A call for justice following a call for papers: A book review of Kehinde Andrews’ The Psychosis of Whiteness: Surviving the Insanity of a Racist World

About the authors

Peter and Natasha have previously collaborated through their shared agenda in Medical Education in a London (England) National Health Service (NHS) Trust. Natasha is Head of Knowledge & Library Services and holds a voluntary role as Strategic Ambassador for the Global Majority Staff Network (GMN). Peter has been a Consultant psychiatrist with a specialism in young people experiencing psychosis since 2010. His academic role at University leads him to championing rights and justice in an undergraduate ethics curriculum.

This is our first co-authored book review; we were enthused by the opportunity. Schedules and logistics necessitated an iterative approach – it has been something of an asynchronous adventure. We have applied a critical analytical lens to our discussion of the book, aiming to highlight links to some of the ideas referenced in the call for papers as well as applying clinical expertise to interrogating the adoption/co-option of the concept of “psychosis”.

Professor Kehinde Andrews is based at Birmingham City University, UK where he led the development of the Black Studies degree and is director of the Centre for Critical Social Research (Birmingham City University, 2024). Activist as well as academic, Andrews’ credentials extend to founding the Harambee Organisation of Black Unity which is centred on ideas of understanding, solidarity and community.

Andrews’ previous books include New Age of Empire(2022) and Back to Black:Retelling Black Radicalism for the 21st Century (2019). The Psychosis of Whiteness is an in-depth exploration of a peculiar thesis of race and racism.

Andrews is well known in Britain – for an academic. He regularly writes for (erstwhile) left-wing UK newspaper The Guardian and is often rolled out to spar with right wing commentators and populists on topics relating to race and racism. In The Psychosis of Whiteness he recounts and reflects on a number of “tours of duty of the culture wars” including discussions of the wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, Winston Churchill and the murder of George Floyd.

His style of writing positions him as both journalist and novelist, but never far from the central theme of disenfranchisement, prejudice and of course the psychosis of whiteness which on occasion feels like a chorus, or a call to power. The words and themes used are often uncomfortable but as the book grips, it becomes easier to sit with the discomfort. Satire and humour are often used, to good effect, as an expression of disbelief. We particularly enjoyed the references to contemporary culture (“The first rule of Whiteness is you don’t talk about Whiteness” p. 33), the frequent word play, and creative punctuation and formatting.

The book’s main thesis is that the construction of race and therefore Whiteness (not white people as individuals!) amounts to a collective delusion. The UK’s National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) notes that “’psychosis’ encompasses a number of symptoms associated with significant alternations to a person’s perception, thoughts, mood, and behaviour” (NICE, 2021). The prominent aspect of psychosis is a fixed false belief which is not amenable to reason. Andrews makes this apparent at many points, however it is in the inclusion of psychodynamic considerations that the strengths of the concept really come to light. Psychodynamic theory is a step away from the biological models of psychosis on which Andrews’s criticism rests, although certainly has its own colonial history. It relies more on unconscious approaches and how these inform the observed behaviours.

A psychodynamic approach would consider white psychosis as a pathological defence which reshapes an external reality (racism exists) to meet internal needs (anxiety at the existence of racism), or even eliminating the need to cope with that reality altogether. The denial of external reality (racism) exists as it is too threatening (he describes this in terms of black academics engaging with white academics).

Contemporary use of the word psychosis is often thought of as a less stigmatising term in the context of mental ill health. However, Andrews considers it another term to widen the reach of considerations of mental illness and bringing more people susceptible to this diagnosis. This in itself challenges the contemporary practice in mental health services.

Andrews dedicates a significant portion of the introductory chapters to explaining and framing his conceptualisation of the psychosis of whiteness, including the links to present day Black mental health inequalities. He provides a brief history of racist psychiatric ideas and diagnoses that were used to justify enslavement and even promote it as beneficial for Black people. One example being Drapetomania a disease of the mind that caused enslaved people to run away …and that could be cured by whipping (p. 6) Today we have a “self-fulfilling prophecy” that Black People are more likely to suffer with serious mental illness because living with racism is a source of trauma: “psychosis is a label that has been put on us for wanting to be free; trying to resist; and existing in ways that go against an established White norm” (p. 12).

As reviewers working in England’s National Health Service (NHS) mental health services we are witness to the human faces behind the figures on a daily basis. Andrews references that young Black men in the UK are ten times more likely to be diagnosed with psychotic illness and four times more likely to be hospitalised (Cabinet Office, 2018). The Race and Health Observatory (RHO) rapid evidence review of Ethnic Inequalities in Healthcare (Kapadia, 2022) identified inequalities in the receipt of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) with ethnic minority people with psychosis less likely to be referred for CBT as well as “strong evidence of clear, very large and persisting ethnic inequalities in compulsory admission to psychiatric wards, particularly affecting Black groups …also evidence of harsher treatment for Black groups in inpatients wards, e.g., more likely to be restrained in the prone position or put into seclusion”.

