New Article: Syed Hussein Alatas and the “Captive Mind”: Decolonizing the Non-Western Psychoanalyst

My article “Syed Hussein Alatas and the ‘Captive Mind’: Decolonizing the Non-Western Psychoanalyst,” has now been published by the journal, Psychoanalysis, Culture, and Society (Springer).

Abstract: This essay examines the work of Syed Hussein Alatas and his concept of the captive mind as it relates to psychoanalysis in the non-Western context. I argue that psychoanalysts have to go through a two-part process to decolonize psycho- analysis so as to avoid trapping analysts and analysands within the confines of the captive mind, as detailed in Syed Hussein Alatas’s many writings.

Alatas Decolonizing Psychoanalysis Download

Here’s another way to access the article, through “Share it” via Springer: Syed Hussein Alatas.

October 31, 2024 0

Erich Fromm and the Problem of Oikophobia

On September 15, 2024, I had the wonderful opportunity to present my work at the inaugural Erich Fromm Society of North America conference at Gonzaga University. My presentation was on the problem of “oikophobia,” or fear/hatred of all things our own). Oikophobia entails the pathological disavowal of all things Western, including the civilization, culture, history, religion, philosophy, etc. It has plagued a portion of the political Left, especially in academia. I argue that for the Left to abandon the Western inheritance is to leave it in the hands of the far-right, who will functionalize it as a tool of repression against all things “non-Western” residing in the West. What is needed is a dialectical approach to the Western inheritance, not an abstract negation. A video of my presentation can be found on the Dustin J. Byrd Audio-Visual Archive on YouTube.

September 16, 2024 0

Genius of the German World – The University of Olivet in Germany and Austria

From April 29th through May 12th, I had the great opportunity to teach a course entitled “Genius of the German World” for The University of Olivet. We traveled to Berlin, Wittenberg, Leipzig, Weimar, Erfurt, Eisenach, Nürnberg, Vienna, Hallstatt, and Salzburg, to study great philosophers, composers, artists, religious figures, and psychoanalysts. Seven UO students, Prof. Mike Fales (Religious Studies), my friends Karen and Ken, and the great Tracey and Bryce Katz accompanied us on this amazing trip. We visited numerous museums, attended two concerts and one dinner concert, visited a variety of cathedrals and churches, one Augustinian monastery in Erfurt, and got to know many locals on our trains. The logistics of the trip were put together by Witte Travel and Tours (Grand Rapids), who did an amazing job setting up another demanding tour I designed. Below are some pictures from our journey.

May 17, 2024 0

Decolonizing Theory: Thinking Across Traditions – a Conversation with Aditya Nigam

On February 11th, 2024, I had the great honor of speaking to Aditya Nigam about his book, “Decolonizing Theory: Thinking Across Traditions” (Bloomsbury 2020), along with other members of the Institute for Critical Social Theory, including Seyed Javad Miri, Mehdi Shariati, and Michael Naughton. This was an insightful conversation dealing with a variety of topics as they relate to decolonial theory in a variety of spaces and places. Check out the video on the Institute for Critical Social Theory’s YouTube channel: