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4.1 AVERAGE
4.1 AVERAGE
I think this book mainly suffers from being outdated. Lots of homophobia and misogyny, resting on a base of psychoanalytic thought that boils everything down to a penis, but there are still some really good things in here. Must remember historical context when reading, for sure.
challenging
informative
reflective
medium-paced
A Psychology of Disalienation
Nominally a psychiatrist’s assessment of racial hatred from the point of view of the colonial residents of the island of Martinique, Black Skins, White Masks is actually a phenomenology of racism as relevant today as it was when it was published more than 70 years ago. What starts as an analysis of the effects of racism on its victims, blossoms into a poetic expression of being black, including the psychological progression through the various stages of escape from the numerous traps of self-image created by a racist society.
What holds the book together is a crucial recognition, namely that the source of racism and its operational mechanism is language. There is no question but that, as the author says, “White civilization and European culture have imposed an existential deviation on the black man.” But his analysis does not begin with a history of colonialism or slavery or their physical horrors. Rather language is his primary focus as the existential ‘operator’: “We attach a fundamental importance to the phenomenon of language and consequently consider the study of language essential for providing us with one element in understanding the black man’s dimension of being-for-others, it being understood that to speak is to exist absolutely for the other.”
It is the imposition of European languages on colonised people which establishes the abiding ground rules of racism. Inability to speak these languages is a mark of inferiority, even among those upon whom they are imposed: “the more the black Antillean assimilates the French language, the whiter he gets—i.e., the closer he comes to becoming a true human being.” This is the hook which will never break free. Those colonials who do manage to master the master-language will even then be identified as the ‘remarkable black man who can speak French like a Parisian.’
Such success also has the additional advantage of fragmenting the colonial community into a hierarchy. Since there is obviously “mutual supports between language and the community,” the differential language skills within the colonised community provoke mutual antagonisms beneficial to the colonisers.
Fanon points out the generality of this phenomenon. It is not restricted to colonial empire: “Colonial racism is no different from other racisms.” The racism of America uses precisely the same linguistic tactics as that of France in Algeria and Madagascar and the Boers in South Africa.
Control of language gives the racist power over reason itself. This has the effect of alienating its victims in a particularly subtle but profoundly cruel way. The victim may be made to feel inferior physically, but he still has his mind. Nevertheless, “for a man armed solely with reason, there is nothing more neurotic than contact with the irrational.”
So the more the victim of racism recognises the irrationality of his environment, the more likely he is to become mentally unstable. Fanon captures the feeling rather dramatically: “The white man is all around me; up above the sky is tearing at its navel; the earth crunches under my feet and sings white, white. All this whiteness burns me to a cinder.”
Fanon also recognises the role of religion, particularly the Christian religion, in promoting racism. He gives a personal anecdote to make the point: “Recently, one of these good French folks declared on a train where I was sitting: ‘May the truly French values live on and the race will be safeguarded! At the present time we need a national union. No more internal strife! A united front against the foreigners [and turning to me] whoever they may be.’” Values, our values, our traditional values are coded terms. They allow the racist to blame the victim for the racist abuse they suffer. After all, don’t they have an essential moral and spiritual defect? And isn’t this shown by their inability to profess religion properly?
Fanon’s summary of the psychological ‘system’ of racism could have been written by Janes Baldwin: “The black man wants to be white. The white man is desperately trying to achieve the rank of man.”
Nominally a psychiatrist’s assessment of racial hatred from the point of view of the colonial residents of the island of Martinique, Black Skins, White Masks is actually a phenomenology of racism as relevant today as it was when it was published more than 70 years ago. What starts as an analysis of the effects of racism on its victims, blossoms into a poetic expression of being black, including the psychological progression through the various stages of escape from the numerous traps of self-image created by a racist society.
What holds the book together is a crucial recognition, namely that the source of racism and its operational mechanism is language. There is no question but that, as the author says, “White civilization and European culture have imposed an existential deviation on the black man.” But his analysis does not begin with a history of colonialism or slavery or their physical horrors. Rather language is his primary focus as the existential ‘operator’: “We attach a fundamental importance to the phenomenon of language and consequently consider the study of language essential for providing us with one element in understanding the black man’s dimension of being-for-others, it being understood that to speak is to exist absolutely for the other.”
