Adeeba Dwanimen Deterville, Ph.D. is co-founder of Sankofa Cultural Institute and Core faculty at the California Institute of Integral Studies (CIIS). She holds a Doctor of Philosophy in Transformational Studies from CIIS and Masters degree in Transpersonal Studies from the Institute of Transpersonal Psychology (Sophia University). Dr. Deterville’s dissertation, Sankofa Praxis: An Africentric Meta-Theory of Sankofa and Jegnship as an Reclaimation of Africentric Episteme, Psychology, Spiritness, and Personhood: A Scholarly Personal Narrative of Cultural Retrieval, Alignment and Actualization – is the framework the guides her work. Sankofa Praxis is a transformational meta-theory which integrates the concepts of Sankofa, a cultural concept used to guide African ascendant people in cultural reclamation; Jegnaship which I define as relational intentionally guided development; and Africentric Episteme, Psychology, Spiritness, and Personhood (EPSP).

Foundational to”Dr. Dee’s “work is her over thirty-year membership in the Association of Black Psychologists (ABPsi). She currently serves on the national board of the Association of Psychologists, Inc.,  (ABPsi) as Co-Chair of the Certification in African Black Psychology (CABP) Committee.  She has also served ABPsi as  Western Region Representative, Jegnaship Committee member, and is a past Western Region Graduate Representative for ABPsi’s Student Circle Board of Directors. She has also served as the Student Circle Board Chair for the Bay Area Association of Black Psychologists (BACABPsi). Currently Dr. Dee serves as Vice President of the BACABPsi.

Sankofa Praxis – which engages the concepts of Sankofa, Jegnaship, Africentric epitome, psychology, spiritness and personhood is actualized through a variety of projects and programs for Black students (graduate and undergraduate); Educators, and community-based organization focused on “African cultural alignment and actualization via the illumination of what it means to be African” (Deterville, 2020).

In addition to her work in the academy, Adeeba has more than twenty-five years experience in the non-profit sector and has worked in the financial services field as a Community Development Officer.

She is a practitioner of Lucumi and has a regular meditation practice. Adeeba is the proud grandmother of eleven and mother of one. She enjoys Broadway musicals and 70s music, loves good vegetarian food, wine, and cognac. Adeeba enjoys going to museums and art exhibit with her artist husband and traveling to Black historical sites around the world.