Draft:Derek Hook

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Derek Hook
Born
South Africa
NationalitySouth African
Occupation(s)Psychologist; psychoanalyst; academic
Employer(s)Duquesne University; University of Pretoria
Known forLacanian psychoanalysis; critical psychology; postcolonial theory
Academic work
Notable worksA Critical Psychology of the Postcolonial; Six Moments in Lacan; Lacan and Race

Derek Hook is a South African-born psychologist and psychoanalyst whose work spans Lacanian psychoanalysis, critical social psychology, and postcolonial studies. He is Professor of Psychology at Duquesne University and an Extraordinary Professor of Psychology at the University of Pretoria.[1] He serves on the editorial board of Psychoanalysis, Culture & Society.[2]

Academic career

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Hook’s scholarship focuses on Lacanian theory and its applications to race, clinical technique, and subjectivity, alongside postcolonial and psychosocial approaches influenced by Frantz Fanon. He also maintains a YouTube channel (@derekhookonlacan) featuring lectures on psychoanalysis and critical theory, which has an international following.[3]

Selected works

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Authored
  • Six Moments in Lacan: Communication and Identification in Psychology and Psychoanalysis. Routledge, 2017. ISBN 9781138211612.[4]
  • Whiteness at the Abyss: A Lacanian Reading of "White Anxiety". Palgrave Macmillan, 2025. ISBN 9783031785085.[5]
Edited or co-edited (Lacan)
  • Stijn Vanheule, Derek Hook, Calum Neill (eds.), Reading Lacan’s Écrits: From "Signification of the Phallus" to "Metaphor of the Subject". Routledge, 2019. ISBN 9780415708029.[6]
  • Derek Hook, Calum Neill, Stijn Vanheule (eds.), Reading Lacan’s Écrits: From "The Freudian Thing" to "Remarks on Daniel Lagache". Routledge, 2020. ISBN 9780415707985.[7]
  • Derek Hook, Calum Neill, Stijn Vanheule (eds.), Reading Lacan’s Écrits: From "Logical Time" to "Response to Jean Hyppolite". Routledge, 2022. ISBN 9781032205755.[8]
  • Calum Neill, Derek Hook, Stijn Vanheule (eds.), Reading Lacan’s Écrits: From "Overture to this Collection" to "Presentation on Psychical Causality". Routledge, 2024. ISBN 9781032437378.[9]
  • Sheldon George, Derek Hook (eds.), Lacan and Race: Racism, Identity, and Psychoanalytic Theory. Routledge, 2022. ISBN 9780367345976.[10]
  • Derek Hook, Stijn Vanheule (eds.), Lacan on Depression and Melancholia. Routledge, 2023. ISBN 9781032106533.[11]
Other notable books
  • Foucault, Psychology and the Analytics of Power. Palgrave Macmillan, 2007. ISBN 9780230008199.[12]
  • A Critical Psychology of the Postcolonial: The Mind of Apartheid. Routledge, 2011. ISBN 9780415587570.[13]

Reception

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Reviews have discussed Hook’s contributions across critical psychology and psychoanalysis. In Africa Spectrum, Danielle Faye Tran called A Critical Psychology of the Postcolonial “an essential read for students of all levels … on racism and social psychology in post-Apartheid states.”[14] A Routledge blurb quotes Stijn Vanheule describing Six Moments in Lacan as “erudite [and] entertaining,” noting it “bypasses the twin trappings of dogmatism and theoretical jargon.”[15]

Controversy

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In September 2021, a clip from a lecture by Hook circulated online, leading to claims he had endorsed “white people committing suicide” as an ethical act. A Reuters fact-check found the claim was missing context, noting Hook had been quoting another scholar rather than advocating the idea, and reported that he called the suggestion “absurd and immoral.”[16] The episode received wider media attention, including coverage by Fox News.[17] An editorial in Psychoanalysis, Culture & Society stated that a “tiny excerpt” had been used “to distort and villainize his work,” and confirmed that the related article underwent standard peer review.[18] Subsequently, Professor Stephen Frosh published an analysis of the episode in relation to academic freedom and antisemitism, linking it to similar attacks on scholars such as Donald Moss.[19] Hook later published his own account and analysis of the incident in the same journal.[20] Slavoj Žižek also engaged the debate in Crisis & Critique.[21]

