The Psychology of Black Identity

In this article, the authors examine the conceptualisation of Psychology of Black Identity as a multidimensional and a dynamic construct that develops over time through a process of exploration and commitment. The design of the current paper was a conceptual work based on reviewed literature ranging from the early 1930s to present (2010). The authors review research on Psychology of Black Identity and discuss implications of the multiple models considered by various researchers till present. The theoretical framework emanates from: self-hate paradigm, Nigrescence paradigm, Parham’s model, Helms’s People of Colour, Racial Identity Model, Manganyi’s theory of Being-black-in-the-world and Lambley’s concept of internalised racism. The authors discuss the components of Black Identity that has been studied within these models. The finding concludes that blackness is seen as troubling encounter with whiteness and encounter with racism. And that both past and present studies have a common understanding that oppression is internalised and subsequently has a psychological element. However, what is missing in literature is the focus on politics, on the history, and on economics in the troubling nature of Blackness.