Dr Mvikeli Ncube

Political instability in Zimbabwe since the late 1990s resulted in a swelling of Zimbabwean political asylum seekers in the UK. Living in a developed liberal democracy may challenge traditional intimate relationship norms for both husbands and wives. A snowball sample of 30 interviews were conducted over a period of six months in 2019 with participants from Zimbabweans living on mainland UK. Our thematic analysis highlights how domestic violence predicates on cultural tensions in traditional patriarchal and liberal influences. Victims/survivors report difficulties disclosing the violence and discrimination by peers. Our findings have important implications for domestic violence interventions and those wanting to support victims.

This study investigated the psychological impact of COVID-19 on students and academics at a Higher Education Institution in the UK. Design We used critical reflective writing where ten students and ten lecturers wrote a short reflection (approximately 200 words) on their experience of the lockdown prior to the study. Inductive Thematic Analysis was selected as the preferred method of investigation to identify, analyse, and report themes from the data set. Main Outcome Measures The specific study aims were: (a) To present an empirical investigation into the psychological impact of COVID-19 (b) To explore the interplay between social isolation and mental health and (c) To examine how the affected individuals understood their experiences. Results The health impact of COVID-19 included both physiological and mental health aspects and it reflected the importance of teacher and student psychological wellbeing for teaching and learning. Conclusion The paper highlights that there is a need for psycho-social crisis prevention and intervention models tailored to support students and academics psychological wellbeing, arguing that considerations be made to adjust expectations from students in relation to progression, and staff in relation to workload.

Adopting a critical historical and philosophical approach this paper informed by a social constructionist epistemology discuss limitations of mainstream psychological assumptions and research. It problematises the historical standpoint of Western psychology narrative that suggests the present state of the discipline upholds the truth, while the past is depicted as a tale of how this truth triumphed over 'error'. In addition, the paper interrogates issues of (un)belonging, exclusion and decolonisation of methodologies to potentially improve disciplinary relevance in the global south. A broader aim of this paper is to strengthen a growing body of work on decolonisation and critical psychology. The specific aim is to enrich debates about decolonisation, epistemic justice and injustice building on from previous critical contributions in psychology within that raising questions about the role and relevance of critical psychology from the global south perspective. The paper argues that scientific knowledge is not inherently and necessarily rational, objective, and universal. It suggests that objectivity is rather socially constructed and claims for objectivity actually lead to epistemic violence towards othered peoples. (Held,2020). Therefore, all attempts at knowing and articulating psychological reality are grounded in a particular social, historical and political context. Arguments and debates engaged in this paper have important implications for academics across the globe. Our conference debates, lectures and papers can contribute to combined activisms to challenge and address oppressions that echo and reproduce colonial relations which replicate systems of power and exclusion. [for the wider globally south mostly]

This paper offers a critique of traditional psychological studies of twins. The paper highlights the limitations of mainstream psychological research, and the way that assumptions about the nature of twins which are then confirmed in the way the studies are carried out, reinforce a conventional stereotyped image of them as individuals locked in a relationship with another individual. The paper argues that twin research in psychology has invariably treated the subjects of studies as objects and as vehicles to promote social inequalities. Mainstream twin studies reinforce conventional stereotypes of a supposed 'twin similarity', thereby undermining personal uniqueness and authentic individual differences. Findings from these studies imply that this similarity is 'natural' for identical twins and so differences are 'artificial'. The studies make unsubstantiated theorising and poorly evidenced assumptions about heredity, and over-generalise claims based on ostensibly 'separated' twins, though very few of these have actually been studied. In these studies intelligence, personality and happiness are treated as innate givens, predetermined by inheritance, and social factors are routinely neglected or side-lined. The studies of 'intelligence' in these studies have perpetuated a discourse of 'twin inferiority', and thereby reinforced notions of pathology, prejudice and stigma. Twins are represented in the psychological literature on personality and social relationships as having problems with independent activity, as being socially incompetent, and as struggling in their relationships with fellow twins positioned as victims or bullies. The paper will concludes with the suggestion that social constructionist approaches, by virtue of their 'denaturalising' stance may enable us to reflect critically on constructions of twins in mainstream research and open up alternative forms of research.

