Name : pina Gondaliya
Subject : Postcolonial Studies
Topic : Themes of The 'Wretched of the Earth'
Submitted To : Department of English M.K.Bhavnagar
Frantz Fanon
Born on the island of Martinique under French colonial rule, Frantz Omar Fanon (1925–1961) was one of the most important writers in black Atlantic theory in an age of anti-colonial liberation struggle. His work drew on a wide array of poetry, psychology, philosophy, and political theory, and its influence across the global South has been wide, deep, and enduring. In his lifetime, he published two key original works: Black Skin, White Masks in 1952 and The Wretched of the Earth in 1961. Collections of essays, A Dying Colonialism and Toward the African Revolution, posthumously published in 1964, round out a portrait of a radical thinker in motion, moving from the Caribbean to Europe to North Africa to sub-Saharan Africa and transforming his thinking at each stop. The 2015 collection of his unpublished writings, Écrits sur l’aliénation et la liberté, will surely expand our understanding of the origins and intellectual context of Fanon’s thinking.
Fanon engaged in the fundamental issues of his day: language, affect, sexuality, gender, race and racism, religion, social formation, time, and many others. His impact was immediate upon arrival in Algeria, where in 1953 he was appointed to a position in psychiatry at Blida-Joinville Hospital. His participation in the Algerian revolutionary struggle shifted his thinking from theorizations of blackness to a wider, more ambitious theory of colonialism, anti-colonial struggle, and visions for a postcolonial culture and society.
The Wretched of the Earth
The Wretched of the Earth is a 1961 book by the psychiatrist Frantz Fanon, in which the author provides a psychological and psychiatric analysis of the dehumanizing effects of colonization upon the individual and the nation, and discusses the broader social, cultural, and political implications of establishing a social movement for the decolonization of a person and of a people. The French-language title derives from the opening lyrics of "The Internationale".
Colonialism, Racism, and Violence
the practice of taking political control of another country with the intention of establishing a settlement and exploiting the people economically. Colonialism began in Europe around the 15th century, and it is still practiced today in some parts of the world. Fanon, a French West Indian from Martinique, a French colony located in the eastern Caribbean Sea, had a personal interest in colonialism, and his book focuses on the ways colonialism historically sought to oppress and subjugate much of the Third World through blatant racism and repeated violence. At the time Fanon wrote his book in 1961, many colonized nations were struggling for independence, and the damage of hundreds of years of racism and exploitation was acutely felt by many. The Wretched of the Earth serves as a sort of guidebook for understanding the colonized and their struggle, and in it, Fanon ultimately argues that colonialism, an inherently racist and violent practice, can only be overcome by using violence in return.
Fanon maintains that colonialism divides the world into light and dark or in this case, black and white in a process he refers to as Manichaeism. Manichaeism is a Persian religious practice from the 3rd century that is based on the basic conflict of light and dark, and, Fanon claims, it serves as the basis for the racist practice of colonialism. Since “the colonial world is a Manichaean world,” Fanon says, the colonized individual is seen as the “quintessence of evil” and is considered void of any morals or ethics. Manichaeism assumes that light the white settler represents good, whereas dark the black colonized individual represents evil. To Fanon, colonialism is rooted in this basic racist belief. Based on the same Manichaean concept, the colonial world is likewise divided into the civilized and the savage. In keeping with the themes of light and dark, the white colonist is considered civilized, and the colonized is a savage. The colonized individual is “reduced to the state of an animal” and is referred to in “zoological terms.” Under the racist practice of colonialism, the colonized individual is completely dehumanized. According to Fanon, colonial countries are further divided into two separate “sectors'': the “colonist’s sector” and the “’native’ quarters.” The colonist’s sector is clean and well maintained; but the “native” quarters, which are crowded and neglected, are “disreputable place[s] inhabited by disreputable people.” At the very foundation of colonialism, Fanon thus argues, is a basic principle that seeks to separate and oppress people based on the color of their skin.
