Cultural Intelligence in African Contexts: An Expanded Framework

Abstract This article argues for the expansion of cultural intelligence beyond its traditional focus on intercultural encounters to include intracultural intelligence, particularly within African contexts. Current conceptualisations, rooted in Western multicultural realities, emphasise competence with “other cultures” while not acknowledging the importance of ingroup cultural competence. Drawing on African societies—where cultural identity, ethnic diversity, survival consciousness, and ingroup loyalty are salient—the article demonstrates that effective interaction requires both intra- and intercultural competencies. Nigeria serves as an illustrative case, while indigenous proverbs illustrate local prescriptions for relational conduct and the embeddedness of cultural intelligence. A framework for measuring cultural intelligence in African societies is proposed, which provides domain‑by‑facet indicators and outcomes suitable for measurement and empirical testing, with potential applications to other ethnically diverse contexts. Global parallels, such as cancel culture in the United States, underscore the broader relevance of intracultural intelligence. The article concludes by emphasising the importance of expanding psychological knowledge to incorporate African cultural realities and advancing the decolonisation of psychology.