What a momentous day it was meant to be.
With a beautiful sunrise full of life and generosity,
Ushered in by the warmth of our tropical homeland,
And the purity and serenity of a sunday morning.
Waking up full of optimism and a quiet sense of victory,
Despite the shuttering verdict that your affliction was irreparable,
Here I was, fortified by the faith that life could not be so harsh,
To deprive me of your nurturing arms and maternal love.
This was the day when the agony was meant to come to an end.
Inspired by the thread of life that you had so valiantly held on to,
You were being steered to a place of survival and renewed hope,
A miracle in the making, in the midst of an abysmal nightmare.
Slowly, the devices that your body had painfully endured,
Were taken away, as you laid asleep, ready for your next battle,
Your dedication to staying with the living, unbroken and unwavering,
Even though the angels were waiting patiently behind the door.
Suddenly, the alarm bells started ringing and panicking,
As your heart beat seemed to lose control and composure.
And without any warning, the angels gathered around you,
Your heart once so vibrant, slowly coming to a standstill.
There I was, rushing in the sun to catch your morning smile,
To hold you in my arms whilst recounting the evening’s tales,
But as I drew closer to you, all I met were solemn faces,
Looking away, as if unable to witness the extent of my despair.
Staring into those empty eyes, dark clouds started gathering,
In the confines of my mind, as words became unnecessary,
To expose the truth of the miracle that was never meant to be,
And the victory of your bravest and most painful sacrifice.
A sacrifice so gruelling to make, a life cut short so abruptly.
Your friends, your home, your pets, your books, your walks,
Your children, your grandchildren, your dreams, your future,
All left behind without one final hug, one final goodbye.
In the face of this unfathomable and irreversible tragedy,
I kept pondering on how lonely and terrified you must have been,
And I could not help but wonder why you did not wait for me,
To hold your precious hand during your ultimate journey.
In the quietness of the morning, my heart broken into pieces,
I saw your tortured features turning into a peaceful smile,
I felt the weight of your agony being lifted off your shoulders,
And the pain you could no longer bear, dissipating into thin air.
Gently, I nestled in the warmth of your bosom and soft embrace,
Striving to memorize every inch of love from your lifeless body.
And from the depth of our souls, as you started fading away,
You gave me the heartbreaking courage to say goodbye.
NOE, 31/01/2024
(Poem written in memory of my beloved mother, Anne-Marie Ocran,
who passed away on 30th August 2015.)
A new lease on life
As a new month begins, I smile at yet another year,
And welcome with grace and humility this renewed lease on life,
Where I can continue to grow whilst trying to unravel,
The mystery and purpose of my existence on earth.
There have been times when my heart and my soul have been shaken,
When my most intimate dreams and aspirations have remained unfulfilled,
When the most enduring friendships have been unexpectedly shattered,
When the promise of eternal love turned into betrayal and indifference.
There have been moments when the thought of living became unbearable,
When the innocence of childhood gave way to the brutality of adulthood,
When life once so vibrant and joyful turned into darkness and silence,
When my beloved ones started fading away into my most treasured memories.
But despite the turmoil, life keeps showing how generous it can be,
As I navigate through the intricacies of the different roles assigned to me,
As a daughter, a sister, a friend, a spouse, an aunt, a woman,
And most significantly of all as a mother of two precious human beings.
In times of solitude, I have been embraced by unwavering companionship.
In times of self-doubt, I have been elevated by the angels in our midst.
In times of despair, I have encountered unconditional love and faith,
That have reminded me how privileged I am to have been born on this day.
And even though the road ahead sometimes feels wary and terrifying,
Even though the art of living can be a treacherous roller coaster,
I remain utterly inspired by the beautiful legacy of my ancestors.
A legacy of endurance, compassion, creativity, spirituality and love.
A beacon of light which will continue to illuminate my path
And awaken in me new dreams and new beginnings,
That I will strive to accomplish with fortitude and gratitude,
To ensure that my passage on earth will not have been in vain.
NOE, 1.10.2023
Where is our humanity?
I do not know how it feels to live in exile without a country to return to.
I do not know how it feels to live in a refugee camp or to be displaced.
I do not know how it feels to live in a place where war and destruction is an endless reality.
Yet this is the dreadful fate of millions of human beings in many parts of the world,
Whose anguish, suffering and agony I cannot even begin to measure.
I have never experienced the horrors of oppression and persecution.
I have never experienced the horrors of segregation and deprivation.
My assumption was that such atrocities had been relegated to the history books.
And that freedom, equality and human dignity were our collective moral compass,
As we strive to live in peace and harmony on this earth where we all belong.
I am neither an expert on war crimes nor a human rights specialist,
But I can recognize that unbearable crimes against humanity are being committed.
That wars are being waged and justified under the pretence of self-defence,
With vulnerable children, women and men being massacred without any form of remorse.
Symbols of history, culture, education and religion irreversibly obliterated.
And as the carnage and decimation of human lives unfold right in front of our eyes,
I try to understand if there is a difference between resistance and terrorism,
If there is a difference between collateral damage and war crimes,
And I wonder if ethnic cleansing should be considered more tolerable than genocide.
And as the powerful debate whether to bring these atrocities and bloodshed to an end,
I observe in anguish the helplessness of the institutions supposed to protect humanity,
As we are told that certain aggressions are more legitimate than others,
That the death of a thousand justifies the slaughter of tens of thousands more,
That the suffering of one people deserves more sympathy than the suffering of others.
I try to wrap my mind around the insanity and absurdity of this conflicting narrative.
So I ask myself whether the elimination of millions of Native Americans was not enough,
Whether the decimation of the indigenous people in Australia was not enough,
Whether the transatlantic enslavement and massacre of millions of Africans was not enough,
Whether the atrocity of the Jewish Holocaust had not been the turning point of humanity.
How can the oppressed of yesterday become the oppressors of today?
How can bombs, bullets, captivity and humiliation become the solution to achieving peace?
How can economic interests, political gains and personal crusades become the chosen agenda?
Whilst justice, equality and dignity beg to be acknowledged as the only viable solution.
Is it even worth trying to make sense of what we are witnessing?
The simple truth is that humanity continues to be polarized and ruled by deeply rooted biases.
Biases related to our birth place, our ethnic affiliation, our religious faith or the colour of our skin.
And so we dehumanize, equating human beings to animals, bastards and dangerous predators,
Whose only salvation is oppression, captivity, destruction and eradication.
Yesterday, my African ancestors were the victims of such prejudice.
Today, it is Palestinians in Palestine, Rohingyas in Myanmar and many more,
Who are bearing the brunt of silence, injustice and prejudice.
Let us rediscover our humanity as we stand with the oppressed, the vulnerable and the forgotten.
Let us embrace the values of compassion, fraternity and equality for all,
To ensure that no human being will ever again be the victim of our inhumanity.
NOE, 13/12/2023
Neither black nor white: the dilemma of being biracial and the impact of an imposed identity.
“I do not have borders. I do not belong to a race. I am at home everywhere without ever being in the right place. My only country is me; my only love is you. You, who is different, and yet so close to me.” Gaël Faye, Métis
As the battle against systemic racism finds a new awakening and we all collectively delve into and try to move forward from some of the darkest areas of the history of mankind, notably the transatlantic slave trade, colonialist exploitation and segregationist policies, I felt a certain yearning to explore my biracial identity as a contribution to these incredibly significant and redemptive societal issues.
Many will say, and rightly so, why do we even feel the need to discuss about the colour of our skin? Or why do we even differentiate each other by the colour of our skin? This would be in an ideal world where the colour of the skin or the country of origin would have no resonance nor significance when it came to matters of justice and equality. Unfortunately, it is a fact that we still unconsciously and indirectly perpetuate the racial divide by naturally attributing colour to our social and racial beliefs. For example, we often juxtapose in a humorous way the qualities and the weaknesses of different ethnic groups. A case in point is the universally acknowledged belief that Africans are naturally talented dancers as compared to white people who are often described as having poor dancing skills. And very often such racial beliefs are somehow planted into our sub conscience that we do not even realise that we are biased when we shine a light, during casual conversations, on the supposed weaknesses, strengths and differences of human beings, based on the colour of their skin or their ethnic origin. And whilst this may all seem innocent and rather funny, there are as we all know other unconscious prejudices that are more humanely demeaning and intellectually intolerable. And although I have encountered, experienced and sometimes participated in some of these beliefs, I am extremely grateful about the consciousness and education I have gained from those experiences.
My parents met in Paris in the 1960s. My father was a young black Ghanaian medical student and my mother, a young white French lady was studying languages. I do not have an in-depth knowledge of the mentality and atmosphere in France during that time but I believe it is safe to assume that as a country which was still battling against the wave of independence running through its former African colonies, the mindset of the French people towards the African continent and its population was perhaps still very ambiguous with racist and paternalistic undertones. After all, this was a country which had been an active contributor to the slave trade which lasted for over 400 years and a country which had been one of the most prolific colonial powers of the 20th century.
And as their bond and love grew stronger with time, they knew that they were embarking on a journey of cultural and social resistance and antipathy. Although mixed couples were not openly rejected, mixed marriages were still an unconscious taboo or an uncomfortable situation in most families on both sides of the isle. Indeed, my parents’ union was met with concern from both families. My father’s Ghanaian family, expressed their concern with regard to the cultural gap and inadequacies that they perceived would exist between their son and the French woman he loved and had decided to marry. The concern run even deeper within my mother’s French family who could not fathom marrying their daughter and sister into an African family and potentially see her relocating to such a distant and unknown part of the world, Africa. Yet despite the fear of the unknown and the unconscious prejudice, my parents overcame those cultural boundaries, married in 1973 and relocated to Ghana in 1975 after the birth of their first child, my big brother.
I was born in a little town on the south western coast of Ghana, Sekondi, in 1977 and I spent most of my childhood and early teenage years in Ghana. Adapting to my biracial identity has been a lifelong dilemma which started at a very young age. Being mixed race was like a scar that you carried with you everywhere you went due to the narrative surrounding people like us in Ghana or in anglophone countries for that matter. Strangely enough, the term typically used to describe black and white mixed-race children is “half caste” which actually is another way of saying half pure. Indeed, the word “caste” originates from the Latin “castus” which means pure whilst its Portuguese and Spanish derivative “casta” means race. Hence, when you are already identified as half of a race, you are repeatedly reminded of your difference and of the fact that you do not fit into the natural realm of humanity. Being biracial is an extremely complex identity to carry as you inherently become the synthesis of the struggles, contradictions and beliefs that are carried by people from two very different socio-cultural worlds and belief systems, even more so when both worlds carry such a deep divide and disparity based on their historical evolution. As a mixed race, you can never fully relax, enjoy the different experiences that come your way and just be. You are constantly plagued by a feeling of inadequacy for not belonging fully to one or the other culture and for always wondering whether your thoughts, your beliefs and your actions are in adequation with one or the other world that you carry in you. Undeniably and inevitably, there are moments when you feel more in tune with one identity rather than the other or you feel more protective of one identity over the other, whether black or white. And then, based on the different relationships you forge as you grow, as well as your inner perception of the experiences you are going through, you are naturally swayed between both identities because of the emotional and psychological implications of your experiences.
Growing up and living both in Ghana and in France was rocked with its ups and downs, alternating between exciting experiences but also formative trials and tribulations, simply due to the exceptional privilege and contradiction of being biracial. Indeed, the paradox of being biracial is that in a predominantly white country, you are considered black because of the brownness of your skin and the darkness of your hair. Likewise, for exactly the same reasons, due to the fairness of your skin, biracial children in a predominantly black country, in Ghana in this instance, are usually considered as “white” kids or otherwise known as “obroni”. Therefore, simply because of the different shades of our skin colour based on the lenses you choose to look from, our ethnic identity becomes imposed on us from a cultural and historical perspective to the detriment of our natural quest to determine our own identity. And although this could be described as a very interesting sociocultural pattern, it also carries the risk of igniting a potentially sore identity crisis for those of us on the receiving end.
My childhood in Ghana was, in all honesty, a rather inspirational journey, albeit certain persistent prejudices which with hindsight were perhaps not as hurtful as what other black or biracial children may have experienced growing up in a predominantly white society. As a child, I was first inclined into embracing my white identity as I was closer to my mother and my French cultural heritage. I assume it is a natural occurrence for children to be closer to their maternal heritage in terms of language, cultural and even culinary habits. Even though, we lived in Ghana, we always spoke French at home, we travelled regularly to France to visit family and generally our lifestyle was much more western might I say than African. Furthermore, as previously mentioned, I also identified more as a white child based on the societal discourse which identified people like myself as being white although it came at a certain cost. Indeed, there was always the constant staring, the name calling, the singling out when we found ourselves in unfamiliar public places with little children gathering around us as if we were extra-terrestrial beings just because we were fairer than the norm. I understand that these excited reactions usually came from a place of innocent enthusiasm and curiosity. And even though, I would relate to the children by speaking “fante”, one of the Ghanaian Akan languages, in the hope that it would suddenly make me become less conspicuous, my efforts often proved futile. Such was the price to pay, a price that could sometimes be quite nerve-racking due to the stress of having to deal with that conspicuousness on a constant basis.
Nevertheless, despite the daily awkward reminders of my difference, I enjoyed growing up in Ghana. I loved our sunday trips to the beach, some of the most beautiful beaches in this world. I felt very much at home in my neighbourhood and loved playing outdoors with the children living within the vicinity. That is actually how I learnt to speak “fante” without much effort nor encouragement. My brother and I were always outside playing football with children from all walks of life or social background. I used to enjoy being invited to neighbourhood friends’ homes to eat all those tasty local Ghanaian dishes. I often wondered whether being biracial opens up your taste buds to different types of food because I have always loved both Ghanaian and French cuisine indiscriminately. And although my mother tried very hard to cook Ghanaian dishes, it was never as nice as in other people’s homes. It was always a big celebration at home when my aunties would cook and bring us locally made dishes. I loved visiting my grandmother in the family house in Cape Coast where we were always treated with the utmost care and reverence by family members.
Paradoxically, being biracial and being fair in Ghana also came with a number of privileges. For example, as most little girls, I was very attracted to the beautiful and artistic hair styles that could emerge from our afro and kinky hair and always wanted to have my hair braided. But unfortunately, most little girls in schools were not allowed to have braids and were usually forced to cut their hair short. The assumption was that keeping long hair or braids was a waste of precious time that could be used more effectively in reading and studying. And yet, surprisingly, my long hair and my braids were always deemed “acceptable” on the basis of my white heritage. And that is how I navigated through my primary school education with long hair and braids, totally oblivious to the fact that I was being positively discriminated, whilst my fellow Ghanaian sisters had to cut their hair. When it came to the end of year Christmas play at school on the birth of Christ, I was always the one picked to play the role of Mary, the mother of Jesus and my brother was always the angel announcing the birth of Jesus. And the only tangible explanation for me was that in most people’s minds, in terms of colour, my brother and I were perhaps the ones that fitted the closest the narrative and the imagery that accompanied biblical stories. There were also these recurring gestures such as being appointed as the class prefect or being treated preferentially at social gatherings or sports events, etc. But now, with hindsight, when I think of all these special treatments, I cringe within at the thought that I naively contributed to maintaining a certain form of racial difference and inequality which obviously had no reason to be. At the time, I was just happy to oblige and never gave it any second thought that perhaps other children may secretly have wanted to be Mary or the angel or benefit from all the apparent privileges that we seemed to have based on the colour of our skin. Unfortunately, that was how things were and might actually still be.
Retrospectively, I think I understand better why some children and even some teachers were particularly unfriendly towards me during those times. I also understand why during our secondary school years in boarding school in Ghana, my brother and myself were often unnecessarily bullied or targeted to carry out unpleasant chores even though it was common practice for junior students to be bullied. I assume that was one way for the senior students to ascertain their superiority over us and to let us know that we should not think that our fairness or our mixed heritage gave us any diplomatic immunity or cause for preferential treatment. They were probably unconsciously rebelling towards a status quo that they considered unfair and discriminatory. For me personally, such moments often led to a mixture of anger, pain and frustration during which I would cry out of hatred for being different. That was sometimes a heavy burden to carry and there were times when my only wish was to be back home within the confines of my protected environment. I will never condone the bullying nor the name calling nor the unnecessary targeting because I did not choose to be who I was nor did I ever set out to establish any form of privilege or superiority for that matter, but with time and acquired maturity and insight, I have learnt to comprehend and empathise with the thinking behind the sometimes callous behaviour and prejudice.
It is a privilege as a mixed-race person to have the opportunity to live within the two cultures that compose your identity. That is a privilege I am deeply grateful for as it has helped me gain an enhanced sensitivity about racial prejudice. Living in France as a teenager and a young adult was a continuation of the inspirational journey that has been my experience to date. It was also perhaps the time in my life when I really embraced my African identity because, once again, I felt instinctively identified as such. Although, the biases were perhaps more subtle, they were probably more hurtful and offensive. I guess I had been through the mill and I could understand the discrepancies that would sometimes come my way simply for not fitting within the norm. One such experience was my first English class in an international secondary school in France. There were two classes for English language: the higher level and the intermediary level. I had initially been put in the higher level based on my background and the fact that I was coming from an English-speaking country where I had been educated according to the British curriculum. And yet without giving me the benefit of the doubt, the British teacher thought that the level might be too high for me in that class and decided that I would be better suited in the intermediary level because I appeared to be quite timid and reserved. Obviously, I had just arrived from Ghana and I was quite intimidated as the only biracial person in the class amidst French, British and American students who all happened to be white. Indeed, I may have seemed pretty out of context in that class but I do not recall having lost my English speaking or writing abilities to justify being sent into a class meant for non-anglophone speakers. Till date, I still remember this incident as one of the most humiliating moments of my life. As a child, I had never actually perceived whatever prejudices that came my way as racism but in that particular instant, I went through a violent awakening of the fact that for the first time, I was perhaps being considered less capable academically just because of my African heritage.
With regard to this particular incident and with hindsight, I cannot categorically affirm that the teacher had been prejudiced against me. Genuinely, there may have been other more rational, less dramatic and valid reasons behind the teacher’s decision. Nevertheless, I could intuitively sense that in that specific moment her judgement had been clouded when it came to her assessment of my academic abilities. And at that time, as a young girl, trying to adapt to a new cultural and geographical environment, far away from the comforting presence of my parents and friends, it was a massive blow to my enthusiasm, my self-esteem and my already complex and unresolved identity. I remember fighting very hard against the tears that were welling up in my eyes whilst gathering my belongings and walking to the other class which happened to be in a totally different building almost as if I was being ostracised and isolated even further. And although the other English teacher was very nice and very accommodating, I remember that coming from a place of roaring pain and hurt pride, I knew that I had to prove to the teachers that I was as good in English if not better than all the students in the other class. Needless to say, that within a week, I was back to square one, once it had become obvious that I was indeed worthy of being in the English higher-level class. This will forever remain my most treasured memory of the unconscious biases that prevail in society, that people may be carrying knowingly or unknowingly and for which we must all be enlightened in order to collectively reduce the hurt, the shame and the damaging impact those biases have on people who are different.
