International Review of Psychiatry, June 2014; 26(3): 265–278

‘I still believe...’ Reconstructing spirituality, culture and mental health across cultural divides

CLAUDE-HÉLÈNE MAYER1,2 & RIAN VIVIERS1 1Department

of Industrial and Organizational Psychology, Unisa, Pretoria, South Africa, and 2Lehrstuhl Sprachgebrauch und therapeutische Kommunikation, Kulturwissenschaftliche Fakultät, Europa-Universität Viadrina, Frankfurt, Germany

Abstract Whilst striving to create a balanced and healthy life, individuals experience challenges across their life span. Spirituality can contribute to mental health and well-being, as can cultural constructs. In South Africa, apartheid categories are still vivid, which affect spiritual, cultural and racial mental constructs and impact on the mental health of individuals across cultural groups. This article focuses on the long-term development of spiritual and cultural concepts within a selected individual in Cape Town, South Africa, during 11 years of field work. It also explores the impact of spirituality and culture on the researcher–researched relationship. A mixed-method approach was used, including various qualitative methods of data collection as well as content analysis to analyse the data and intersubjective validation to interpret them. Findings show a strong intrapersonal interlinkage of spirituality, culture and mental health and the researcher–researched relationship having a strong impact on spiritual, cultural and mental health constructions. We are not human beings having a spiritual experience. We are spiritual beings having a human experience. (Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, 1976)

Introduction In striving to create a balanced and healthy life, individuals experience challenges in their professional and private contexts. Spirituality can contribute to general well-being across a person’s life span (Seeman et al., 2003). However, spirituality is influenced by professional contexts, personal and societal structures, biographical situations, socio-historical circumstances, as well as inner and outer constructions of the self and others (Mayer, 2008). In short: it is contextually and culturally influenced and can change over time. In South Africa, apartheid categories are still vivid, which affects spiritual, cultural and racial mental constructs (Mayer, 2011), thereby impacting on the mental health of individuals and the nation as a whole. Since contemporary South African society is highly complex and fragmented with regard to global, national, local and individual influences (Albert et al., 2000), interrelated, flexible mental constructs are needed to enable individuals and groups to respond to the growing organizational and societal demands. Individuals and groups make sense of the inherent complexity through spiritual and cultural systems of meaning. Spirituality promotes mental

health by contributing to the meaningfulness of life for the individual beyond the racial and cultural divide within the society (Mayer & Viviers, 2014). This article focuses on the long-term development of spiritual and cultural concepts within a selected professional in South Africa during 11 years of fieldwork and within the researcher–researched relationship (2002–2013).

The contribution of this article The intended contribution of this article is to increase the in-depth emic understanding of the intra- and interpersonal development of an individual – referred to as L – within the embedding researcher–researched relationship. It provides findings from a longitudinal single case, exploring this individual’s concepts of spirituality, culture and mental health, their interlinkages and development in the context of his professional development and across the research span. This research aims to satisfy the need for a longitudinal, in-depth single case study on concepts of spirituality, culture and mental health within postapartheid South Africa. The purpose is to present selected long-term qualitative research findings on

Correspondence: Professor Rian Viviers, Department of Industrial and Organizational Psychology, AJH van der Walt Building, PO Box 392, Unisa, Pretoria, South Africa. Tel: ⫹ 27 82 789 2082. E-mail: [email protected] (Received 21 October 2013 ; accepted 11 November 2013) ISSN 0954–0261 print/ISSN 1369–1627 online © 2014 Institute of Psychiatry DOI: 10.3109/09540261.2013.866076

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the micro-individual level and to understand the dynamic process of spirituality, culture and mental health from an intrapersonal and emic perspective in the context and presence of the researcher. This article focuses on two research questions: 1. How have spirituality, culture and mental health been connected within the professional individual across the 11 years of research? 2. How have the concepts of spirituality, culture and mental health been created within the researcher–researched relationship? Selected theoretical approaches and contextual information are given and the methodology introduced. Research findings, a discussion, a conclusion and recommendations will be presented.

Spirituality Spirituality has become a well-recognized topic with regard to mental health research (Smith, 2002; Walach & Jonas, 2007). It has been explored in depth (Grossman et al., 2004) in terms of health, wellbeing and healing (Walach & Jonas, 2007), as well as in terms of social relationships and contextual determination (Saxana et al., 2002). Spirituality forms part of a holistic life concept and is an integral component of culture (Mayer, 2012). It is an important factor in enabling people to meet certain life challenges and changes (King et al., 2006). Spiritual belief may be influenced by context and culture, and culture and cultural belonging, in particular, may influence spiritual belief on a deeper level (Bhawuk, 2002; Eckersley, 2007). Spirituality is defined as a ‘deep, intuitive feeling of connectedness’ with the world that is dynamic and changes over time (Eckersley, 2007, p. 54). It can enable an individual to overcome the challenges associated with predetermined categories that divide human beings, such as culture or race, and can guide a person in developing a transcendent approach (Knoblauch, 2006, p. 126), to overcome separateness at work (Tourish & Tourish, 2010), and to develop wholeness (Rozario, 1997). Spirituality can contribute to the development of a positive mindset and inner peace, and therefore to the attainment of mental health (Koenig et al., 2001; Underwood & Teresi, 2002). Spirituality has often been understood to be an individual’s connection to God or to a god-like transcendent being (Knoblauch, 2006, p. 132), and can form part of religion, but is not necessarily bound to religion or religious practice (Lehtinen et al., 2005). In this article, spirituality is defined as an inner state of a ‘neuronal system without any reference to an outer, objective reality’ (Walach et al., 2009, p. 197),

and is therefore seen as an intrapersonally generated concept that reaches beyond the individual and the ego (Walach et al., 2009). It is the experienced realization of transcendent reality (Ferrer, 2002).

