This week's book by Franz Fanon I think pairs really well with last week's book. Lindquist told us the big history, Fanon takes us into the mind of the colonized - a viewpoint that is quite rare unfortunately. And of course Fanon cannot speak for every subjugated person, as he well knows and also says. Nonetheless, this book is about the struggle of forming a black identity, when black identity has been so tainted - and defined - by colonial encounters.
You don't have to read the whole book. Read only the following: - Foreword to the 2008 edition by Ziauddin Sardar - Introduction - 1 The Negro and Language - 2 The Woman of Color and the White Man - 3 The Man of Color and the White Woman - 5 The Fact of Blackness - 8 By Way of Conclusion In many ways, the forward by Sardar works as a good introduction to Fanon and as a good reading guide to the book. Other than that I'd like you to think about how this book explains why it is impossible to go back to a pre-colonial situation. When the colonizers leave, the "freedom" they are able to grant is by no means freedom, because the very psychology of the colonized can't be freed, the colonial mind cannot be lifted in an instance. Again, the question becomes: How to form a (free) black identity? This also means there is a problematic relationship to history for those who have been colonized. Often times, a people will look to their history to determine their identity and their culture, but this option, Fanon thinks, is foreclosed for the formerly colonized peoples. Their history has been destroyed, and with that their identity. Fanon tries to get out of this deadlock in the conclusion. I look forward to your reactions! And remember, the Friday deadline for reactions to Fanon is also the deadline for comments on someone else's post from last week, so someone else's post about Lindquist.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorGitte - your instructor Archives
August 2015
Categories |