Racism
In addition to a system of racism, Fanon argues that colonialism is also a system of violence, which seeks to control and oppress the colonized through violent means. From the beginning, Fanon claims that the colonial situation “was colored by violence and their cohabitation or rather the exploitation of the colonized by the colonizer continued at the point of the bayonet and under cannon fire.” Colonial control was taken by violence and is maintained in much the same way. The colonized world which again is separated into the colonizer and the colonized is divided by military barracks and police stations. In a colonized country, Fanon says,
“The spokesperson for the colonizer and regime of oppression, is the police officer or the soldier.”
The mere presence of the dividing border between the worlds maintains order through intimidation and the threat of violence. Fanon argues that for the colonized,
“all he has ever seen on his land is that he can be arrested, beaten, and starved with impunity.”
Thus, Fanon implies, there is no end to the violence of colonialism; it doesn't stop once power is established. Rather, violence is a constant presence that is front and center in the lives of all colonized individuals.
Violence
Fanon refers to the widespread violence in colonial countries as “atmospheric violence,” which he claims is perpetually “rippling under the skin.” To Fanon, this constant violence is proof that colonialism cannot be overcome through peaceful or passive means. The colonized masses, Fanon asserts,
“intuitively believe that their liberation must be achieved and can only be achieved by force.”
For the colonized, “violence is a cleansing force,” and it also rids them of the “inferiority complex” forced upon them by the racist ideology of colonialism. As a practice rooted in violence, Fanon thus argues that colonialism must be answered in kind.
Psychological effects of colonialism.
Fanon’s The Wretched of the Earth is an examination of the psychological effects of colonialism. Fanon was a practicing psychiatrist in France, and later in Algeria during the Algerian War of Independence a war fought between France and the Algerian National Liberation Front between 1954 and 1962, which resulted in Algeria becoming an independent nation. Fanon was particularly interested in the psychological impact of colonialism on the colonized individual. The colonial situation, Fanon contends, is rooted in racism and violence, and it keeps the colonized living in a constant “state of rage.” Fanon explores this rage and its role as a cause of Algerian criminality, and he looks more specifically at other forms of psychological stress, such as brainwashing and physical torture, including electrocution. In Algeria, Fanon treated both Algerian torture victims and the French soldiers and officers who tortured them, and he reflects on such cases in his book. Through The Wretched of the Earth, Fanon effectively argues that the practice of colonialism is psychologically damaging to both the colonized and the colonist.
Oppression and Mental Health
Fanon includes several cases of Algerian patients he treated for mental illness during the Algerian War of Independence. Fanon argues that their various illnesses are “psychotic reactions,” which are directly related to the stress of colonialism. Fanon includes the case file of an Algerian man known only as B, who was treated for impotence, migraines, and anorexia after his wife was raped by a French soldier. Each of B’s symptoms and conditions are in response to the violence of colonialism and the trauma of his wife’s rape. Fanon also includes the case of S, another Algerian man who was treated for “random homicidal impulses” after surviving a massacre in his small Algerian village perpetrated by the French military in 1958. Twenty-nine Algerians were killed in the massacre, and S suffered two bullet wounds. Since the massacre, S has had the urge to “kill everybody,” a desire that only began after the violent attack on his village by the French soldiers. Fanon also includes notes on a group of young Algerian children, each under the age of 10, whom he treated for adjustment disorders. The children, whose parents had been killed in the war with France, suffered from bedwetting, sleepwalking, insomnia, and anxiety, and like both S and B, their pathologies were also directly related to the psychological stress of colonialism.
Fanon also includes case notes relating to his work with colonial soldiers and officers, as well as their families, which suggests that colonialism has a negative psychological effect on both the colonized and the colonizer. Fanon includes notes on A, a young European police officer whom he treated for depression and anxiety, which began after he was expected to begin torturing Algerians on behalf of the colonial police. Like the Algerians Fanon also treated, A was likewise psychologically impacted by colonialism. Fanon, too, treated a young Frenchwoman who suffered from an anxiety disorder after her father, a civil servant, was killed during an ambush in Algeria. The Frenchwoman was disgusted and embarrassed by her father’s involvement in the oppression of the Algerian people, and she found it impossible to be proud of him. This shame is directly related to colonialism, and it has a negative effect on the young Frenchwoman’s psychological wellbeing. Lastly, Fanon includes his notes on R, a European police inspector who, after his involvement in colonialism and the oppression of the Algerian people, tortures his wife and children just as he tortured the Algerians. Like all of the patients mentioned in Fanon’s book, R suffers from a “psychotic reaction” that is directly related to colonialism.
