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4.1 AVERAGE
4.1 AVERAGE
informative
slow-paced
This was a very challenging read mainly because Fannon uses a lot of really big words. However, I personally also found it challenging because the foundation of the book is essentially the psychology of racism with a bit of philosophy. I'm not particularly familiar with either disciplines and upon reading the blurb, I anticipated it to be more sociological/political which is what I am comfortable with. Nevertheless, it was an incredibly fascinating and insightful read and I've learnt a lot of new things. I will admit that there were parts that I skimmed over purely because I didn't understand what was happening but I hope to return to this book one day and fill in the blanks. It was also different in other ways to- it wasn't just throwing information at the reader. It's also a meditation on what it means to be black in a white world and some of the writing, although difficult, was very poetic and lyrical. I found myself underlining a lot of lines that I did not feel a need to note down as they simply resonated with me, rather than teach me something new. They articulated a particular feeling in a beautiful way. Anyway, it's a great book and I hope to read 'Wretched of the Earth' sometime soon but maybe once I've built up my level first!
lower rating than it deserves bc the homophobia and misogyny was hard to take, made the book feel far less accessible for me. but still, i recognize the importance of many of its points, had my thinking expanded by it - especially around black colonial subjectivity. i will say, i think bell hook’s ain’t i a woman covers some similar relational psychology - but much more expanded, applicable, accessible and with less bigotry and more humanity. if someone is going to read ONE book in this area, especially someone who is queer / a subject of patriarchy, would recommend reading Aint I A Woman instead. Perhaps read the summary of this and use Bell Hooks work to consider how Fanon’s own thinking, despite focus on how white supremacy’s shaped him, was shaped by PATRIARCHAL white supremacy in ways he was not self-aware of at all.
Fairly accessible prose psychology. Psychology haters (e.g. me) will be correct in saying that it's not really empirical, but Fanon is also fairly clear in agreeing with them: the purpose of the book is more to illustrate the peculiar pathologies colonialism brings out in its subject, not to argue that e.g. all colonized peoples desperately want to be white.
Ca fait au moins 15 ans que ce classique trône dans ma bibliothèque, et honnêtement il me faisait flipper. J'ai été agréablement surprise par la forme hybride choisie pour porter le propos: à la fois pamphlet, témoignage personnel, relecture critique de romans, de poésie ( l'ombre de Césaire planne sur tout le livre), et études de cas psychiatriques. Certains passages m'ont fait penser à "Chronique d'un pays natal" de James Baldwin, écrit a peu près au même moment et qui décortique aussi la construction du Noir dans certaines oeuvres. Comme Baldwin, Fanon évoque "Native Son" de Richard Wright. Je n'ai pas tout compris de cette première lecture et tiens également à souligner que certains passages sont homophobes, il faut bien le dire. C'est assez impressionnant de voir à quel point les problèmes que Frantz Fanon met sur la table en 1952 sont d'actualité et toujours aussi peu compris: la question de la diglossie (lorsqu'une langue est dévalorisée par rapport à une autre), du colorisme, de l'hypersexualisation, de l'infantilisation et de la deshumanisation des noirs, mais aussi de ce que veut dire l'universel, obsession actuelle du dans le débat public français. Un passage marquant est celui ou Fanon démontre comment Sartre, croyant bien faire dans sa préface à l'"Anthologie de la nouvelle poésie n**** et malgache", disqualifie le mouvement de la négritude en le définissant comme une étape a passer avant d'atteindre le but ultime et vraiment important, celui d'une société post raciale. Tout en insistant sur le fait que la névrose des Noirs et des Blancs prennent racines dans un système raciste installé pour légitimer l'esclavage et la colonisation, c'est aussi frappant de voir un essai qui institue le sujet de la santé mentale des Noirs comme vrai sujet de connaissance. Pour se faire une idée plus précise en 10 minutes, go check le podcast @bibliotieks qui y a consacré un épisode.
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
slow-paced
I wasn't aware theory could make me cry. I could have not have been proven wrong with more grace, more poetry and more clarity. A book I am grateful and privileged to have been born at a time to read.
reflective
medium-paced
Frantz thanks for getting me through my undergraduate degree
While the ideas imparted by this book are great, and are seen as radical at times, for the time period, I found Fanon's delivery to be lacking, as he seems to jump from place to place and, in general, at times lost my interest.
challenging
informative
slow-paced
Hard to rate as it is incredibly dense psychological writing which is hard to penetrate without understanding a lot of the background (which I unfortunately do not)
Sometimes brilliant, sometimes uncomfortably tied to the squeamish bits of psychoanalysis.
Primarily a psychosocial account of the effects of racist prejudice within France and Martinique.
Primarily a psychosocial account of the effects of racist prejudice within France and Martinique.