Frrantz Fanon And Post-Colonial Theory

On a sociological basis, the notion of race is understood as a social construction. As a black student in France, Frantz Fanon writes of how the white man has made him a “slave not of the ‘idea’ that others have of [him] but of [his]

This undeniable reality of the racial constraints on the concept of equality naturally leads us to question whether the Revolution Era had a “truly revolutionary” effect on anyone except for the white man. When discussing the concept of equality in part with the Revolutionary Era, we should start with identifying the various demographics that were meant to be affected by this concept. Africans are arguably the most affected demographic by the revolutionary era. The most significant changes of where they sit on the societal totem pole happen in the northern colonies, as America a Narrative History states, after achieving independence all the states except Georgia stopped the trafficking of slaves; only for South Carolina to re-open their slave trade in 1803. However, we should also

On a graduating speech by a young african american in 1819, valedictorian of his new york free school he says “why should i strive hard and acquire all of the constituents of a man if the mevailing genius of the land admit me not as such, on but an inferior degree” he knows that even if he tries hard and does everything to make him as smart as any white man he will not be accepted socially by the other people then he states “ to what shall I turn my hand ? shall I be a mechanic ? no one will employ me ; white boys won’t work with me. shall I be a merchant? no one will have me in his office; white clerks won’t associate with me. The revolution did not make many changes for slavery in fact the revolution only started changes in slavery, for example in the map of slavery abolition slavery was being abolished as early as 1777 that is 6 years before the revolution ended so already it is spurring many changes for

Black history has taught us that the black community has been seen as “servants” a lower class in communities of white supremacy therefore, genocides against women, children and men have been carried out through history and how “colonization” has played an important role in the white supremacy actions against black. Cesaire cites in “Colonial Discourse” “The colonial encounter in other words requires “reinvention of the Colonized” the deliberate destruction of the cast, in other words what Cesaire calls “Thingfication”, colonialism works to ‘decivilize” the colonizer, torture,

When a central power comes in and dominates the surrounding land and people it is referred to as colonization. In some cases it can lead to a positive outcome but more so than not it has a negative repercussion. In “Heart of Darkness,” “The Powwow at the End of the World,” and “Heritage,” both the colonizer and the colonized experience negative consequences that force them to change their views on the world.

Cone, in this book, explained in considerable detail the concept of “Black Power” as a way to combat “White Power” in all spheres of life without falling into oppression against white people as many believed it could be. He accuses to the white of reifying to the black, not allowing them to be or act as persons. Thus, the Black Power is a form of rebellion. “It is (the Black Power) the answer given by the ontological perspective of hopelessness or to rebel against them”.

African’s are forced to be slaves, deprived of their own resources in their own country, just imagine if you took a walk in their shoes for a day. King Leopold II enslaved African people in their own country. Africans were treated inhumanely by King Leopold II and other colonizing rulers. Europe and American countries took Africa’s resources away for their own profit. Africa’s interactions with colonialism have negatively impacted African cultures.

Decolonization is the undoing of colonialism, where a nation establishes and maintains its domination over dependent territories. In the words of Fanon, in the reading The Wretched of the Earth, “National liberation, national reawakening, restoration of the na­tion to the people or Commonwealth, whatever the name used, whatever the latest expression, decolonization is always a violent event.” (Fanon, 1). Frantz Fanon was one of many authors who supported decolonization struggles occurring after World War II. He breaks down decolonization into two senses: one being the physical act of freeing a territory from external control of a colonizer, and the other being the psychological act of freeing the consciousness of the native from the alienation caused by colonization. Fanon particularly advocated that violence was justified by overthrowing colonial oppression. In his reading, The Wretched of the Earth, Fanon wrote on why and how colonialism must be stopped. Fanon argued that the colonial infrastructure must be destroyed. “Decolonization, which sets out to change the order of the world, is clearly an agenda for total disorder. But it cannot be accomplished by the wave of a magic wand, a natural cataclysm, or a gentleman’s agreement. Decolonization, we know, is an historical process: In other words, it can only be understood, it can only find its significance and become self coherent insofar as we can discern the history-making movement which gives it form and substance,”

One of the most famous postcolonial theorists fanon was writing about all the social consequences of being defined as a member of some race. (1952) Fanon reflects on the perception of black people by the white which is a burden for the daily life of the firsts ones as long as they have to deal with all the prejudices associated with the color of their skin. While whiteness is perceived in the western world as a norm, blackness is something, that is usually constructed and reconstructed. It can be so because when faced the black people for the first time, white civilization faced something unfamiliar, that is why it “invented” blackness in order to normalize it according to its ethnocentric norms. What is more, debates on the social construction of the race as a mean of oppression goes together with the critique of the other forms of oppression such as gender inequality. For example, Collins shown how the inferiority of people, who has “inferior” biological characteristics such as being black women, is constructed. (2002) All in all, postcolonial critique shown the ways in which the notion of race was used to diminish people with the other skin color in order to justify the colonial rule, consequences of which we are experiencing till the present

Through research, you can learn that postcolonial discourse is an “academic discipline that analyzes the cultural legacies of colonialism and of imperialism.” It is made up of theories found amongst “history anthropology, philosophy, linguistics, film, political science, architecture, human geography, sociology, Marxist theory, feminism, religious and theological studies, and literature.” An understanding of postcolonial discourse could be what colonized societies handed down to succeeding generations after them that has become significant to their culture.

Most of the world’s civilized societies today were established through colonialism. It was brought about through greed, necessity for expansion, and discovery. It has left its mark in various ways by the languages we speak, cultural influence, not to mention the lines on the map. Although it has shaped much of history, colonialism is an unequal exploitation of settlements or countries that has left a lot of problems in its wake.

The effect of colonization is one where states facilitate the development of ‘race’ through categorization, with the act of racism then following as a consequence; as demonstrated in the various examples mentioned. This point, alongside the notion that states have the capability of using psychological, political and social powers to create racial ‘norms’, indicate that there is a negative relationship present; where the ‘losers’ will continue to be the dominated race. However, it must be considered that the breakthroughs accomplished by the theoretical perspectives mentioned above has led to the issue of racism becoming an objective that states aim to address; meaning that there is a potential for the relationship to become more equalised in the

Colonialism is defined as “the policy or practice of acquiring full or partial political control over another country, occupying it with settlers, and exploiting it economically” (Google). It was a practice demonstrated in the 1700s and the people that experienced this type of control were mostly individuals that came from other countries such as Africa and were brought to the colonies. By taking individuals from their homes back and transforming them into something that is “civilized” and “normal” to the colonies standards were apparent with two writers by the name of Olaudah Equiano and Phillis Wheatley. These two African individuals took in what they were being taught by their captors and infused with their writings. This demonstrates that colonialism is a way of erasing ones true background and integrating teachings of something they can truly never be a part of. The two texts to support this thesis will be Olaudah Equiano’s text The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavus Vassa, the African, Written by Himself and “On Being Brought from Africa to America” & other select poems by Phillis Wheatley.

Frantz Fanon’s “The Fact of Blackness,” a chapter from Black Skin, White Masks describes the anxiety felt while held in the gaze of the colonizer. A reading of Judith Butler’s Gender Trouble in conjunction with Fanon’s work raises questions and possible strategies on how to reject neocolonialism and contemporary white supremacy. Fanon’s idea of blackness is performative but not for the gain of the black man, rather for the white man. Butler suggests that regaining control of the black man’s fate comes from interpellation, the act, of interrupting the white man’s claims or ideas, or rather their misconceptions of the black man. A way of disregarding the white man’s claims is a form of rejecting that normativity, similar to Butler’s analysis of drag where one rejects normativity altogether. The black man’s lack of interpellation enhances the white man’s performativity furthering white supremacy; a way of rejecting neocolonialism that disregards societal norms.

Franz Fanon is one of the many profound voices of black identity during the 1950s. His work in the field of psychology features an unfathomed approach to critical theory, post-colonial studies and Marxism. In Black Skin White Masks, Fanon dives into the Negro psyche through understanding its origin. In studying this, Fanon comes to the argument that the dehumanizing process of colonization renders both Blacks and Whites crazy. In analyzing Africans, specifically, Fanon determines that the “Negro [is] enslaved by his inferiority [and] the white man enslaved by his superiority” and that is why they are both mentally unbalanced. It is this neurotic orientation through which Fanon discusses the process through which Africans become second-class French people. In discussing the Negro neurosis, Fanon begins with this statement: The Negro “becomes whiter as he renounces his blackness.”