Fanon, Psychoanalysis and Critical Decolonial Psychology: The Mind of Apartheid

This groundbreaking book examines the psychological dimension of decolonial thought in reference to foundational texts. Previously published as A Critical Psychology of the Postcolonial, this new edition foregrounds the central role of Fanon’s psychology.

Highlighting the contributions of anti-colonial authors to the theorization of racism and oppression, the book demonstrates the pertinence of postcolonial and decolonial thought for critical social psychology and psychoanalysis via an investigation of a series of key topics. It explores the psychology of embodiment and racialization, resistance strategies to oppression, ＂extra-discursive＂ facets of racism, the phobogenic and sexual dimensions of anti-Blackness, and the roles of desire, fantasy, and unconscious in ideologies of racism. The book makes a distinctive contribution through discussing the work of authors drawn from anti-apartheid, psychoanalytic, and critical social theory traditions, including Steve Biko, J.M. Coetzee, Frantz Fanon, Julia Kristeva, Chabani Manganyi, and Slavoj Żiżek. This second edition continues to showcase a crucial set of critical resources for an anti-racist (decolonial) agenda, and is fully updated with new discussion, references, and images, with a new chapter on desire, fantasy, and apartheid ideology to strengthen the book’s engagement with apartheid racism.

This is an invaluable text not only for students of critical social psychology, psychoanalysis, and sociology, but for students enrolled in courses on race, racism, or decolonial studies. It will also appeal to postgraduates, academics, and anyone interested in psychoanalysis in relation to societal and political issues.

Derek Hook is Professor in the Department of Psychology at Duquesne University, USA and an Extraordinary Professor of Psychology at the University of Pretoria, South Africa. He is a scholar and a practitioner of psychoanalysis with expertise in the areas of Lacanian psychoanalysis, post-colonial theory (the work of Frantz Fanon in particular), the psychology of racism and philosophical and theoretical psychology.