Interventionist Research Methodologies Workshops by Prof Harry Daniels

Prof Harry Daniels is Director of the Centre for Sociocultural and Activity Theory Research (CSAT) and Professor of Education at University of Bath (UK). Prof Daniels is also Adjunct Professor at the Centre for Learning Research, Griffith University, Brisbane, Australia; Research Professor at the Centre for Human Activity Theory, Kansai University, Japan; and Research Professor in Cultural Historical Psychology at Moscow State University of Psychology and Education.

Southern Psychologies blog by Desmond Painter

Here is a recent entry on Desmond Painter's blog which may be worth a read if language is your interest:

http://southernpsychologies.wordpress.com/2011/12/03/the-monolingual-drone-language-and-critical-psychology-part-1/

Psychology and Marxism

A special issue of the Annual Review of Psychology focusing on Marxism has just appeared. Articles address topics such as Psychoanalytic Critical Theory, the political organization of psychology, Marxist elements in Lacanian theory, crowd psychology, and Marxian currents in Community Psychology. The complete 140 page special issue can be downloaded from http://www.discourseunit.com/arcp9.pdf (a 13 MB file).

Schubart Park Eviction observations - Pat Finlay

Security. What security? What IS security?

Police sirens sound (not too unfamiliar), and stop right here, and then many
more. Police mini buses, vans and other vehicles, some with red and orange
flashing lights besides the blue ones. I counted seven vehicles from my
vantage point. They storm the premises with guns drawn..

Programme for the "Boys in Africa" round table discussion.

Here is a link to the "Boys in Africa" round table discussion programme, which takes place on the 25th of October 2011

Boys in Africa Programme

New Blog - Southern Psychologies

Desmond Painter has started a new blog, Southern Psychologies, in which he considers how one might think about and practice psychology (including community and social psychology) from the “global South”. Find his blog at http://southernpsychologies.wordpress.com

Schubart Park Eviction- Pat Finlay's personal reflection.

"I have been conversing with many people, as you will have realised. I have not shared my reflections just yet, nor have I shared all the gleanings,mainly because of the sensitivity of the situation. I feel that once I have held conversations with many more people, and the situation settles, it might be easier to reflect more openly. 

This issue is vast and has very deep roots. There are many questions to pursue. I see this as a project that will reach into the past in order to even begin to understand the present, let alone contemplate the future. 
The evacuees are presently dealing with the crisis situation, and entering into a temporary phase of coping, during which they will need to decide on future arrangements, all of which have, and will, exert a profound influence on their lives. There appear to be many stakeholders, some apparently more trustworthy than others, who also play a role in the lives of the evacuees,
and one another. Common to all, is the trauma that they have experienced.

Some people, who are not involved, prefer to maintain a distance, others are indifferent, while others tend to apportion blame.  Fear, misinformation, lack of information, and withdrawal on account of there being just too many crises to contemplate appear to be some of the reasons for this apparent apathy. Some would even site experiencing what appears to be a "donor fatigue" syndrome as a reason to remain distant. Legal implications also
appear to be a reason for reluctance to lend a hand. People would sooner voices their feelings in a telephone or face to face conversation than comment publicly.

I have been deeply moved by the willingness of people to speak openly not only of their recent experiences, but also their past and their feelings regarding the past, present and future. Interestingly, they have mostly launched directly into conversation without any introductions until it was
time to part. 

There are indications that there will yet be many more conversations,especially since thousands of people have been affected. Many decisions will be made by the evacuees, landlords, shelter personnel, municipal officials, courts, representatives, and various donors, in the short, medium and long term.  For example, the municipality has paid 3 months rental at one place,
others are still being accommodated in shelters, others are possibly still on the streets, while yet others have made their own varied temporary arrangements. The courts have ordered that the building, Schubart Park, be refurbished within 10 months. Some may find it difficult to adjust to the different circumstances, or to abide by the rules set by the various abodes.
Many have experienced substantial loss of income during this period of upheaval. They find themselves in "new" communities, which may well change again in the near future. These are all basic matters regarding survival.

The road ahead appears to be distant and long."

4th International Conference of Community Psychology - Call for papers

The call for proposals starts September 30th 2011, and it will be finished 30th of January 2012. You can contribute with: Comunications, Symposia, Applied- & practical-workshops, Posters, Videos (documentary, film, audiovisual about Community Psychology or Community Action) and Book presentations.


The 4th International Conference of Community Psychology will be held at Barcelona from 21 to 23 June 2012.

Description follows after the break

Schubart Park Eviction contrary report - Pat Finlay

"I have just spoken with a young woman who is busy moving in to her newly allocated flat. She is so relieved and happy that she and her family now have a home. Evidently, she has been able to secure her belongings, many of which are somewhat shabby. Contrary to the desperate plea of the women who spoke with me last night, she tells me that the church hall was open as a shelter last night but will be closed tonight."

Schubart Park Eviction - Pat Finlay

 Pat Finlay has provided more coverage of the Schubart Park Eviction saga.

