Wade W. Nobles is a professor emeritus in the Department of Africana Studies at San Francisco State University and notable pioneer of the African-American psychology movement . Nobles ' grandparents were born into American slavery . His parents , Annie Mae Cotton and John Nobles , chose the name Wade , meaning " one who is able to tread through difficult matter like mud , snow or ignorance . " Nobles earned his PhD in psychology from Stanford University . He is married to Vera Lynn Winmilawe Nokwanda DeMoultrie ( PhD ) , with whom Nobles has five children and 11 grandchildren . Nobles belongs to the Ifa spiritual system . Nobles is the founder and executive director of the Institute for the Advanced Study of Black Family , Life and Culture , Inc. in Oakland , California , the only independent organization whose sole objective is the betterment of black family life and culture . The institute performs both social work and scientific research . Nobles was a founding member of the Association of Black Psychologists , where he served as national President from 1994 to 1995 . An experimental social psychologist , Nobles focuses his research on such topics as African psychology , Black self-concept , African-American family dynamics , and African-centered education , healing , and spirituality . Nobles co-leads the “ Enyimnyam Project , ” created with the objective of connecting diasporic Africans with Africans from the continent . Nobles has authored over 100 articles , research reports , chapters , and books , including '' African Psychology : Toward its Reclamation , Reascension and Revitalization '' , '' Seeking the Sakhu : Foundational Writings in African Psychology '' , and '' The Island of Memes : Haiti ’s Unfinished Revolution '' . '' Island of Memes '' , inspired by Nobles ' visit to Haiti following the 2010 earthquake , focuses on the roles of Haitian religion and class systems in its recovery from natural disaster and uses memes as cultural indicators . Among Nobles ' scientific publications is his article " Extended self : Rethinking the so-called Negro self-concept , " which critiques Euro-Americans ' research about African Americans on the basis of their fundamental misunderstanding of group differences and misapplication of Euro-centric norms . Similarly , his article " Africanity : Its Role in Black Families " criticizes social science research defining the black family as disorganized and pathological , as it is performed by non-black researchers with negative assumptions of black family life
2010 earthquake
2010 Haiti earthquake
Wade Nobles