Decolonising and indigenising the Psychology curriculum: reflections and key lessons form the 2017 Pan-African Psychology Union (PAPU 2017) conference

Abstract

This paper presents reflections and key lessons from the Inaugural Pan-African Psychology Union (PAPU) Congress which was hosted in Durban, South Africa by PAPU and the Psychological Society of South Africa (PsySSA). At the congress, topics and discussions on 'indigenisation' and 'decolonisation' of the psychology curriculum' dominated. Various thought leaders from across the world suggested the following approaches towards indigenising and decolonising the psychology curriculums: 1) introducing indigenisation and decolonisation related topics within existing courses, 2) revising existing programmes to introduce cross cultural and indigenous psychology courses, 3) changing academic programmes to make them fully indigenised and/or decolonised. This paper reflects on the congress deliberations and the extant literature on the topic and suggests opportunities for stakeholders to work collaboratively to initiate debates, establish the need for indigenisation and decolonisation, come-up with strategies and frameworks by which indigenising and decolonisation of the psychology curriculum could be initiated and achieved.