Cultural constructions of the mentally ill in South Africa: A discourse analysis, part one

Abstract

This article analyses Zulu constructions of mental illness, as according to Zulu Psychology Masters Students from universities in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, by means of Foucauldian Discourse analysis. Analysis of qualitative interviews highlighted the complexity surrounding mental illness and psychology within the Zulu culture in South Africa, and revealed various cultural constructions of the mentally ill and psychopathology that have not previously been researched. Elucidated cultural constructions of the mentally ill included constructions of the ill as a contagious diseased state; a threat to peace; a deviant; a vagrant; and a non-social being and non-functional. These constructions placed the mentally ill at the lowest strata level within society. Historically rooted discourses of the black South African’s fight to be resilient, and the philosophical idea of ‘Ubuntu’, intersect with these constructions of the mentally ill. Furthermore, the constructions of the mentally ill are impacted by rural and urban geographic location. Also explored is the discourse of the Zulu mentally ill’s oppressed subject position as the ‘mad’ and black. These elicited constructions and discourses of the mentally ill within Zulu communities, in South Africa, provide a basis for vital future research into the cultural relativity and nosologies of mental illness within the South African context, and wider African context.