Culture Culture is a general, complex system that impacts on the perceptions, thoughts, feelings and actions of human beings (Bhugra & Becker, 2005). Essentialist definitions of culture are based on a primordial understanding (Otten & Geppert, 2009), viewing culture as an object that influences communication processes, highlighting cultural differences through the lens of the ‘objective’ culture, which leads to cross-cultural conflicts (Moosmüller, 2007). This view implicates that culture is static, closed and consistent (Treichel & Mayer, 2011), and that an understanding of ‘the other’ is important to avoid irritations and conflicts (Moosmüller, 2007). Many studies apply an essentialist approach, using predefined ethnic, cultural or racial classifications as criteria for studying mental health in terms of cultural belonging, the socio-economic status of cultural group members and their behaviour patterns regarding mental health (Corin, 1994). However, these studies could not clarify whether differences in health status across cultural groups are determined by the status of materialism or by psychosocial factors and culture-based perceptions (Lynch et al., 2004). In contrast, constructivist approaches to culture highlight the flexibility, changeability and dynamic process-orientation that lead to the assumption that culture is created through communication and interaction (Mayer, 2011). Culture is seen as a dynamic, non-predetermined concept that is created through (cross-cultural) communication during every moment of life (Mayer & Boness, 2004). In research on mental health, culture is often viewed in primordial ways, which relate mental health to national, (Williams & Mohammed, 2009), ethnic, cultural and/or racial belonging (e.g. Kirmayer et al., 2003). Other studies apply a cultural constructivist perspective on mental health (Wrigley, 1995) or a social-constructivist approach, highlighting the diverse constructs within cultures or cultural groups (Stewart, 2009). Therefore, the key to understanding the constructivist perspective is the contextualization (Kelly, 1955) and understanding of culture through the interaction of the actors, selfreflection, and the telling and re-telling of stories, ideas, thoughts and feelings (Niemeyer, 1995). In this study, the constructivist approach is followed, thus culture is viewed as a construct that is created through human interaction.

I still believe ... In post-apartheid South Africa, the concept of culture is often related to the concept of race (Booysen, 2007). During apartheid, identities were often created according to racial categories (Mayer, 2004). Although these categories are changing in contemporary South Africa, religious and spiritual constructs also influence cultural concepts (Mitchell & Mullen, 2002, pp. 23–27).

Mental health Through self-organization, individualization processes and feelings of self-embeddedness, life coherence is created and mental health established (Keupp, 2004). Mental health is characterized by individuals realizing abilities to cope with stress and work productively (WHO, 2005). Cultural embeddedness, social networking, meaning-making and boundary management are supporting factors enabling individuals to cope with crises and mental distress (Keupp, 2004). Spirituality has been identified as a resource of mental health (Dein et al., 2010; Ehm & Utsch, 2005; Koenig et al., 2001; Mayer & Viviers, 2014; Seeman et al., 2003) and explored in various cultural contexts (Jeserich, 2011). However, the in-depth intrapsychological interconnections of mental health, spirituality and culture have barely been explored (Klein et al., 2010). Recent research has found that managers with strong mental health have clear images and visions of values and spiritual belief systems that refer to humanistic value sets (Mayer, 2011). However, individualized spirituality that is not experienced in a social context and not connected to sociocultural determinants does not increase mental health (Jeserich, 2011). Knoblauch (2006) emphasizes that the cultural context either encourages or discourages spirituality and mental health. Specifically, if spirituality is defined as the ‘broadest and deepest form of connectedness’, a contextual and socio-cultural approach and embeddedness are needed to increase mental health (Antonovsky, 1997; Eckersley, 2007, p. 54). In South Africa, mental health has been studied extensively (Coetzee & Viviers, 2007), as has spirituality (Temane & Wissing, 2003) and culture (Kamoche, 2011) as related concepts. The majority of studies use primordial rather than constructivist cultural perspectives to explore mental health (Eckersley et al., 2001; Mayer, 2012). Some researchers believe that cultural complexity has increased in South Africa since the end of apartheid (Hart, 2002). Others have recognized the need for transforming racial concepts in South Africa (Luthans et al., 2004), particularly since the apartheid system

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has led to the rise of an internal, intrapsychological apartheid that impacts on people’s perceptions of self and of others (Mayer, 2004, 2008). Cultural values represent enhanced mental health when defined as ‘belief, hope, religion, compassion and spirituality’ (Eckersley, 2005, p. 254). Other values, such as consumerism, materialism and individualism, might lead to a decrease in spirituality and mental health and therefore to an increase in depression, discontentment, fear, anger and alienation (Eckersley & Dean, 2002; Kasser, 2002). Open, acknowledging cultures that accept spirituality as an important form of meaning-making could contribute to the construction of a form of healthy spirituality and mental health (Mayer, 2012). Recent discourses on the health-promoting effect of cultural concepts and patterns of spiritual dynamics (Klein et al., 2010) view spirituality as a potential source of meaningfulness, which has a positive influence on mental health (Schnell, 2010). This relationship between meaningfulness, spirituality and coping has been empirically emphasized (Mehnert, 2006) and is related to its general acceptance within the socio-cultural context (Huber, 2010). However, few South African studies have explored the relationship between spirituality, culture and mental health in a longitudinal, in-depth, intrapsychological manner.

