Robert Serpell

Robert Nicholas Serpell (born 1944 in England) is a Zambian citizen and Professor of Psychology at the University of Zambia. From 2003 to 2006 he was Vice-Chancellor of the University. He also serves as the current Chancellor of Eden University in Lusaka, Zambia.[1]

He has conducted numerous studies on intelligence, literacy and child development in social and cultural context, finding that even within a given society, different cognitive characteristics are emphasized from one situation to another and from one subculture to another. These differences extend not just to conceptions of intelligence but to what is considered adaptive or appropriate in a broader sense.[2] Serpell's work shows how conceptions of intelligence vary from culture to culture, and that the majority of these views do not reflect Western ideas.[3]

Serpell and others have found that people in some African communities—especially where Western schooling has not yet become common—tend to emphasize the link between intelligence and social competence. In Zambia's rural Katete District, for instance, the concept of nzelu includes both cleverness (chenjela) and responsibility (tumikila).

In 2017, Serpell received an award from the Society for Research in Child Development (SRCD)for "Distinguished Contributions to Understanding International, Cultural and Contextual Diversity in Child Development".[4]

Personal life

Serpell is a widower; his wife, Namposya Nampanya Serpell, who was an economist, died in 2016. Their family includes daughter Namwali Serpell, a writer who teaches at Harvard University. They lived and worked for a time in Baltimore, Maryland, going there when Namwali was nine. She completed her education in the United States, at Yale and Harvard.

Selected publications
  • Serpell, R. (1977) Estimates of intelligence in a rural community of eastern Zambia. In F. M. Okatcha (ed.) Modern psychology and cultural adaptation (pp. 179–216). Nairobi: Swahili Language Consultants and Publishers.
  • Serpell, R. (1993) The Significance of Schooling: Life-journeys in an African Society. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
  • Serpell, R. (2000). "Intelligence and culture." In R. J. Sternberg (Ed), The Handbook of Intelligence (pp. 549–577). Cambridge, UK & New York, US: Cambridge University Press.
  • Serpell, R. (2011). "Social responsibility as a dimension of intelligence, and as an educational goal: insights from programmatic research in an African society." Child Development Perspectives, 5 (2), 126–133.
  • Serpell, R. (2020). Culture-sensitive communication in applied developmental research. Human Development, 64(4-6), 1-16.

References
  1. "Eden University comes of age" (2014, https://www.daily-mail.co.zm)
  2. Estimates of intelligence in a rural community of Eastern Zambia (Serpell, 1974)
  3. "Intelligence across cultures: Research in Africa, Asia and Latin America is showing how culture and intelligence interact." by Etienne Benson, Monitor, February 2003, American Psychological Association
  4. "2017 SRCD Biennial Awardees | Society for Research in Child Development SRCD".


[4] <https://www.themastonline.com/2017/10/14/namposya-was-an-inspiring-example-of-how-to-derive-benefit-from-education-serpell/https://www.themastonline.com/2017/10/14/namposya-was-an-inspiring-example-of-how-to-derive-benefit-from-education-serpell/>.

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