Frantz Fanon: psychiatrist, philosopher, activist
Martinique born and French educated psychiatrist, social theorist and political activist Dr Frantz Fanon sought to fuse psychoanalysis and philosophy to better understand the psychological impact of society on individuals, democratic participation and colonialism.
In his book, The Wretched of the Earth, Fanon argued that colonial oppression in Algeria was justified purely by the argument that ‘might makes right’ and that in opposition to an oppressor that only understood violence, any effective resistance had to be equally violent. With so many conflicts reaching the mediation table only when both sides agree they present comparable military force, Fanon’s controversial rhetoric might be seen as a call for powerful nations to engage meaningfully with the marginalised before they turn violent as it does for the marginalised to prepare for armed uprising. In a world being steered towards increasing polarisation, Fanon’s warning from the past might of the price of dominance through force as the seedbed for violent uprising is more prescient than ever.
Read Fanon in the Library
Black skin, white masks 305.896 FAN – also available as an [ebook]
Studies in a dying colonialism 322.420965 FAN
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