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African American Psychology: From Africa to America AUTHORS: FAYE Z. BELGRAVE AND KEVIN W. ALLUSON SAGE PUBUCATIONS, 2005 PRICE: $54.95 ISBN:0-7619-2471-X
REVIEWER; JOCELYN TURNER-MUSA,
MORGAN STATE UNIVERSITY
African American Psychology: From Africa to America is a comprehensive book that bridges the gap between African centered and Western or Eurocentric ideologies utilized to study the psychology of African Americans. The book highlights converging and diverging historical, dieoretical, and mediodological perspectives. The book is divided into four sections and 14 chapters. Each chapter begins witìi a proverb, a recent news event, and historical antecedents that captures the spirit of "sankofa" to aid the reader in understanding the importance of looking to ones past in order to understand the present and look forward to the future.
Section I sets the tone by highlighting the historical foundation of African American psychology by defining it from both an Africentric perspective and one that draws upon Western/Eurocentric psychology. The authors suggest that while the two approaches are disparate with one focusing on understanding of the self through self-realization (Africentric) and the other through prediction and control (Eurocentric), it is acknowledged that both perspectives have had a profound impact on understanding African Americans. For instance, the authors provide evidence on how scientific racism influenced perceptions of the inferiority of Blacks. This includes but is not limited to a discussion of comparative studies in physical anthropology from the eugenics movement in the 19th century to contemporary discussions of intellectual inferiority of Blacks as proffered in the book, The Bell Curve. This section also delineates the...