Invitation to a focus group discussion on prison issues - Friday 7 March 2014 at Unisa Mucklneuk Campus, Pretoria

20th Anniversary PsySSA Congress: Celebration and Critical Reflections

In 2014, South Africa celebrates its 20th anniversary of being a constitutional democracy built on, among others, the principles of equality, human rights and non-discrimination. The significance of this year is further underlined by the fact that it also marks the 20th anniversary of the Psychological Society of South Africa (PsySSA).

Psychology as a science, a profession and a practice has made enormous contributions to South Africa and the lives and well-being of its diverse people over the last two decades. The 20th Annual South African Psychology Congress, to be hosted in Durban in September 2014, should therefore serve as a platform for celebration and a launch-pad for increasing the visibility of the wealth of contributions by academics, researchers and practitioners. In addition, the occasion will usher in a new chapter for global psychology with the official launch of the Pan-African Psychology Union.

Congratulations are definitely in order. Such significant milestones, however, also lend themselves to critical
reflection. During the International Congress of Psychology (ICP) in Cape Town in July 2012, a range of thought leaders stated that psychology must more significantly contribute to moving our society to where it ought to or could be. Specifically, they argue, the discipline has a critical role to play in policy development and planning, advocacy, education, training, research and publication, evaluation and assessment and other forms of intervention design and implementation in clinical, counseling, educational, work, academic and a range of other contexts.

This argument should give us pause to question: is the voice of our profession sufficiently audible in such
contexts? How can PsySSA further advance psychology as a science, a profession and as a means of promoting human well-being? How can the contribution of psychology professionals and the discipline itself be optimised in responding to the many pressing psycho-social challenges of the country in its role as a catalyst for the development and empowerment of individuals and communities in South Africa, Africa and the world?

You are hereby invited to submit abstracts for oral, symposia and poster presentations relevant to the focus on celebration and critical reflection at:http://www.professionalhosting.co.za:8080/PsySSAConference

From the President's Podium: Renew your 2014 PsySSA membership (if you were not register before. please register as a new member)

Message from the President, Prof David Maree

Welcome to 2014, an auspicious year for our country and our society.

I trust that you are all well rested, recharged and ready to embrace a year in which the country celebrates two decades of democracy and our society marks its own twentieth birthday. 

Of course, these two important milestones are intimately related. PsySSA was birthed in recognition of the watershed shifts that ushered in a free and democratic country in which the mental health needs of all its citizens were, for the first time in its history, regarded as equally important. In 1994, the country was fractured and its people damaged from years of pervasive oppression and violence. The establishment of a Society that took these tensions and deep scars seriously, mobilising its resources towards intervention was an essential ingredient in the reconstitution of South African society. 

Twenty years later much has changed but the early aspirations of 1994 remain significantly out of reach for most South Africans. PsySSA is needed as much now as it was in the year of its inception and so I would like to remind you to renew your membership for 2014.

Click here to renew your membership. 

Aside from realising the full potential of the Society’s new structures as they interface with new communication and outreach strategies and technologies, the highlight of the year will be the 20th Congress to be held in Durban from the 16th - 19th September. There, we will celebrate but also take critical stock of our achievements and shortcomings over the last 20 years in thinking about the directions of the Society and our country in the coming two decades. 

I look forward to a rewarding year with you in 2014.

David Maree
President

The 5th International Conference on Community Psychology (CIPC) from September 3rd to 6th, 2014, Fortaleza – Ceará, Brazil

We are pleased to invite teachers, researchers, students, practitioners, participants and members of social and community movements for the 5^th International Conference on Community Psychology (CIPC), an event that will take place from September 3^rd to 6^th, 2014, in Fortaleza – Ceará.

The 5^th International Conference of Community Psychology has as its main purpose the analysis of the Community Psychology in the current world from its challenges, limits and practices. It also claims to create spaces for questioning and reflection about the paths of Community Psychology in the recent years, knowing that the global, social, economic, environmental and politics transformations have deeply affected their theorizing and praxis.

