Frantz Fanon (1925–1961)
Fanon was born in Martinique, studied medicine and psychiatry in France, and was radicalized by his experience treating Algerian patients whose mental illness was inseparable from colonial violence. Black Skin, White Masks examined how colonialism deforms the psyche. The Wretched of the Earth, written while he was dying of leukemia at thirty-six, became a manual for liberation movements across three continents. He was a doctor who diagnosed an empire.
Concepts
agency, alienation, authenticity, freedom, meaning, oppression, praxis, rebellion, totalitarianism
Quotes (6)
- “At the level of individuals, violence is a cleansing force. It frees the nati...” — The Wretched of the Earth (1961)
- “Each generation must, out of relative obscurity, discover its mission, fulfil...” — The Wretched of the Earth (1961)
- “To speak a language is to take on a world, a culture.” — Black Skin, White Masks (1952)
- “What matters is not to know the world but to change it.” — Black Skin, White Masks (1952)
- “Colonialism is not a thinking machine, nor a body endowed with reasoning facu...” — The Wretched of the Earth (1961)
- “O my body, make of me always a man who questions!” — Black Skin, White Masks (1952)