Articulating difference

Abstract

Summary provided by author:

The objective of this research project was to investigate how the articulation of human subjectivity in the Namibian context may be constitutive of transformation at the individual and/or societal plane. Two major theoretical frameworks are drawn on, namely critical theory and social constructionism. Postmodern ideas and hermeneutics also inform the project. More specifically, a number of concepts pertaining to "transformation" are interrogated, namely "ideology critique", "liberation/emancipation" and "deconstruction". To address the psychology of transformation, concepts pertaining to psychology's subject, including "autonomy", "affirmation", "consciousness/awareness", "judging" and "relationality" are unravelled

The empirical investigation is situated within a qualitative research paradigm. Three phases constituted the data generation. Phase I was aimed at accessing the symbols and norms that are generally available for appropriation into individual texts of identity in Namibia; students commented on a video of the Namibian independence celebrations of 21/03/1990. Phase II was aimed at enabling the articulation of texts of identity; norm originators were involved in a group discussion pertaining to the symbols and norms elicited during Phase I, and to their values and commitments. The objective for Phase III was to elucidate how narrated events and life stories might be retold and transformed; the same norm originators discussed the researcher's analysis of their previous discussion

The data generated in each phase was analysed according to Parker's (1992) criteria for recognizing and analysing discourse

The insights yielded by this study revolve around the following issues: firstly, the relationship between new ways of speaking and (problematic) old, discourses, secondly, the tension between re-membering and envisioning in the constitution and legitimation of texts of identity, thirdly, the relationship between "grand narratives" and local personal stories, fourthly, the articulation of divisions and connections between people in terms of power, coercion and solidarity, fifthly, the relationship between discourses of helplessness/powerlessness, and a "lived sense" of powerlessness/helplessness

Over the past approximately twenty years psychological processes have been increasingly articulated, not as processes "in people's heads", but as socially constructed. The significance of this study is that it takes this "turn to language" seriously while trying to counter the excesses that characterize this trend