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Frantz Fanon

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121 Conversations [[Image:Frantz Fanon The Wretched of the Earth.jpg|right|200px]] '''Frantz Fanon''' ([[July 20]], [[1925]] [[December 6]], [[1961]]) was perhaps the preeminent thinker of the [[20th century]] on the issue of [[Decolonization|decolonization]] and the [[psychopathology]] of [[Colonization|colonization]]. His works have inspired anti-colonial liberation movements throughout the world for more than four decades.
==Life==
===Martinique and WWII===
Fanon was born on the [[Caribbean]] island of [[Martinique]], then a [[French colonial empire|French colony]] and now a French [[département]]. He was born into a mixed family background of African [[slavery|slaves]], [[Tamil people|Tamil]] indentured servants and a white man. The family were relatively well off for Martinicans but far from a middle [[class ]] background. They could however afford the fees for the all-black Lycee Schoelcher.
After France fell to the [[Nazism|Nazis]] in 1940, French naval troops were blockaded on Martinique. Forced to remain on the island, French soldiers became "authentic racists". Many accusations of harassment and sexual misconduct arose. The treatment of the Martinique people by the French Army was a major formative influence on Fanon, as it cemented the feelings of [[alienation ]] and his understanding of the realities of [[racism]]. At the age of eighteen, Fanon fled the island and traveled to [[Dominica]] to join Free French Forces. He later enlisted in the French army and saw active duty in [[France]], notably in the bloody battles of [[Alsace]]. In [[1944]] he was wounded in battle and received the ''[[Croix de Guerre]]'' medal. His unit was not allowed to cross the [[Rhine]] as the regiment was whitened.
In [[1945]], after recovering from his wounds Fanon returned home to Martinique, a decorated war [[veteran]]. His return to Martinique lasted only a short time. While there, he worked for the parliamentary campaign of his friend and mentor [[Aimé Césaire]], who would be the greatest influence in his life. Although it is often argued that Fanon was never fully a [[Communism|communist]], Césaire ran on the communist ticket as a parliamentary delegate from Martinique to the first National Assembly of the [[French Fourth Republic|Fourth Republic]]. Fanon stayed long enough to complete his baccalaureate and then returned to France where he took up the study of [[medicine ]] and [[psychiatry]]. He was educated in [[Lyon]] where he also studied [[literature]], drama,and [[philosophy]]. He attended [[Merleau-Ponty]]'s lectures and studied psychiatry under the radical Catalan, [[Francois de Tosquelles]], qualifying as a [[psychiatrist]] in [[1951]]; he practiced psychiatry in France and (from 1953) in [[Algeria]]. He was ''chef de service'' in [[Blida-Joinville]], Algeria, where he stayed until his resignation in 1956.
===France===
While in France he wrote his first book, ''[[Black Skin, White Masks]]'', an analysis of the impact of colonial subjugation on the black [[psyche]]. This book was a very personal account of Fanon’s [[experience ]] being black: as a man, an intellectual, and a party to a French education.
===Algeria===
Fanon left France for Algeria, where he had been stationed for some time during the war. He secured an appointment as a psychiatrist at Blida-Joinville Psychiatric Hospital. It was there that he radicalized methods of treatment and care. In particular, he initiated socio-therapy which connected with his [[patients]]' [[cultural ]] backgrounds. He also trained nurses and interns. Following the outbreak of the Algerian [[revolution ]] in November 1954 he joined the FLN ([[Front de Libération Nationale]]) in early 1955 as a result of contacts with Dr Chaulet.
In ''[[The Wretched of the Earth]]'', Fanon later discussed in depth the effects on Algerians of torture by the French forces. The fact that some French anti-terrorist units engaged in torture has had political repercussions in France, where, however, those alleged to have engaged in torture enjoy a general amnesty for the "events." That is why [[Général Paul Aussaresses]], who admitted publicly to torturing terrorist suspects, was not tried for what he did then, but for not showing sufficient remorse.
Fanon made extensive trips across Algeria, but mainly in the [[Kabyle]] region, to study the cultural/psychological life of Algerians. His lost study of "The marabout of Si Slimane" is an example of this work. These trips were also a means for clandestine activities, noticeably in his visits to the ski resort of Chrea which hid an FLN base. By summer 1956 he wrote his famous "Letter of resignation to the Resident Minister", and made a clean break with his French assimilationist upbringing and education. He was finally expelled from Algeria in January, 1957, and the "nest of fellaghas [rebels]" at Blida hospital was dismantled. Fanon left for France and subsequently traveled secretly to [[Tunis]]. He was part of the editorial collective of ''El Moudjahid'' for which he wrote up to the end of his life. He also served as Ambassador to [[Ghana]] for the Provisional Algerian Government, and attended conferences in [[Accra]], [[Conakry]], [[Addis Ababa]], [[Leopoldville]], [[Cairo]] and [[Tripoli]]. Many of his shorter writings from this period were collected posthumously in the book ''[[Toward the African Revolution]]''. In this book Fanon even outs himself as a war strategist; in one chapter he discusses how to open a southern front to the war and how to adequately run the supply lines.
===Death===
On his return to Tunis, after his exhausting trip across the Sahara to open a Third Front, Fanon was diagnosed with [[leukemia]]. He went to the [[Soviet Union]] for treatment and experienced some remission from his illness. On his return to Tunis he dictated his testament ''[[The Wretched of the Earth]]''. When he was not confined to his bed, he delivered lectures to ALN (Armée de Libération Nationale) officers at Ghardimao on the Algero-Tunisian border. He made a final visit to [[Jean -Paul Sartre|Sartre]] in Rome and went for further leukemia treatment in the [[USA]]. He died in [[Washington, D.C.]], on [[December 6]] [[1961]] under the name of Ibrahim Fanon. He was buried in [[Algeria]], after lying in state in [[Tunisia]]. Later his body was moved to a martyrs (chouhada) graveyard at Ain Kerma in western Algeria. Fanon was survived by his wife, Josie, their son, Olivier and daughter, Mireille.
