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Decolonial Psychoanalysis: Towards Critical Islamophobia Studies
In this provocative and necessary book, Robert K. Beshara uses psychoanalytic discursive analysis to explore the possibility of a genuinely anti-colonial critical psychology. Drawing on postcolonial and decolonial approaches to Islamophobia, this book enhances understandings of Critical Border Thinking and Lacanian Discourse Analysis, alongside other theoretico-methodological approaches.
Using a critical decolonial psychology approach to conceptualize everyday Islamophobia, the author examines theoretical resources situated within the discursive turn, such as decoloniality/transmodernity, and carries out an archeology of (counter)terrorism, a genealogy of the conceptual Muslim, and a Žižekian ideology critique. Conceiving of Decolonial Psychoanalysis as one theoretical resource for Critical Islamophobia Studies (CIS), the author also applies Lacanian Discourse Analysis to extracts from interviews conducted with US Muslims to theorize their ethico-political subjectivity and considers a politics of resistance, adversarial aesthetics, and ethics of liberation.
Essential to any attempt to come to terms with the legacy of racism in psychology, and the only critical psychological study on Islamophobia in the United States, this is a fascinating read for anyone interested in a critical approach to Islamophobia.
Using a critical decolonial psychology approach to conceptualize everyday Islamophobia, the author examines theoretical resources situated within the discursive turn, such as decoloniality/transmodernity, and carries out an archeology of (counter)terrorism, a genealogy of the conceptual Muslim, and a Žižekian ideology critique. Conceiving of Decolonial Psychoanalysis as one theoretical resource for Critical Islamophobia Studies (CIS), the author also applies Lacanian Discourse Analysis to extracts from interviews conducted with US Muslims to theorize their ethico-political subjectivity and considers a politics of resistance, adversarial aesthetics, and ethics of liberation.
Essential to any attempt to come to terms with the legacy of racism in psychology, and the only critical psychological study on Islamophobia in the United States, this is a fascinating read for anyone interested in a critical approach to Islamophobia.
- GenresPsychology
172 pages, Kindle Edition
Published March 20, 2019
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Displaying 1 - 1 of 1 review
June 5, 2026
Really enjoyed this book and its approach to Islamophobia; there are some gem concepts here
as a result, Beshara offers a powerful fresh approach to understanding and fighting Islamophobia. Drawing on Lacanian psychoanalysis, decolonial theory, and critical psychology, he first takes us to place which is familiar (at least to me), namely Islamophobia is not just individual prejudice but a deep political and ideological system rooted in the War on Terror
But then I think the book takes off.
What stands out is Beshara’s attention to Muslim resistance. Using Lacan's four discourses he sets up the problem and the response; In Chapters 4 and 5, through Lacan's hysteric’s discourse, Muslims become ethical subjects who question power. In the analyst’s discourse, they practice "ontic resistance", asserting their real existence. The book ends with the call for a radical master" a new leadership that moves from mythical jouissance (the capitalist driven addictive thrill of fear and domination) to divine jouissance: the ethical enjoyment that comes from justice, solidarity, and authentic being.
The re-use of ontic and jouissance stood out for me, although I had questions about the "Real" Muslim and what part of it remains unsymbolised. But overall, Beshara’s book is both a sharp critique of how power produces Islamophobia and a call for resistance and transformation, therefore It positions decolonial psychoanalysis as a tool for Critical Islamophobia Studies that can support real anti-colonial change
as a result, Beshara offers a powerful fresh approach to understanding and fighting Islamophobia. Drawing on Lacanian psychoanalysis, decolonial theory, and critical psychology, he first takes us to place which is familiar (at least to me), namely Islamophobia is not just individual prejudice but a deep political and ideological system rooted in the War on Terror
But then I think the book takes off.
What stands out is Beshara’s attention to Muslim resistance. Using Lacan's four discourses he sets up the problem and the response; In Chapters 4 and 5, through Lacan's hysteric’s discourse, Muslims become ethical subjects who question power. In the analyst’s discourse, they practice "ontic resistance", asserting their real existence. The book ends with the call for a radical master" a new leadership that moves from mythical jouissance (the capitalist driven addictive thrill of fear and domination) to divine jouissance: the ethical enjoyment that comes from justice, solidarity, and authentic being.
The re-use of ontic and jouissance stood out for me, although I had questions about the "Real" Muslim and what part of it remains unsymbolised. But overall, Beshara’s book is both a sharp critique of how power produces Islamophobia and a call for resistance and transformation, therefore It positions decolonial psychoanalysis as a tool for Critical Islamophobia Studies that can support real anti-colonial change
Displaying 1 - 1 of 1 review