The life of Beyers Naudé: a psychobiographical study

[摘要] In the South African context there have been individuals who have made remarkablecontributions to the anti-apartheid struggle and towards the establishment of the democraticsociety we live in today. Their 'finished lives' warrant closer investigation to uncover whatthese persons may have to teach South African society (or societies at large) today. Dr BeyersNaudé (1915-2004) was such a figure. He was born of Voortrekker stock into the Afrikanerelite, but he vehemently opposed apartheid and became one of the heroes of the anti-apartheidstruggle and made a significant contribution to contemporary South African society. Althoughmuch has been written on the life and work of Naudé, none of the literature adopts a specificpsychological focus and no psychobiographical study of the life of Naudé exists. As such,Naudé was selected for this study by means of purposive sampling.Naudé's life history was uncovered in this psychobiography through the systematicand consistent collection and analysis of life history materials. Data were collected from bothprimary and secondary sources of life history materials. Psychobiographical research isqualitative research that involves the investigation of unique and 'great' lives as well as theinvestigation of the lives of contentious or controversial figures. This is achieved through theapplication of formal psychological theory to the life history of these individuals.Psychobiographical research may investigate the origin, development and nature of constructssuch as psychological strenghts, optimal wellness and coping. This is referred to as aeugraphic approach in psychobiography as opposed to the pathographic approach inpsychobiography which focuses on psychopathology. This psychobiographical study mayalso be described as eugraphic in nature.The aim of the study was to explore and describe Naudé's holistic wellness and faithdevelopment. A framework consisting of a wellness model and a faith development theorywas employed in order to 'uncover' Naudé's wellness and faith development over his lifespan.The wellness model employed in this study was the Wheel of Wellness (Myers et al., 2000;Witmer and Sweeney, 1992) and the faith development theory employed was Fowler's FaithDevelopment Theory (Fowler, 1981). Alexander's (1988) indicators of saliency andMcAdams' (1996) approach to investigating life stories were employed to identify salient dataor themes that were investigated in this study. Furthermore, conceptual frameworks ormatrices were also presented to organise data, integrate findings and guide the presentationand discussion of findings. The frameworks were derived from the historical periods in Naudé's life, on the one hand, and the theoretical perspectives of the Wheel of Wellnessmodel (Myers, Witmer & Sweeney, 2000; Witmer & Sweeney, 1992) and the FaithDevelopment Theory (Fowler, 1981) respectively, on the other.Findings in this study regarding Naudé's holistic wellness indicated that he was ableto successfully negotiate the life tasks as outlined by the Wheel of Wellness model throughouthis lifespan. These were spirituality, self-direction, work and leisure, friendship and love.Findings also indicated that Naudé progressed through all the stages of faith developmentproposed by the Faith Development Theory and reached a very mature level of faithdevelopment, namely, universalising faith. Furthermore, findings also suggest that bothNaudé's holistic wellness and faith development were influenced by personal experiences,societal forces (life forces) and global events.This study provides a positive demonstration of the value of the Wheel of WellnessModel (Myers et al., 2000; Witmer & Sweeney, 1992) and the Faith Development Theory(Fowler, 1981) to describe the holistic wellness, on the on hand, and faith development, on theother, over an individual life. Additionally, recommendations are made for future researchemploying the psychobiographical research design and methodology to uncover the lives of'great' and enigmatic or contentious and controversial personalities.

[发布机构] University of the Free State