Na'im Akbar
American clinical psychologist and scholar of Black psychology
Clinical psychologist who developed an African-centred approach to psychology and taught at Morehouse College and Florida State University. His books include Chains and Images of Psychological Slavery and Breaking the Chains of Psychological Slavery.
Why this person matters
Akbar wrote about how slavery and racism affect self-concept, and developed Black psychology courses at colleges. His work belongs to a wider group of African American psychologists who built institutions and curricula in Black psychology, among them Joseph White and Robert Williams.
Main contributions
Black psychology teaching
He chaired the psychology department at Morehouse College and, according to one profile, designed and taught the first Black psychology course and programme at a historically Black college. At Norfolk State University he developed Black psychology courses.
Concepts of psychological slavery
His books include Chains and Images of Psychological Slavery (1984), The Community of Self (1985) and Breaking the Chains of Psychological Slavery (1996). He introduced the concepts of alien-self and anti-self disorders.
Professional service
He joined the Association of Black Psychologists in 1971 and served on its board several times. He taught at Florida State University for 28 years and retired in 2008.
Context and limits
Akbar's alien-self and anti-self concepts come from clinical and cultural theory, and the sources used here do not describe empirical tests of them or evaluations by other scholars. The sources name the professional association he led in the late 1980s inconsistently, so no dates are given for that office.
In your introductory course
Culture and diversity.Appears in culture and diversity chapters on Black psychology and African-centred approaches. Students meet him as an author of theory about identity and racism written by a Black psychologist.
Related course reading: Psychology 2e, section 1.3. This is course context rather than a biographical source.
Years of active work
- 1971
Joined the Association of Black Psychologists.
- 1984
Published Chains and Images of Psychological Slavery.
- 1996
Published Breaking the Chains of Psychological Slavery.
- 2008
Retired from Florida State University after 28 years on the faculty.
Sources
- University of Georgia, Psychologist Na'im Akbar to deliver fourth annual Mary Frances Early Lecture at UGAUniversity. Institutional biography inspected.
- Kentake Page, Na'im AkbarReference work. Reference article inspected.
- Wikipedia, Na'im AkbarReference work. Reference article inspected.