Research methodology Research strategy This research is based on an inductive, longitudinal, single case study in phenomenological and interpretative paradigms, referring to constructivism (Berger & Luckmann, 2000), and focuses in particular on temporality, development processes and change (O’Reilly, 2012). The researcher returns to the field over an extended period of time, using ethnographic, constructivist and positive approaches as well as reflectivity (O’Reilly, 2012). A naturalistic approach is used with a view to understanding the phenomenon in a context-specific setting (Patton, 2002). This required an in-depth understanding of the context, the actors, the environment and the interactions, according to both historic and current perspectives, to provide insight into both the construction of socio-cultural realities and the research findings (Bryman et al., 1996). Gaining depth is viewed as a general principle of knowledge production that arises from the juxtaposition of multiple perspectives that are bound to the subjective self (Bateson, 1979). Accordingly, an in-depth understanding is created through Geertz’s (1987) approach of creating descriptions of the narrations of the participant, following levels of text reconstruction (Ricoeur, 1979, p. 253) of the interviewee’s perceptions and his

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or her reflections and narrations on the concepts, as well as the researcher’s analysis, interpretations and recategorization. This qualitative approach is based on reflexivity (McLeod, 2007), critically reflecting subjectivity and self-positioning (Mruck & Breuer, 2003) and exploring how the researcher and the researched interact with each other within the context of research (Wang, 2012). Cultural blind spots are expected in the researcher and the researched as being immanent in cultural perspectives, and the views described are relative and culturally determined (Marcus & Fischer, 1986). Cultural perspectives are addressed through cultural self-reflection and reflexivity. Research method The researcher met the researched (L) in 2001 during a research project in South Africa. L functioned as a key informant for another research study (2001–2004), and agreed to become an interviewee for this study (2002–2013). L qualified as interviewee based upon his local knowledge of South Africa, other African countries as well as cultural and religious groups, language competence, interest in the topic, and willingness to participate over a long period of time. Data collection, methods and sample A mixed-method approach was used, including indepth interviews, colloquial talks, participant observation, field notes and a researcher’s diary. Personal documents, photographs, pictures, genograms and other personal information of the interviewee as well as secondary literature were reviewed and discussed. A minimum of 10 in-depth interviews were conducted annually over 10 years. These interviews occurred face-to-face, telephonically or via Skype. The main focus was gathering data on the participant’s present thoughts about himself and his identity, life concepts, work, spirituality, culture, mental health and related topics. Every year a minimum of one field visit was conducted. Data was gathered by a German female researcher who worked in South Africa for periods of differing length over the course of 11 years. Some interviews were recorded in full to ensure precise, verbatim transcription. During others, notes were taken. Participative observation was conducted in daily life situations, at work, in leisure time, and at home. Field notes were taken throughout the 11 years, and a research diary was kept. Data analysis Data were analysed by means of the 5-step process of content analysis (Terre Blanche et al., 2006,

pp. 322–326): familiarization and immersion, inducing themes, coding, elaboration, and interpretation and checking to ensure data quality. Data were reconstructed through the intra-individual validation processes between the researcher and the researched (Yin, 2002, p. 45). Data were subsequently analysed by means of the self-reflection processes of the researcher and reflexivity regarding the relationship between the researcher and the researched. Quality criteria, limitations and ethical considerations The quality criteria that were applied were conformability, credibility, transferability and dependability (Mayer, 2011). Ethical considerations included the respect afforded to and the rights of the interviewee, the creation of informed consent, confidentiality and anonymity, and transparency. The researcher’s engagement in the participant’s daily life entailed the creation and maintenance of a cooperative and favourable field relationship (Wang, 2012). The findings presented are understood as a construct of the researcher and the researched, which is highly subjective in nature. The findings as well as possible cultural and gender-related blind spots were discussed with a South African male researcher during intersubjective validation processes (Boness, 2002). The study is limited to primary and secondary source analyses and the triangulation of theories, methods and data. It provides in-depth, long-term information on the development of one person. The findings are not generalizable in quantitative terms.

Research findings In the following section the two research questions that have been outlined, will be responded to. This article can only provide selected insights into the 11 years of research that are reconstructed by the researcher. Biographical background information L was born in Cape Town of a Capetonian mother and a Zimbabwean father. The father worked as a chauffeur for wealthy families, whilst the mother was a housewife. After L’s third birthday his father moved back to Zimbabwe and took L with him. L then grew up with the father’s sister, and adopted Shona as his mother tongue and English as his second language. The father later married a Zimbabwean woman and brought L to his own home. When L was 15 his father died, leaving him emotionally strained and battling to finish secondary school. He was sent for training to become a plumber, although he would have preferred to continue his school education or become a carpenter. He never

I still believe ... worked as a plumber, but at the age of 19 started a car dealership, buying and selling cars internationally. He got married and had six children in the following years. Through his wife he became a ‘Bible believer’, accepting the end time messages faith. He also began preaching. After nine years in the car dealership business, he opened a computer business in Botswana and worked as a self-employed architect in the construction industry. After an absence of 27 years he returned to Cape Town and moved in with his brother’s fiancée, a coloured woman with whom he had two children. He became the manager of a small-scale carpentry enterprise. It was at this point that he met the researcher and indicated his interest in this research. Perspectives on spirituality, culture and mental health How are spirituality, culture and mental health connected within the professional across the 11 years of research? (Table 1) When the researcher and L met initially, the latter was the manager of a small-scale carpentry enterprise in Cape Town. He lived with a friend, after separating from his fiancée and his two children. He was a visionary entrepreneur who was planning his break-through on the African market. L was motivated by strong beliefs. Recurring themes in interviews with L over 11 years of fieldwork were the importance of spirituality, culture and belief. His spiritual belief gave him strength and energy during the period 2002 to 2004. Although he experienced traumatic situations in his childhood and adolescence, he felt healthy and happy in his current situation. He was not connected to any religious institution, but his faith played a strong role in his entrepreneurship and in the way in which he dealt with challenges: I did not grow up being very religious. My father went to church, but we were not very religious. But after the family of my father had forced me to marry the mother of my six children in Zimbabwe, I became a member of the ‘Bible believers’. I became very religious and faithful, living strictly according to their rules and regulations. For 8 years. I also started preaching at this church in these days. When I left Zimbabwe,