My doctoral research conceptualised twin identity as a multi-layered dynamic, one that changes through performance and it explored twin identity through a social constructionist approach. A social constructionist approach dissented to address the complex nature of twin identity. I set out the background for this study, as it fits well, conceptually, with my critical stance towards mainstream psychology. Moreover, by revealing the constructed nature of psychological phenomena, this approach allowed space to be created for the construction of alternatives to the mainstream psychological research on twins. It further allowed the twins and me as the researcher to have a platform through which to question and challenge what is taken for granted in mainstream traditional psychological research about twins. In addition, while not fully using a narrative approach, my research used life narrative questions for the interviews, in order to gather material that addresses the complexities of twin experiences throughout their lives. The study seeks to map out the social construction of twin identity, through the analysis of twin accounts. The specific research aims of the study were: (a) to highlight the limitations of mainstream psychological research, and the way that assumptions about the nature of twins are confirmed in the way the studies are carried out to reinforce conventional stereotypes (b) to examine how twins understand themselves as twins; (c) to explore how twins describe their experience of being twins.

This paper will describe the background for this study of identical twins' talk about their lives, by a brief address to psychological and cultural representations of twins. I will suggest that twins are different in the way they speak about themselves, compared to what is shown in the contexts where twins are most represented, particularly the psychological literature and their representations in cultural texts. Both representations reinforce conventional stereotypes about twins, thereby serving as 'misrepresentations' of twins. The paper will then move on to role of life stories in the process of conducting this study, and the themes, often emerging in narrative forms, that came out of the study, centred on couples, identities, and being misunderstood. The paper will conclude by showing how twins' representations of themselves and their relationships work continuously to undermine dominant representations of 'individual subjects', both directly, by posing twins against 'individuals', and less directly, by articulating themes around 'similarity' and 'the couple'. Finally the paper will explore how a narrative analysis could have been applied to the life stories I used in this study.

This qualitative study, in the form of in-depth semi-structured interviews which were analysed through Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) was carried out with divorced Zimbabweans living in the UK. Their stories, presented in this paper, shed light into the interplay between migration, enculturation and divorce. A snowball sample of 30 interviews were conducted over a period of six months in 2019 with participants from across the UK (excl. Northern Ireland). Most of the respondents were middle-aged, [30-45] and all had been living in the UK for at least one year. The research revealed how enculturation tensions are associated with marriage problems, but also how male divorcees were resistant to change as the change was perceived as a threat to their masculinity, leading to conflicts and ultimately divorce. Themes regarding structural inequalities, cultural ideologies, gender and violence are explored. Our findings have important implications for social services and marriage counsellors.

Domestic violence research has increased in recent decades across a wide range of academic fields, including sociology, psychology, conversation analysis, social work, and anthropology. Some academic institutions have dedicated family studies departments, while others offer courses on topics such as domestic violence and its causes and consequences, as well as the experiences of abusers and victims, exploring aspects of control, fear, and sexual violence. Domestic violence is shown to be a reference to republican government-supported mechanisms of racial hierarchy and oppression through an examination of its visual cultural roots in the United States. Moore’s book makes an important contribution to this rapidly expanding academic subfield. Since Donald J. Trump, the 45th President of the United States, has been accused of and recorded bragging about sexual violence against women, this book may be both timely and significant. The central argument of the book draws parallels between the invisibility of slaves and their witnessing of domestic abuse and the prevalence of photographic evidence of domestic violence in courtrooms.

Adopting a critical historical and philosophical approach this paper informed by a social constructionist epistemology discuss limitations of mainstream psychological assumptions and research. It problematises the historical standpoint of Western psychology narrative that suggests the present state of the discipline upholds the truth, while the past is depicted as a tale of how this truth triumphed over ‘error’. In addition, the paper interrogates issues of (un)belonging, exclusion and decolonisation of methodologies to potentially improve disciplinary relevance in the global south. A broader aim of this paper is to strengthen a growing body of work on decolonisation and critical psychology. The specific aim is to enrich debates about decolonisation, epistemic justice and injustice building on from previous critical contributions in psychology within that raising questions about the role and relevance of critical psychology from the global south perspective. The paper argues that sc...

This paper provides a socio-cultural analysis context for those interested on the intersections of self-presentations, justifications, anxieties and mitigations political rhetoric and crime offered in their testimonies by American individuals who have committed crimes and explicitly stated that their actions were motivated by the of rhetoric of Donald J. Trump’s pollical rhetoric. Whilst adopting ideas from Braun & Clarke (2012), this paper does not claim to carry out a systematic analysis, but a critical review that lays out themes emergent from two kinds of sampled texts namely, documentaries and court cases. Twelve criminal cases were identified as meeting our selection criteria, covering crimes ranging from verbal to physical attacks. The aim is to provide a socio-cultural context in which to understand the impact of political rhetoric on the actions of individuals which may have resulted in criminal behaviours. The paper argues that through his political rhetoric, President Don...

