Fanon, Psychoanalysis, and Critical Decolonial Psychology: The Mind of Apartheid, by Derek Hook (Lonon and New York:  Routledge, 2025,  xviii+263 pp.)

If ‘to forget history is to betray’,1 then one of the most crucial chapters we must remember is the history of colonialism. Today, the era of large-scale colonization has largely passed, and many nations in the developing world have achieved nominal independence. Yet, the coloniality left by this history continues to linger in the hearts and minds of many, and the profound trauma it inflicted still haunts numerous communities (Adames et al., 2024; Bhatia & Priya, 2021). As Maldonado-Torres (2007) states, ‘coloniality survives colonialism. It is maintained alive in books, in the criteria for academic performance, in cultural patterns, in common sense, in the self-image of peoples, in aspirations of self, and so many other aspects of our modern experience. In a way, as modern subjects we breathe coloniality all the time and every day’ (p. 243). Similarly, coloniality remains embedded within disciplines such as psychology, influencing its premises, assumptions, methodologies, findings and conclusions – subtly shaping a ‘hegemonic psychology’ that consciously or unconsciously serves the interests of colonialism (Decolonial Psychology Editorial Collective, 2021). In response, the goal of decolonial psychological research is to expose, confront and dismantle this complicity with hegemony, thereby creating space for healing trauma and dismantling oppression.

In this book, Derek Hook draws on insights from numerous scholars to analyze and reflect upon the catastrophic repercussions of colonial history. Among them, the most significant figure is Frantz Fanon. In Hook's words, ‘Perhaps the most influential historical figure in the endeavor to apply psychoanalysis to the colonial domain… is still Fanon’ (p. 122), and ‘decolonial psychology developed on the