Psychoanalysis Versus Psychiatry at Wash U « Clarissa's Blog
My response here:
This is interesting because Dambudzo Marechera was thought to have developed schizophrenia, by someone who knew him well, but with my understanding of African culture, I had the suspicion she was inadvertently censuring him for not being more European in his mind and attitude. There is a great deal in the African way of doing things that has the quality of being chaotic and unpredictable. I have a degree of that in myself, and there is no way I'm crazy. It's a form of adaptation to uncertain and unpredictable circumstances. People who can tolerate a great deal of chaos are surprisingly resilient and don't react with horror or despair to lots of very difficult circumstances. Rather, we view them with humor.
I've had a lot of people view my humor as horror and/or despair, especially with regard to my memoir, so I think there is a lot of inability, on the part of Westerners, to really get in tune with African perspectives and ideas.
My response here:
This is interesting because Dambudzo Marechera was thought to have developed schizophrenia, by someone who knew him well, but with my understanding of African culture, I had the suspicion she was inadvertently censuring him for not being more European in his mind and attitude. There is a great deal in the African way of doing things that has the quality of being chaotic and unpredictable. I have a degree of that in myself, and there is no way I'm crazy. It's a form of adaptation to uncertain and unpredictable circumstances. People who can tolerate a great deal of chaos are surprisingly resilient and don't react with horror or despair to lots of very difficult circumstances. Rather, we view them with humor.
I've had a lot of people view my humor as horror and/or despair, especially with regard to my memoir, so I think there is a lot of inability, on the part of Westerners, to really get in tune with African perspectives and ideas.
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