Beyond the Pretty White Affair: Training African-centring psychologists for the future

The training of psychologists in South Africa has been marred by a history of racism, in large part driven by Euroamerican-centricism,  in training and by extension practice. This Euroamerican-centred training of psychologists, which permeated South Africa along with the advent of colonialism and Apartheid, continues to persist. In the book Beyond the Pretty White Affair, Sipho Dlamini highlights how the longstanding Euroamerican-centrism in psychology training programmes serves to alienate and estrange Black psychologists, when then their life worlds are ignored or their personal experiences pathologized. He calls for a re-orientation towards African- centred psychology training and practice which stands to ask new and different questions about the human condition, taking on board those who have been historically racially marginalized. African-centred psychology, as Dlamini suggests, requires recontemplations of training curricula that must be centred on Africa not only in their application, but also in therapeutic practices, conceptualisations, community psychology and psychological assessments. The book is an insightful read for psychological practitioners, academics, and students, who are keen to reflect on the state of the profession in South Africa and prospects for its transformation.