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I left the church, but I still believe and it gives me strength and hope. (L, 2002) L talked about Bible interpretations for hours. During his time in Zimbabwe, his spirituality gave him personal strength. Spirituality was strongly connected to his Zimbabwean culture, which he called ‘my African culture’, referring to his Shona upbringing. In 2002 and 2003 L referred to the importance of culture in his life; he said that it opened and closed doors for him. Holding a South African passport and being born to a South African mother, he did not ‘fit into the South African society’ because: I look coloured, but do not speak Afrikaans. Some people think I am Xhosa, but I cannot speak the South African languages. I speak Shona. (L, 2002). It was not only in Cape Town, however, that L experienced cultural alienation. He had similar experiences in Zimbabwe: because I looked too fair and did not speak Shona as the others did. I always struggled. I was an outsider because of my physical features. And I was an outsider, because I was circumcised and no other of the boys was. L experienced clashes with the primordially defined culture concepts in Zimbabwe (Shona) and in Cape Town (coloureds, Xhosas), and felt unconnected with the past and the present. He stuck to culturally predefined concepts, however, which touched on Pan-African, national, racial, language and gender concepts. L seemed dissatisfied with this cultural alienation and with being an ‘outsider’ (L, 2003) with regard to apartheid categories. In business, however, he connected well with ‘white people’ and was proud of it. He explained (L, 2003): ‘This is because they enjoy that I speak English well and they can see that I am educated.’ During the period 2002 to 2003, L often referred to missing religion, but did not want to be drawn back into institutionalized spirituality (L, 2003): I still believe. I still live according to the right. However, I do not practice my religion in church.

Table 1. The years 2002–2003. Time frame 2002/2003

Profession Manages small-scale carpentry enterprise

Private situation

Spirituality concept

Culture concept

Sharing a flat with a friend

Belief in the Bible and end time messages faith: strong belief, but not church bound

Primordial concept: African, national, racial, language, gender

Mental health Energetic, strong, mentally healthy, feels guided and directed, connected

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Table 2. The year 2004. Time frame 2004

Profession

Private situation

Spirituality concept

Culture concept

Mental health

Becoming an entrepreneur

Living in own flat attached to workshop

Belief in the Bible and strong spiritual faith, but not church bound

Primordial concept, between the South African categories of coloured and black, with a ‘white network’

Visionary, connected, guided, healthy life-style (spirit), but also worried, depressed, disconnected (culture)

But I still believe it is true what they say and what I have preached (Table 2).

His faith helped him to overcome the cultural clashes and discrimination he experienced regarding his language deficits in Afrikaans and Xhosa.

connected, happy and fulfilled. When he spoke about cultural issues, however, he seemed worried, depressed and disconnected from himself and others, and exhibited mental distress (Table 3). Through strong relationships with his ‘white network’ (L, 2005), L was given the opportunity to visit friends in Germany and bought machinery for his business. He attended a trade exhibition and came into contact with international companies in the furniture industry, where he felt at home, accepted and welcomed. His visit to Germany unsettled his self-concept and his strong Christian end time messages beliefs, which became less important as he became more involved in trade and capitalism. Reading about German history, he recalled the Jewish roots of his maternal ancestors. In an interview after his return to South Africa he concluded:

People think I am putting on an attitude. They think I feel superior, because I speak English fluently ... and because I am working with whites. However, the blacks feel I am betraying them, because I work well with whites.

I went to various historical sites in Germany, and I sympathized with the victims of the Second World War. You know that my mother’s family was Jewish, my surname still is. I felt very connected to the victims. (L, 2005)

In 2004, L began to doubt his life-style choices in terms of cultural belonging. He worked with white people, but experienced a lack of cultural belonging in his relationships with white colleagues. He mentioned in several interviews (L, 2004) that cultural gaps can be overcome by means of a strong spiritual faith, but recognized that his former church in Zimbabwe was ‘only black’. Therefore, for him spirituality seemed to be connected to (primordial) cultural or racial categories. When L spoke about his spiritual faith, he was energetic, engaged,

For the first time, L felt that his Jewish background created a newly recognized bond with his mother. He felt connected to his Jewish roots and therefore also to his coloured relatives. This connection was stimulating and reassuring to a limited degree, however: on the one hand the discovery of ‘being Jewish’ (L, 2005) helped him to feel connected to his mother’s family; on the other hand it connected him to the ‘Jewish victimization’. He projected this collective, historical victimization onto himself, which made him feel victimized as a Shona-speaking South

L decided to leave his managerial position to build up his own enterprise (L, 2004), and became aware of a higher, spiritual power guiding him, enabling him to feel mentally strong, connected and confident: I know, I can do it. I build up my own workshop and start my own enterprise. Why should it not work? I feel it is the right time now. And I think I am guided well and I will get all the support I need from God.