References

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  1. ^ "Derek Hook". Duquesne University. Retrieved 12 August 2025.
  2. ^ "About / Editorial Board". Psychoanalysis, Culture & Society. Retrieved 12 August 2025.
  3. ^ "Derek Hook – YouTube". YouTube. Retrieved 12 August 2025.
  4. ^ "Six Moments in Lacan". Routledge. Retrieved 12 August 2025.
  5. ^ Whiteness at the Abyss: A Lacanian Reading of "White Anxiety". The Palgrave Lacan Series. 2025. doi:10.1007/978-3-031-78509-2. ISBN 978-3-031-78508-5. Retrieved 12 August 2025.
  6. ^ "Reading Lacan's Écrits: From 'Signification of the Phallus' to 'Metaphor of the Subject'". Routledge. Retrieved 12 August 2025.
  7. ^ "Reading Lacan's Écrits: From 'The Freudian Thing' to 'Remarks on Daniel Lagache'". Routledge. Retrieved 12 August 2025.
  8. ^ Hook, Derek; Neill, Calum; Vanheule, Stijn (2022). Reading Lacan's Écrits: From 'Logical Time' to 'Response to Jean Hyppolite'. doi:10.4324/9781003264231. ISBN 978-1-003-26423-1. Retrieved 12 August 2025. {{cite book}}: |website= ignored (help)
  9. ^ "Reading Lacan's Écrits: From 'Overture to this Collection' to 'Presentation on Psychical Causality'". Routledge. Retrieved 12 August 2025.
  10. ^ "Lacan and Race: Racism, Identity, and Psychoanalytic Theory". Routledge. Retrieved 12 August 2025.
  11. ^ "Lacan on Depression and Melancholia". Routledge. Retrieved 12 August 2025.
  12. ^ "Foucault, Psychology and the Analytics of Power". Palgrave Macmillan. Retrieved 12 August 2025.
  13. ^ "A Critical Psychology of the Postcolonial". Routledge. 18 September 2002. Retrieved 12 August 2025.
  14. ^ Tran, Danielle Faye (2013). "Review: A Critical Psychology of the Postcolonial: The Mind of Apartheid". Africa Spectrum. 48 (2): 147–148. doi:10.1177/000203971304800213. Retrieved 12 August 2025.
  15. ^ "Six Moments in Lacan". Routledge. Retrieved 12 August 2025.
  16. ^ "Duquesne University professor did not endorse suicide in lecture". Reuters. 6 September 2021. Retrieved 12 August 2025.
  17. ^ Colton, Emma (2 September 2021). "Pennsylvania professor teaches White people committing suicide can be an 'ethical' act". Fox News. Retrieved 12 August 2025.
  18. ^ O’Loughlin, Michael; Voela, Angie (2021). "Editorial Comment". Psychoanalysis, Culture & Society. 26 (4): 411–413. doi:10.1057/s41282-021-00247-z. Retrieved 12 August 2025.
  19. ^ Frosh, Stephen (2025). "On academic freedom, provisional whiteness and antisemitism". Psychoanalysis, Culture & Society. 30 (1): 81–95. doi:10.1057/s41282-024-00508-7. Retrieved 12 August 2025.
  20. ^ Hook, Derek (2025). "Whiteness at the abyss: reflections on a scene of attack". Psychoanalysis, Culture & Society. 30 (1): 97–116. doi:10.1057/s41282-024-00466-0. Retrieved 12 August 2025.
  21. ^ Žižek, Slavoj (2023). "Three Fragments on Suicide as a Political Factor" (PDF). Crisis & Critique. pp. 415–425. Retrieved 12 August 2025.