On a regular basis, as I lived in France, there were always anecdotical reminders here and there of my dual identity and the fact that I was a biracial person. The complexity and the difficulty behind these perceived subtle discriminatory instances are the fact that there may actually be no hidden agenda nor deliberate intent to be prejudiced by some of the people you meet or interact with but you are never fully confident or comfortable that certain behaviours are not racially motivated. For example, there were those shops in which you would enter and be made to feel that you were not really welcome or were followed round every step you would take. But actually, it could just be the shop’s policy to follow all the customers around and obviously, there are always grumpy shop attendants who are not particularly friendly with anyone that enters their shop for that matter. There were those moments sitting on the bus or in the waiting room of the GP where you felt nobody wanted to sit next to you, although people usually welcome the first empty seat they can find. But it is also true that not everyone, including myself, is comfortable with proximity with a stranger on a bus or any public place, regardless of the colour of their skin. And perhaps, genuinely those people preferred to stand rather than sit but you were never too sure. There were also those moments when you are randomly but rather “often” stopped at the train station or at the airport to show your papers for security reasons whilst others seem to be sailing through without a worry in the world. And whether you are in Ghana or in France, you really feel very lonely in those peculiar moments when you do not want to over interpret and over intellectualise whatever experience you are going through but you still need a high dose of humour and emotional detachment to be able to brush off those moments as inconsequential for you as a human being and for your self-esteem.
Nevertheless, and just as in Ghana, I remember my life in France with a lot of fondness and fantastic memories. My student years were the most fun-packed, inclusive and vibrant years of my life during which I met the most tolerant, passionate, humble and mindful people. I have forged strong and lasting ties with people from all walks of life. People, who do not see colour as a distinction or as a way to alienate. I have fond memories of vacations with my family in France where we were introduced to the simple pleasures of going hiking, skiing, nautical sports, etc. These were very exciting and different experiences for my brother and I. And obviously, coming from a developing country, the exposure and access to such diverse cultural, educational, artistic and technological activities opened up my mind and my senses to a larger world of exceptional human progress. And interestingly enough, regardless of any unpleasant incident I may have experienced, I always felt less conspicuous in France or in Europe for that matter. As a person of colour, you can rather comfortably walk down the streets or any neighbourhood without being singled out or name-called, for being different. It truly is an enjoyable and peaceful feeling to be able to blend within the masses and just be yourself without having to worry about your identity.
Of course, through this journey of life as a biracial person, there have been several identity crises when I was very uncertain of who I really was or who I could comfortably be without any room for confusion or interrogation. There were periods when I really felt more French because I felt it was easier and more accommodating to be French. Just as there were episodes where I felt that my French identity carried too much historical negativity which led me to want to be identified as a Ghanaian. Those feelings and beliefs, which are an honest manifestation of our blended identity and humanity, may appear inadequate or ridiculous but the truth is that our feelings and beliefs are constantly being filtered, questioned, reinterpreted in order to be able to be comfortable and accepted within both worlds as a complete entity and not as half of one and half of the other. And this is why, until today, unlike others before me, I am unable to identify as black or as white, because I truly feel that I am actually neither one nor the other. I am the result of generations of black and white men and women, who navigated through their own personal stories and struggles and who eventually broke the ethnic and cultural boundaries to create a more diverse and inclusive world.
Finally, and to conclude this very long personal testimony, I would like to point out that all the emotions both positive and negative that may have transpired through my narration, have truly been blessings and lessons in disguise that have helped shape my racial consciousness and understanding of the prejudice that is pervasive in all societies. And as a mother of two children, I am extremely conscious of the fact that any personal insecurities or unresolved issues I still have, based on my dual identity, will definitely transpire in my parenting abilities and the values I pass on to my children. Which is why I never share my own experiences with my children because I do not want them to be influenced by what is after all very personal experiences albeit being probably shared by many other people. It is important for them to build their own identity based on acceptance, integration, compassion and understanding of the fact that we are all one regardless of our colour or ethnic origin, neither superior, nor inferior and all worthy to be part of humanity….
The inconsistency of human relations
“There are few people whom I really love, and still fewer of whom I think well. The more I see of the world, the more am I dissatisfied with it; and every day confirms my belief of the inconsistency of all human characters, and of the little dependence that can be placed on the appearance of merit or sense.”
Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice
As was so poignantly written by Jane Austen in her masterpiece of English literature, Pride and Prejudice, I have in these last few months come to a heightened awareness of the unpredictability and complexity of human nature. How can human relations change so suddenly from being pleasant and friendly to being hateful and discourteous? One day, you are interacting positively with someone and the next thing you know, you are being ignored, judged or criticized on matters which you either have no idea about or issues that could simply have been resolved through communication and conciliation.
The complexity of human relations started daunting on me at a very tender age. As a child from a mixed racial family, I was raised in a fairly balanced environment where I thought respect, humility and empathy were common values that were shared universally. Unfortunately, I got to learn too early that my faith and expectations about the gentleness of human nature were simply unrealistic. I still remember those girlfriends in primary school, who took pleasure in tormenting me or other sensitive souls by constantly auctioning and bargaining their friendship. Indeed, one day they would be your best friend and the next day without any tangible or relevant reason, they would become your worst enemy. I also remember those teachers who only knew how to teach and educate using very callous methods and ended up instilling fear and anger in us. There were also those random moments when I would be teased and rejected just for being different because of my mixed racial background. All those daily experiences were already bringing some insight about the unpredictability of human behaviour and the pain that can ensue from that.
As I grew up into a more realistic and balanced view of interpersonal relations, I realised that in order to survive, I had to learn to navigate through the volatility of human behaviour. I used to have a rather monochromic view about the nature of human interactions. It had to always be kind, decent and virtuous. There were no shades of grey, no room for treacherous and unempathetic behaviour. I always questioned how people could be so self-absorbed, arrogant, heartless and spiteful. I knew that we could have different backgrounds and different perspectives on issues but I still always held on to the fact that we could always thrive to find a common ground by tapping into our shared human values and aspirations for a more just and kind world.
