Post-Colonial Theory
Franz Fanon
1925-1961
"To speak . . . means above all to assume a culture, to support the
weight
of a civilization."
"Violence purifies, destroying not only the category of white, but that
of black too."
smokes
Biography:
-born in Martinique, mixed race
colony of France
-1940- French were stationed on Martinque, became harsh towards
indigenous
people
wrote "Black Skins, White Masks" 1952
fought in WWII- "Free French" forces,
received "croix de guerre"
-middle class, highly educated, married french woman
-trained as psychiatrist, wrote on psychological impact of racism on
indigenous
peoples
Moved to Algeria, became head of psychiatric hospital, during Algerian
resistance to French colonization
wrote "Wretched of the Earth" about impact of torture as tactic on
Algerian
ppl (1961)
-resigned from position as government Minister in protest
-joined Algerian Independence movement (National Liberation Front)
"If
psychiatry is the medical technique that aims to enable man no longer
to be a stranger to his environment, I owe it to myself to affirm that
the Arab, permanently an alien in his own country, lives in a state of
absolute depersonalization. . . . The events in Algeria are the logical
consequence of an abortive attempt to decerebralize a people". (letter
of resignation).
worked openly for independence movement, including supply route for
guns to fight french rule
died of cancer while writing "Wretched of Earth"
French granted Algeria independence in 1962 lnk
-indigenous revolution (1954-1962) successful
-Fanon, 'father of decolonization', intellectual
justification of insurgency
Roots:
-Sartre- existentialism
a. life is not deterministic, but is open to reinvention
b. life is sum of choices
de Beauvoir
a. construction of Other
b. different qualities attributed to Other
c. no universal subject, Other is always lacking
Foucault
a. epistemes/discourses- "logic/language describes/constructs
reality"
b. social control and normality/deviancy are exercised in
multiple
ways on individuals
c. power of state is power of surveillance
d. official versions of history reflect privileges of some
perspectives
over others
1. exploring the geneaology of history
will
expose its arbitrariness
2. allows for the possibility of history
from the perspective of Other
e. to speak a language means to take on value structure
1. speaking french means to see european
as superior/non-european as inferior
2. educated native is at war w/ himself
Marx:
a.dominant ideology works to benefit the those in power/prevent
change
b. revolution will occur when most oppressed develop new
consciousness
that justifies new value system
c. indigenous culture needs to be basis of new consciousness
1. not just economically determined
2. multiple dimensions of oppression and alienation
d. violence can be used, if necessary
1. necessary to counter institutionalized violence
w/ violence
2. cathartic effect of lashing back
Primary ideas:
A. destructive force of colonization and imperialism
1. psychological definition of "normal" used to quell
resistance
2. physical degradation and humiliation
3. degree of force used is proportionate to degree of
exploitation
4. colonizer/colonized psychologically internalized
a. rebellion is viewed as
"abnormal"/insane
b. causes those who want to rebel to
question themselves
B. assimilation is internalization of imperial cultural ideas of
superiority
1. leads to self-hatred
2. dual consciousness
a. "internalized colonial value system"
b. "internalized belief in inferiority"
c. alienation from self
3. learning language of colonizer means taking on cultural value
system
C. Discourse/language leads to & supports colonization
1. language is not neutral
2. imposes value system on colonized which privileges the
colonizer
3. language mirrors culture
a. only indigenous languages can reflect
indigenous
cultural values/logic
b. if you lose your language, cannot
fight on your own terms
C. images of inferiority of colonized help to justify colonialism
1. binary opposition created
2. colonized is Other, deviant, lacking
3. Black is constructed in opposition to white
a. both defined by each other
The colonial
world is a world cut in two. The dividing line, the frontiers are shown
by barracks and police stations. In the colonies it is the policeman
and the soldier who are the official, instituted go-betweens, the
spokesmen of the settler and his rule of oppression.... In the colonial
countries, .... the policeman and the soldier, by their immediate
presence and their frequent and direct action maintain contact with the
native and advise him by means of rifle-butts and napalm not to budge.
It is obvious here that the agents of government speak the language of
pure force. The intermediary does not lighten the oppression, nor seek
to hide the domination; he shows them up and puts them into practice
with the clear conscience of an upholder of the peace; yet he is the
bringer of violence into the home and into the mind of the native….
….(the)exploited
man sees that his liberation implies the use of all means, and that of
force first and foremost. When in 1956, after the capitulation of
Monsieur Guy Mollet to the settlers in Algeria, the Front de Liberation
Nationale, in a famous leaflet, stated that colonialism only loosens
its hold when the knife is at its throat, no Algerian really found
these terms too violent. The leaflet only expressed what every Algerian
felt at heart: colonialism is not a thinking machine, nor a body
endowed with reasoning faculties. It is violence in its natural state,
and it will only yield when confronted with greater violence.
D. Revolution may involve violence
1. Marxist roots
2. the most marginalized will lead the revolution
a. least likely to benefit from current
system
b. the most knowledgeable about the
injustice/inequities in colonization
Decolonization,
which sets out to change the order of the world, is, obviously, a
programme of complete disorder. But it cannot come as a result of
magical practices, nor of a natural shock, nor of a friendly
understanding. Decolonization, as we know, is a historical process:
that is to say that it cannot be understood, it cannot become
intelligible nor clear to itself except in the exact measure that we
can discern the movements which give it historical form and content.
Decolonization is the meeting of two forces, opposed to each other by
their very nature, which in fact owe their originality to that sort of
substantification which results from and is nourished by the situation
in the colonies. ....
In
decolonization, there is therefore the need of a complete calling in
question of the colonial situation...The naked truth of decolonization
evokes for us the searing bullets and bloodstained knives which emanate
from it. ...You do not turn any society, however primitive it may be,
upside-down with such a programme if you are not decided from the very
beginning, that is to say from the actual formulation of that
programme, to overcome all the obstacles that you will come across in
so doing. The native who decides to put the programme into practice,
and to become its moving force, is ready for violence at all times....
E. decolonization is creation of new consciousness
1. new national identity, not constructed on imperial roots
2. very difficult to do
F. marginality becomes new center
1. reverse the binary
2. deviant becomes normal
G. identity politics
1. basis of new social movements
2. new sense of nationalism, pride
3. re-writing of history from different perspective
"I am ready to concede that on the plane of factual being, the past
existence
of an Aztec civilization does not change anything very much in the diet
of
the Mexican peasant of today."
-Fanon
H. What does it mean to speak from the margins?
1. how possible is it to recover pre-colonial history/culture?
2. Can a "pure" culture be restored? Can assimilation be
reversed?
I. Does speaking from "periphery" to center, just invert the binary?
1. How can violence
purify?
Doesn't it descend into revenge?
2. Does it take on
morality
if used by subordinated?
J. applicability to current insurgencies
1. justifies assymetric warfare
2. symbolic targets for attack, innocent or not