It is the imposition of European languages on colonised people which establishes the abiding ground rules of racism. Inability to speak these languages is a mark of inferiority, even among those upon whom they are imposed: “the more the black Antillean assimilates the French language, the whiter he gets—i.e., the closer he comes to becoming a true human being.” This is the hook which will never break free. Those colonials who do manage to master the master-language will even then be identified as the ‘remarkable black man who can speak French like a Parisian.’
Such success also has the additional advantage of fragmenting the colonial community into a hierarchy. Since there is obviously “mutual supports between language and the community,” the differential language skills within the colonised community provoke mutual antagonisms beneficial to the colonisers.
Fanon points out the generality of this phenomenon. It is not restricted to colonial empire: “Colonial racism is no different from other racisms.” The racism of America uses precisely the same linguistic tactics as that of France in Algeria and Madagascar and the Boers in South Africa.
Control of language gives the racist power over reason itself. This has the effect of alienating its victims in a particularly subtle but profoundly cruel way. The victim may be made to feel inferior physically, but he still has his mind. Nevertheless, “for a man armed solely with reason, there is nothing more neurotic than contact with the irrational.”
So the more the victim of racism recognises the irrationality of his environment, the more likely he is to become mentally unstable. Fanon captures the feeling rather dramatically: “The white man is all around me; up above the sky is tearing at its navel; the earth crunches under my feet and sings white, white. All this whiteness burns me to a cinder.”
Fanon also recognises the role of religion, particularly the Christian religion, in promoting racism. He gives a personal anecdote to make the point: “Recently, one of these good French folks declared on a train where I was sitting: ‘May the truly French values live on and the race will be safeguarded! At the present time we need a national union. No more internal strife! A united front against the foreigners [and turning to me] whoever they may be.’” Values, our values, our traditional values are coded terms. They allow the racist to blame the victim for the racist abuse they suffer. After all, don’t they have an essential moral and spiritual defect? And isn’t this shown by their inability to profess religion properly?
Fanon’s summary of the psychological ‘system’ of racism could have been written by Janes Baldwin: “The black man wants to be white. The white man is desperately trying to achieve the rank of man.”
challenging
informative
reflective
tense
medium-paced
an excellent introduction to identity for anyone picking up a college level reading list late (or early) in life
I really enjoyed Fanon’s psychoanalytical take on racism and postcolonialism, even though it did sometimes delve into the problematic. One shocking passage was when Fanon shares how contemporaneous scientific theory postulated that “the black man is inherently inferior…[because he is] the missing link between ape and man” (13). I had forgotten how emerging Darwinian science attempted to justify white superiority and authority by using evolution to explain racial differences (and conveniently always elevating the White to the superior evolutionary pedestal). In spite of Fanon’s problematic moments, which we can perhaps forgive/understand him for due to his historical time period’s beliefs, Fanon’s analysis of how Black people have internalized racism as a defense mechanism is an interesting psychological approach to racism. In addition to the external suffering racism causes, we often forget how racism becomes internalized by both Whites and Blacks, and while White people can successfully navigate a society biased toward their skin color, Black people must navigate both the explicit and implicit racial bias and their mind’s desire to put on a “white mask” and thus allow that racist society’s structure to continue (4). I think this is why Kehinde Andrews in his book "Back to Black" so strongly urges for a complete revolutionary response to Western imperialist systems: not only will a revolutionary change of Western societies stop racist systems, but it will also to protect the physical and mental health of Blacks in the Diaspora, especially since the system not only attacks Black bodies (i.e. police brutality) but also Black minds (i.e. through internalizing racism).
