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4.1 AVERAGE
4.1 AVERAGE
Very interesting book about how Black people are made to want assimilation and whiteness.
The irony of the book is how deeply it relies on psychology and sources, which are themselves riddled with racism. This also leads to a lot of misogyny and homophobia.
The irony of the book is how deeply it relies on psychology and sources, which are themselves riddled with racism. This also leads to a lot of misogyny and homophobia.
The thing that really stuck with me was the freaky subconscious sex stuff LOL psychiatrists are strange people
challenging
emotional
informative
reflective
fast-paced
challenging
dark
reflective
Having read Wretched of the Earth first, I wish I had started here. Both should be read together and back to back.
Fanon’s worldview follows a very logical evolution between the two books. Black Skin, White Masks is very openly against violence, and while his core theory that, and I’m abstracting this, you cannot reform colonized society- society as a whole needs to be deconstructed in order to completely escape colonialism and the effects of it; stays consistent between the two works, Wretched of the Earth seems like a more radical approach compared to this work.
Essential work in understanding afro-pessimism, and decolonial theory.
Fanon’s worldview follows a very logical evolution between the two books. Black Skin, White Masks is very openly against violence, and while his core theory that, and I’m abstracting this, you cannot reform colonized society- society as a whole needs to be deconstructed in order to completely escape colonialism and the effects of it; stays consistent between the two works, Wretched of the Earth seems like a more radical approach compared to this work.
Essential work in understanding afro-pessimism, and decolonial theory.
i’m gonna be completely honest, i really really struggled with this. it took me ages to get through despite its small page count because every two pages i would be muttering ‘what the fuck’ under my breath or rereading to see if i could wrangle some sense out of the last paragraph. to be completely fair, it was written over seventy years ago and has been translated from french AND the author was a 1950s psychoanalyst so that comes with a level of pseudoscience that is difficult to come to terms with today. there’s also a level of homophobia and misogyny (and misogynoir) that made me wince, but as a 21st century white person i’ll leave those criticisms to someone better equipped.
it’s one i felt i had to read because fanon and this text specifically has been referenced multiple times across my reading in uni and beyond on the subject of critical race theory, and i can see why. he makes some really salient and interesting points, he puts forward a very personal as well as broad documentation of the effect of racism and living within racist structures on the black body, he dips into poetic prose that’s honestly kind of beautiful to read. however, his writing is also often overwhelming dense and also very much a product of its time. we have lots of fantastic 21st century black race theorists that, whilst writing on a foundation of someone as influential as fanon, definitely are preferable to read in our current day and age.
i could quote multiple highly questionable paragraphs that would no doubt reiterate the ‘what the fuck’ viewpoint, but i’ve taken a notable and relevant, point about how black people working against institutional racism can never just be good enough, but must be twice as good for half the reward, instead:
‘We had doctors, teachers, and statesmen. OK, but there was always something unusual about them(…) “Our physician’s black. He’s very gentle.” (…) I knew for instance that if the physician made one false move, it was over for him and for all those who came after him. What, in fact, could one expect from a Negro physician? As long as everything was going smoothly, he was praised to the heavens; but watch out—there was no room whatsoever for any mistake.’
if you do decide to plough through this, do so at your own risk, and be prepared to scratch your head a fair amount along the way.
it’s one i felt i had to read because fanon and this text specifically has been referenced multiple times across my reading in uni and beyond on the subject of critical race theory, and i can see why. he makes some really salient and interesting points, he puts forward a very personal as well as broad documentation of the effect of racism and living within racist structures on the black body, he dips into poetic prose that’s honestly kind of beautiful to read. however, his writing is also often overwhelming dense and also very much a product of its time. we have lots of fantastic 21st century black race theorists that, whilst writing on a foundation of someone as influential as fanon, definitely are preferable to read in our current day and age.
i could quote multiple highly questionable paragraphs that would no doubt reiterate the ‘what the fuck’ viewpoint, but i’ve taken a notable and relevant, point about how black people working against institutional racism can never just be good enough, but must be twice as good for half the reward, instead:
‘We had doctors, teachers, and statesmen. OK, but there was always something unusual about them(…) “Our physician’s black. He’s very gentle.” (…) I knew for instance that if the physician made one false move, it was over for him and for all those who came after him. What, in fact, could one expect from a Negro physician? As long as everything was going smoothly, he was praised to the heavens; but watch out—there was no room whatsoever for any mistake.’
if you do decide to plough through this, do so at your own risk, and be prepared to scratch your head a fair amount along the way.
Even more than 70 years after it was first published, this book still has some important and eye-opening insights into the issue of 'Race.' Especially the fact that a) 'Race' is as much, if not more a matter of culture and language than it is of physical appearance. With the author going into detail about how colonised Africans like himself who went to study in France and thus, spoke 'Textbook' French were perceived as being 'More White/Less Black,' and thus, upon returning home, would no longer be regarded as truly 'African.' And similarly, how white medical professionals and staff would unconsciously and automatically speak pidgin French to talk down to their 'Inferior' African patients. Because b) as a society, we still hold the unconscious conceit that black people don't have a 'Real' language or culture of their own, and that therefore, their language and culture must merely be an 'Inferior Copy' of ours. Hence white English speakers around the world for example dismissing African-American Vernacular English as a 'Bastardisation' of English while not considering English itself to merely be a bastardisation of German.