Her message continues after the break

Schubart Park evacuees coverage - Pat Finlay

Pat Finlay is an Honours student in Psychology at Unisa. She also happens to live close to where the displaced residents of Schubart Park in Pretoria have been moved to.

Pat has sent us a summary of her observations of the situation there and we'll also post any additional information she provides.

Her summary follows after the break.

"Regarding the Schubart Park evacuees, I would like to post an update.

Boys in Africa Rountable at UNISA

Boys in Africa Roundtable

Date: 25 October, 2011

Time: 10h00 – 16h00

Venue: Library, Seminar Room 1, University of South Africa

How does one parent boys to become good men?

How do we reconnect boys with their fathers?

How do we teach boys and their parents to share the burden of domestic labour?

How does one raise boys to believe in equality?

How do we keep boys at school?

How do we teach boys not to respond to problems with aggression?

How do we keep boys alive?

How do we teach boys self-love?

How do we raise happy, confident, kind and caring men?

The 2nd Conference on Psychology and Social Harmony (CPSH 2012) - Call for Papers

The 2^nd Conference on Psychology and Social Harmony (CPSH 2012)

CPCI-SSH (ISSHP) indexed

April 13~15, 2012  Shanghai, China

http://www.psychconf.org/2012

The 2nd Conference on Psychology and Social Harmony (CPSH 2012) will be held from April 13 to 15, 2012 in Shanghai, China. The conference proceedings will be published by Scientific Research Publishing. All papers accepted will be indexed by CPCI-SSH (ISSHP).

Topics:

Cognitive Psychology, General Psychology, Experimental Psychology, Cultural Psychology, Developmental Psychology, Clinical Psychology, Educational Psychology, School Psychology, Consulting Psychology, Industrial and Organizational Psychology, Military Psychology, Consumer Psychology, History of Psychology, Psychology of Women, Psychology of Child, Family Psychology, Psychology of Religion, Psychology of Law, Media Psychology, Sport Psychology, Physiological Psychology, Abnormal Psychology, Health Psychology, Environmental Psychology, Personality and Social Psychology, Evaluation, Measurement and Statistics, Psychoanalysis and Psychotherapy, Theory and Research of Psychotherapy, Mental Diseases and Psychotherapy, Psychology and Social Harmony.

Community Contacts Addition - Research Logistics

We've made the first addition to the Community Contacts page from Research Logistics.

Original message after the break.

A letter to the HPCSA regarding registration categories.

We received this email from Sally John where she indicated that her desire to share her correspondence with the HSPCA. The topic of registration categories was a hot one at this year's PsySSA congress as well as the various AGMs. Sally discusses this as well as an idea to allocate CPD points to pro bono work.

Feel free to discuss the topic in the comments below.

 Hello there

Thanks for your blog.
I just put this letter on which I sent to the HPCSA as I feel very strongly about more psychologists working for pro bono CPD points in the community.

Sally John

A copy of the letter can be read after the break.

Minutes of the 2011 AGM

The inaugural meeting of the Community and Social Psychology (CaSP) Division took place during the 12^th PsySSA Congress

Date:              Wednesday, 14 September 2011

Time:                         16h15 to 17h00

Venue:           Emperors Palace, Johannesburg

Welcome

Eduard Fourie welcomed the attendees and informed delegates that Vera Roos has asked him to facilitate the inaugural meeting of the Community and Social Psychology (CaSP) Division of PsySSA. He acknowledged the work that Vera Roos, Norman Duncan and others have put in in establishing this new division. As this was the first AGM of the CaSP division, no agenda was proposed, but rather a conversation was encouraged on the role and future of the division.

Attendees:

Desmond Painter, Martin Terre Blanche, Puleng Segalo, Kevin Durrheim, Gary Steele, Khonzi Mbatha, Doreen Mudavanhu, Tholeka Dukada, Fathima Pochee, Leigh-Gail Petersen, Nkateko Manabe, Steven Rebello, Kopano Ratele, Colin Tredoux, Gillian Finchilescu, Thanyani Nkhangweleni, Eduard Fourie,  Lochie Jacobs, Karin Buter, San-Marie Aucamp, Nolwazi Somtsewu, Lynn Koch, Shanaaz Suffla, Thandeka Tshabalala, Angelo Fynn, Merwyn Naidoo, Shenaaz Pahad, Elirea Bornman, Busi Kwinda, Juan Nel, Sally John, Julia Hlahla, Rachel Molegatle, Wiehann Rademan

Welcome!

Welcome to the PsySSA Community and Social Psychology Division's Blog.
The main purpose of this blog is to aggregate news of projects and research throughout South Africa and beyond within the scope of Community and Social Psychology.

If you are doing work in this field then we want to know about it!

Send an Email to butlesl@unisa.ac.za with the details of your work and we'll post it to the blog.

For now this will be the only way content gets loaded onto the blog, but in the near future you'll be able to register your own Blog with us and post that you tag with our tag will be automatically loaded onto this blog.

Regards

Sydney Butler
PsySSA Community and Social Psychology Division