Other” psychologists

An autoethnographic conversation about difference, deviance and defiance

Bibliographic Data

ID12260263
AuthorsClare Harvey (0000-0001-9016-8840, University of the Witwatersrand, corresponding author), Elliott Kotze (0000-0001-6417-9490, Independent researcher, South Africa)
Year2022
Volume32
Issue2
Pages156-177
Publication date2022-01-21
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueFeminism & Psychology (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0959-3535 • E-ISSN: 1461-7161
PublisherSAGE Publishing (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1177/09593535211061632
OpenAlexW4205867075
LanguageEN
Citations received6
References cited44

Within the framework of the current drive to transform psychology in South Africa, this paper highlights “other” axes of identity that are arguably largely overlooked within the field. The conversation exposes the discipline of psychology – specifically within the South African context – and its many unexamined assumptions concerning “expected” identities of psychologists – specifically, those along heterosexual and able-bodied lines. By engaging in an autoethnographic conversation, the two authors, both “other”, practising psychologists – one queer, one disabled – share and reflect on some of their experiences of feeling othered in their chosen profession. Drawing on parts of queer theory, critical disability literature, as well as the theoretical framework of biopolitical power, we start to make sense of our experiences of difference, deviance, and defiance. How the field of psychology marginalises “other” psychologists, and the impacts on those who bear the oppressions, is exposed; and a conversation is begun in which the discipline's assumptions around compulsory forms of identity – straight, not disabled, among others – are disrupted in productive ways

Aesthetics · Context (archaeology · Conversation · Deviance (statistics · Disability studies · Discourse analysis · Discursive psychology · Epistemology · Feeling · Identity (music · Psychoanalysis · Queer · Sociology · Communication · Disability Rights and Representation · Feminism, Gender, and Sexuality Studies · Gender Studies · LGBTQ Health, Identity, and Policy · Philosophy · Psychology · Social Psychology

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