Videos by Makungu M Akinyela
A seminar presented along with Dr. Marcela Polanco for the 37th Annual Marriage & Family Therapy ... more A seminar presented along with Dr. Marcela Polanco for the 37th Annual Marriage & Family Therapy Institute sponsored by the Department of Social Work at the University of Georgia, Athens (UGA), January 29, 2021. 3 views
This short talk was given to the National Educational Alliance Borderline Personality Disorder (N... more This short talk was given to the National Educational Alliance Borderline Personality Disorder (NEABPD) conference in Atlanta, Georgia in 2011. 4 views
This training video is an introduction to Testimony therapy and its four healing questions. The c... more This training video is an introduction to Testimony therapy and its four healing questions. The concepts of testimony therapy are demonstrated with a case presentation of a couple struggling with issues of connection and intimacy. 3 views
Papers by Makungu M Akinyela
The following contributions come from some of the founding and longtime members of the New Afrika... more The following contributions come from some of the founding and longtime members of the New Afrikan People’s Organization (NAPO) and the Malcolm X Grassroots Movement (MXGM): Kwame Kalimara, Watani and Ahadi Tyehimba, and Makungu and Chinganji Akinyela. Though not included in these reflections, Safiya Omari, the late Chokwe and Nubia Lumumba and Akinyele and Aminata Umoja were also instrumental to the development of NAPOs and MXGMs cadres. The following reflections illustrate the significance of the Southeast region of the territory commonly known as the United States of America to New Afrikan political organization – a terrain to which New Afrikans (Black people) refer to as the Republic of New Afrika. Each conversation outlines the history of the NAPO and MXGM, the objectives of these political formations, and their relationship to the ever-changing arrangements of global white supremacy. The authors suggest that the New Afrikan Independence Movement, though a challenge to global w...
Journal of Black Studies, 2003
This article posits that the spread of Christianity among enslaved Africans hastened the developm... more This article posits that the spread of Christianity among enslaved Africans hastened the development of a common ethnic identity among ethnically diverse peoples who were the first generations of enslaved Africans on American shores. The article focuses on this notion of Black religion as a primary source of the logic of Black resistant/resilience and as the spiritual source for the development of a collective Black consciousness. It is further argued that resistant/resilience organically developed in the process of the construction of an authentically African theology as exemplified in the document that has come to be known as "Nat Turner's confession." The author assumes that the African-Christian hybrid cosmology seen in the confession is an example of the worldview of enslaved Africans generally in the 19th century. This Africanized Christianity forms the basis for the common ethnic identity, with its motivating cultural value (self-determination) and central organ...
When damage has been done to a people, when there has been exploitation and one group has benefit... more When damage has been done to a people, when there has been exploitation and one group has benefited from this, then a key aspect of repairing the relationship between these groups are processes of reparation. Processes of reparation enable the damage that has been done to be mended and relationships to be healed. Where abuse has occurred, it is of great importance in order for healing to take place, that the effects of the abuse be fully acknowledged, and that the perpetrator of the abuse engage in acts of redress and reparation. In my experience, where this occurs there is a much greater likelihood of relationships being restored. This is true in therapeutic contexts as well as larger cultural and social contexts.
Cultural Studies ↔ Critical Methodologies, 2006
... Testimony refers to an African-centered discursive therapy related to narra-tive therapies (A... more ... Testimony refers to an African-centered discursive therapy related to narra-tive therapies (Akinyela, 2002; Freedman & Combs, 1996; White & Epston, 1990), Just therapies (Waldegrave, Tamasese,Tuhaka, & Campbell, 2003), Solution Focused therapies (Kim-Berg & Dolan ...
Australian and New Zealand Journal of Family Therapy, 2014
Journal of Systemic Therapies, 2005
... (1) a sufficiently powerful agent-stimulus to activate the emotional (spiritual) forces that ... more ... (1) a sufficiently powerful agent-stimulus to activate the emotional (spiritual) forces that the body has imprisoned, (2) a structure like song, dance, or drum that ... He explained that he had not worked because of disgust with working conditions and bad treatment by supervisors. ...
Journal of Religion, Spirituality & Aging, 2006
Although the importance of religion in family relations is well documented, the role of grandpare... more Although the importance of religion in family relations is well documented, the role of grandparents in family religious life has received less attention (Ellison & Moulton, 2003). Among African American families, many studies articulate the importance of family elders in the transmission of religious values (Rosenthal, 1985; Taylor, Jackson, & Chatters, 1997; Weddle-West, 2000). However, few studies delineate the ways African American grandparents transmit their religious values to younger family members. A description of the religious role of grandparents in African American households can inform our understanding of the religious values transmission process among ethnic families. This qualitative study describes the religious dimensions of the grandparent role in a sample of 17 co-resident intergenerational African American families. Findings show that African American grandparents provide religious instruction and guidance, model religious behavior, engage in intercessory prayer...
