105. Meeting the Gaze: Frantz Fanon’s Black Skin White Masks

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Frantz Fanon combines psychoanalysis and existential phenomenology to diagnose neuroses deriving from the colonial condition.

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Further Reading

• F. Fanon, Black Skin, White Masks, trans. C.L. Markmann (New York: 1967).

• F. Fanon, Black Skin, White Masks, trans. R. Philcox (New York: 2008).

• F. Fanon, Alienation and Freedom, ed. J. Khalfa and R.J.C. Young, trans. S. Corcoran (London: 2018).

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• G. Arnall, Subterranean Fanon: An Underground Theory of Radical Change (New York: 2020).

• R. Bernasconi, "On Needing Not to Know and Forgetting What One Never Knew: The Epistemology of Ignorance in Fanon's Critique of Sartre" in S. Sullivan and N. Tuana (eds), Race and Epistemologies of Ignorance (Albany: 2007), 231-239.

• S. Bird-Pollan, Hegel, Freud and Fanon: The Dialectic of Emancipation (London: 2015).

• P. Bouvier, Aimé Césaire, Frantz Fanon: Portraits de décolonisés (Paris: 2010).

• N.C. Gibson, Fanon: The Postcolonial Imagination (Cambridge, UK: 2003).

• L.R. Gordon, What Fanon Said: A Philosophical Introduction to His Life and Thought (New York: 2015).

• D. Macey, Frantz Fanon: A Biography (London: 2012).

• L. Turner, "Fanon Reading (W)right, The (W)right Reading of Fanon: Race, Modernity, and the Fate of Humanism" in R. Bernasconi and S. Cook (eds), Race and Racism in Continental Philosophy (Bloomington: 2003), 151-175. 

Comments

Tarun G on 31 July 2022

More Fanon, and text help for key terms

Thank you for exploring Black thought as Africana philosophy, that lets you include critical theorists from the 20th century too. This is the best possible intro and study companion to Fanon's Black Skin, White Masks, and I always appreciate how learner-friendly your podcast is, with all the scholarly references neatly cited.

I know HOPWAG is on a summer break, but when you're back, will you cover Fanon's Wretched of the Earth? Please don't stop with just Black Skin—Fanon, like Dignaga, Avicenna, and Plato, deserves more than one episode! Episodes on both of Fanon's key works will be super-helpful. Fanon's advocacy of violent revolution will also be interesting to look at, in light of Martin Luther King, Thoreau, Marx, and Gandhi—the latter three, I hope, will get covered in future episodes on 19th century and modern Indian philosophy respectively. Great group of thinkers to think about non-violent resistance with—alongside the ancient Indians of course!

But one thing about this episode, though: while its coverage is excellent, I'd appreciate text help for that French 'n' term. I don't (yet) speak French fluently, and it may take a while for the Africana book to be out. I love using terms from native languages even in English-language essays, for precision—much like your own use in the India book. (India podcast episodes, for instance, often featured such terms either in the blurbs or references. And there aren't silent letters for most Sanskrit words rendered in English, so that also makes it easy to instantly identify. Not to mention my own comfort with Indian languages.)

Also, if you're including Kwame Anthony Appiah in Africana, can you invite him as a guest in the episodes on his work? 

In reply to by Tarun G

Peter Adamson on 31 July 2022

Fanon

Thanks, glad you appreciated this episode! The next episode is actually on Wretched of the Earth, that will be up in early September. And the "n-word" in French you are asking about is spelled negre.

In reply to by Peter Adamson

Tarun G on 1 August 2022

Wretched of the Earth and n-term help

Thanks, Prof. Adamson, for clarifying the term! I'm thrilled the next episode is on Wretched... 

My suggestion on featuring Appiah as guest (if he's available and interested) comes from this SOAS course. On how Africana philosophy dialogues with 20th and 21st century 'Western'/Anglophone philosophy, perhaps?

Nursen on 30 August 2022

Support for the Podcast/Homepage/Content creators

I have a question, that is not related to the content here. I hope, this is ok.

Is there a way to support this page? even in small amounts? Or is that too much administration? Should we, as listeners, just buy the books?

In reply to by Nursen

Peter Adamson on 30 August 2022

Support

Thanks, that's very kind of you to ask! My attitude has always been that I want this to be free and not something I make money off. What I would really like is as many listeners as possible, so it would be more than enough if you just spread the word! But beyond that yes, it would be great if you bought the books too of course.

In reply to by Peter Adamson

Nursen on 1 September 2022

I try to advertise it. I got…

I try to advertise it. I got three books already. I am sure, I will get some more in the next month. 

KJ on 17 February 2023

accessibility

you really need to think about adding some form of text translation of the podcast for those with hearing impairment 

WG on 27 January 2024

Very good episode!

Very good episode!

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Fanon

Africana Philosophy in the Twentieth Century


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