This paper looks at the effects of political and criminal violence on township children. It focuses on children as victims rather than perpetrators of violence, although the latter can also be said to be victims of violence.
This paper provides psychological explanations to how the violence in South Africa is not the consequence of giving too much freedom to a population 'not ready' to make good use of it but a range of various preceding factors.
The last few years of South African psychology have seen increasing debate about the link between psychology, politics and apartheid. The debate has primarily revolved around whether one can practice psychology and avoid politics. The purpose of this paper is not to further engage in this debate but to look beyond it, and isolate those factors which may inhibit the transformation of psychology and mental health in a future post-apartheid South Africa, particularly if a policy of nationalisation is adopted.
This paper looks to define torture and those that experience it. It emphasizes that torture destroys the voice of the victim, while censorship destroys the voice of those who might speak on her behalf. Torture destroys language, the contents of consciousness, the Self and the predictability of human interaction. In this way it attempts to annihilate the humanity of the victim, but at the same time brutalises the torturer and state officials involved.