A Psychoanalytic Biography of Ye: The Legacy of Unconditional Love
This book, which includes a foreword by Tommy Curry, is a theoretical biography of Ye. It particularly focuses on the 5-year period from 2016 to 2021 (the Shaky-Ass Years) in an effort to think psychoanalytically about his complex subjectivity, his struggle with manic-depression, the thin line between the personal and the political when it comes to celebrity culture, and, of course, his aesthetic productions – be they in the form of music, video, or fashion – which the author regards as also being ethical and political projects/objects.
The book takes what Ye says seriously, as opposed to dismissing him through the use of stigmatizing terms. The author specifically aligned his desire with Donda’s in an attempt to see him from her point of view – that is, through the legacy of unconditional love.
Robert K. Beshara, MFA, PhD, is Associate Professor of Psychology and Humanities and Chair of the Arts and Human Sciences Department at Northern New Mexico College. He is the author of Decolonial Psychoanalysis: Towards Critical Islamophobia Studies (2019) as well as Freud and Said: Contrapuntal Psychoanalysis as Liberation Praxis (2021). He is also the editor of A Critical Introduction to Psychology (2019) and Critical Psychology Praxis: Psychosocial Non-Alignment to Modernity/Coloniality (2021). Further, he is the translator of Mourad Wahba’s (1995) Fundamentalism and Secularization (2021). Finally, he is the founder of the Critical Psychology website: www.criticalpsychology.org.
"Where cultural studies often miss the mark, Robert Beshara fuses the academic study of philosophy, religion, history and psychology. This book offers a “cathartic” introspection into the complex mind of a genius. The accessibility of this read will appeal to the common fan as well as the researcher."
Julius Bailey, PhD Professor of Philosophy, Wittenberg University. Author of Philosophy and Hip Hop (2014) and Editor of The Cultural Impact of Kanye West (2014)
"Beshara’s text should be required reading for anyone interested in listening at any level to the cultural production of Ye né Kanye West. This book is an essential installment in the canon of texts taking up the Black Aesthetic for all of its philosophical impact, and is a must-read."
Michael E. Sawyer, PhD Associate Professor of African American Literature & Culture, University of Pittsburgh, Author of Black Minded: The Political Philosophy of Malcolm X
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