==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 his greatest works, ''Year 5 of the Algerian Revolution'' (later republished as ''A Dying Colonialism'') and perhaps the most important work on decolonization yet written, ''[[The Wretched of the Earth]]''. ''The Wretched of the Earth'' was first published in 1961 by François Maspero, and is fronted with a preface by [[Jean-Paul Sartre]]. In it, Fanon analyzes the [[role ]] of class, [[race]], national [[culture ]] and [[violence ]] in the [[struggle ]] for national liberation. Both books firmly 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 psychiatric articles, as well as radical critiques of French colonialism in journals like, [http://www.esprit.presse.fr ''Esprit''] and ''El Moudjahid''.
His work has been partly misunderstood due to flawed English translations which contain numerous omissions and errors. Moreover, his unpublished work, including his important doctoral thesis, has been ignored. The result has been simplistic dismissals, with Fanon portrayed solely as an advocate of violence. In fact, his work is interdisciplinary, broadening out from his psychiatric basis to encompass [[politics]], [[sociology]], [[anthropology]], [[linguistics ]] and literature. 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 their present dangers as they face the whirlwind of decolonization and the transition to a neo-colonialist/globalized world.
==Influence==
Fanon has had an enduring and inspiring impact on anti-colonial and liberation movements throughout the world. 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, 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. Fanon's influence extended to the Palestinians, the [[Tamil people|Tamil]]sTamils, the Irish, the [[Black Panthers]], and many other movements for self-determination. ==References in the Arts=====Music===*[[Rage Against the Machine]] references Fanon, "grip tha cannon like Fanon and pass tha shell to my classmate" in a track entitled "Year of tha Boomerang" on their [[1996]] release ''[[Evil Empire (album)|Evil Empire]]''. The Wretched of the Earth appears on the inside of the album cover. *[[Third Sight]] references Fanon in a track entitled "Will I Get Shot by a Dope Fiend?" on their [[2006]] release ''[[Symbionese Liberation Album]]''. ===Contemporary Art===*[[Jimmie Durham]], an American Indian conceptual artist, references Fanon in a piece entitled "Often Durham Employs..." (1998), with this quote from Fanon- "The zone where the natives live is not complementary to the zone inhabited by the settlers." 
==Bibliography==
===Fanon's writings===
*''[[Black Skin, White Masks]]'', transl. Charles Lam Markmann (1967: New York, [[Grove Press]])
*''[[A Dying Colonialism]]''
*''[[Toward the African Revolution]]''
*''[[The Wretched of the Earth]]'', transl. Constance Farrington (1963: New York, Grove Weidenfeld)
*''[[Toward the African Revolution]]'', transl. Haakon Chavalier (1969: New York, Grove Press)
*[http://historyisaweapon.com/defcon1/fanon.html "Reciprocal Bases of National Culture and the Fight for Freedom" A Speech by Frantz Fanon included in The Wretched of the Earth]
===Secondary literature===*Laura Chrisman & Patrick Williams ''Colonial Discourse and Post-Colonial Theory: A Reader'' (1994: New York, Columbia University Press)*[[Lewis R. Gordon]], ''Fanon and the Crisis of European Man: An Essay on Philosophy and the Human Sciences'' (1995: New York, Routlege)*[[Lewis Gordon|Lewis R. Gordon]], T. Denean Sharpley-Whiting, & Renee T. White [edd] ''Fanon: A Critical Reader'' (1996: Oxford, Blackwell)*Hussein M. Adam “Fanon as a Democratic Theorist” in Nigel C. Gibson [ed.] ''Rethinking Fanon: The Continuing Dialougue'' (1999: Amherst, New York, Humanity Books)*Samuel Oluoch Imbo ''An Introduction to African Philosophy'' (1998: Oxford, Rowman & Littlefield) ISBN 0-8476-8840-2*Macey, David ''Frantz Fanon: A Biography'' (2000: New York, NY, Picador Press) ISBN 0-312-27550-1*Ato Sekyi-otu ''Fanon's Dialectic of Experience'' (1996: Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press)*Tsenay Serequeberhan ''The Hermeneutics of African Philosophy'' (1994: London, Routledge) ISBN 0-415-90802-7*Christian Filostrat Interviews Frantz Fanon's Wife Josie, [[November 16]] [[1978]], Howard University’s African-American Center.*Olúfémi Táíwò “Fanon” in [[Robert L. Arrington]] [ed.] ''A Companion to the Philosophers'' (2001: Oxford, Blackwell) ISBN 0-631-22967-1*Alice Cherki, "Frantz Fanon.Portrait" (2000: Paris, Seuil)*Nigel C. Gibson ''Fanon: The Postcolonial Imagination'' (2003: Oxford, Polity Press)*Giovanni Pirelli, "Frantz Fanon: Opere scelte" (1976: Milan, erre emme) ==See also==*[[Amílcar Cabral]]*[[Race theory]] [[Category:1925 births|Fanon, Frantz]][[Category:1961 deaths|Fanon, Frantz]][[Category:Algerian people|Fanon, Frantz]][[Category:Marxists|Fanon, Frantz]][[Category:Post-colonial theory|Fanon, Frantz]][[Category:Algerian writers|Fanon, Frantz]][[Category:Croix de guerre recipients|Fanon, Frantz]][[Category:French people|Fanon, FrantzMarxism]]
[[Category:Psychoanalysis]]
[[Category:People]]
 
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