Join Tariq Ali, a renowned journalist and filmmaker, Professor Kehinde Andrews, an expert in Black Studies, and Alexandra Reza, an insightful New Generation Thinker, as they dissect Frantz Fanon's compelling ideas. They delve into the legacy of colonialism and its impact on identity, exploring themes of resistance and dignity from Fanon’s works, 'Black Skin, White Masks' and 'The Wretched of the Earth.' Their conversation highlights the ongoing relevance of Fanon's philosophy in today's social movements and the complexities of navigating identity in a post-colonial world.
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insights INSIGHT
Fanon on Racialized Colonial Oppression
Fanon's analysis reveals a racialized colonial world where black inferiority is imposed and internalized.
This racial oppression underpins much of the ongoing systemic violence experienced by colonized and black communities today.
insights INSIGHT
Psychiatry Meets Colonial Analysis
Fanon integrates psychiatric practice with cultural and social analysis of colonialism.
He highlights how racism affects mental health and individual identity under colonial rule.
insights INSIGHT
Violence as Necessary Response
Fanon argues violence in colonial contexts is a response to systemic brutality, not a choice.
Colonial violence forces oppressed peoples into revolutionary struggle as a form of cleansing and transformation.
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In 'Black Skin, White Masks,' Frantz Fanon presents a critical analysis of the psychological and social effects of colonialism and racism on black individuals. The book, written in an autoethnographic style, combines Fanon's personal experiences with a historical critique of the dehumanizing impacts of colonial domination. Fanon uses psychoanalysis to explain the feelings of dependency and inadequacy that black people experience, highlighting how colonialism corrupts the psyche of both blacks and whites. He argues that the internalization of white cultural norms leads to a profound inferiority complex among black people and advocates for a rejection of these norms to achieve true self-consciousness and freedom.
The Wretched of the Earth
Frantz Fanon
Frantz Fanon's "The Wretched of the Earth" is a seminal work of postcolonial theory that explores the psychological and social effects of colonialism on colonized peoples. Fanon argues that colonialism creates a system of oppression that dehumanizes and alienates the colonized, leading to violence and resistance. He analyzes the role of violence in the struggle for liberation, emphasizing its necessity in breaking the cycle of oppression. The book also examines the process of decolonization, highlighting the need for a complete transformation of society and the creation of new forms of social and political organization. Fanon's work remains highly influential in discussions of colonialism, decolonization, and the ongoing struggle for racial and social justice.
The Age of Empire
Eric Hobsbawm
Irrational feelings of dread, fear, and hate in a subject whose threat is often exaggerated or "phobogenesis" - one of the psychological terms explored in Frantz Fanon's 1952 book Black Skin, White Masks, which sets out the way black people have been affected by colonial subjugation. Matthew Sweet, Tariq Ali, New Generation Thinker Alexandra Reza and Kehinde Andrews re-read Fanon's arguments and look at the influence of his thinking outlined in his books Black Skin, White Masks (1952) and The Wretched of the Earth (1961).
Tariq Ali is a journalist, historian, filmmaker, and public intellectual whose books include The Islam Quintet; The Extreme Centre and The Dilemmas of Lenin.
You can hear Rana Mitter in an extended Free Thinking conversation with him https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b09qgt57
Kehinde Andrews is a Professor of Black Studies in the School of Social Sciences at Birmingham City University. His books include The New Age of Empire: How Racism and Colonialism Still Rule the World and Back to Black: Retelling Black Radicalism for the 21st Century.
You can find him in conversation at the Free Thinking Festival 2019 discussing the emotions of now https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m00040wd anger in politics https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0003t1t and looking at Black British History with Bernadine Evaristo, Miranda Kaufmann and Keith Piper https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b081tkr9
Alezandra Reza is a BBC and Arts and Humanities Research Council New Generation Thinker who studies at the University of Oxford. You can hear her in a Free Thinking discussion about Aimé Césaire https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000nmxf
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