About Us
Lab Overview
The Cultural Psychology in Africa Research Laboratory (CPARL) is based at the Department of Psychology, Virginia Commonwealth University. We specialize in interdisciplinary knowledge production in African settings, with the ultimate goal of highlighting and elevating African perspectives within global psychological discourse by (i) collecting original data in African settings, (ii) contributing to psychological theory development, and (iii) promoting cultural psychological models that deepen psychological understandings of how individuals within diverse African societies exist in, experience, engage with, and shape their worlds.
This specialized kind of knowledge production requires an appreciation of the extant and changing realities of data collection in developing country settings as well as expertise in behavioral science, social science, and humanistic approaches to inquiry. With a strong foundation in psychology and interdisciplinary approaches and more than 2 and a half decades’ worth of experience of collecting data in anglophone African settings (primarily Ghana, but also Zambia), and research collaborations involving researchers from other African countries (e.g. South Africa, Tanzania, and Nigeria), CPARL has a track record of engaging in culturally-sensitive knowledge production through the development, adaptation and effective execution of research protocols in diverse African samples, and the dissemination of gleaned insights in academic publications.