My conviction had always been that our education, our upbringing and our life experiences shaped us into the complex emotional beings that we are. Hence, my assumption was that when one came from a battered childhood or an underprivileged community, it was very difficult to relate to the values of compassion and kindness. I could understand that populations that had been deprived of their basic human rights and liberty could find it difficult to adhere to the concepts of peace, respect and gratitude. It is indeed beyond reasonable to expect that people who have suffered and continue to suffer would find the inner strength to respond to callousness with gentleness, to hatred with love and to aggression with understanding.
By opposition, my belief was that people from a relatively balanced, educated and healthy background could not be found wanting in terms of graciousness and mindfulness. I struggled to understand when human behaviour was geared towards generating pain and anxiety. I could not come to terms with the fact that God fearing people could humiliate and reject a fellow human being based on their self-righteous reasons. Again, I found it difficult to accept that people of experience, maturity and exposure, faced with the complexity and carelessness of human behaviour, would fail to rationalise and self-introspect and rather choose to be guided by false assumptions, misconceptions and a misguided ego.
It has been a long journey, but I am beginning to accept the fact that it is all about expectations. We all have expectations based on our personal understanding of the world and how relations should be governed in any given circumstances. Obviously, we are all unique and we all function, act or react according to our biological set-up, our upbringing and experiences and our personality. Understandably, we all have varying levels of emotional intelligence, psychological challenges, empathetic abilities and resilience. And therefore, it is indeed an illusion and completely unrealistic for me to expect from everybody the same level of grace, sympathy, thoughtfulness and mercy.
I am also beginning to understand that when a person is aggressive and behaves unreasonably towards us, it is not always because of our actions but rather because of the person’s own fears and fragility. Wickedness and arrogance do not come from a place of contentment and serenity. They come from a place of turbulence, failure, pain, anger, frustration and resentment. Who has never been in those spaces of distress, disappointment, anger and failure? I think we can safely assume that we all navigate within those spaces all the time be it in our family, educational, professional and social settings. Due to the negative emotional baggage that we sometimes have to carry, we may not always be able to take a step back in order to display a more rational, respectful and gracious behaviour when life pushes us to the confines of our emotional capacities. Furthermore, psychological disorders can also significantly impair a person’s emotional and social capabilities. Indeed, an individual can appear to be very confident and yet be suffering from extreme anxiety. A person may be very funny and yet be battling with depression. These borderline psychological and personality traits can lead to emotional and social disengagement compounded with the disregard for other people’s feelings and emotions. This causes not only pain for the person suffering from the disorder but for all the people that come into contact with that person.
Consequently, as Jane Austen wrote, there will always be an innate “inconsistency of all human characters” because that is the foundation of human nature. There is no consistency in human behaviour. If we were to hold on and be guided by our expectations, we would constantly be disillusioned. We all go through trials, tragedies, illnesses, disappointments, and failure. We are all wired differently and we all have different levels of tolerance towards pain, towards sorrow, towards anger, towards incompetence, towards ignorance, towards foolishness, towards prejudice, towards insecurity, in a nutshell, towards the imperfection of our humanity.
Nevertheless, regardless of our imperfections and psychological challenges, I still believe we are all born from a place of emotional purity and we come to this world for a purpose. To grow, to learn, to connect, to love, to share, to empathise, to appreciate and to help each other make our journey as human beings worthwhile. Because after all, in the end, what really matters when we look back and try to make sense of our existence? Where do our reflections lead us to? Do we ask ourselves how many people we have hurt in our lifetime? Or do we ask ourselves if our existence was of any value to humanity? I have not been to the end of the road yet, but by witnessing the passing of my beloved parents, my instinct tells me that in the end, we all try to make peace with our humanity and we encourage those that we leave behind to be more mindful, respectful and compassionate towards other human beings.
And this is why, based on this personal conviction, I would love to advocate for more love and generosity in this world. Let us always strive to be caring and merciful to one another. Let us always have the courage and the humility to put ourselves in the other person’s shoes so as to understand where we may have faltered and why they may be reacting in contradiction with our expectations. Whatever situation we find ourselves in, even if we are confused, hurt or uncertain of how to react, let us always try to choose gentleness and moderation over callousness and indifference. Whatever decision we may be faced with or whatever conviction we may have, let us endeavour never to deliberately hurt, reject or destroy another human being’s feelings because in so doing, we are destroying ourselves and the essence of our humanity. And if only we could be patient and willing to choose the light over darkness, we would be surprised to observe the impact, the redemptive power, the healing nature and the magical difference that we can bring to someone’s life and to our own lives……
Notes of a mother on homeschooling
It has been two peaceful weeks of a well-deserved break from home-schooling with the children. And surprisingly, I am feeling quite excited about resuming school although I know that we will still be stuck at home. I am more than aware that we are going to have to dive into a frantic race against time to read, decipher, understand, prepare, recite, add, multiply, divide, draw, write and respond to. And even though the last few weeks were extremely hectic and sometimes painful, I look forward to the start of a new chaotic school week.
This is probably the first time the sound level in my house has been so high with all the screaming, crying, door slamming and nervous breakdowns. I finally understood the meaning of « pulling one’s hair » out of frustration when I had to explain for the umpteenth time how to identify a fraction on a graduated line or how to transform a fraction into a decimal number. Or when we spent hours and hours trying to understand and master all the computer based tools being used by the teachers only to realise in horror after a few days that we had missed out most of the information and instructions and that we had not done half of the work that was expected.
I have lost count of all the emails that I wrote to the teachers to express my frustration regarding lessons and exercises that I could not understand myself and the children even less obviously. “They should be able to work autonomously”, the teachers would say. Seriously! Not my kids! This was a totally imaginary and inconceivable concept for them. A new concept that they were not willing to embrace without putting up a fight. Every five minutes, I would hear, « mummy » and when I would pretend not to hear, I would see them appearing to ask for an explanation on things I did not even have a clue about.
But then, little by little, I put a hold on my bad mood and my frustrations. I decided to trust the teachers, my children and myself. I took the time to sit down with my children and I jumped into the confusion of grammar with its complicated tenses, i.e. past perfect and imperfect, subjects, verbs, attributes of the subject, complement of object, adjectives, agreement according to gender and number, etc. I rediscovered with as much antipathy graduated lines, fractions and decimal numbers. I tried to decipher algorithms in Physics and I enjoyed explaining the nature and the function of different types of signals such as scent, light and sound. I can’t even describe the relief when after one, two, three hours, I could finally see the sparkle in my child’s eyes saying: Oh mummy, I understand now!!!
