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Ryan Kirdahy

Dr. Martino

The Developing World

12/8/2016

Frantz Fanons Post-Colonial Theory

Frantz Fanon was from Martinique which was under French colonial rule.

Growing up in these circumstances are what formed his political and moral beliefs. In

addition to this, he was a psychologist with different methods of treating people. Fanon

worked to help assimilate his patients back into society. Fanon was very active in

voicing his opinions in support of decolonization and the violence that goes along with it.

In the documentary, Frantz Fanon: Black Skin, White Mask, Fanon touches on many

topics involving the discrimination based on race. The countries responsible for

colonizing were very prone to discriminating and dehumanizing the people they

colonized. I found it intriguing that even though he was a talented psychologist he was

not treated with respect. He was judged based on the color of his skin and where he

was from rather than as a human or his abilities as a physician. Unfortunately, this

relates to present day where racism is still alive in many countries including The United

States of America. Racism can be a source of violence all over the world and was

especially during the time of decolonization.

Fanon opens his book, The Wretched of the Earth, with a large focus on violence

that goes along with decolonization. He portrays the idea that decolonization cannot

happen without violence. Fanon said, National liberation, national reawakening,

restoration of the nation to the people or Commonwealth, whatever the name used,
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whatever the latest expression, decolonization is always a violent event (Fanon, 1).

Fanon understands that no matter what it is called, any type of decolonization cannot be

resolved peacefully. Even though many would prefer for decolonization to be a peaceful

transition, Fanon explains why it cannot be that simple. The two sides are such polar

opposites that they will never be able to come to any agreements. The colonist may

know the colonized very well, but Fanon says this is because it is the colonist who

fabricated and continues to fabricate the colonized subject (Fanon, 2). The knowledge

that the colonist has is only due to the way they portray the colonized. The colonist has

forced their views onto the colonized and forced them to fall into these ideals. This

behavior and belief system is a major component in increasing the differences between

the colonist and colonized. Not being able to see each other as equals leads to the

belief that nothing besides violence would solve the issues.

Fanon believes that from the very beginning it was the colonists objective to

incite violence. It is apparent that this is what he thinks when he said, You do not

disorganize a society, however primitive it may be, with such an agenda if you are not

determined from the very start to smash every obstacle encountered. The colonized,

who have made up their mind to make such an agenda into a driving force, have

prepared for violence from the time immemorial (Fanon, 3). It is evident that the

purpose of colonization is a very selfish and greedy one on the behalf of the colonist.

The colonist typically has little regard for the people they have colonized and even less

for their culture. The colonist used violence from the very beginning to control the

colonized. Ironically, this is where the colonized learned that the only way to get what

one wants is through brute force. When Fanon was describing this topic in The
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Wretched of the Earth he added, In fact, the colonist has always shown them the path

they should follow to liberation (Fanon, 42). Unfortunately, after a lifetime of being

oppressed with brutality, the colonized people only know violence as a way of getting

what one wants.

The Wretched of the Earth really opened my eyes to the violence brought on by

decolonization. I now have a much better understanding as to why decolonization will

always be paired with destructiveness. As much as I wish things could be resolved in a

peaceful manner, that is not how decolonization works. The colonist has been too

oppressive to the colonized too long. In addition to that the greed that the colonist has

will prevent the colonist from ever being able to liberate the colonized. The colonist

began thinking that the colonized depend on them, but it usually ends with the colonist

depending more on the colonies for their resources and money flow. Neither group will

want to concede to the other which will lead to a power struggle through violence. I

agree with why Fanon says that the only way for decolonization to take place is through

bloodshed. Both sides are fighting for completely different things. The colonists are

fighting for control of more territory which could lead to more economic control, while the

colonized are simply fighting to maintain their culture and way of life.

Towards the beginning of The Wretched of the Earth, Fanon mentioned that the

colonial world is compartmentalized. Another terms he uses to describe the colonial

world is Manichaean. He uses these terms to exemplify how the world is divided in

two. The world Fanon is describing is separated by many things whether it be, good

versus evil, rich versus the poor, colonist versus the colonized, or even by the color of

ones skin. Once again, this divide is all about power. Fanon mentioned that
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Sometimes this Manicheanism reaches its logical conclusion and dehumanizes the

colonized subjects. In plain talk, he is reduced to the state of an animal (Fanon, 7). This

shows that the divide was so large between the colonists and the colonized that the

colonists went as far as to stop treating the colonized like the human beings they are.

During the semester we discussed The International Criminal Court (ICC) and

what they are able to do. The ICC is an organization that prosecutes criminals of the

world who commit the terrible crimes including genocide or other war crimes. A

genocide is the purposeful elimination of a different groups based on ethnicity, culture,

national group, or political group. Fanon explained in The Wretched of the Earth the

ruining of racial groups during colonization. Fanon was able to speak from first-hand

experience because he was a part of the racial group that was being targeted during

this time of violent colonization.

