Presented by Dr Wahbie Long, this book represents the first attempt to historicize and theorise appeals for 'relevance' in Psychology.

In a brief talk, Long will link the question of 'relevance' to the question of decolonizing Psychology. Examining the field of Clinical Psychology, he will argue for a new definition of mental illness, based on the ideas of Marx, Fromm and Fanon, and clustered around the concept of alienation. 

Wahbie Long, PhD, is a senior lecturer and clinical psychologist in the Department of Psychology at UCT. He is a Mandela Mellon Fellow of the Hutchins Center at Harvard University, a member of the American Psychological Association’s Task Force on Indigenous Psychology, and the 2016 recipient of the Early Career Award of the Society for the History of Psychology (Division 26 of the APA). 

Wahbie’s general research interests include history, theory and indigenization of psychology. His current work focuses on the field of African psychology, in which he attempts to replace cultural questions with an analysis of the interpersonal, institutional and structural violence that pervades life in South Africa.