Table 3. The year 2005. Time frame 2005

Profession Managing small-scale carpentry business

Private situation

Spirituality concept

Living in own flat attached to workshop

‘I am Jewish’

Culture concept

Mental health

Primordial concept: international businessman, part of the international community, Jewish ‘colouredness’, black Christianity, opposing ‘the Germans’

At home, accepted, welcomed (international business community) Disorientation, confusion, uncertainty regarding faith and cultural belonging, feeling victimized in religious, cultural circles, ‘betrayed, abused’

I still believe ...

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Table 4. The year 2006. Time frame 2006

Profession

Private situation

Spirituality concept

Culture concept

Mental health

Closes down enterprise

Returns to Zimbabwe, reconnecting with Zimbabwean family

Reconnects with Bible believers and end time beliefs

Primordial concept: racially and ethnically defined

Loses positive self-concept; depressive, frustrated, disconnected, angry

African in Cape Town. Instead of connecting to the positive, spiritual aspects of Judaism, he felt victimized, oppressed, evicted, abused and betrayed. He felt a strong connection to an evicted religious minority, whilst he seemed to have completely abandoned his Christian beliefs. It seemed as though his fatheroriented identity as a Zimbabwean Bible believer now gained a counterpart in his mother-oriented identity as a Jewish South African. His inner brokenness and feelings of being torn between Zimbabwe and South Africa, father and mother, Christian and Jew, black and coloured, perpetrator (father) and victim (mother) made him feel uncertain, depressed and frustrated. His visit to Germany therefore became a major life experience that had a negative impact on his mental health; his strong essentialist concepts of culture and religion and of how to see and interpret the world left him with various dilemmas that he could not solve, and he was uncertain about the meaning of his existence. He interpreted German history, the violence of the Nazi regime and the guilt of ‘the Germans’ and German society by means of a primordial culture concept, defining ‘German culture’ as cruel and disrespectful and not taking the historical and temporal dimensions into account (Table 4). At this point L lost his positive attitude and regarded himself as a victim of apartheid (L, 2005/2006). He became aggressive when talking about ‘racial issues’ (L, 2006), and held onto primordial culture concepts. He refused to reflect on cultural issues or any attempts to deconstruct the reconstruction of ‘being an outsider’ (L, 2006), and felt excluded on multiple levels: as a Jew, a South African, a Zimbabwean, a Shona speaker and coloured without language competence. Mentally he felt increasingly depressed, frustrated, angry and disconnected (L, 2006). This inner turmoil led to him closing down his enterprise. He rejected working with whites and felt guilty about having ‘betrayed’ blacks by connecting with whites and adopting their life-style.

In June 2006 he reconnected with the end time messages church in Cape Town, which brought him in contact again with the Zimbabwean family he had left 12 years before. He explained that he had found his way back to his church, to his ‘black spirituality’ and to his Zimbabwean family, which seemed to give him new strength and a new direction in life (L, 2006) (Table 5). He still harboured a lot of anger interlinked with temporary disorientation, however, in his efforts to regain his former spiritual faith. For several months, he refused to communicate with the researcher. Only in early 2007 did he re-establish contact with the researcher: I was in Zimbabwe. My wife is still there. My kids are all fine and alive. My wife is a good wife. She waited for me all the years. She still goes to church. We reconciled and she forgave me for leaving her. The church reunified us. I am happy. Although L claimed that he was happy about his reconnection with his family and his spiritual reawakening and appeared to be more stable, he looked depressed and sad. When asked why he had returned to Cape Town, he replied that he had his own life in Cape Town. In terms of his spirituality, L was back in the end time messages belief system. The Jewish religion seemed to have been completely forgotten. Towards the end of 2007 L’s preferred topic of conversation was the nearing apocalypse, which caused him mental distress. This mental distress had a strong impact on L’s work life and his attitude to work. He found a job as a security guard. In his leisure time he read the Bible. In December 2007 he moved back to his fiancée and two children in the coloured township (Table 6). During 2008 L’s interest in the Bible seemed to dissipate. He now focused on learning ‘Xhosa – to better connect to the black people in Cape Town’.

Table 5. The year 2007. Time frame 2007

Profession

Private situation

Spirituality concept

Has closed down enterprise

Returns to Cape Town, to coloured family

Belief in end time messages faith, destruction of the world, sins

Culture concept Primordial concept:

Mental health Depressive, frustrated, disconnected, angry, ‘end of world’

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Table 6. The year 2008. Time frame 2008

Profession

Private situation

Security guard, later courier driver

Living with coloured family

Spirituality concept Reconnects with Bible believers and end time messages beliefs; strong end time belief

He had completely broken with his ‘white network’ as well as with his reunified family in Zimbabwe. Tired of his job as a security guard, he found a job as courier driver (L, 2008): I am driving now. The funny thing is that on a Sunday I drive some people to the church. They are all Zimbabweans. They invited me to join them. But I refrain to do so. I have my own belief and do not want to join any other. And I prefer not to be too much with Zimbabweans. L did not want to reconnect with his faith and his Zimbabwean culture, emphasizing his preference for English. He reconnected with internationalism and felt more settled then during the previous three years. When he received regression funds from the South African government, he developed a positive attitude, began generating new ideas and was more confident about his future (Table 7). In 2009 he split up with his fiancée and moved into a ‘shelter, a place for homeless people’ (L, 2009). Spirituality and culture were no longer discussed. Here he came into contact with people from various cultural backgrounds who were all unified by poverty and hardship. He explained (L, 2009): I am concentrating on my licence now. That is all that counts. I need to get a proper job. I am okay, not good, not bad. I just live (Table 8). During his year at the shelter, L passed his driving tests and was employed by a bus company on a longterm basis. The job came with health insurance and