Http Dx Doi Org 10 1521 Jsyt 2005 24 1 5, Aug 11, 2011
... (1) a sufficiently powerful agent-stimulus to activate the emotional (spiritual) forces that ... more ... (1) a sufficiently powerful agent-stimulus to activate the emotional (spiritual) forces that the body has imprisoned, (2) a structure like song, dance, or drum that ... He explained that he had not worked because of disgust with working conditions and bad treatment by supervisors. ...
I am a therapist of African descent, born in the United States. I consult primarily with families... more I am a therapist of African descent, born in the United States. I consult primarily with families of African descent. I believe that the emotional, relationship and mental health concerns that families present to me in consultation can be best understood within the social, cultural ...
In this paper I explore the various historical approaches to understanding Black family life, str... more In this paper I explore the various historical approaches to understanding Black family life, structures and relationships in the United States over the years. I challenge the notion of Black families being perpetual victims and objects in society and posed the theory of the cultural organizing theme of self-determination as a central cultural value guiding family interactions with the larger society. I then posed the idea that resistant resilience has been a primary factor not only in the survival of Black families but in the drive toward Black liberation.
In this discussion paper I raise questions about the role of Black mental health professionals an... more In this discussion paper I raise questions about the role of Black mental health professionals and other healers in the political struggle for reparations for Africans in the United States. I present ideas about how therapists may play a part in healing memory and repairing the harm done by centuries of enslavement, Jim Crow and white supremacist violence on occupied Black communities.
Abstract
In this paper I describe and discuss the philosophy behind the Eight Bowl, Ceremony of L... more Abstract
In this paper I describe and discuss the philosophy behind the Eight Bowl, Ceremony of Life ritual developed and introduced into the Black community in the USA over 40 years ago by members of the House of Umoja. The House of Umoja was Black Nationalist political and cultural activist organization modeled after the Secret Societies of traditional Africa. This organization, also known as the Revolutionary Action Movement (RAM) Black Panther Party of Northern California was one of several Black Panther Party organizations to precede the better known Black Panther Party for Self Defense founded by Huey P. Newton and Bobby Seale. The Eight Bowl ceremony of the House is closely related to similar ceremonies based on African traditions that are maintained by religious and cultural groups in modern Africa as described by Robert E. Hooks. The meaning and performance of the ritual was handed down by word of mouth to initiates into the House of Umoja and over the past three decades hundreds of naming ceremonies, weddings, initiations funerals and other significant life passages have been highlighted by the observance of this ritual.
Using the history and experience of the human rights and social justice struggle for self-determi... more Using the history and experience of the human rights and social justice struggle for self-determination of Black people in the USA, I will discuss the importance for therapists working in oppressed people's spaces to locate their therapeutic work in the cultural context, history, experience and knowledge of the people they serve. I will contend that settler and other colonialism does not only impact the political, economic and cultural lives of the oppressed. Through cultural hegemony colonialism convinces the oppressed that even the ideas and practices of therapy and the myths and metaphors of the colonizer on which they are based are superior to the traditions, memories, stories and healing practices of the oppressed. This often means that therapists from colonized and formerly colonized people's, using therapeutic practices grounded in the culture of the colonizer unwittingly reinforce the cultural, colonial domination of the oppressed even as we seek to bring healing through our practice. I will demonstrate my own practice of engaging my own cultural myths and metaphors to seek more liberating therapeutic approaches for the people of my community.
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Videos by Makungu M Akinyela
Papers by Makungu M Akinyela
In this paper I describe and discuss the philosophy behind the Eight Bowl, Ceremony of Life ritual developed and introduced into the Black community in the USA over 40 years ago by members of the House of Umoja. The House of Umoja was Black Nationalist political and cultural activist organization modeled after the Secret Societies of traditional Africa. This organization, also known as the Revolutionary Action Movement (RAM) Black Panther Party of Northern California was one of several Black Panther Party organizations to precede the better known Black Panther Party for Self Defense founded by Huey P. Newton and Bobby Seale. The Eight Bowl ceremony of the House is closely related to similar ceremonies based on African traditions that are maintained by religious and cultural groups in modern Africa as described by Robert E. Hooks. The meaning and performance of the ritual was handed down by word of mouth to initiates into the House of Umoja and over the past three decades hundreds of naming ceremonies, weddings, initiations funerals and other significant life passages have been highlighted by the observance of this ritual.
In this paper I describe and discuss the philosophy behind the Eight Bowl, Ceremony of Life ritual developed and introduced into the Black community in the USA over 40 years ago by members of the House of Umoja. The House of Umoja was Black Nationalist political and cultural activist organization modeled after the Secret Societies of traditional Africa. This organization, also known as the Revolutionary Action Movement (RAM) Black Panther Party of Northern California was one of several Black Panther Party organizations to precede the better known Black Panther Party for Self Defense founded by Huey P. Newton and Bobby Seale. The Eight Bowl ceremony of the House is closely related to similar ceremonies based on African traditions that are maintained by religious and cultural groups in modern Africa as described by Robert E. Hooks. The meaning and performance of the ritual was handed down by word of mouth to initiates into the House of Umoja and over the past three decades hundreds of naming ceremonies, weddings, initiations funerals and other significant life passages have been highlighted by the observance of this ritual.