The Wretched of the Earth by Frantz Fanon

First published:Les Damnés de la terre, 1961 (The Damned, 1963; better known as The Wretched of the Earth, 1965)

Type of Philosophy: Ethics, social philosophy

Context

Frantz Fanon’s principal work, The Wretched of the Earth has sold millions of copies and has been translated into twenty-five languages. Essentially, The Wretched of the Earth is an analysis of the process of decolonization that was occurring at a rapid pace while Fanon was writing this book. The sense of urgency that pervades the book is partly a result of Fanon’s condition. He was dying of leukemia and knew he had only a limited amount of time left to contribute to the destruction of colonial relationships everywhere, but especially in Africa.

Fanon was from the French colony of Martinique, now a department of France, and was trained as a psychiatrist in France. Eventually Fanon was assigned to a psychiatric hospital in Algeria, where he treated both Algerians, who he felt were victims of colonialism, and white French people, who he felt were oppressors in Algeria. Fanon believed that many of the psychiatric problems he was treating in Algeria, in both Algerians and white French people, were due to the unequal colonial relationship that permeated every aspect of Algerian society. This unequal relationship affected Fanon so much that during the Algerian war, Fanon became sympathetic to the Algerians’ cause and joined the FLN. Through the FLN, Fanon became the spokesperson not only for the Algerian revolution but also for anticolonial resistance all over the world, especially in Africa. In The Wretched of the Earth, Fanon drew on many of the ideas he had developed in his earlier writings, notably Peau noire, masques blancs (1952; Black Skin, White Masks, 1967); L’An V de la révolution algérienne (1959; Studies in a Dying Colonialism, 1965); and a number of essays collected in Pour la révolution africaine (1964; Toward the African Revolution, 1967).

In The Wretched of the Earth, Fanon called for the decolonization of all colonized people. The Wretched of the Earth is not a retrospection of events that have long since passed; in fact, a large part of this book is written in the present tense. Fanon sees the process of decolonization and potential decolonization percolating throughout the underdeveloped world, and through this book, he attempts to influence the process. In the preface, philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre wrote that The Wretched of the Earth was not intended for a white Euro-American audience, but that it was precisely this audience who should “have the courage to read this book.” Sartre, however, assumes that the only people who are concerned with the unequal colonial relationship are the colonized. In fact, Fanon wrote this book with a much larger audience in mind, optimistically hoping that there were “anticolonialists” throughout the world who wanted to understand the decolonization process. However, Sartre is correct on the general level; this is a book intended for those involved in anticolonial struggles.

A Violent Process

In the chapter “Concerning Violence,” Fanon painted a slightly bipolar vision of decolonization. At one point, he described decolonization as the “veritable creation of new men.” This suggests that decolonization is a creative process in which humanity invents something new. However, in another portion of the same chapter, he describes decolonization as “quite simply the replacing of a certain species’ of man by another species’ of man.” These contrasting views on decolonization most likely reflect the difference between Fanon’s ideal and what would become reality.

Fanon describes decolonization as a naturally violent phenomenon. He argues that decolonization would not be necessary if there had not first been colonization, which is intrinsically violent and has no positive effect whatsoever on the colonized. Violence is a key element to Fanon’s decolonization, for it is the way in which colonized people find their freedom. He believed that violent tactics cleanse the decolonization movement because they force movement participants to be conscious of their activity and they require that each individual accept personal responsibility for his actions and beliefs. Fanon is often criticized for writing this chapter. Many people believe that he is promoting violence; however, Fanon was attempting to explain human behavior. These critics disregard the fact that colonialism is a physically, economically, and psychologically violent phenomena. Furthermore, Fanon is not calling for massive bloodshed in the streets of every colony and former colony. He claims that the processes of decolonization and colonization are linked; the amount of violence in any particular decolonization movement will be in direct proportion to the amount of violence used by the colonizers.

The Role of the Native

In the chapter “The Pitfalls of National Consciousness,” Fanon tackles the question of why decolonization takes place. Fanon argues that mass repression results in the formation of a national consciousness. Decolonization unifies people because the key to colonialism is the separation of people. Decolonization takes place because colonized people become sick of their status as repressed people and begin demanding concessions from the colonizers. Fanon wrote, “The native must realize that colonialism never gives anything away for nothing. Whatever the native may gain through political or armed struggle is not the result of the kindness or goodwill of the settler; it simply shows that he cannot put off granting concessions any longer.”

Fanon further argues that the type of national consciousness that develops in response to colonization can also act as a separating force. Colonialism only exploits part of a country; this allows some native people to become wealthy, which causes them to be generally supportive of the colonial system. Fanon states that typically it is these people who acquire political power when a country gains independence. He argues that the political groups formed by these wealthy natives do not represent the masses but rather function as spokespeople for a small greedy collection of local exploiters who have reached a friendly agreement with the colonizers. After independence, this local elite seeks to follow in the footsteps of the colonizers and, using a slightly modified version of the colonial system, to generate profit for themselves. Therefore, Fanon says, political parties in underdeveloped areas rarely represent the masses. In addition, these political parties use divisive tactics in order to maintain their members’ economic advantage. Fanon states that social separation is most widespread between urban dwellers, who hold most of the formal political power, and rural people, who make up the large majority of the population.

The major problem in fostering permanent nationalism in underdeveloped countries, according to Fanon, is the development of a bourgeoisie that does not care about the common people and is unable to deal effectively with the West. Fanon believed this class was in political control of the underdeveloped world. Some critics of Fanon have argued that the philosopher was unable to see a political unit other than the modern nation state. This is a common criticism of philosophers Karl Marx and Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel as well. Perhaps this represents the ultimate colonization of Fanon’s thinking, that he was unable to escape the political terms established by “the West,” or perhaps he was being a realist in acknowledging the power of the modern nation state and realizing that any region’s political future depended on establishing a strong national consciousness. Either way, Fanon remained trapped in this dynamic.

