On becoming a psychologist in apartheid South Africa

Abstract

Clinical Psychology training is an arduous journey wherever in the world one pursues it. However, in apartheid South Africa, the experience of becoming a psychologist held its own unique challenges, especially if you were a person of Colour. This article chronicles some of the barriers and hurdles that I had to overcome in order to train as a psychologist in a country where it was almost not expected that Africans could train as clinical psychologists! The story relates some of these training experiences, as well as aspects of my life in exile in the United States, and finally some of my political and related practice experiences in the latter years of apartheid. While many of the professional training challenges that are described may surprise recent Psychology graduates, it is crucial that younger members of the Psychology fraternity are made aware of the history of their profession.

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