Fanon argues colonialism
“sows seeds of decay here and there that must be mercilessly rooted out from our land and from our minds.”
In addition to being a moral stain on the history of Europe, Fanon underscores the psychiatric phenomena emerging from the colonial situation and advocates for colonialism to stop. Of course, at the time Fanon wrote his book in 1961, there was little evidence to suggest the colonial situation in Algeria would resolve anytime soon. “The truth is,” Fanon claims, “that colonization, in its very essence, already appeared to be a great purveyor of psychiatric hospitals.” In other words, there is no shortage of mental illness within the colonial situation.
Capitalism, Socialism and Third World countries.
While Fanon’s The Wretched of the Earth is primarily focused on the fundamental confrontation of colonialism and anticolonialism, the book is also concerned with the confrontation of capitalism and socialism. When Fanon wrote his book in 1961, the Cold War was in full swing, and it further complicated the colonial situation and the struggle for independence in the colonized world. The Cold War was an extended period of political tension between the socialist Soviet Union and their allies the Eastern Bloc and the capitalist United States and their allies the Western Bloc. The Cold War divided the world into either socialist or capitalist countries, and even the Third World the developing countries of Africa, Asia, and Latin America, who did not align with any nation or side during either World War I or World War II was pressured to pick a side. Through The Wretched of the Earth, Fanon at once argues that while socialism is more conducive to the needs of a developing nation, nation-building is an inherently capitalist venture, and he further argues that most of the wealth and capital of the West rightfully belongs to the Third World.
Third World Countries
Fanon explains that the Third World was neutral during the Cold War, meaning they did not align with either the Eastern Bloc or the Western Bloc. By claiming neutrality, a Third World country was given protection under the law of war, although this protection was not nearly enough to account for years of oppression and economic exploitation. Neutrality, Fanon says, consists basically “of taking handouts left and right,” and it allows Third World countries to receive economic aid from countries on both sides of the conflict. However, Fanon maintains, neutrality does not ensure that either side aides the Third World in “the way they should.” The developed world owes much to the Third World after hundreds of years of colonialism, and the sparse aid given with neutrality is simply not enough. Despite not having any money or troops, Third World countries were “wooed” by both sides during the war. “To be frank,” Fanon says,
“everyone wants a piece of them. And that is what we call neutrality.”
Being neutral during the Cold War was simply another reason to entice an underdeveloped country to one of the conflicting sides and continue to exploit them through political and economic means. Third World countries remained neutral, since, Fanon asserts,
“underdeveloped countries have no real interest in either prolonging or intensifying this cold war.”
According to Fanon, for the amount of money spent on arms and nuclear research alone during the Cold War, the living conditions in the Third World could have been improved by 60 percent in just 15 years. The Cold War, it seems, was just another excuse to neglect the Third World.
While the Third World was tirelessly pursued by both the Eastern Bloc and the Western Bloc, Fanon argues that neither economical model entirely fits the needs of the underdeveloped nation. “Capitalist exploitation,” Fanon says, including the cartels and monopolies, “are the enemies of the underdeveloped countries.” The people and natural resources of underdeveloped countries have been exploited by capitalist colonists, and the Third World is not prepared to join forces with a capitalist cause. Socialism, Fanon explains, more closely benefits the developing nation, as it is concerned with “human investment” and is based in the belief that people are a nation’s “most precious asset.” However, Fanon argues, nation building needs “something other than human investment.” Like capitalism, socialism is not entirely suited to the needs of the developing country. According to Fanon, socialism “cannot be sustained for long,” and the effort “will not produce the results expected” for a new and developing nation. It would take centuries, Fanon argues, to right the economical wrongs of colonialism and put the Third World back to a prosperous place.
Nation building, Fanon asserts “requires capital,” thus, it only makes sense for the Third World to follow a capitalist economic model. However, Fanon argues that this choice should come with a caveat. The Cold War and capitalism versus socialism, he says, is not “the fundamental issue of our time.” Instead, the fundamental issue of the time as Canon sees it is colonialism, and the reparations due to the Third World for the systematic theft of their people, land, culture, and wealth. Europe, Fanon says, “was built on the backs of slaves,” and it is time that the Third World is paid back.
