Epistemic Violence in Research on Eldercare

Abstract

Decolonial perspectives challenge the notion that standard knowledge in hegemonic psychology is productive of progress and enlightenment. They instead emphasise its association with the colonial violence that constitutes the darker underside of modern development. Our contribution to the special issue applies a decolonial perspective to theory and research on obligation to an elderly parent. Thinking from the standpoint of West African epistemic locations not only illuminates the culture-bound character of standard models but also reveals their foundations in modern individualist selfways. Although modern individualist selfways can liberate well-endowed people to pursue fulfilling relationships and avoid unsatisfying connections with burdensome obligations, these ways of being pose risks of abandonment for people—like many elders—whose requirements for care might constitute a constraint on others’ satisfaction. In contrast, the cultural ecologies of embedded interdependence that inform everyday life in many West African settings afford selfways that emphasise careful maintenance of existing connections. Although these selfways may place constraints on the self-expansive pursuit of satisfying relationships, they provide elders and other vulnerable people with some assurance of support.

Conception and experience of well-being in two Ghanaian samples: Implications for Positive Psychology

“…This is consistent with theory and research in modernization theory (e.g., Inkeles, 1969), which holds that engagement with formal education, the cultural milieu of university settings, and other affordances for modern individualist subjectivity will be associated with an experience of freedom from material constraint and a corresponding experience of well-being in terms of personal growth and fulfillment (Adams et al, 2018). In turn, one can understand the emphasis on personal growth and fulfillment as part of a larger process of psychologization by which people experience wellbeing, love, and care in terms in an affective or psychological support rather than tangible, material support (Coe, 2011;Esiaka & Adams, 2020;Osei-Tutu et al, 2021).…”

“…At the same time, they provided evidence for what we refer to as a sustainability orientation to well-being. In contrast to the mainstream emphasis on personal psychological growth, this orientation emphasizes material sustenance, acute sensitivity to interpersonal embeddedness, and corresponding attention to social obligations (Coe, 2011;Esiaka & Adams, 2020;Wilson Fadiji et al, 2021). In contrast to an emphasis on high-arousal happiness, this orientation emphasizes the low-arousal positive affect that people refer to in English as "peace of mind" (Tsai, 2007).…”

Implications of COVID-19 Innovations for Social Interaction: Provisional Insights From a Qualitative Study of Ghanaian Christian Leaders

“…Associated with this shift from literal to figurative contact are consequences for the materiality of relationship ( Esiaka and Adams, 2020 ). The abstraction of social interaction from place implies a shift in the activity of sharing such that it becomes less about joint participation in a common tangible experience and more about simultaneous interaction in parallel experiences linked through verbal exchange about the experience (see Mesquita, 2001 , for a similar perspective with respect to cultural variation in affordances for emotion experience).…”

“…The abstraction of social interaction from place implies a shift in the activity of sharing such that it becomes less about joint participation in a common tangible experience and more about simultaneous interaction in parallel experiences linked through verbal exchange about the experience (see Mesquita, 2001 , for a similar perspective with respect to cultural variation in affordances for emotion experience). Likewise, the abstraction of social interaction from place associated with ecologies of high relational mobility implies a shift in performance of care away from tangible forms of material assistance to verbally mediated emotional support ( Adams and Plaut, 2003 ; Adams and Kurtiş, 2015 ; Esiaka and Adams, 2020 ).…”

A Decolonial Africa(n)-Centered Psychology of Antiracism

“…As we suggested earlier, such cases of cultural racism include the imposition of standards for beauty and artistic expression (e.g., art, music, literature, fashion) that denigrate African forms and elevate European forms, even while appropriating African creativity. Such cases of cultural racism also include the imposition of WEIRD ways of being or knowing—including notions of ability (Dirth & Adams, 2019; Oppong, 2020), care (Esiaka & Adams, 2020), empowerment (Kurtiş et al, 2016), love (Osei-Tutu et al, 2021), merit (Croizet, 2011), methodological rigor (Adams & Salter, 2019), rights (Maldonado-Torres, 2007), and choice and responsibility (Stephens et al, 2009)—as just-natural standards. From this perspective, racism is less about differential treatment than it is the “possessive investment” (Lipsitz, 1997) in white ways of being that masquerade as race-neutral standards for universal application.…”