The Colonized and the Colonizer

In the chapter “On National Culture,” Fanon argues that universal standards of civility and barbarism, based on Euro-American criteria, do not actually exist. In fact, Fanon argues that the educational system is one of the major tools used by colonialists. Native schoolchildren are taught the cultural tradition of the colonizer, France in Fanon’s case. Furthermore, these children are taught that their heritage is one of barbarism. In addition, Fanon tackled the problem of the difference between a political party that claims to speak for a nation and the people who make up that nation. Fanon argued that political parties in the former colonies (or anywhere else) do not represent the masses and that the concept of a “nation” as a singular entity is a dangerous fiction.

In the chapter “Colonial War and Mental Disorders,” Fanon provides the case notes for a number of the patients, both colonized people and colonizers, he treated while in Algeria. Through these notes, Fanon provide a firsthand account of what colonialism does to people’s minds. In his brief conclusion, Fanon reminds the reader that in order for the colonized to be successful, they must look for models other than the one provided by Europeans and that these models can be found within themselves.

Political and Cultural Legacy

The impact of The Wretched of the Earth has been tremendous because this book, like much of Fanon’s work, expresses a deep concern with how the process of decolonization is to occur. Since his death, interest in Fanon’s thought has been steady among those who are concerned with colonialism and neocolonialism. He and his work became well known throughout the colonial world, affecting such African leaders as Kwame Nkrumah, Sekou Touré, and Juilius Nyerere. Additionally, The Wretched of the Earth was influential in some of the more radical elements of the U.S. Civil Rights movement. Black Panther Party members Bobby Seale, Huey P. Newton, and Eldridge Cleaver read Fanon and credited him for providing a framework for their work in the United States.

Fanon thought that decolonization could not occur on a nation-by-nation basis; instead, the people of different nations would have to help one another through this process. This made Fanon a leading theorist in the development of global solutions for the colonial problem. Many scholars criticize the formation of worldwide solutions, arguing that mass generalizations are usually wrong. However, because Fanon was attempting to describe what he saw as a global problem, some generalization would seem necessary and appropriate. In addition, he was entirely aware of the dangers of such mass generalizations and warned readers to beware of this pitfall.

The Wretched of the Earth has also been used as a launching point in cultural studies. Fanon’s interest in examining the way people’s minds and thought were affected by the colonial relationship, especially in regard to racism, made him a pioneer in the field, although Fanon was not writing for an academic audience.

Principal Ideas Advanced

•Decolonization is a global process and must be approached from within this dynamic; the success of any decolonization movement that isolates itself from other decolonization movements is questionable.

•Colonialism is inherently a violent phenomenon because it involves an oppressive relationship; therefore, decolonization is also a violent phenomenon.

•The extent of the violence during decolonization depends on the amount of violence practiced by the colonizer in the colonial setting.

•Mass repression under colonialism forces the oppressed to create national identities; decolonization unifies colonized people.

•Political control of the former colonies passes from the hands of an elite foreign repressing class to an elite local repressing class.

Bibliography

Bulhan, Hussein Abdilahi. Frantz Fanon and the Psychology of Oppression. New York: Plenum Press, 1985. A biography of Frantz Fanon from a psychiatric perspective. Fanon is treated essentially as a contributor to the field of psychiatry, and his revolutionary activity is placed primarily in the context of his interest in the psychology of oppression.

Geismar, Peter. Fanon. New York: Dial Press, 1971. The most authoritative biography on Fanon, based on Geismar’s interviews with members of Fanon’s family and his friends. Geismar claims to have been influenced very little by the secondary literature on the topic of Fanon, asserting that as of his publication date, little informative secondary literature on Fanon existed. This book is a good introduction to Fanon and provides a sympathetic and easy-to-read account of Fanon’s life.

Gendzier, Irene. Frantz Fanon: A Critical Study. New York: Pantheon, 1973. One of the few sbiographies on Fanon. This book should be standard reading for any serious inquiry into Fanon’s life.

Gordon, Lewis R., T. Denean Sharpley-Whiting, and Renée T. White, eds. Fanon: A Critical Reader. Cambridge, Mass.: Blackwell, 1996. This compilation contains twenty-one essays by different authors produced for a Fanon conference in 1995. These essays are grouped into six main sections and cover the following themes: oppression, questions regarding the human sciences, identity and the dialectics of recognition, the emancipation of women of color, the postcolonial dream, neocolonial realities, resistance, and revolutionary violence.

Macy, David. Frantz Fanon: A Life. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 2001. A biography of the author and revolutionary.

Sharpley-Whiting, T. Denean. Frantz Fanon: Conflicts and Feminism. New York: Rowman and Littlefield, 1998. This book reevaluates Fanon’s commitment (or noncommitment) to feminism through an examination of his commitment to antiracism. It also revisits many of the previous interpretations of Fanon and feminism. Sharpley-Whiting finds Fanon to be profeminist, which is counter to the majority of feminist critique of Fanon and his work.

Wyrick, Deborah. Fanon for Beginners. New York: Writers and Readers, 1998. Combines a detailed account of Fanon’s life with a critical view of his major works. Accompanied by cartoon illustrations to help make the author’s points clearer. Contains a glossary, and many terms are defined in the text. A good source to be read in conjunction with one of Fanon’s works because it helps place any individual Fanon work in the larger context of his life.