Decolonization,Neocolonialism and social class
The Wretched of the Earth follows the struggles of the colonized nation and its move to independence in a process known as decolonization, which, plainly put, is the undoing of colonialism and the oppression that goes along with it. The primary way in which a new nation is built is through the development of national consciousness, a shared national identity that identifies people as collective parts of an independent nation. However, the problem with national consciousness, according to Fanon, is that building a collective identity that encompasses all members of a nation is nearly impossible. The national consciousness of a newly emerging nation revolves around the national bourgeoisie, or the ruling class, but this same national identity does not fit everyone and it leaves much the nation unaccounted for. Furthermore, Fanon argues that a nation built solely on the needs of the ruling class will quickly lead to neocolonialism, and colonial methods of oppression will remain largely intact, even in the official absence of the colonial power. Through The Wretched of the Earth, Fanon ultimately argues that the only way to avoid neocolonialism in the developing nation is to incorporate rural populations into government and to involve the lumpenproletariat the very lowest social class, but also the most important into the process of decolonization.
Political parties of the emerging nation are run by and for the national bourgeoisie, which is made up of the urban proletariat and includes tradesmen and civil servants. They are a small part of society and account for less than one percent of the nation’s total population. The national bourgeoisie, Fanon says, are the taxi drivers, doctors, nurses, and lawyers, and they “are indispensable for running the colonial machine.” They stand to lose the most through decolonization, and their politics closely resemble that of colonists. The national bourgeoisie and those who run the nationalist unions “represent the most well-to-do fraction of the people” in a colonized country, and, according to Fanon, they are the most “pampered by the regime” of colonialism. It is better for the bourgeoisie if colonial channels of oppression are maintained, despite the negative impact on the rest of the nation. The national bourgeoisie conflicts with the feudal rulers of a nation, such as witch doctors and other cultural roles, like djemaas, the legal and tribal leaders of outlying tribes. The bourgeoisie, which includes medical doctors and lawyers, for example, must eliminate such feudal barriers to grow in an independent nation, even if it is to the detriment of the rural masses and feudal rulers.
Decolonization and the formation of a new nation, Fanon argues, therefore cannot be obtained without the peasant masses, particularly the lumpenproletariat, who are crucial to revolution. According to Fanon, the peasant masses “are generally the least politically conscious, the least organized as well as the most anarchistic elements,” and in the act of rebelling against a foreign power during revolution, they are invaluable. National politics tend to ignore the peasant masses and consider them unimportant, but Fanon warns that is a mistake. The lumpenproletariat “constitutes one of the most spontaneously and radically revolutionary forces of a colonized people,” Fanon says,” and overcoming the colonial power is not possible without them. The bourgeoisie, who live in the cities and are steeped in colonial culture, are often hesitant to rebel against the same economic system that benefits them. Fanon claims that any national liberation movement should give “maximum attention” to the lumpenproletariat. The lumpenproletariat will always answer a call to revolt, Fanon says, but if they are ignored, they will pick up the side of the oppressor and “join the colonialist troops as mercenaries” instead and actively work against decolonization. The lumpenproletariat must be recruited before they jump to the other side, and decolonization cannot hope to be accomplished without them.
Fanon ultimately argues that the act of decolonizing “concerns the entire nation.” The classes must come together in fighting colonial power, or they are destined to fall right back into colonialist practice. The national struggle, Fanon further argues, must involve the peasant masses, especially the lumpenproletariat, who are always “prepared to make sacrifices, willing to give all they have, impatient, with an indestructible pride.” When the classes come together, Fanon says, it “can produce an explosive mixture of unexpected power,” which is just what is needed to decolonize a country and build a new nation.
Citation:
Fanon, Frantz (1925–1961). The wretched of the earth. Harmondsworth: Penguin.
John, Drabinski. “Frantz Fanon.” Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Stanford University, 14 Mar. 2019, https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/frantz-fanon/.
LitCharts. “The Wretched of the Earth Themes.”LitCharts,https://www.litcharts.com/lit/the-wretched-of-the-earth/themes.