Culture concept

Mental health

Primordial concept: English-speaking, language

Regains confidence, ideas, positive attitude, focus on vision and opportunities

membership of a retirement fund. He felt that he had finally achieved a secure place in South African society, and was proud and contented to be ‘a driver as my father was. I thought this would never be possible for me in this country’ (L, 2010). Cultural and spiritual issues were not discussed during interviews conducted in 2009 and 2010 (Table 9). At the beginning of 2011 L felt strained and had developed chronic back pain, serious depression, fatigue and tinnitus. The situation at the shelter was very difficult, and he accepted the offer of a Zimbabwean family to rent a room in their flat in a black township (L, 2011). He was not happy in his new home with ‘the Zimbabwean family in the black township’, but he explained in June 2011 that ‘They are good people, going to church.’ L claimed that people in the township regarded him as a ‘foreigner’ because he was living with Zimbabweans. He felt he was South African and spoke in a derogatory way about ‘foreigners’ in South Africa, particularly about Zimbabweans. L re-established the importance of his primordial culture concept by talking disrespectfully about Zimbabweans whilst forgetting that this was part of his own background. He felt entirely South African. When confronted about his father’s background and reminded that he had spent 30 years in Zimbabwe, he laughed without comment (L, 2011). Through the primordial, excluding culture concepts, L seemed to stabilize his self-concept (Table 10). During the period 2011 to 2013, L established himself as a bus driver in the company. However, he felt that he was being mistreated by the company due to ‘being black in a coloured area’ (L, 2012). He

Table 7. The years 2009–2010. Time frame

Profession

Private situation

2009/2010

Courier driver

Moves to a shelter

Spirituality concept Of no importance

Culture concept

Mental health

Primordial concept: belonging to ‘the homeless’

‘Neutral mood’ – ‘I just live’

Table 8. The year 2010. Time frame 2010

Profession

Private situation

Spirituality concept

Becoming a bus driver

Lives in a shelter

Of no importance

Culture concept

Mental health

Primordial concept: belonging to ‘the homeless’

Proud, positive, contented

I still believe ...

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Table 9. The year 2011. Time frame 2011

Profession

Private situation

Spirituality concept

Employed as a bus driver

Renting a room in a ‘black township’ and lives with a Zimbabwean family

Of no importance

lodged several grievances and had to appear in court cases against the company that he won, but he still felt mistreated and ‘excluded from the promotion system’ (L, 2012). He felt victimized, defining himself as black in a coloured area, thereby reaffirming the racially and regionally classified categories of apartheid (L, 2012). During interviews he admitted to disliking his job, the routine and his superiors, and felt pressurized by the rules and regulations of the company. Spirituality, religion and/or the church were unimportant to him during this time. He had positioned himself as a Shona-speaking South African who was not part of the coloured majority in the Western Cape. Again he experienced victimization on the job, but this time not from white or black colleagues but from coloured colleagues (L, 2013). He projected his anger towards Zimbabweans and coloureds, not realizing and reflecting that he might be portraying and disrespecting those parts of his own identity that he had not come to terms with onto members of selected cultural groups by re-establishing primordial concepts of culture. In his job L felt ‘bored of driving the same way every day several times.’ Driving the same loops over and over again was a metaphor for his mental loop, reinforcing his inner strife. During the last selfinitiated interview in September 2013, L expressed himself as follows: ‘I feel very bad. Very depressed. I do not know where I am going. It is like I would almost say that life is completely without purpose and I do not know what I actually live for.’ In 2013, L felt mentally exhausted, disoriented and without purpose. His spirituality had decreased drastically, and his primordial culture concepts had become more entrenched.

Culture concept

Mental health

Primordial concept: described as being ‘a foreigner’, ‘I am South African’

‘Not happy’, strained, chronic back pain, serious depression, fatigue, tinnitus

The reconstruction of themes between the researcher and the researched How were the concepts of spirituality, culture and mental health created within the researcher– researched relationship? The concepts of spirituality, culture and mental health were topics that were shared and developed by the researcher and the researched across the period of 11 years. At the first meeting between the researcher and the researched, both felt like ‘foreigners’ in South African society. The topic of ‘being home away from home’ was shared as a common ‘research topic’. Both were building up new projects – the researcher the research itself, and L his entrepreneurial project. Whilst the researcher aimed at studying selected aspects of South African society, L was interested in gaining deeper insights into topics of culture and identity. The (white European) origin of the researcher made it easy for L to connect with her. The researcher became ‘part of the white network’ of the researched, for whom it was easy to connect with ‘whites’. The fact that they both felt foreign to a certain extent created a bond between them, which they each used for their own purposes: the researcher to gain access to a formerly disadvantaged South African citizen, and L to increase his ‘white network within South Africa’ through the researcher. Whilst the researcher believed in a constructivist culture concept and aimed at self-reflection and the creation of new concepts during communication with L, L stabilized his primordial culture concepts. This led to various debates about culture, race and spirituality through personal actions and interactions. Through these debates the researcher and L learnt the meaning of ‘being culturally defined and classified’ (essentialist approaches), whilst perceiving cultural redefinition in each other through communication (constructivist approaches).

Table 10. The years 2011–2013. Time frame

Profession

Private situation

Spirituality concept

Culture concept

Mental health

2011, 2012 and 2013

Employed as a bus driver

Renting a room in a ‘black township’ and living with a Zimbabwean family

Of no importance and no meaningfulness; providing no direction

Primordial concept: ‘black minority in coloured area’, being a ‘Shona-speaking South African’, against Zimbabweans and coloureds

Feeling victimized, angry, unhappy, ‘bored with routines’, depressed, without purpose

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Connecting at the beginning of the research was relatively easy, since the researcher and the researched were able to build a culture of contact on an international language (English), which they both preferred, but also because they could connect through discussions of Christian beliefs they both shared. Difficulties appeared when the researcher and L met publicly. L did not want to be seen as a ‘black man who goes out with white women’ (L, 2004). Whilst the researcher focused on the professional work relationship, L felt as though he was ‘being stigmatized as a black man’ (L, 2005). The dilemma was solved by conducting the interviews either in a private place or via telephone or Skype. Discourse on culture, gender and race could not be explored in depth, since too many taboos existed for L in terms of culture, race and/or gender-related topics, which led to limitations arising between the researcher and the researched in the post-apartheid context in South Africa. Communication decreased during periods when L broke with his ‘white network’ and felt guilty about ‘having betrayed the blacks.’ Communication again broke down when L visited Germany and rediscovered his Jewish roots. After the visit, L accused the researcher of being a ‘perpetrator’ and reconstructed ‘German history’ (L, 2005). L felt ‘unaccepted’ by the researcher, which he related to his Jewish origin, whilst the researcher felt misunderstood and overwhelmed by the re-introduction of historical concepts into the contemporary work relationship in the South African context. Having been brought up in a German context with a strongly emphasized peace culture, and having reflected on the German national past repeatedly, the revitalization of the historical background of the German state within the researcher–researched relationship seemed to the researcher to be an effort on the part of L to discredit the researcher based on a primordial and national culture concept, and to break with the researcher and the ‘white network’ on an intra- and interpsychological level. Communication between the researcher and L was reduced to a few contacts per year after L returned from Germany (2005–2006). The re-establishment of the concepts of German perpetrator and Jewish victim, of white perpetration and African victimization, of the researcher as perpetrator and the researched as victim in the context of the relationship between the researcher and L, limited the relationship and the exploration of topics during the period 2005–2008. During the period 2007–2013, the researcher and L were in regular contact. One of the challenging communication issues during 2007 was the return of the researcher to the end time messages faith: L believed that he was one of those chosen to be ‘on

the right side’ when the ‘apocalypse’ took place, and that the researcher would be one of the ‘lost souls’ who ‘do not believe in the right Christian belief, but rather in science’ (L, 2008). Whilst the researcher was interested in exploring different mindsets about new spiritual and religious constructs, L was eager to persuade her to convert to the ‘right belief system’, which again led to friction in the researcher– researched relationship. During 2009, difficulties began to arise with regard to meeting venues. L believed that it would be dangerous to meet ‘in the shelter or in this area of town’, but also did not want to be seen meeting a white person, and conversations alluded to categories of ‘rich and poor, North and South, black and white’ (L, 2009). This attitude changed again from 2010 onwards, after L had established himself as a bus driver, which he viewed as a step upwards professionally. After 2010, L and the researcher were in regular contact, but German history remained a troublesome topic for L. However, after 2009 he stopped referring to his Jewish religious background. After 11 years of communication between the researcher and L, they had built up a long common history of redefining spiritual and cultural concepts of the self and the other whilst experiencing opportunities and limitations in their own lives and continually having redefined personal and socio-cultural concepts. In September 2013 L described this process of change as follows: It is as if I am meeting a new person. We haven’t met for a long time. It is like meeting you anew. However, it is with mixed emotions. As if I do not know you. Looks like you are not a tourist anymore. You seem to know South Africa more than many of the South Africans themselves. And yet we are living in completely different worlds. We are not in the same class. Whilst L seemed to feel more integrated and settled in South African society than before (2013), he reconstructed the status of the researcher in South African society, which he had classified for over 10 years as ‘being a tourist’ (L, 2002, 2012), as ‘not a tourist any more’. He did not use a positive classification category, but referred to the researcher’s increased integration into South African society. At the same time, however, he reconstructed a new friction between the researcher and L – one he referred to as ‘class’. After 11 years, the communication and the relationship between the researcher and L was still characterized by the establishment of similarity (being/ feeling more integrated) and difference (belonging to different classes). This led to a dance around the

I still believe ... topics of spirituality, culture and mental health, which were reframed and could only be understood in the context of the socially and culturally (re-)constructed researcher–researched relationship and their mutual expectations and self-development processes.

Discussion This longitudinal study shows that spirituality is related to mental health as emphasized by Smith (2002) as well as Walach and Jonas (2007). Spirituality as religious faith had a positive impact on the well-being of L by acting as a stabilizing factor (upon his return from Zimbabwe in 2007). As shown in the section on the relationship between the researcher and L, spirituality can impact on social relationships and contextual determination (Saxana et al., 2002) as well. Spirituality was viewed by L as part of a holistic life concept and as an integral component of culture (Mayer, 2012). This study shows that spirituality supports an individual in building up his own enterprise and thereby meeting and coping with certain life challenges and changes (King et al., 2006). As highlighted in the literature, culture and cultural belonging influence spiritual concepts and beliefs on a deeper level (Bhawuk, 2002; Eckersley, 2007), and a person’s spiritual concepts are dynamic and can change over time, as shown in this longitudinal study. L illustrated to a certain degree across the period of 11 years that spirituality can be defined as a ‘deep, intuitive feeling of connectedness’ with the world (Eckersley, 2007, p. 54) as well as with others; that it can support an individual in overcoming predetermined categories that divide human beings, such as culture or race; and that it might guide a person in developing a transcendent approach (Knoblauch, 2006, p. 126) to overcoming separateness at work (Tourish & Tourish, 2010) and in developing wholeness (Rozario, 1997). It is evident that spirituality may contribute to the attainment of a positive mindset and inner peace, and therefore to mental health and well-being (Koenig et al., 2001; Underwood & Teresi, 2002). This study also shows, however, that spirituality is not a stable category – that it can fluctuate and change over time; and that it does not necessarily contribute to inner peace, but could also lead to disorientation, a rather negative mindset (the end time messages) and therefore to unhappiness, discontentment, depression and frustration. For L, spirituality formed part of religion and religious practice (Lehtinen et al., 2005), which is intrapersonally generated. L understood culture in its primordial form (Otten & Geppert, 2009), viewing it as a factor that influences