I learnt about the etymology of words and reread with a lot of enthusiasm stories about the heroes of Greek mythology. I still remember the nightmares I had as a child after reading about the snakes on the head of Medusa. I witnessed the birth of the Republic and of democracy in Rome and I had an interesting debate with my child about the advantages and disadvantages of modern-day agriculture. And when it came to the process of leaf decomposition in science, I can’t even tell you how many hours were spent juggling between germicides, fungicides, sterilized soil, fungi, bacteria, worms, fragmented but non decomposed leaves to understand why, when and how….
I finally understood what it means to work according to a child’s rhythm. How many times did I not hear, “mummy, I am tired” even though we had just started working! Oh! And I have to mention what a rude awakening it was for me to see their handwriting. They just write spontaneously, without putting capital letters or full stops! The sentence starts on a straight line and ends up on another line either above or below! Naïvely, I had assumed that such a way of writing was a thing of the past. Well I was so wrong! And if you have the privilege to have a dyslexic child, you cannot imagine the incredibly creative words and phrases that you come across. Honestly, I had to dig really deep into my emotional capacities to be able to handle all these surprises with patience, empathy and tolerance.
I am ashamed to confess but I tore some of their pages. I even had them rewrite entire lines to keep their notebooks clean. You probably will say that I am too much of a perfectionist or that I am overdoing it and that I should let them be because they are still young. Unfortunately, that is the only way I have found to teach them how to be better organized and careful with their things. Of course, it did lead to a few yells and anger outbursts. And yet despite the rage and the tears, you should see the pride and joy on their faces when they discover the amazing feedback and comments from their teachers regarding their work.
That is why today, I am looking forward to the start of a new school week and to spending more engaging time with my children. But don’t be misled. Despite the enthusiasm, I do not have the pretence to say that everything is perfect or that I have found a new passion and developed new skills in terms of education. Of course, it is still very difficult. And I know there will still be tears and irritation on my side. Neither am I saying that I am a great teacher. My explanations are often disjointed and mixed-up. I see it in their eyes. A combination of confusion and anxiety. “My God, how am I going to tell mummy that I did not understand what she just explained without her getting angry.” Sometimes, I don’t even know whether I should laugh or cry.
But I try to do the best I can. This home-schooling requires a lot of sacrifices and effort. I have no idea what my children are retaining from my teaching. Maybe nothing much after all. The future will tell. At least I hope they will remember the positive moments that we had together. But ultimately, what makes me happy today, is that my children are becoming more independent and autonomous as the weeks go by. Each day, I see them becoming computer gurus. And even though it is destroying all my efforts to limit their usage of screens and tablets, maybe it is not that bad after all.
I am learning more about my children with their strengths, weaknesses and qualities. I am discovering all their subjects and educating myself at the same time as they are. And despite the frustrations, I have also learnt to laugh and to marvel at the, sometimes, silly behaviour of my children. How imaginative they can become when it comes to finding excuses not to work! Undeniably, we are creating amazing memories that will forever be etched in our minds and hearts. And when the day comes for them to go back to school, it will be with a little twinge of sorrow that I will let them leave because I know that we will probably never experience such a moment of communion and exceptional discussions again…….
Mamie Phipps Clark, a pioneering African American psychologist and social rights activist of the 20th century.
The 1940s saw the rise of the Black civil rights movement in America. Civil rights activists were fighting to change the racist and segregationist nature of American society (Pickren & Rutherford, 2010). In this context, social psychologists became more involved in helping address the negative impact of racial prejudice. The Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues (SPSSI), was created in 1945 with the aim of promoting social action and social change for a more equal society (Benjamin, 2007).
Mamie Phipps Clark (1917-1983) was an African American social psychologist who devoted her life to researching, defining and supporting Black American mental health (Lal, 2002). Born in the Jim Crow southern state of Arkansas, she was educated in segregated schools until she went to Howard University in Washington D.C where she obtained a Masters in Psychology. She had been convinced to study psychology by Kenneth Clark, then a graduate student in Psychology, and who later became her lifelong husband and professional partner. Mamie Phipps Clark’s initial areas of research were in child developmental psychology (Reynolds, 2018)
Despite being considered intellectually inferior as a black woman, she became the first African American to obtain a PhD in Psychology from the University of Columbia, under the supervision of Henry Garret, an openly racist academic. This was the era of scientific racism, where the underlying belief in the superior intelligence of White people had informed the institutionalised racial prejudice against Black people (McNeill, 2017). Her research on child development, racial identity and self-concept sought to combat those racist postulates and prejudices and set the foundation for her lifelong battle to improve the lives of African American children during the 20th century (Reynolds, 2018).
The Dolls Test was her most impactful work in the field of Psychology. With her husband, they sought to evaluate racial preferences of children between the age of 3 to 7 years in segregated schools. The children were presented with four identical dolls, the only variation being the skin colour. The white dolls were viewed positively whilst the black dolls were associated with negative characteristics. These results published in a thesis entitled “The Development of Consciousness of Self in Negro Pre-School Children” provided evidence that black children, as early as 3 years, simultaneously developed an awareness of their racial identity and a negative self-image (Ring, 2010). Her findings were subsequently used by the National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People (NAACP) in their fight against segregation and contributed to the historic landmark decision by America’s Supreme Court (Brown v. Board of Education, 1954) which ruled that segregation was unconstitutional and generated “feelings of inferiority” (Ring, 2010, pp.30).
As a black woman with a PhD, Mamie Phipps Clarks described herself as an “unwanted anomaly” in a white male dominated society. After a number of unproductive professional experiences, she opened with the support of her husband, the Northside Centre for Child Development in Harlem in 1946 which aimed at providing psychological and educational support to Black children and other minority children. The Centre still exists today and continues her legacy. To use social psychology to end the stigma and pain associated with dark skin colour and for the advancement of social justice (Karera, 2010).
