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The Psychosocial and Racialized Hauntings

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The Palgrave Handbook of Psychosocial Studies

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Abstract

This chapter draws on Frantz Fanon’s conceptualization of racialization to consider how the past haunts the present and future in psychosocial ways. It first discusses the psychosocial features of Fanon’s much-cited example of being racialized by a child on a train. It then brings together theorization of the psychosocial, intersectionality, hauntology, and racialization. The chapter then presents two research examples that illuminate the inextricable linking of the psychosocial, racialization, and hauntology. The final section applies these theoretical notions to a 2021 British case where unfolding allegations of racism led to a crisis in English cricket. The chapter argues that for social change to disrupt racism, it is important to address the ways in which racialization permeates and haunts societies and subjectivities in ways that maintain historical inequalities that dehumanize those who are racialized as other and haunt the present.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    A cricketing publication.

  2. 2.

    The Raj is a Hindi term referring to rule of the British Crown on the Indian subcontinent from 1858 to 1947. It is also referred to as Crown rule in India, or direct rule in India.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Thomas Coram Research Unit, Social Research Institute, University College London, London, UK

    Ann Phoenix

Authors
  1. Ann Phoenix
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Correspondence to Ann Phoenix .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychosocial Studies, Birkbeck, University of London, London, UK

    Stephen Frosh

  2. Department of Psychosocial and Psychoanalytic Studies, University of Essex, Colchester, UK

    Marita Vyrgioti

  3. Department of Psychosocial and Psychoanalytic Studies, University of Essex, Colchester, UK

    Julie Walsh

Section Editor information

  1. Birkbeck College, University of London, London, UK

    Stephen Frosh

  2. University of Essex, Colchester, UK

    Marita Vyrgioti

  3. Department of Psychosocial and Psychoanalytic Studies, University of Essex, Colchester, United Kingdom

    Julie Walsh

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Phoenix, A. (2022). The Psychosocial and Racialized Hauntings. In: Frosh, S., Vyrgioti, M., Walsh, J. (eds) The Palgrave Handbook of Psychosocial Studies. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-61510-9_25-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-61510-9_25-1

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  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-030-61510-9

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-030-61510-9

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