History of Psychology in other countries

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I was wondering if someone could tell me that where i can find information on the history of psychology as it relates to other countries (Middle East & Africa). Like: when did psycology come in practice in the middle east, what were they studying and so on. I have done alot of looking and alot of what is get is what psychologist are doing in psychology today and alot of organizations that were developed for the safety of these countries.

-- Kamilah Gorrell (kamilah_gorrell@bloomfield.edu), November 16, 2002

Answers

This is a difficult question because psychology was a European invention mainly of the 18th and 19th centuries (althought there were some earlier precursors) and there is some debate as to whether it can be integrated into other cultures or is, rather, just a kind of imperialist imposition upon them. Kurt Danziger has written about the issue of where psychology got its basic categories (and how culturally-specific many of them are to Europe) in his book, _Naming the Mind_. It might interest you.

That having been said, it is almost certain that the discipline of psychology came to the Middle East and Africa as part of the colonial apparatus of England and France. There were, no doubt, long-standing cultural and religioous traditions in those regions of the world that addressed many of the problems that are also addressed by psychology (indeed, because of the common Greek intellectual heritage, the Middle East may have shared some fundamental ideas with Europe), but there was no discipline of "psychology" per se. (Note that I am *not* saying that this was some sort of deficit on the part of non-European cultures, but rather that psychology itself may be constrained by its European heritage and thus, not able to adequately describe phenomena in other cultures.)

-- Christopher Green (christo@yorku.ca), November 17, 2002.


Start with the following sources. You'll find more by following leads in the subject headings when you find these books in the library catalogs: 1972 Brozek, Josef & Slobin, Dan Isaac (Comps.) Psychology in the USSR: an Historical Perspective White Plains, NY: International Arts and Sciences Press 1976 Sexton,Virginia Staudt & Misiak, Henryk (Eds.) Psychology Around the World Monterey, CA: Brooks/Cole 1982 Sexton, Virginia Staudt & Hogan, John D. (Eds.). International Psychology: Views from Around the WorldLincoln: University of Nebraska Press. 1987,Gilgen, Albert R.& Gilgen, Carol K.,Handbook of International Psychology. New York: Greenwood; London: Aldwych 1998 Simon, Brian (Ed.) Psychology in the Soviet Union London: Routledge

-- Hendrika Vande Kemp (hendrika@earthlink.net), November 19, 2002.

Hi Kamilah, you may be interested in the hystory of psychology in Latin-American countries, such as Argentina. If it is so, you will find some information (in spanish) in the following web site: www.elseminario.com.ar, which is hosted by the History of Psychology department of the University of Buenos Aires

By

-- Ricardo Marcos Pautassi (rpautassi@immf.uncor.edu), November 20, 2002.


Ash & Woodward's "Psychology in 20th Century Thought and Society" has some chapters dealing with psychology in colonial settings, e.g. in India during British Colonial rule. I'm afraid I don't have the full reference available.

-- Dai Jones (djones@glos.ac.uk), November 26, 2002.

You might be interested in the Arab Psychology Network athttp://www.arabpsynet.com/

-- Christopher Green (cgreen@chass.utoronto.ca), July 29, 2003.


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