'HOWEVER...' the reason why I haven't given this book 5 stars is that, as a Psychiatrist practicing in the 1950's, Fanon's work was poisoned by the profession-wide assumption at the time that Freud and Jung's pseudo-mythological psychobabble was actually scientific and had any basis in reality whatsoever. When on the contrary, just as the pop-psychology junk science of 'IQ' is merely a biased and bigoted assumption that gained traction in wider society because, on some level, it told people what they want to hear, any psychology course taken in the last 30 years either hasn't mentioned Freud or Jung at all or went out of its way to explain that their assumptions were all B.S.
As I say though, while this means that the second half of this book in particular must be taken with an entire truckload of salt, even now in the 21st century, it is still a vital insight for anyone who seeks to understand the assumptions and dynamics upon which the entire social construct of 'Race' is built.
'HOWEVER...' the reason why I haven't given this book 5 stars is that, as a Psychiatrist practicing in the 1950's, Fanon's work was poisoned by the profession-wide assumption at the time that Freud and Jung's pseudo-mythological psychobabble was actually scientific and had any basis in reality whatsoever. When on the contrary, just as the pop-psychology junk science of 'IQ' is merely a biased and bigoted assumption that gained traction in wider society because, on some level, it told people what they want to hear, any psychology course taken in the last 30 years either hasn't mentioned Freud or Jung at all or went out of its way to explain that their assumptions were all B.S.
As I say though, while this means that the second half of this book in particular must be taken with an entire truckload of salt, even now in the 21st century, it is still a vital insight for anyone who seeks to understand the assumptions and dynamics upon which the entire social construct of 'Race' is built.
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
Amazing analysis of racism and the impacts of colonialism on the minds of both colonized and colonizer.
Was great to read after Aimé Césaire’s Discourses on Colonialism. Fanon did a great job building upon and refining the concepts presented in Discourses.
I found some of the Dream analysis a bit more poetic than scientific but it is very beautifully poetic.
The distinction Fanon draws between race and class is interesting and I want to explore more deeply and definitely will need to reread that section.
Was great to read after Aimé Césaire’s Discourses on Colonialism. Fanon did a great job building upon and refining the concepts presented in Discourses.
I found some of the Dream analysis a bit more poetic than scientific but it is very beautifully poetic.
The distinction Fanon draws between race and class is interesting and I want to explore more deeply and definitely will need to reread that section.
challenging
hopeful
informative
reflective
fast-paced
I think about when I read this I was on a podcast with a guy who called psychoanalysis the best place to go once you fail as a poet, because it actually tries to answer the questions poetry putzes around with. Or specifically the take was psychoanalysis puts forth the scientific thesis that those miniscule thoughts and interactions that we could never explain or justify to anyone ("unconscious" not in the sense that you don't know them but that you can't grasp them socially) actually hold a huge importance in our lives while poetry puts forth the same thesis but is proudly unscientific. Whoever's saying it, I agree.
Fanon's saying and hidden embarrassing human life is the driving point of his discipline in this book, which glides between poetry and psychic schematics. This is a book about race, but Fanon is cavalier about the absurdity of the task--you either take him with all the specifics of his situation (black, French, Martinican, doctor, soldier, academic, Marxist, middle-class, male) or none (a human being, seeking the dignity and liberation of all human beings). Because he sets it up like this you can easily foil his worst takes (sexism, "there are no gay black men in Martinique" etc) with his best.
Can't recommend anything higher for someone trying to get into "theory" for the first time, this is "theory" but it's live and lucid. (I still remember picking this up sorta lackadaisically in 2021 and going ohhhh you can just write like this! You can just write normal!) Fanon jumps on so many questions I used to think I was so clever just for asking--and actually gets somewhere. Some of the most gorgeous and driving and true prose I've ever read is at the beginning and end of this book.
Fanon's saying and hidden embarrassing human life is the driving point of his discipline in this book, which glides between poetry and psychic schematics. This is a book about race, but Fanon is cavalier about the absurdity of the task--you either take him with all the specifics of his situation (black, French, Martinican, doctor, soldier, academic, Marxist, middle-class, male) or none (a human being, seeking the dignity and liberation of all human beings). Because he sets it up like this you can easily foil his worst takes (sexism, "there are no gay black men in Martinique" etc) with his best.
Can't recommend anything higher for someone trying to get into "theory" for the first time, this is "theory" but it's live and lucid. (I still remember picking this up sorta lackadaisically in 2021 and going ohhhh you can just write like this! You can just write normal!) Fanon jumps on so many questions I used to think I was so clever just for asking--and actually gets somewhere. Some of the most gorgeous and driving and true prose I've ever read is at the beginning and end of this book.
challenging
dark
informative
inspiring
slow-paced