gender scholars who attended: Professor Amanda Gouws (Political Science, Stellenbosch University) Professor Desiree Lewis (Women's and Gender Studies, University of the Western Cape), Professor Louise du Toit (Philosophy, Stellenbosch University), and Dr Stella Viljoen (Fine Arts, Stellenbosch University). The other scholars who attended were Professor Shireen Hassim (Political Studies, University of the Witwatersrand), Professor Kopano Ratele (Unisa/Medical Research Council), Professor Cherryl Walker (Sociology, Stellenbosch University) and Dr Christi van der Westhuizen (HUMA, University of Cape Town).

Editorial: Dealing with the Challenge of Rising Unemployment: Can This Be Done and How?

It feels somewhat strange to think that the end of my five-year term as editor of the SAJP is in sight. These years have been a challenging but interesting and rewarding period in my career. I shall always be indebted to the core editorial staff for their help and support: the consulting editor, Anthony Pillay, the consulting editor: statistics, Tyrone Pretorius, the books editor, Kopano Ratele, the copy editors, Willy Nel and Linda Theron, the publishing editor, Erna Kinsey, and the editorial secretary, Moipone Williams. Anthony's appointment, as incoming editor, is to be welcomed. I believe he is ideally equipped to take the journal to new heights, especially as the SAJP will be going online from 1 January 2013.

Hospitality in a Postapartheid Archive: Reflections on <em>There Was This Goat</em> and the Challenge of Alterity

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission helped to reconstitute the South African archive as more open, more self-reflexive, more hospitable to those previously marginalized by poverty and racial injustice, but its disciplinary and ethical framework produced new norms and exclusions. A recent book, There Was This Goat, co-authored by writer Antjie Krog, linguist Nosisi Mpolweni, and psychologist Kopano Ratele, investigates the “incomprehensible” testimony of Mrs. Konile, mother of a murdered ANC activist. In trying to imagine a new public drawn together in the spirit of ubuntu, it raises troubling questions about accommodating alterity. The fragmented nature of the book shows up the impossibility of achieving coherence in the name of hospitality. I reflect on the construction of what seems “strange” within the postapartheid archive and on the role of the archive itself in underwriting particular notions of citizenship and belonging. Greater openness may call for a relinquishing of certainty and sovereignty, and a willingness not to comprehend.

Editorial: Dealing with Contemporary Issues in Psychology: Respecting the Unwritten Rules

I find it difficult to believe that the end of the year is in sight already. The past few months have once again been a taxing, yet fruitful period. Our core editorial staff, including our consulting editor, Anthony Pillay, our consulting editor: statistics, Tyrone Pretorius, our books editor, Kopano Ratele, our copy editors, Willy Nel and Linda Theron, our publishing editor, Erna Kinsey, as well as our editorial secretary, Moipone Williams, meet regularly (electronically or in person) to discuss the smooth running of the journal and to ensure that potential problems are dealt with timeously.

Religion and Conflict Resolution: Christianity and South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission, Megan Shore. There Was This Goat: Investigating the Truth and Reconciliation Commission Testimony of Notrose Nobomvu Konile, Antjie Krog, Nosisi Mpolweni and Kopano Ratele. Justice and Reconciliation in Post-Apartheid South Africa, eds. Francois du Bois and Antje du Bois-Pedain. Post-TRC Prosecutions in South Africa: Accountability for Political Crimes

South Africa's transition from apartheid to democracy has been the subject of intense scholarly interest. It started during the pre-1994 negotiations for a transitional settlement, intensified in the post-1994 era with the introduction of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) and continued after the TRC completed its tenure. The result has been a myriad of publications that have enriched the field of transitional justice. Given the extensive scholarly coverage that South Africa's transition and the TRC in particular have received, one would assume that the subject has been exhausted. It is hard to imagine that any new books on the topic would provide additional insight into what many others have extensively addressed. Yet the reality is that transitional justice processes, particularly reconciliation and justice (or perceptions thereof), often unfold over an extended period of time. The ongoing nature of these processes in South Africa, widely referred to as the ‘unfinished...

Editorial: Psychology — A Multi-Shaped Crystal

Nine months into 2009, the editorial team is delighted to confirm that it is on track to deliver the last issue of the year on schedule. This success can be attributed to a number of factors including the exceptional support from the editorial board, which has helped us reduce the backlog of articles that have been under review for more than five months. We have also finalised issue 40(1) (March 2010) and are in the process of compiling issue 40(2). The core editorial staff, including PsySSA president, Kopano Ratele; consulting editor, Anthony Pillay; consulting editor: statistics, Tyrone Pretorius; copy editors, Willy Nel and Martin Strous; and publishing editor, Erna Kinsey, are doing all they can to maintain on-time delivery and smooth running of the journal by dealing timeously (electronically or in person) with any potential problems.

Inter-group relations: South African perspectives, Kopano Ratele (editor)

Inter-group relations: South African perspectives, Kopano Ratele (editor)

Re tla dirang ka selo se ba re go ke ghetto fabulous? Academics on the streets

KOPANO RATELE addresses academics on why they should step out onto the streets. He looks at the fragmentation between the lives lived on urban streets and life as taught in lecture halls

Notes on the anxieties of belonging

KOPANO RATELE searches for an antidote to the anxiety generated by the realisation that he feels a stranger in the company of feminists with whom he is attending summer school. Deflecting his panic he seeks a belonging that holds up the complexities of location and the radical promise of (re-)negotiation of identity invited by postcolonialism

The end of the black man

KOPANO RATELE explores the ambiguities in the identities of post-apartheid manhood. He argues that biological definitions are empty and that meaning is embedded in history. A breaking up of sameness is inevitable. After all, the construct of black man belonged to colonial conquest

A Comparison of Two Works on Black Family Life

After twenty-one years in the making, the film version of Daniel Patrick Moynihan's 1965 labor report, The Negro Family: The Case for National Action, has been televised as Bill Moyers's special report "The Vanishing Family: Crisis in Black Amerca."' The television documentary bears little stylistic resemblance to its predecessor, but the message in these two works is strikingly similar. The Moynihan report and the Moyers documentary both contend that growing numbers of African-Americans no longer ascribe to certain fundamental American values and therefore exhibit behaviors that