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Let's talk about how the field of psychology was weaponized by the South African government during Apartheid.
I will start off by saying this: it is pretty clear that psychology has a controversial history of awful and dehumanizing experiments. Look up cases concerning the conditioning of Little Albert, David Peter Reimer, the Milgram Experiment, etc. if you are curious.
This is not to take away from the incredible advancements we have made, but I truly believe in critically engaging with our history, even if it means experiencing great discomfort. We need to be better, and we can do so by learning from our errors.
Let's start off with a fact that is pretty well-known within psychology circles in South Africa: Hendrik Verwoerd of the National Party was trained in psychology at Stellenbosch University (graduating with a doctorate in the field in 1925).
He would further his education at universities in Germany at a time when developmental psychology, and ethnopsychology were highly revered. And why yes, this did take place during World War II, where Jews, Romanis, the disabled, etc. were eradicated due to their "inferior genes".
In fact, speaking of ethnographic research and developmental psychology, there was an author who specialized in this domain and wrote on "the psychology of South African children". Dudely Kidd (1904) stated that African children developed similarly to Europeans until puberty.
According to Kidd, Europeans would be able to quell their sexual drives, redirecting energy towards intellectual development. Africans, by contrast, were unable to do so and remained "eternal children".
Hence why it was believed that black people were unable to regulate their emotions (keep this in mind for later).
These thoughts and theories would highly influence Verwoerd and his implementation of The Bantu Education Act (1953).
"Schools should not give the Natives an academic education - if we do this, we shall later be burdened with a number of academically trained Europeans and non-Europeans, and who is going to do the manual labour in this country?" - JN le Roux (1945)
So how did the government decide that black people were inferior in this regard? PSYCHOMETRIC TESTING! They would assess black South Africans by using tools that were *primarily* designed for highly educated, English, and Afrikaans speaking white populations.
Through this, they would deem that black South Africans' were naturally inferior, especially in terms of their intellect and therefore were more suited for working in the countryside, under the "guidance" of the white man.
But wait. It doesn't stop there. Of course, it wouldn't. We are talking about the architects of apartheid here.
Have you heard of Bantu hysteria? Probably not, because it is a pseudoscientific disorder. But hey, let's look into why it was made up in the first place. Remember when I spoke about how black people were seen as being unable to achieve emotional regulation?
So instead of attributing the depression and trauma to the vile acts conducted by the apartheid regime, the psychologists of the time believe that black South Africans were merely being "hysterical". Yes, you read that correctly.
So their distress was pathologized and could only be treated with prescription medication. The suppression of black voices became easier - how can you fight back against the regime if you are subdued with pills - the same that was used to treat severely mentally-ill individuals?
Are we done yet?
No.
No.
PTSD was used as a means of attaining amnesty during the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.
The diagnosis was used to dissuade the court from trying to elicit full disclosure of human rights violations, arguing that it would have detrimental effects on the perpetrators.
The diagnosis was used to dissuade the court from trying to elicit full disclosure of human rights violations, arguing that it would have detrimental effects on the perpetrators.
If one thinks about it, the diagnosis was to redeem those who had committed murder or torture and to maintain their innocence.
If I recall correctly, there was one group of five police officers whose crimes included the murder of Piet Ntuli; the murder of Joe Tsele; the murder of Zweli Nyanda and Keith MacFadded; as well as the torture and assault of activists in police custody, and a car bombing.
If I am correct, these police officers were Vlakplass 5.
Psychologists claimed that they (the police officers) were severely disturbed and hampered by their diagnosis of PTSD.
Psychologists claimed that they (the police officers) were severely disturbed and hampered by their diagnosis of PTSD.
Which is odd, considering that when looking at their psychological reports, none of them listed that they were feeling helpless or terrified, and very few listed having nightmares or flashbacks (prominent symptoms of PTSD).
But they displayed the inability to recall traumatic disturbances - so how can you be persecuted if you don't remember what you have done?.
That's a very convenient symptom.
That's a very convenient symptom.
This is not an exhaustive summary of ALL the offenses committed by the psychology field during apartheid. This is merely a part of it, and I am more than happy to expand on it in the future if all of you would be interested. I just wanted to give you some insight.
Let me know what you think!
