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31st out of 548 books
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380 voters
The Wretched of the Earth
A distinguished psychiatrist from Martinique who took part in the Algerian Nationalist Movement, Frantz Fanon was one of the most important theorists of revolutionary struggle, colonialism, and racial difference in history. Fanon’s masterwork is a classic alongside Edward Said’s Orientalism or The Autobiography of Malcolm X, and it is now available in a new translation tha...more
Paperback, 320 pages
Published
March 12th 2005
by Grove Press
(first published 1961)
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"...إن تصرُّف المثقف في هذه الفترة تصرُّف رجُل انتهازي رخيص، والحقُّ أن مناوراتِه لم تنقطع لحظة، والشعب لا يريد أن يُبعِدُه أو أن يُحرجه. فما يُريدُه الشعب هو أن يكون كل شيء مشتركـًا .. وجود ذلك الميل الغريب إلى التفاصيل لدى المثقف هو الذي سيؤجِّل انغماس المثقف في الموجة الشعبية العارمة. لا لأن الشعب عاجز عن التحليل، فهو يُحب أن تُشرَح له الأمور، هو يُحب أن يفهم مفاصل استدلال من الاستدلالات، يُحب أن يرى إلى أين هو ذاهب. ولكن المثقف المُستعمَر، في أول اتصاله بالشعب، يُركِّز اهتمامه على التفاصيل ا...more
My favorite part of this book was the chapter called "On Colonialism and Psychoanalysis" where Fanon talks about how psychology can be used to colonize and control people, and details how the French scientific community criminalized and pathologized Algerian people through psychology to further colonialism and racism. These concepts are central to radical disability activism and Disability Studies today, and Fanon originally published "Wretched of the Earth" in 1961.
I had a hard time with the c...more
I had a hard time with the c...more
May 31, 2007
Nora
rated it
5 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
revolutionaries and those who are puzzled by them
Must-read for those interested in the effects of colonialism & skeptical about the inevitability of violent rebellion. May not convince you of the necessity of violence, but will explain a few things about the psychology of colonialist occupation. it's not a perfect book - it's full of bitterness and vitriol, but some of its insights are astounding.
4 likes · like · see review
Feb 19, 2010
K.D. Oliveros
rated it
3 of 5 stars
Recommended to K.D. by:
501 Must Read Books - History Category
Prior to reading this book, I had absolutely no idea about the French rule in Algeria. Both countries are too far from the Philippines for me to be concerned about. Because it is the reason why Mr. Fanon wrote this book (published in 1961), I had to Google that part of Algerian history in the middle of my reading. I learned that French colonization of Algeria took almost a hundred years (1830 to the 1900's) and it was one of the most bloodiest colonization in the history of the world. The height...more
5 likes · like · see review
Like Fanon's previous (and, from my perspective, better) work Black Skin, White Masks, as a middle class caucasian male (MC^2, if you will) it's difficult to offer a critique to The Wretched of the Earth that feels either relevant or responsible. After all, in Fanon's terms, I am (at least through complacency) part of the problem that this work tries to solve: writing this review is a bit like a 1950's Republican critiquing The Feminine Mystique. (Is there really anything to learn here, apart fr...more
2 likes · like · see review
Aug 25, 2007
Corey Knoettgen
rated it
4 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
Revolutionaries
Shelves:
must-readnonfiction
I will never forget my initial reaction to this book - utter shock. More than any other book I have ever read, this book shattered my entire worldview - permanently. I could not keep my jaw shut as I read the opening line - "Decolonization is always a violent phenomenon."
The book was written by a Black psychologist from Martinique who was stationed in Algeria during the anti-colonial uprising there in the 1950s. His work details the psychological impact that colonization has on both the coloniz...more
The book was written by a Black psychologist from Martinique who was stationed in Algeria during the anti-colonial uprising there in the 1950s. His work details the psychological impact that colonization has on both the coloniz...more
Forgotten by many, one critic has characterized Fanon as the New Left influence that "refuses to die." That may be because he's a fighter, not a lover, and violence is his watchword.
Fanon isn't as much of an intellectual as some make him out, but that doesn't matter. The best of what he offers is rooted in direct observation--in some ways he acts as a scientist observing colonialism, trying to measure the degree and direction of all its damage.
The racism he endured, combined with the terrible A...more
Fanon isn't as much of an intellectual as some make him out, but that doesn't matter. The best of what he offers is rooted in direct observation--in some ways he acts as a scientist observing colonialism, trying to measure the degree and direction of all its damage.
The racism he endured, combined with the terrible A...more
1 like · like · see review
I purchased my copy of The Wretched of the Earth by Frantz Fanon (translated by Constance Farrington and with a preface by Jean-Paul Sartre) in 1968. There is no reason why I waited so long to actually read it. I finally got around to reading it because 45 years ago I had been convinced by friends that it was an important book. My pinko friends were right; it is an important book.
Inspired by the struggles in Algeria to drive out the French colonists, Fanon wrote of how decolonization had gone...more
Inspired by the struggles in Algeria to drive out the French colonists, Fanon wrote of how decolonization had gone...more
I recommend Colin's review, especially on Fanon's masculinist approach - go read that.