I've often heard that Black Americans feel that they have to “act white” around White people in business settings so that they will be more respected (i.e. respected in a white-dominated community that views “whiteness” as respectability). This line of thinking connects to Fanon’s point that the fracturing of black identity “is a direct consequence of the colonial undertaking” (1) and that we must “liberate the black man from himself” (xii). I think this liberation involves “endlessly creating yourself” as Fanon concludes (204). He desires that “the subjugation of man by man—that is to say, of me by another—cease. May I be allowed to discover and desire man wherever he may be” (206). I think, for Fanon, if Black people “endlessly create” themselves, they are actively fighting the racist society that attempts to conform them into whiteness and force Black people to wear a white mask. Fanon explains, “It is through self-consciousness and renunciation, through a permanent tension of his freedom, that man can create the ideal conditions of existence” (206). I think Fanon advocates for self-actualization, and this self-actualization involves Black people embracing (and perhaps even celebrating, as Aimé Césaire does in the Négritude movement) their blackness and seeing it as a part of their identities, while also developing all other aspects of their identities. I agree with Fanon that the first step in resisting a racist society is freeing one’s self from society’s racist shackles through self-realization, which I interpret to be “endlessly creating yourself.” However, I think Andrews corrects and extends Fanon’s argument: while Fanon does not explicitly advocate for a revolutionary change in Western systems, Andrews underscores that one must radically overthrow a racist society if that society’s foundations are also racist…there is no way to resuscitate this broken system.
I've often heard that Black Americans feel that they have to “act white” around White people in business settings so that they will be more respected (i.e. respected in a white-dominated community that views “whiteness” as respectability). This line of thinking connects to Fanon’s point that the fracturing of black identity “is a direct consequence of the colonial undertaking” (1) and that we must “liberate the black man from himself” (xii). I think this liberation involves “endlessly creating yourself” as Fanon concludes (204). He desires that “the subjugation of man by man—that is to say, of me by another—cease. May I be allowed to discover and desire man wherever he may be” (206). I think, for Fanon, if Black people “endlessly create” themselves, they are actively fighting the racist society that attempts to conform them into whiteness and force Black people to wear a white mask. Fanon explains, “It is through self-consciousness and renunciation, through a permanent tension of his freedom, that man can create the ideal conditions of existence” (206). I think Fanon advocates for self-actualization, and this self-actualization involves Black people embracing (and perhaps even celebrating, as Aimé Césaire does in the Négritude movement) their blackness and seeing it as a part of their identities, while also developing all other aspects of their identities. I agree with Fanon that the first step in resisting a racist society is freeing one’s self from society’s racist shackles through self-realization, which I interpret to be “endlessly creating yourself.” However, I think Andrews corrects and extends Fanon’s argument: while Fanon does not explicitly advocate for a revolutionary change in Western systems, Andrews underscores that one must radically overthrow a racist society if that society’s foundations are also racist…there is no way to resuscitate this broken system.
challenging
dark
informative
reflective
tense
medium-paced
This tiny book is so rich in ideas, I'll definitely have to reread it. In terms of the writing, it's unlike any type of writing I've seen. It feels like stream of consciousness in its passion, but it's so overwhelmingly rich, there's no way it can be stream of consciousness... right?
I definitely did not understand most of what I read, as I'm fairly new to this scene of philosophy + psychology + racial studies + sociology, but even for a novice reader like me, there was so much to take away. Fanon is primarily studying the phenomenon of the inferiority complex that occurs as a result of economic inequality and other internalizations of racism. He goes into abstract ideas of alienation and understandings of the self, but he does so in such a vibrant (and sometimes confusing lol) voice. It's amazing.
I mostly only truly understood Chapter 1 and 5 (thanks to my professor lmao), so I'll have to reread the rest of them when I have time. But here is what I loved/understood:
Chapter 1: "The Black Man and Language"
Fanon talks about the ways in which colonization alienated people of color from their language. He gets into the dynamics of white supremacy and how this concept of white superiority made the person of color's native language into something shameful. He talks about the ever-present dichotomy between white and non-white, and how person of color is suddenly cast into this situation where they have to risk alienating themself from their roots and family and culture or risk being seen as inferior, alienating themself from their own sense of humanity. There's too much to unpack here, but it was exquisite.
Chapter 5: "The Lived Experience of the Black Man"
In this chapter, Fanon takes us on a vibrant and emotional ride of the lived experience of the black man. He, again, touches on the main theme of alienation from the self -- how always having to live relative to the white man's gaze, creating a sort of double-consciousness that is both disorienting and alienating to the self. The overarching theme of this chapter was about the fight to disalienate the self in the context of the race and class struggles.
One thing I loved was his discussion of the Negritude movement and how, while it was a movement of pride and revival of culture, it was ultimately a form of self-exoticized culture, defining itself in contrast to the white standard. It was overall a great commentary on how attempts to define culture often fall right back into the white/non-white dichotomy, and how the ever-present definition of the self relative to the white man makes it impossible to truly escape the colonized mentality.
