Understanding an Afrocentric World View: Introduction to an Optimal Psychology stands as a groundbreaking and timeless classic in the field of Africana Studies, Psychology, and Human Development. Its reverberating in-depth analysis of and prescriptive cure for racism and other societal isms identifies the essential factors at their core and how to change them.
Dr. Linda James Myers provides rare insights into social forces behind the systemic racism that have been with us for over 400 years. Her time tested Optimal Conceptual Theory and its corollary psychotherapeutic strategies unearth the characteristics of the suboptimal mindset that keeps us trapped in the vicious pattern of oppressive injustice that is harmful to ourselves as well as others, and its optimal alternative. Unlike other treatise on the subject, James Myers offers readers the tools and developmental processes for making the shift in consciousness needed for improving the quality of their own lives and for creating a just, sacred, and sustainable world. Her comprehensive holistic and integrative approach reflects a Black cultural perspective seldom heard, but proven effective and traceable to the beginnings of all human culture and civilization.
Preface
Part One: The Evolution and Expansion of Psychology
Introduction to an Idea
In Search of the Afrocentric
Oneness: A Black Model of Psychological Functioning
Part Two: Avoiding Nihilism in Favor of Growth
Optimal Psychology and the Transpersonal Paradigm
The Meaning of Development: World Views, Behavior, and Ethics
Optimal Psychology and Moral, Faith, and Intellectual and Ethical Development
Part Three: Proven Through Practice
Family Violence in U.S. Society: A Case of the Sub-optimal Belief System
Therapeutic Process for a New Age: Belief Systems Analysis
Truth and the Psychology of Knowledge
Epilogue
Bibliography
Index