Aiming to encourage and contribute to the scientific literature in Community Psychology in order to strengthen a contextualized praxis with the issues that persist in the world today. Here follow some of these main issues: How is our reality today? Which are the theoretical concepts and practices that involve its praxis? What is in fact its subject, its goal and its method? Which are the spaces that take place this liberating praxis? How the globalization and the new social, economic and environmental factors may affect the formation and praxis of the Community Psychology? What is the relationship between the Community Psychology and the environmental, ecological and planetary problems? How Community Psychology can contribute to think about some of the biggest problems facing humanity in the twenty first century, such as extreme poverty, media manipulation (lack of information, distortions, encouragement of the fear culture) and the wars and its damages to humanity? These are the questions present in the structural axes of the proposed theme for the 5^th Conference and they will be very important to a good comprehension of the Community Psychology in the world today.

We invite you all to come and participate in the 5^th CIPC and enjoy the beauty and the scenery of Fortaleza, in addition to the Ceará’s People hospitality.

For more information, go to http://www.5cipc2014.org/

Two symposia to be considered for the 20th PsySSA Congress in September 2014

The Community and Social Psychology Division intends to submit abstracts for two symposia to be considered for the 20^th PsySSA Congress in September 2014. We invite PsySSA members and other interested parties to participate in these presentations and discussions:

Symposium 1

Social Psychology in South Africa today: Challenges, possibilities and implications

Social psychology in South Africa continues to be a crucial sub-discipline which aims to interrogate and take seriously issues of social justice.  Though espousing an expanded purview that considers social situations in which people are found, it continues to be populated and dominated by knowledges and theorizing from the West. This presents itself as a challenge as it almost assumes a universal way of understanding people’s lived experiences which has been argued by many as problematic. Much of the teaching in social psychology continues to be dependent on imported theories and an assumption of universal application. There is a need for critical reflection on the applicability of social psychology in the present South African context. This symposium seeks to offer space for this reflection through highlighting some of the challenges of uncritically applying imported theories and methodologies, possibilities of the sub-discipline in the country today, and the implications thereof.

For more information contact Dr Puleng Segalo at segapj@unisa.ac.za

Symposium 2

Inside-out Outside-in: Prison experiences and communities

This symposium seeks to engage community psychology approaches and perspectives to the diverse communities that exist in and around correctional systems. The focus will be on initiatives that cross the boundaries between the inside and outside of prisons. Examples are the development of tertiary education opportunities for prisoners, issues of social reintegration and recidivism after release, issues relating to the families and relatives of prisoners, and the collaborative generation and dissemination of knowledge about prison experiences and circumstances.

For more information, contact Prof Eduard Fourie at fourime@unisa.ac.za

Invitation to the February 2014 Gender Research @ UP Reading

You are cordially invited to the February 2014 GR@UP Reading of

Prefaces to both editions of Gender Trouble by Judith Butler (1990, revised edition 1999), together with the first chapter for those who want to go deeper into the text.

With Special Guest

Tertius Kapp

As a special guest we will welcome the poet and playwright Tertius Kapp who will talk about his drama Rooiland, and the field research he has done for this piece in the Cape Town prisons. Among others, his attention was drawn to the (sexual) relationships between male prisoners. While one in the couple assumes the female role, and therefore claiming they are not homosexual or involved in same sex sexual acts, these prison communities are an excellent example of what Butler calls gender performative acts. Kapp’s drama is set the confined space of Cape Town prison and tells the stories of personal battles which prison gangs and its members encounter on a day-to-day basis. In a raw language it presents a narrative of the mythology surrounding prison gangs and the everyday struggle for power, respect, and life.  Watch the trailer on : http://vimeo.com/67957386

After a short summary and discussion of Butler’s take on gender and performativity and its practical application on our Southern reality, specifically on contemporary South African situation Tertius will present his work and will join the discussion about gender performativity within the male prison community.

Date:             Thursday, 13 February 2014

Time:            15h00 – 17h00

Place:            Training Room 1, 3^rd Level, Merenskey Library, Hatfield Campus, UP

For electronic copies of the reading please contact Polo Moji - polo.moji@up.ac.za, or Martina Vitackova - m.vitackova@gmail.com