My doctoral research conceptualised twin identity as a multi-layered dynamic, one that changes through performance and it explored twin identity through a social constructionist approach. A social constructionist approach dissented to address the complex nature of twin identity. I set out the background for this study, as it fits well, conceptually, with my critical stance towards mainstream psychology. Moreover, by revealing the constructed nature of psychological phenomena, this approach allowed space to be created for the construction of alternatives to the mainstream psychological research on twins. It further allowed the twins and me as the researcher to have a platform through which to question and challenge what is taken for granted in mainstream traditional psychological research about twins. In addition, while not fully using a narrative approach, my research used life narrative questions for the interviews, in order to gather material that addresses the complexities of twi...

My doctoral research conceptualised twin identity as a multi-layered dynamic, one that changes through performance and it explored twin identity through a social constructionist approach. A social constructionist approach dissented to address the complex nature of twin identity. I set out the background for this study, as it fits well, conceptually, with my critical stance towards mainstream psychology. Moreover, by revealing the constructed nature of psychological phenomena, this approach allowed space to be created for the construction of alternatives to the mainstream psychological research on twins. It further allowed the twins and me as the researcher to have a platform through which to question and challenge what is taken for granted in mainstream traditional psychological research about twins. In addition, while not fully using a narrative approach, my research used life narrative questions for the interviews, in order to gather material that addresses the complexities of twi...

The current paper sought to empirically examine experiences Black, Asian,Minority Ethnic (BAME) frontline workers within the NHS in West Yorkshire.For qualitative data collection, fourteen health care frontline workers recruitedvia different social media platforms, were interviewed. Each was asked at leasteight semi structured interview questions. Inductive Thematic Analysis was se?lected as the preferred method of investigation to identify, analyse, and reportthemes emergent from the data set. Specifically, the study aimed to explore thechallenges faced by BAME frontline workers during the pandemic. The studyhighlighted the negative experiences, all linked to systemic social-economic in equalities arising over decades of discrimination and bias against the BAMEcommunities. The findings have implications for health professionals and policymakers.

Political instability in Zimbabwe since the late 1990s resulted in a swelling of Zimbabwean political asylum seekers in the UK. Living in a developed liberal democracy may challenge traditional intimate relationship norms for both husbands and wives. A snowball sample of 30 interviews were conducted over a period of six months in 2019 with participants from Zimbabweans living on mainland UK. Our thematic analysis highlights how domestic violence predicates on cultural tensions in traditional patriarchal and liberal influences. Victims/survivors report difficulties disclosing the violence and discrimination by peers. Our findings have important implications for domestic violence interventions and those wanting to support victims.

ObjectiveThis study investigates the psychological impact of COVID‐19 on students and academics at a Higher Education Institution in the UK. DesignWe used critical reflective writing where ten students and ten lecturers wrote a short reflection (approximately 200 words) on their experience of the lockdown prior to the study. Secondly, transcriptions were gathered for analysis. Inductive Thematic Analysis was selected as the preferred method of investigation to identify, analyse, and report themes from the data set. Main Outcome MeasuresThe specific study aims were: (a) To present an empirical investigation into the psychological impact of COVID‐19 (b) To explore the interplay between social isolation and mental health and (c) To examine how the affected individuals understand their experiences. Results The health impact of COVID-19 included both physiological and mental health aspects and it reflected the importance of teacher and student psychological wellbeing for teaching and lea...

Around 2,000 ‘thugs’ were present and over 150 arrested were made in London boroughs during far-right protests to counteract the Black Lives Matter (BLM) protests, but how accurately was this portrayed in the news? This study used publicly available data in the form of newspapers and blog posts of the BLM protests to conduct a Foucauldian Discourse analysis of 25 articles. How authors used language is explored to conceptualise and construct the depiction of POC as more violent and prone to adopting aggressive means to resist social inequalities. Our findings indicated there is an inherent belief that ethnic minorities possess a predisposition to criminality. The examination of rhetorical constructions in the reviewed articles indicated practical implications, including the potential to highlight issues with the emergence of ‘fake news,’ but hopes to influence policy evaluations on the quality and truth of stories produced in UK and US print media.

Domestic violence research has increased in recent decades across a wide range
of academic fields, including sociology, psychology, conversation analysis, social
work, and anthropology. Some academic institutions have dedicated family
studies departments, while others offer courses on topics such as domestic violence and its causes and consequences, as well as the experiences of abusers
and victims, exploring aspects of control, fear, and sexual violence. Domestic violence is shown to be a reference to republican government-supported mechanisms of racial hierarchy and oppression through an examination of its visual
cultural roots in the United States. Moore’s book makes an important contribution
to this rapidly expanding academic subfield. Since Donald J. Trump, the 45th President of the United States, has been accused of and recorded bragging about
sexual violence against women, this book may be both timely and significant.
The central argument of the book draws parallels between the invisibility of
slaves and their witnessing of domestic abuse and the prevalence of photographic evidence of domestic violence in courtrooms.