Fanon comes to the conclusion that the cultural movement of Negritude is not enough and that the real issue lies in the economic inequality. There was some commentary from Sartre and some stuff about a dialectical that completely went over my head, but it was still fascinating.
Overall, this was a mind-blowing book that was a WILD introduction into this field of study. 90% of it went over my poor engineering head, but I definitely see this book as something worth working and chipping away at.
I definitely did not understand most of what I read, as I'm fairly new to this scene of philosophy + psychology + racial studies + sociology, but even for a novice reader like me, there was so much to take away. Fanon is primarily studying the phenomenon of the inferiority complex that occurs as a result of economic inequality and other internalizations of racism. He goes into abstract ideas of alienation and understandings of the self, but he does so in such a vibrant (and sometimes confusing lol) voice. It's amazing.
I mostly only truly understood Chapter 1 and 5 (thanks to my professor lmao), so I'll have to reread the rest of them when I have time. But here is what I loved/understood:
Chapter 1: "The Black Man and Language"
Fanon talks about the ways in which colonization alienated people of color from their language. He gets into the dynamics of white supremacy and how this concept of white superiority made the person of color's native language into something shameful. He talks about the ever-present dichotomy between white and non-white, and how person of color is suddenly cast into this situation where they have to risk alienating themself from their roots and family and culture or risk being seen as inferior, alienating themself from their own sense of humanity. There's too much to unpack here, but it was exquisite.
Chapter 5: "The Lived Experience of the Black Man"
In this chapter, Fanon takes us on a vibrant and emotional ride of the lived experience of the black man. He, again, touches on the main theme of alienation from the self -- how always having to live relative to the white man's gaze, creating a sort of double-consciousness that is both disorienting and alienating to the self. The overarching theme of this chapter was about the fight to disalienate the self in the context of the race and class struggles.
One thing I loved was his discussion of the Negritude movement and how, while it was a movement of pride and revival of culture, it was ultimately a form of self-exoticized culture, defining itself in contrast to the white standard. It was overall a great commentary on how attempts to define culture often fall right back into the white/non-white dichotomy, and how the ever-present definition of the self relative to the white man makes it impossible to truly escape the colonized mentality.
Fanon comes to the conclusion that the cultural movement of Negritude is not enough and that the real issue lies in the economic inequality. There was some commentary from Sartre and some stuff about a dialectical that completely went over my head, but it was still fascinating.
Overall, this was a mind-blowing book that was a WILD introduction into this field of study. 90% of it went over my poor engineering head, but I definitely see this book as something worth working and chipping away at.
O humanismo radical de Frantz Fanon - numa mistura de filosofia, psicanálise, psicologia, sociologia e antropologia - mostra de uma forma poética, e nada simples, a conturbada relação do negro consigo e em sociedade. Termina com uma linda reivindicação (não obediente ou servil) pelo direito do ser humano ser tratado como tal, numa existencia digna e livre: "Não se deve tentar fixar o homem, pois seu destino é estar solto". E continua: "A densidade da História não determina nenhum dos meus atos. Eu sou o meu próprio fundamento".
Um ponto que me deixou desconfortável é política sexual, onde Fanon apresenta uma homofobia e misoginia problemáticas.
Mesmo assim, é um outro nível de reflexão de um assunto tão substancial na vida em sociedade, sem cair em clichês ou numa teoria sem prática. É complexo, sem ser contraditório ou maniqueísta. É preciso ler e reler.
"Superioridade? Inferioridade? Por que não tentar simplesmente tocar o outro, sentir o outro, revelar-me no outro? [...] Minha prece derradeira 'Ó meu corpo, faz sempre de mim um homem que questiona!'"
Um ponto que me deixou desconfortável é política sexual, onde Fanon apresenta uma homofobia e misoginia problemáticas.
Mesmo assim, é um outro nível de reflexão de um assunto tão substancial na vida em sociedade, sem cair em clichês ou numa teoria sem prática. É complexo, sem ser contraditório ou maniqueísta. É preciso ler e reler.
"Superioridade? Inferioridade? Por que não tentar simplesmente tocar o outro, sentir o outro, revelar-me no outro? [...] Minha prece derradeira 'Ó meu corpo, faz sempre de mim um homem que questiona!'"
reflective
medium-paced