Frantz Fanon

Frantz Fanon (July 20, 1925 – December 6, 1961) was a

psychiatrist, philosopher, revolutionary, and author from
Martinique. He was influential in the field of post-colonial
studies and was perhaps the pre-eminent thinker of the
20th century on the issue of decolonization and the
psychopathology of colonization.[1] His works have inspired
anti-colonial liberation
[edit] Work
Although Fanon wrote Black Skin, White Masks while still in France, most of his work was
written while in North Africa. It was during this time that he produced works like, L'An Cinq,
de la Révolution Algérienne, or Year Five of the Algerian Revolution, later republished as
'Sociology of a Revolution" and later still as 'A Dying Colonialism'. The irony of this was that
Fanon's original title was "Reality of a Nation", however the publisher, Francois Maspero,
refused to accept this title. He also wrote an important work on decolonization, The Wretched
of the Earth[4]. The Wretched of the Earth was first published in 1961 by François Maspero
and has a preface by Jean-Paul Sartre.[5] In it Fanon analyzes the role of class, race, national
culture and violence in the struggle for national liberation. Both books established Fanon in
the eyes of much of the Third World as the leading anti-colonial thinker of the 20th century.

Fanon's three books were supplemented by numerous psychiatry articles as well as radical
critiques of French colonialism in journals such as Esprit and El Moudjahid.

The reception of his work has been affected by English translations which are recognized to
contain numerous omissions and errors, while his unpublished work, including his doctoral
thesis, has received little attention. As a result, Fanon has often been portrayed as an advocate
of violence. This reductionist vision of Fanon's work ignores the subtlety of his understanding
of the colonial system. For Fanon in "The Wretched of the Earth", the colonizer's presence in
Algeria is based sheerly on military strength. Any resistance to this strength must also be of a
violent nature because it is the only 'language' the colonizer speaks. The relevance of
language and the reformation of discourse pervades much of his work, which is why it is so
interdisciplinary, spanning psychiatric concerns to encompass politics, sociology,
anthropology, linguistics and literature.[citation needed]

His participation in the Algerian FLN (Front de Libération Nationale) from 1955 determined
his audience as the Algerian colonized. It was to them that his final work, Les damnés de la
terre (translated into English by Constance Farrington as The Wretched of the Earth) was
directed. It constitutes a warning to the oppressed of the dangers they face in the whirlwind of
decolonization and the transition to a neo-colonialist/globalized world[6].[citation needed]

[edit] Influences
Much of Fanon's writings is traced to the influence of Aimé Césaire. But, while it could be
said that Fanon's works are directly influenced by the Négritude movement, Fanon
reformulated the theory of Césaire and Léopold Senghor by positing a new theory of
consciousness. Négritude implicitly based consciousness in racial difference and tension.
Fanon's psychological training and experience influenced him to base much of the problems
he saw as psychological and as the product of the domination which arises in oppressive
colonial situations. That is, consciousness was not of "racial essence" but a fact arising from
political and social situations. Fanon's consciousness was not purely black, but extended to
colonized peoples of any racial category. Fanon's own explanation of the difference between
his theory and that of Blaise Diagne, Senghor and Césaire was based in an evolutionary model
where the colonized ideologies transition from assimiliationist, négritude, and finally Fanon's
own theory.[7]

[edit] Influence
Fanon has had an inspiring impact on anti-colonial and liberation movements. In particular,
Les damnés de la terre was a major influence on the work of revolutionary leaders such as Ali
Shariati in Iran, Steve Biko in South Africa, Malcolm X in the United States and Ernesto Che
Guevara in Cuba. Of these only Guevara was primarily concerned with Fanon's theories on
violence; for Shariati and Biko the main interest in Fanon was "the new man" and "black
consciousness" respectively [8]. Fanon's influence extended to the liberation movements of the
Palestinians, the Tamils, African Americans and others. More recently, radical South African
people's movements have been influenced by Fanon's work.[9] His work was a key influence
on Brazilian educationist Paulo Freire, as well.