AROUND THE ABPsi
Being Spirit: Part One
Being Spirit is the requisite alchemizing essence for the restoration of African ascendant people. In the modern world, the word spirit has multiple connotations. In a colloquial sense, it conjures notions of a dark, hauntingly unknown, ghostly entity. In another sense, it is understood as the psychic presence or soul […]
Pressure
The Harm of Western Psychology (2022)
By: Joniesha Hickson and Evan Auguste For generations, African-descendant peoples have been forced to reckon with global delusions of our innate inferiority. Whether considered through the lens of a psychopathic racial personality, a suboptimal worldview, or an afro pessimism, our scholars have made it clear that the ideas responsible for […]
Research Corner
WISDOMBEARERS: A Study of Proverb Use and Values Among African American Elders
By: Huberta Jackson-LowmanJustin WilliamsChrista JohnsonStephanie BarnesJasmine PlummerEarnestine RichardsonFlorida A&M University ABSTRACT This study investigated knowledge and use of proverbs, values associated with proverb use, and proverb prioritization among Afrikan American elders 60 years of age and older. Forty elders living in retirement homes in the southeastern part of the country […]
RECENT POSTS
Being Spirit- Part 3
In Part I of “Being Spirit,” we introduced various notions of spirit and established the framework for the subsequent sections of this article. Part II focused on melanin as an energetic medium through which the spirit expresses itself. In this third and final edition of “Being Spirit,” we will examine […]
An Ubuntu Power Base
The South African Zulu philosophy of Ubuntu emphasizes collective thoughts and actions. Ubuntu happens when “I am, because we are” is transformed from a phrase into a therapeutic way of living. When we consider recent tragedies in Virginia and Louisiana, alongside the health disparities impacting Black/African people, the call for […]
Spirituality as a Foundation of Healing and Wellness in Black Women’s Lives
In the United States, Black women have addressed different intersecting forms of oppression such as racial and gender issues and they have an enormous role in the outcome of mental and physical health disparities such as elevated cortisol levels, chronic illness, emotional disorders, and social problems. Spirituality has always been […]
Breaking the Silence Around Suicide: Centering Black Youth’s Mental Wellness through Ubuntu
A Tragic Loss that Shattered a Myth Last summer, my family suffered the tragic loss of one of its youngest members. My niece died by suicide just over a month after her 16th birthday. Her untimely death has left many unanswered questions and unresolved grief. It has also been the […]
A Reflection on Bipolar from an Ancestral Psycho-Spiritual Perspective ft. Mama Ntozake Shange
The Western world historically has viewed intense emotional expressions as “lunacy”, where moon energy and emotions were portrayed as dangerously irrational, being out of touch with reality, and even evil.
Trauma Bonds, Liberation, and the Black Female Nervous System
An African-Centered Framework for Healing and Family Restoration The relational experiences of Black women cannot be understood outside of the historical, neurobiological, and structural forces that have shaped the Black family across generations. Trauma bonding, relational instability, and attachment disruption within Black relationships are often interpreted through individualistic or pathologizing […]
Reclaiming the African Spirit: Black Women, Joy, and Collective Wellness
Living within a society that denies their beauty, power, and existence, Black women can find that recognizing their own joy is an act of resistance. However, Black joy and the African spirit are survival practices perfected under slavery. Throughout generations, Black joy has persisted through both covert and overt acts […]
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