Josephine Baker : a psychobiographical study

Psychobiographies examine an entire full life, from birth to death, with the aim of understanding the psychological development of that life. Psychobiographical research is a qualitative method of research, and is done by the use of both biography, and the application of relevant psychological theory. While the scientific merit of this type of research continues to be questioned and debated, interest in this area of research continues to grow on both a national, and international level. This particular research study aimed to explore the extraordinary and inspiring life of slave, dancer, singer, lover, soldier and mother, Josephine Baker (1906 – 1975), by applying Alfred Adler’s (1929) theory of personality namely, Individual Psychology. Josephine Baker was chosen by means of purposive sampling. The research study made use of a qualitative psychobiographical research method, which aimed to explore and describe the lived life and personality development of Josephine Baker, in terms of Alfred Adler’s (1929) theory of Individual Psychology. The data collection for this research study made use of a framework, as a means of selecting relevant data which formed a matrix, which in turn became a descriptive framework to organise and integrate the data (see Appendix A). The analysis thereof was done by the means of analytic generalisation (Yin, 1994). To assist in identifying salient data, analytical criteria namely, Alexander’s (1988) guidelines for the extraction of salient data were utilised (see Appendix B). This model also assisted in ensuring an accurate and complete description of Josephine Baker’s life in relation to the psychological theory used namely Alfred Adler’s theory of Individual Psychology. The findings of the study indicate that Josephine’s life paralleled Adler’s (1929) theory in many ways, and also indicated that the person she became was also strongly influenced by many familial, social, historical and cultural events of the time. This study has therefore shown that to date, there is still great value and relevance in Adler’s (1929) theory of Individual Psychology, even though it was proposed and developed almost a century ago. Consequently, recommendations regarding further psychiobiographical research in this area in the future have been made