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communication processes and could lead to crosscultural conflict (Moosmüller, 2007). Culture was seen as a way of ‘self and other’ (Moosmüller, 2007), and was experienced as relatively stable, closed and consistent (Treichel & Mayer, 2011). This study does not focus on mental health in terms of cultural belonging (as do studies such as that by Kirmayer et al., 2003), but rather on the interrelationship between culture and mental health constructions (Wrigley, 1995). It becomes clear that the cultural construction of L was closely interwoven with his mental health, thoughts and feelings (Niemeyer, 1995). As highlighted in South African literature on culture, it is strongly connected to race (Booysen, 2007) and ethnic belonging (Mayer, 2011). The spiritual aspect influences culture concepts to a certain extent (Mitchell & Mullen, 2002, pp. 23, 27). The mental health of L increased when he felt accepted and embedded, as when he experienced meaningfulness (Keupp, 2004). For L, spirituality was mostly a resource of mental health, as indicated in the literature (Dein et al., 2010; Ehm & Utsch, 2005; Koenig et al., 2001; Mayer & Viviers, 2014; Seeman et al., 2003). The study also supports the assumption that spirituality as the ‘broadest and deepest form of connectedness’ needs a contextual and socio-cultural approach and embeddedness in order to increase mental health (Eckersley, 2007, p. 54). When L returned to Zimbabwe and his spiritual faith was re-established and nurtured within the context of church and family, he stabilized. However, the former apartheid categories had a strong impact (Hart, 2002) on his mental health, which led to him internalizing apartheid as part of his concept of self and others (Mayer, 2004, 2008). Besides the racial categories, the concept of culture for L was related to religion and values such as ‘belief, hope, religion, compassion and spirituality’ (Eckersley, 2005, p. 254), which seemed to improve his mental health. The connection between meaningfulness and mental health became obvious as the mental health of L seemed to decrease along with the importance of spirituality (Schnell, 2010), and he seemed to be less able to cope with crises and challenges when he was not spiritually determined to the same extent (Mehnert, 2006). Based on a longitudinal study, methodologically the article focuses on the temporality, development and processes of change (O’Reilly, 2012) of the researched on an intrapersonal and interpersonal level in the context of the researcher–researched relationship. By returning to the field across an 11-year period as well as by following the reflectivity approach, the researcher acknowledged the changing nature of L over time and the co-creation of reality through an

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ongoing social life (O’Reilly, 2012). The research data are therefore interpreted according to a contextsensitive approach (Patton, 2002) to promote a socio-cultural, in-depth understanding of the data and the context, the environment and the interaction between historic and current perspectives (Bryman et al., 1996). Through the reflexivity approach, the subjective interpretation of L and the interpretation of data from various viewpoints concerning particular subjects of research are clarified (Bateson, 1979), whilst the researcher positions herself critically in terms of subjectivity and self-positioning (Mruck & Breuer, 2003) and describes selected aspects of the interaction between herself and L (Wang, 2012) that are emphasized as being culturally determined (Marcus & Fischer, 1986).

and deconstruction of similarities and differences within the researcher–researched relationship. On the one hand, the researcher and the researched struggled to establish common ground of transcultural communication and understanding across all the primordial divides on various intra- and interpsychological levels. On the other hand, they managed to build up communication and understanding that was long lasting, albeit on both sides culturally determined and limited, and always threatened by (re-) constructed friction. For future research, it is recommended that more intra- and interpsychological longitudinal studies be undertaken in various contexts and cultural settings, particularly focusing on the complex issues of spirituality, culture and mental health.

Conclusion The goal of this paper is to increase the in-depth emic understanding of the intra- and interpersonal development of a selected individual with regard to intrapersonal concepts of spirituality, culture and mental health. The reconstruction of spirituality, culture and mental health in this study shows that the themes are highly interrelated and that they change over time. L changed from an individual who was strongly religious and spiritual in terms of his belief in the end time messages faith into someone who reconnected with his Jewish roots, subsequently returned to an extreme Christian faith and then disconnected from his spirituality. At the same time, he defined himself in terms of various cultural constructs – international, national, Pan-African, regional, language-oriented and gender-oriented – and tried to connect with various cultural groups that were reflected in his own identity, but did not move beyond primordial culture concepts. He positioned himself as a victim of life rather than as an active creator. Whilst L was mentally strong and healthy at the beginning, his mental health deteriorated, particularly when he tried to establish new concepts of religion and culture. He was increasingly absorbed in destructive mechanisms of spirituality and cultural disbelonging that had a negative impact on his entrepreneurial success. Interlinked with his inability to unify his parents’ cultural differences and divides within himself, he re-experienced his alienation and disconnected from his own cultural and spiritual roots, thereby causing a decline in his mental health. The communication and the relationship between the researcher and the researched were highly influenced by national, racial, gender, professional, language, religious, spiritual and class issues that changed over time. What remained stable across the 11 years of research were the patterns of construction

Acknowledgements We wish to express our sincere thanks to L for his long-term cooperation and the many transcultural insights he provided.

Declaration of interest: The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the paper.

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