Other things to say - I think "On Violence" is the best essay in the book, and put in front for a reason. It's brilliantly written, an unforgettable indictment of the utter, unforgivable evil of colonialism. I won't forget Fanon's characterization of Nazi Germany's empire as colonialism within Europe, which I think is incredibly illuminating.
That said, I hate the way discussions of "On Violence" seem to go. Pe...more
Other things to say - I think "On Violence" is the best essay in the book, and put in front for a reason. It's brilliantly written, an unforgettable indictment of the utter, unforgivable evil of colonialism. I won't forget Fanon's characterization of Nazi Germany's empire as colonialism within Europe, which I think is incredibly illuminating.
That said, I hate the way discussions of "On Violence" seem to go. Pe...more
I assigned this for a couple of classes I taught on Nationalism, Revolution & Ethnicity. It's a classic indictment of the effect colonial rule has on the minds and psychology of the colonised and a classic justification for revolutionary violence as necessary catharsis. It's a powerful book, and Fanon was a skilled writer and a trained and practicing psychologist among the 'assimilated' middle classes of French colonies. Fanon speaks for the rage of the partly-assimilated, educated colonised...more
3 likes · like · see review
Amazing. The book jacket says "Readers owe it to their education to study the whole of it." I thoroughly agree.
It's interesting to see the results of decolonization almost 50 years after this book was written. Interesting and depressing as I'm not so sure many countries have headed Fanon's advice to "start a new history of Man." I also think too much credit is given to Europe, or notoriety. I'm not so sure setting the continent and the West as the root of all evil makes sense today. Obviously Eu...more
It's interesting to see the results of decolonization almost 50 years after this book was written. Interesting and depressing as I'm not so sure many countries have headed Fanon's advice to "start a new history of Man." I also think too much credit is given to Europe, or notoriety. I'm not so sure setting the continent and the West as the root of all evil makes sense today. Obviously Eu...more
Fanon has given vent to the psychological trauma of the people ground in colonization, where they lose their culture, language, tradition, religion and indeed their being or entity. It is very hard to drag the burden of existence in utmost uncertainty,alienation, absence of isness, Sisyphian absurdity.
Fanon did not write this book out of sheer imagination sitting in well furnished drawing room, but he had first hand experience of the colonization of Algerian people withering under French Coloni...more
Fanon did not write this book out of sheer imagination sitting in well furnished drawing room, but he had first hand experience of the colonization of Algerian people withering under French Coloni...more
Not rating this one, because it would be impossible. I read this as a recommendation to learn more about the French-Algeria conflict. It was more philosophical than factual, which is what I needed (but I've found another one for that.) but the philosophy was though provoking. Especially as I look at his theory of colonization and decolonization based on experiences of my own lifetime (the Balkans, Rwanda)
Recently, I was watching an episode of the super annoying Treme, and the scene was the New...more
Recently, I was watching an episode of the super annoying Treme, and the scene was the New...more
Fanon's book is a fiery, stream-of-consciousness document of what it felt like to be consumed by the passions of anti-colonial struggle and the post-colonial aftermath. As such, it is a great piece of literature that should be read by anyone. While I do not share many of Fanon's more vulgar-Marxist premises, he reveals such an acute consciousness of the problems post-colonial societies faced (and continue to face) that his viewpoint cannot be written off as narrowly ideological. He is overly opt...more
Frantz Fanon was considered a radical thinker in his time. But nowadays, who honestly defends colonization? Maybe a few old right wing French and Brits muttering through their mustaches in smoke-filled bars in Aix-en-Provence and Sheffield, but the rest of us have come to realize the truth of the matter. In "Black Skin, White Masks," Fanon performed a subtle psychological analysis of the colonial situation, but in "The Wretched of the Earth," he takes his fight to the streets. And he has plenty...more
Brilliant work that should be standard reading for even the most basic western civ class. Frantz Fanon presents a psychoanalysis of the problems related to African colonialism in the 1960s, though really, the material translates beyond space and time. Fanon, who is originally from Martinique, played a role in the Algerian National Liberation Front and provides firsthand insight into the establishment of social movement that have potential to lead to decolonization, acting as a sort of handbook f...more
What are the root causes terrorism? In addition to religious fanaticism, Fanon's book analyzes and addresses, to an incredible degree, why people kill themselves and others in what appears to be mindless destruction in the context of past colonialism and ongoing racism. While he doesn't address all the issues or provide all the answers, it is a very interesting and thought provoking presentation.
