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4.1 AVERAGE
4.1 AVERAGE
challenging
informative
reflective
fast-paced
Fanons critical analysis of colonial racism and the psychological effects not only of the western gaze but the colonised themselves, is something to be applauded. reading this book has taught me so much about myself and how I as a mixed race black woman still has much to learn about myself and my ancestry and the process I must take to truly decolonise my mind. This book is an essential, decolonise ya mind!
informative
reflective
tense
medium-paced
When it’s good it’s brilliant, and I’m glad I read it, but the homophobia and misogyny is also dreadful. The Freudian psychoanalysis stuff also lost me a bit tbh, I simply can’t take the idea of a woman being “clitoral” seriously whatsoever.
challenging
informative
reflective
fast-paced
Content Warnings
Moderate: Racial slurs, Racism, Colonisation
challenging
reflective
medium-paced
I would recommend this book.
Not quite a 4 star book but a solid 3.5.
Black Skin, White Masks is a provocative title and that is why I picked it up. I wish I had known more about who the author was (though the foreword provides some detail) because I started reading with the hopes of a more analytical exploration than what was presented. Knowing now Frantz Fanon was a psychiatrist and philosopher, the book makes perfect sense. Most of the book is philosophical with Fanon trying to suggest what it means to be black and if the concept of being black is artificial or not. In the end though, I think it’s more about Fanon trying to better identify who he is as a person without depending on external stimuli to influence his conclusions.
A solid read but if you are expecting more than anecdotal evidence, you maybe slightly disappointed
Not quite a 4 star book but a solid 3.5.
Black Skin, White Masks is a provocative title and that is why I picked it up. I wish I had known more about who the author was (though the foreword provides some detail) because I started reading with the hopes of a more analytical exploration than what was presented. Knowing now Frantz Fanon was a psychiatrist and philosopher, the book makes perfect sense. Most of the book is philosophical with Fanon trying to suggest what it means to be black and if the concept of being black is artificial or not. In the end though, I think it’s more about Fanon trying to better identify who he is as a person without depending on external stimuli to influence his conclusions.
A solid read but if you are expecting more than anecdotal evidence, you maybe slightly disappointed
The arguments made in this book speak for themselves - I have only deducted it a star because it's so unfocused, and jumps disorientingly between scientific reporting (in psychiatric analysis) and general anthropology (of the Jared Diamond variety).