REFERENCES
Benjamin, L., T., (2007). A brief History of Modern Psychology, (2nd ed), Hoboken, Wiley
Karera, A., (2010), Profile of Mamie Phipps Clark. In A. Rutherford (Ed.), Psychology’s Feminist Voices Multimedia Internet Archive. Retrieved from http://www.feministvoices.com/bonnie-strickland/
Lal, S., (2002), Giving Children Security, American Psychologist, Vol. 57 (1), 20-28, Doi: 10.1037//0003-066X.57.1.20
McNeill, L., (2017), How a Psychologist’s work on Race identity helped overturn school Segregation in 1950s America, Retrieved from https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/psychologist -work-racial-identity-helped-overturn-school-segregation/
Pickren, W., E., & Rutherford, A., (2010). A history of modern psychology in context: incorporating social, political, and economic factors into the story, Hoboken, John Wiley & Sons, Inc
Reynolds, M., L., (2018), Meet Mamie Phipps Clark, the social psychologist who helped outlaw segregated schools, Retrieved from https://massivesci.com/articles/science -hero-mamie-clark/
Ring, D., A., (2010), Clark, Mamie Phipps. In D. Jacques, J. Jorgensen & P. Kepos (Eds.) Contemporary Black Biography, Vol. 79, 29-31, Detroit, MI: Gale. Retrieved from http://link.galegroup.com.salford.idm.oclc.org/apps/doc/CX4053200017/GVRL?u=salcal2&sid=GVRL&xid=f2a88e46
How Ivan Pavlov’s research on animal behaviour contributed to the emergence of Behaviourism….
Since the advent of Psychology as a scientific discipline, various schools of thought such as Functionalism, Structuralism, Psychoanalysis and Behaviourism have shaped the study of the mind (Bernstein, 2011), the central question being whether human behaviour is a result of consciousness and mental processes or whether it is learnt through interaction with the environment and perceived external stimuli (Banyard, Dillon, Norman & Winder, 2015).
The study of externally acquired behaviour, Behaviourism, which dominated Psychology from the 1930s to 1950s, gradually emerged in the early 20th century in opposition to introspection which was becoming increasingly questionable due to its lack scientific rigor (Bernstein, 2011). One of Russia’s most iconic scientists, Ivan Pavlov (1849 – 1936), was instrumental in promoting a more scientific and objective approach to studying behaviour (Pickren & Rutherford, 2010). Initially destined to priesthood, Pavlov developed an interest for natural sciences, largely influenced by evolutionary theories. He studied medicine and physiology and spent all his academic career in St. Petersburg as a Professor and researcher in Physiology. Pavlov lived through the Russian revolution, Leninism and Stalinism. He did not hesitate to criticize these authoritarian regimes and human rights violations, but due to his prominent scientific stature, he continued to receive unwavering financial support for his research (Windholz, 1997).
Although Pavlov was a physiologist, his research permeated into the psychological realm and more particularly in the field of learned behaviour. His interest in Psychology was influenced by Ivan Sechenov, the father of Physiology in Russia and a strong proponent of using experimental physiological methods for psychological research (Pickren and Rutherford, 2010). As an evolutionist, Pavlov carried out his research through comparative studies between animals and humans. His initial research on the digestive process of dogs earned him a Nobel Prize in Physiology in 1904 (Windholz, 1997). Through his research, Pavlov discovered that dogs which normally salivate when seeing food, could also salivate before seeing the food based on another stimulus (Benjamin, 2007). He explored his discovery further through what became known as “classical conditioning” by repeatedly pairing an unconditioned stimulus (the food) with a conditioned stimulus (the sound of a bell). He was able to establish that the manipulation of environmental variables/external stimuli could produce learning and impact on the dogs’ behaviour such that they began salivating in response to the sound alone without even seeing the food (Pickren & Rutherford, 2010).
Until his death, Pavlov pursued his research on acquisition and modification of behaviour. He believed that behaviour was “formed by numerous stimuli that impinge on the senses and then enter the cerebral cortex where these, meet, collide, interact and ultimately are systematized, balanced, and so to say, end as dynamic stereotype” (Windholz, 1997, p. 943). He also theorised that behaviour was the result of a careful balance between cortical excitation (behaviour activator) and cortical inhibition (behaviour mitigator) based on the environmental demands (Windholz, 1997).
Pavlov’s works influenced psychologists such as James Watson and Burrhus Frederic Skinner, the pioneers of Behaviourism. They argued that since behaviour was the result of systematic learning and training, behaviour could therefore be conditioned and controlled (Banyard et al, 2015). Behaviourism led to the development of therapies, such as systematic desensitisation, for the treatment of behavioural disorders (Wolpe & Plaud, 1997).
REFERENCES
Banyard, P., Dillon, G., Norman, C., Winder, B., (2015). Essential Psychology, (2nd ed), London, SAGE
Benjamin, L., T., (2007). A brief History of Modern Psychology, (2nd ed), Hoboken, Wiley
Bernstein, D., A., (2011). Essentials of Psychology (5th Ed.). Wadsworth: CENGAGE Learning
Pickren, W., E., & Rutherford, A., (2010). A history of modern psychology in context: incorporating social, political, and economic factors into the story, Hoboken, John Wiley & Sons, Inc
Windholz, G., (1997). Ivan R. Pavlov: An Overview of His Life and Psychological Work, American Psychologist, Vol. 52 (9), 941-946
Wolpe, J., & Plaud, J., J., (1997). Pavlov’s Contributions to Behavior Therapy: The Obvious and the Not So Obvious, American Psychologist, Vol. 52 (9), 966-972
How Alfred Binet’s multifaceted view on Human intelligence shaped our contemporary approach on intelligence testing…
Until the late 19th century, Psychology was practiced primarily in academic settings for research purposes. To ensure its sustainability and prove its usefulness, psychologists began to advocate for the application of psychology in areas that could benefit society such as mental health, industrial practices, psychotherapy, etc. (Benjamin, 2007). Mental testing and the exploration of individual differences in intelligence was one of the first areas of applied psychology. One of its most enlightened contributors was Alfred Binet (1857 – 1911), a French Psychologist.
Alfred Binet was not a conventional academician and he was never fully acknowledged by his peers during his career as a psychologist. Binet developed an interest in human behaviour by observing his daughters who exhibited very different and intriguing personality and intelligence traits (Parot, 2011). His views were largely influenced by the philosophical doctrine of Associationism which posited that mental and behavioural processes were formed by association of different elements and events. Binet had a short but rich professional career, largely sponsored through his personal funds, during which he was able to pursue his research interests on the diversity of human behaviour and intelligence. He created a scientific review, “L’Année Psychologique”, still in existence today, which publishes articles in various fields of applied psychology (Parot, 2011). In 1894, he was appointed director of the newly created Laboratory of Physiological Psychology at the Sorbonne University where he stayed until the end of his career in 1911 (Pickren & Rutherford, 2010).
