Draft:Hussein Abdilahi Bulhan

Dr. Hussein Abdilahi Bulhan (born 1946) is a Somali author, professor of psychology and psychiatry, and political activist. He is founder and president of Frantz Fanon University in Hargeisa, Somaliland.

He is the author of several books, including the biography Frantz Fanon and the Psychology of Oppression (1985), which contextualizes Frantz Fanon's work through a focus on the history and practice of psychology as it relates to Third World peoples.

In 2020, he received the Archbishop Desmond Tutu Achievement Against the Odds Award by the International Union of Psychological Science. In 2021, along with Silvia Federici and Rita Laura Segato, he received a Frantz Fanon Prize - Lifetime Achievement Award from the Caribbean Philosophical Association. The committee noted that "The Awards Committee celebrates Dr. Bulhan not only for the political and theoretical richness and importance of his writings but also because of the crucial role he has played over four decades as an institution-builder in education, communications, and clinical institutions."

Early life and academic career

In his lecture "The Art of Survival" at TEDxHargeisa, Bulhan recalls that his father was killed when he was four years old. When he was six years old, he was forced at gunpoint to witness the execution of six Somali men in his community. He received a scholarship to study in the United States. He is a graduate of Wesleyan University, Boston University, and Harvard University, holding two bachelors degrees, two masters degrees, and a PhD.

Bulhan's biography of Frantz Fanon, Frantz Fanon and the Psychology of Oppression, has been cited over 1100 times. The book prominently features Critiquing both the history of psychology and previous interpretations of Fanon, Bulhan explains his approach in the preface:

I take issue here with earlier interpretations on Fanon, present new data to shed light on controversial aspects, and bring into the discourse his seminal but neglected insights on the psychology of oppression. To discuss the psychology of oppression is, of course, also to pose questions about Euro-American psychology and its relationship to oppression. A superficial look at establishment psychology-its diverse theories, profusion of findings, and diverse practices-would suggest that Euro-American psychologists hardly ever speak in one voice and seldom act in concert. But a closer scrutiny, in which the perspective of the oppressed is taken, reveals a remark able unity of thought and action among these psychologists.

Homi Bhaba in his review of the book noted that

What makes his book particularly welcome is its double focus. On the one hand, he presents a meticulous and scholarly commentary on the familiar intellectual antecedents and affiliations of Fanon’s work - Hegel, Marx, Freud, Adler, Jung, Tosquelles, Cesaire, Sartre, etc. - providing us, in addition, with the most valuable account of Fanon’s lesser known clinical writings composed during his politically decisive phase as psychiatrist at the hospital at Blida Joinville, the largest psychiatric hospital in French-occupied Algeria.

In 2024, Dr. Tarek Younis (Middlesex University) noted the books continuing influence, stating:

It resonates today because the toolkits available for oppressive systems and the conditions which facilitate their operations have evolved significantly (i.e. state surveillance, artificial intelligence & an atomised society). In the book, Bulhan expertly weaves a biography of Frantz Fanon (with first-hand sources from the Fanon family) as he explores the historical complicity of western psychology in scaffolding oppressive systems. It’s this combination of skillful biography and a deep appreciation of Fanon’s work, while maintaining his own position of analysis, that allows Bulhan to sketch out what a truly liberated field of psychology could look like.

He departed his tenured position at Boston University to return to Hargeisa, first as head of Hargeisa University, and in 2014, founding Frantz Fanon University, where he is a Professor of Clincal Psychology and Psychiatry. He continues to lecture on psychology, decolonization, and Africa internationally.

Selected bibliography

• In-Between Three Civilizations. Tayosan International Publishing, 2013.
• Politics of Cain : One Hundred Years of Crises in Somali Politics and Society. Tayosan International Pub, 2008.
• Frantz Fanon and the Psychology of Oppression. Plenum Press, 1985.

References

Category:Somalian academics Category:Psychologists Category:Frantz Fanon Category:Decolonization Category:Decolonisation of Africa