Although the book’s subtitle is “surviving the insanity of a racist world”, it doesn’t provide sufficient guidance on how Black Communities might do this in practice; there is no blue sky vision of progression from surviving to thriving. It is only in passing at the end of the final chapter that Andrews references interest convergence – one of the tenets of Critical Race Theory that he has earlier decried – as one solution or course of action (Bell, 1980). The book thus – perhaps intentionally – misses an opportunity to advocate for better mental health services and the potential contribution from community organisations for better Black mental health. Examples include Coffee Afrik CIC and Black Thrive. Perhaps these are better covered by dedicated works such as Guilaine Kinouani’s Living while Black: the Essential Guideto Overcoming Racial Trauma, Derek Owosu’s Safe: 20 Ways to be a Black Man inBritain Today or Chloe Pierre’s Take Care: the black women’s guide to wellness.

It is hard to imagine this book being published before the racial justice summer of 2020, when George Floyd’s name became synonymous with (or shorthand for) the reminder of the permanence of racism and White supremacy in western society (Bell, 1992). The Black Lives Matter protests and subsequent public discussions of summer 2020 briefly allowed the more naive to imagine that change was possible, that the revolution was being live Tweeted.

In this aspect The Psychosis of Whiteness feels very much time bound. The storytelling style can only report the past and recent events; it can’t look to the future with any certainty. The book may not stand the test of time as some of the more recent references will become dated. We must acknowledge Andrews provides much historical context such as the contribution of Black psychiatrist Dr. Aggrey Burke which deserves much wider recognition. Further, at the time of writing one of Andrew’s main targets still appears to be suffering from the symptoms of White psychosis he has defined and diagnosed. On 18 April 2024 the UK’s Business and Trade Minister, a Black woman, told a conference in the City of London that “It worries me when I hear people talk about wealth and success in the UK as being down to colonialism or imperialism or white privilege or whatever.” and said that The Glorious Revolution of 1688 should be credited for providing the kind of economic certainty that paved the way for the Industrial Revolution (Makortoff, 2024). Again, we see the reshaping of an external reality to meet internal needs.

This special issue focuses on decoloniality. Oral history traditions predate the print book and so it is appropriate to give some special consideration to the audiobook version of this book. Andrew’s journalistic style of writing translates well to the audio format. For Black people listening to this audio book may feel like an act of communion. Listening to this audio book while out and about in White areas allows sense of not being alone and reminder to laugh at the absurdity of some situations (where possible and not dangerous). For Black Britons (or those who are Black and live in Britain, if they do not identify as British), Andrews’ regional accent, lilting diction and comedic timing, makes the text even more accessible and relatable – shrinking the distance from what one might have learned to imagine a professor would sound like. While we know that representation can present real dangers for Black people, there is still truth in the saying that “if you can see it, you can believe it”. It also speaks to the idea of contemporary Britain as a “melting pot”.

That said, as two UK based reviewers, we are mindful of the global audience of this special issue. Although this book attempts to draw examples from the US and South Africa, it is very focused on life in Britain. We could suggest, a touch unfairly, that perhaps something of the “small island” mentality persists. Andrew’s coverage of the “cancellation” of the early 2000s TV Series Little Britain – which included characters in Blackface – will be meaningless to overseas audiences. While the psychosis of Whiteness is probably a global phenomenon, there is little consideration of peculiarities of how it manifests in settler colonies such as Australia or even in Hong Kong. Had the book been written a year or two later there may also have been useful discussion and consideration of the concept of Whiteness in the Israel Palestine situation with its links with Black liberation struggles. Is the whole world racist as certainly racism is a global phenomenon, or should we only consider the English perspective, repeating the fading colonial outlook?

Another omission is the lack of inclusion of women scholars. While Andrews makes several references to the Black woman government minister mentioned above there are few references to women scholars. Kimberle Crenshaw gets a mention but, Audre Lorde, bell hooks, and Olivette Otele (Britain’s first ever Black female history professor), are absent.

Andrews does not set out to give a balanced opinion, but his viewpoint is clear, nuanced and evidenced, using recent and historical factors to justify his arguments. He uses historical understandings of race and racism and how these are displayed in contemporary thinking. Largely, he views the current ‘psychotic’ state as an impediment to any rational conversation.

His candid admission is that one consequence of the book may be for readers to realise that things are even worse than imagined. On the flip side, some (Black) readers will take comfort in his analysis. That a senior academic has confirmed Shaggy et al’s assertion that we’re living in a “Mad mad world” will provide reassurance that it really is them and not you. Eliminating the need to waste more mental energy on trying to rationalise the situation. If you accept this awful state, you could be defeated or energised – what determines which outcome? And to what extent is that the author’s responsibility? Andrews’ own activism may be addressing this but how does the reader? We found the idea that education was unlikely to be of any value in changing the status quo one of the more challenging concepts. Particularly that unconscious bias cannot be trained seems defeatist and ignores the theory and practice of ‘consciousness raising’ (Wikipedia, n.d.). It is more relatable when he highlights the wasted energy in educating white people and that would be better directed to empower and organise the oppressed.

The Psychosis of Whiteness is accessible, funny, tragicomic and could support you on your own antiracist journey. However, on its own it lacks the tools which might be empowering. We look forward to a second, more practical volume. Gil Scott Heron said “the revolution will not be televised” – perhaps Andrews will bring the revolution with his next audiobook.

To experience Andrews’ regional accent and an overview of the book without paying for the audiobook you can watch The psychosis of whiteness | LSE Event(youtube.com) – (London School of Economics, 2023).