Another topic covered in depth during the semester was Edward Sads

Orientalism. This help shed light into the treatment of people in the Arab world. Sad

believed that the media was not accurately portraying the Arab world. He believes

people of this decent are being generalized into one category which is not fair. People

of Egypt are different from people in India and should not be grouped together as the

same. Also, the bad people of one country should not give a bad stigma to the rest of

the country that does not follow the same ideals. This type of generalizing actually leads

to the dehumanization because their culture is completely disregarded. Fanon felt this

type of treatment when he moved to France. Due to the time period, his ethnicity made

him stand out in a negative way, which prevented him from being treated as an equal.

Even though Fanon was a psychiatrist, he was not treated like one.
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Fanon referenced a period where violence existed between the colonized people

and when black turns on black. This period brought a lot of tension to the colonized

people. Fanon recognized this and said, So one of the ways the colonized subject

releases his muscular tension is through the very real collective self-destruction of these

internecine feuds (Fanon, 17-18). The people took these frustrations out on each other

instead of the people who were causing the tension originally. Another example of this

from the text is when Fanon said, The colonized subject will first train this

aggressiveness sedimented in his own people. This is the period when black turns on

black, and police officers and magistrates dont know which way to turn when faced with

the surprising surge of North African criminality (Fanon, 15-16). This helps portray the

concept of the people turning on one another. All of this aggression that came from the

tension between the colonist and the colonized, but the tension could not be released.

The people let their anger get the best of them and had nowhere to redirect their anger.

The aggression should have gone towards the colonists not the colonized people.

The colonies have many customs and cultural rituals that are extremely important

to them. Some of these are completely mythical like magic and zombies, while others

are very tangible like dance circles. These different cultural practices are very specific

and important to the colonized people. The colonists do not care for these practices and

only want the colonized people to become more synonymous with them. Instead of

growing up learning these rituals, the children of the colonies will grow up knowing

nothing other than violence. This is another way that the colonized people were

dehumanized. This relates to the concept of being an ugly American because being an

ugly American means one is ignorant to the culture and practices of an area. It can be
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because one simply does not care or just a complete disregard because of arrogance.

Either way this is still a common habit that needs to be broken. As a traveler one should

try to learn as much as possible about different cultures and try to experience them first

hand rather than force your own culture upon them.

In Fanons eyes, violence could be seen as a positive thing. To him violence is

the equivalent to work. Fanon asserts that, To work means to work towards the death

of the colonist (Fanon, 44). He believes that being violent and killing colonists is helping

the cause of decolonization and winning independence. From Fanons perspective, the

colonists brought violence to them and this justifies using violence to get rid of them.

Also, he is a firm believer that violence and decolonization go hand-in-hand. This would

be another justification as to why he would think violence could be seen as a positive.

While colonies gaining their independence is a great thing, I do not like the

concept of using violence to achieve this. This is also a very difficult concept for me to

grasp because I have never felt the same type of oppression that Fanon and people like

him have felt. What I do understand from reading The Wretched of the Earth is that

sometimes there is not another option. These people have been oppressed for too long

and the violence would occur regardless. The colonized should stand up and stand

together against the colonists rather than continue to be dehumanized and fight each

other. Reluctantly, I do agree that this violence could be beneficial to the colonized

people to regain their independence since there really is no other option when facing a

powerful force that uses violence to assert dominance and maintain control.

When a colonial power tells its colony, If you want independence, take it and
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return to the Dark Ages (Fanon, 53) the colonial power is trying to bring fear into the

colony. It tries to scare the colony warning that they will suffer economically and

politically, and show that the colony is actually completely dependent on the colonist.

The newly formed countries try to prove the colonial powers wrong, but often it is too

much for them to handle. They are not politically or economically strong enough. This

leads to unrest in the government with changes occurring often. Decolonization is

associated with violence, but it also common after the decolonization has occurred and

the country has been liberated. Several countries in Sub-Saharan Africa were not

successful after receiving independence. The governments tend to be corrupted which

can lead to even more violence. In some cases, the independence the colonies had

fought for ended up being very detrimental.

The film, Frantz Fanon: Black Skin, White Mask, left a large impact on me was

how as a black man he was not treated equally as a human or as a psychologist. He felt

that it was necessary to put on a white mask in order to be treated equally. This

stripped him, and others, of their culture and who they are. This is a common theme of

colonization when the colonists try to dehumanize the colonized.

The part that had the greatest impact for me in the process of understanding

decolonization was Fanons own philosophy in his practice as a psychologist. He chose

to let his patients out of the chains and work with them to try to incorporate them back

into society. This was his same feelings about colonization. He wanted the colonists to

treat him and his people as the humans they were and to stop dehumanizing them. He

did not want to be held back and oppressed, but instead he demanded the freedom and

correct treatment that his people deserved.

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Works Cited

Fanon, Frantz, Jean-Paul Sartre, and Constance Farrington. The Wretched of the Earth.

New York: Grove, 1965. Print.