The basic premise that decolonization is a violent phenomenon still seems pretty revolutionary to me, as do his attempts to analyze the effects of colonization on the psychology of the native. I'm not sure if I buy his 3-step method by which colonized people develop their own culture, the clinical way he describes the native turning first to then from the colonizers culture, ultimately arriving at this almost Hegelian synthesis just feels too simplistic, too much like generic agitprop. His concl...more
Considered "one of the most significant theorists of revolution, colonialism, and racial difference" Franz Fanon blazes brilliantly on the psychology and circumstance of the colonized and the path to their liberation. From the preface by Sartre: "Read Fanon: you will see that in a time of helplessness, murderous rampage is the collective unconscious of the colonized." His insights on the boomerang effect of violence ("it is not first of all THEIR violence, it is OURS, on the rebound, that grows...more
I have a love/hate relationship with Fanon. I absolutely love what he does in Black Skin, White Masks, but I think it doesn't get the play in scholarship that The Wretched of the Earth does. This baffles me, because Wretched seems more experimental, less concise, not as cogent. With that said, there is much to take away from Wretched that is immensely helpful in thinking about the decolonization process and how authors represent it in literature. While I find myself leaning more and more Marxist...more
One of Fanon's key intentions in the writing of this book is to assist colonial struggles in distinguishing the significance of race, and therefore nationalism, from class and its internationalist orientation. Hence, in a fundamental way, Fanon, despite his revolutionary credentials, is really a reactionary thinker, for he thinks that the universal orientation, from which an internationalist class struggle might arise against the bourgeoisie as a global class, is valuable really only in terms of...more
It took me some while to get through 'The Wretched of the Earth', as it is a painful book to read and a period of history that I know far too little about. Fanon systematically dissects the phenomenon of colonialism, with a focus on Algeria and its attempts to break free from French rule. He explains how the native population is dehumanised by their occupiers, enslaved, exploited, killed, raped, and their land treated as a resource to be expropriated. He demonstrates the pernicious pseudo-scient...more
Started this today, and have only read the preface, but holy shit, Sartre's preface is the preface to end all prefaces. I am stoked for this.
... Turns out the preface is kind of better than the book in its entirety. Oh well. Still worth the read.
Fanon's language and enthusiasm allow us to easily get lost in his words, and it is clear that the prospect of a free and sovereign nation is what provides his voice with fervor and excitement. However, he seems caught between a radical idealism and his...more
... Turns out the preface is kind of better than the book in its entirety. Oh well. Still worth the read.
Fanon's language and enthusiasm allow us to easily get lost in his words, and it is clear that the prospect of a free and sovereign nation is what provides his voice with fervor and excitement. However, he seems caught between a radical idealism and his...more
i was somewhat familiar with the historical relevance of this book when i started it, and i must confess that (at first) my preconceptions almost interfered with the reading experience itself. the wretched of the earth is perhaps best remembered for its moments of insurrection - its advocacy of violent resistance and its status as an emblem of the french-algerian war. it's certainly noteworthy for both of those reasons, but it's not limited by them at all.
in 2009, it can be easy to approach "rev...more
in 2009, it can be easy to approach "rev...more
Incendiary and not as dated as one might think.... Algeria, colonialism, its all here! Polemic for a reason, don't want to read again but interesting to see the infamous Fanon, good source for people looking for the French public's relationship with the colonial, the French population with its lauded public intellectuals, and of course their views on the "wretched of the earth". Introduction by Sartre is worth the price of admission...i bet he made some people angry! I suggest an identity crisis...more
I have always been interested in the effects of colonialism and my father recommened Frantz Fanon a couple years back as a source for explaining the mindset of exploited populations, particularly Africans. This is the only book I have happened to read by him. I pretty much enjoyed it. My copy has an introduction by Jean-Paul Sartre. I think that though some of his ideals promoting violence for curing the negative effects of colonialism are a bit antiquated and utopian, I nevertheless feel that h...more
I first read this in college. I felt it was time to read it again – and was correct. Much of Fanon’s analysis of revolution is as applicable to America today as it was to colonial upheavals in the 1950s-60s. American society is, in effect, a situational colonization: a slim minority profits by exploiting the majority, albeit much of that majority’s full, if misguided, support. Chapter 3, on the pitfalls of national consciousness, in particular should resonate with those disappointed in the lack...more
Today Sartre would be sent to Guatanamo for the introduction that he wrote for this book.
A bit of outdated information. It was more of a communist manifesto than a story on colonialism. The psychiatry information was interesting but I would imagine all of that would be encompassed under PTSD these days and nothing different than anyone has experienced in any war. Also his arguments are great but communism really hasn't worked and in the independent nations the government was just as corrupt as the previous colonial government which Fanon worried about. Which of course brings us to t...more
Does colonization of indigenous people recreate their culture and existence in ways that dehumanize them and redefine them in terms used by that colonizer? Fanon's argument is a good one, taken from the perspective of a psychiatrist as well as a political philosopher. This powerful book was timely in the 1960s and inspired much of the thought behind movements for equality and civil rights in places far from colonized Africa, which is the milieu of his discussion. But it's still important today a...more
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Frantz Fanon was a psychiatrist, philosopher, revolutionary, and author from Martinique. He was influential in the field of post-colonial studies and was perhaps the pre-eminent thinker of the 20th century on the issue of decolonization and the psychopathology of colonization. His works have inspired anti-colonial liberation movements for more than four decades.
فرانز فانون
طبيب نفسانيّ وفيلسوف اجتم...more
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فرانز فانون
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“Each generation must discover its mission, fulfill it or betray it, in relative opacity.”
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“For a colonized people the most essential value, because the most concrete, is first and foremost the land: the land which will bring them bread and, above all, dignity.”
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