The study of differences in intelligence started with the British psychologist, Francis Galton (1822-1911) around the middle of the 19th century (Pickren & Rutherford, 2010). Galton, a Eugenicist, believed that intelligence was hereditary and advocated for the reproduction of a superior class of human beings (Banyard, Dillon, Norman & Winder, 2015). In opposition to Galton and similarly to the American psychologist, Lightner Witmer (1867-1956), Binet believed that intelligence came in various forms, had individual specificities and could not be summarised into figures. However, he recognised the need for identifying those differences in order to adapt to everyone’s abilities. Based on that, he produced series of tests to help provide a comprehensive picture of a person’s aptitudes. He developed the concept of mental level to measure and compare a child’s intellectual development as per the standardised age-related solving capacities (Shaffer & Kipp, 2014). He believed that developmentally delayed children could improve their intelligence and abilities through cognitive exercises that he termed as “mental orthopaedics” (Pickren & Rutherford, 2011, p.130).
Binet’s revolutionary contribution came in 1905 when he developed with another colleague Theodore Simon, upon the request of the French government, the first metric scale of intelligence coined as the Binet-Simon Scale to help detect children with lesser intellectual capacities. The findings of this scale would help educationists develop effective pedagogical tools and curricula for all children including those with special educational needs (Banyard et al, 2015).
Unfortunately, Binet did not live long enough to defend his professional achievements. After his sudden death in 1911, the Binet-Simon scale was revised and used extensively, particularly in the US. Further adaptations of the Binet-Simon scale led to the development of Intelligence Quotient (IQ) tests that are used today to help children and adults in their educational and professional endeavours…
REFERENCES
Parot, F., (2011). France. In Baker, D., B., (Ed). Oxford Handbook of the History of Psychology: Global Perspectives (pp. 228-254), Oxford Library of Psychology, New York
Banyard, P., Dillon, G., Norman, C., Winder, B., (2015). Essential Psychology, (2nd ed), London, SAGE
Benjamin, L., T., (2007). A brief History of Modern Psychology, (2nd ed), Hoboken, Wiley
Pickren, W., E., & Rutherford, A., (2010). A history of modern psychology in context: incorporating social, political, and economic factors into the story, Hoboken, John Wiley & Sons, Inc
Shaffer, D., R., & Kipp, K., (2014). Developmental psychology: childhood and adolescence, (9th ed), International Edition, Australia, Wadsworth, CENGAGE Learning
How the theory of Evolution paved the way for the development of modern Psychology….
The emergence of modern Psychology, as practiced and studied today, was facilitated throughout history by different theoretical movements such as philosophy, physiology (medicine), the theory of evolution and psychological observations and practices. (Pickren & Rutherford, 2010).
Understanding the human mind and the way we think (premises of Psychology) has been a subject of reflection since as early as the 4th century BC. Aristotle, the Greek philosopher, wrote about the Psyche (Human soul) suggesting that all living beings had a soul but he acknowledged the superiority of humans who had a rational soul which made them capable of using their intellect. (www.wikipedia.org) That was the beginning of Philosophical Psychology.
In the 18th century, physicians such as Robert Whytt and William Cullen suggested through experimentation that the mind and the brain were connected and impacted on the physical actions of the body. Based on these postulates, which gained further grounds in Europe throughout the 19th century, Psychology as an empirical science gradually came into existence. It’s starting point is attributed to Wilhelm Wundt, a German Physiologist who created the first experimental psychology laboratory at the University of Leipzig (Germany) in 1879, with the objective of studying consciousness through introspection. (Bernstein, 2011).
Regardless of all these theoretical influences spanning over several centuries, it is the theory of Evolution attributed to Charles Darwin (1809 – 1882), which seems to have had the most significant impact in the development of modern Psychology. Darwin’s theories on natural and sexual selection, adaptation and the laws of nature set the foundations for understanding human and animal evolution and behaviour (Pickren & Rutherford, 2010). For evolutionary psychologists, human behaviour is a result of the evolutionary adaptation of human beings to their environment through the process of natural selection of physical and/or mental viable attributes (Downes, 2018). Evolution also provided a framework used in developmental psychology for understanding the different stages of human development and highlighted developmental differences and capacities in human beings which led to the emergence of different psychological approaches to address the diversity of populations.
Evolutionary psychology became the tool to understand the modern human mind and psychological processes within the evolutionary history of mankind (Lieberman & Haselton, 2009). In clinical psychology for example, it served as a possible explanation on how psychological disorders could be the result of sexual or environmental mismatches (Buss, M. D., 2009). It came to explain how modern-day fears and phobias such as spiders and snakes were most likely inherited from our ancestors. (Lieberman & Haselton, 2009).
Nevertheless, for many researchers, grounding human behaviour and psychological processes solely within an evolutionary perspective is restrictive and incomplete. It negates the contributions from other scientific and social disciplines in accounting for human behaviours and fails to acknowledge that human variations and/or adaptations may be culturally and socially driven (Downes, 2018).
Hence, whilst the theory of evolution provides a wealth of insight into modern psychology, it cannot be the only theoretical foundation for understanding human development and psychology……
REFERENCES:
Bernstein, D., A., (2011). Essentials of Psychology (5th Ed.). Wadsworth: CENGAGE Learning
Buss, D., M., (2009). Darwin’s Influence on Modern Psychological Science, Psychological Science Agenda, Science Briefs on Evolutionary Theory and Psychology. Retrieved from: https://www.apa.org/science/about/psa/2009/05/sci-brief.aspx
Downes, S., M., (2018), Evolutionary Psychology”, The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Edward N. Zalta (ed.), Retrieved from: https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/fall2018/entries/evolutionary-psychology/
Lieberman, D., & Haselton, M., (2009). Darwinian Psychology: Where the Present meets the Past, Psychological Science Agenda, Science Briefs on Evolutionary Theory and Psychology. Retrieved from: https://www.apa.org/science/about/psa/2009/05/sci-brief.aspx
Pickren, W., E., & Rutherford, A., (2010). A history of modern psychology in context: incorporating social, political, and economic factors into the story, Hoboken, John Wiley & Sons, Inc
Wikipedia (2018). Aristotle. Retrieved from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aristotle#Soul
Conversations with myself 