Next Saturday, September 27th, we discuss the classic by one of my favorite thinkers of all time: Frantz Fanon. Fanon completed
The Wretched of the earth while battling leukemia. The book, written on the eve of independence in most African nations, is a very insightful reading of the history, present and possible trends in African political and social realities. Fanon exemplifies what Dubois called for in "The study of Negro problems": he articulated the problems, traced development and analyzes future possibilities.
For the PhD initiate, chapter 4 is interesting because it makes us focus on our personal implications as educated Africans in the larger social context. How does our status and training compromise or enhance our continent's ability to address the issues we confront? How is that affected by having a PhD?
Looking at Frantz Fanon “Wretched of the earth” he argues that the solution to the recurrent problems of decolonization can only be realized through a violent uprising of the masses. Looking at the situation in Kenya, it’s like the national bourgeoisie who claimed to be part of the struggle for independence were merely concerned with gaining access to wealth and social status that had previously been commandeered by the colonists. Today the peasants are poorer, heavily taxed and drained of natural resources is there anything that can be done to change it? Is violence from the peasant masses inevitable? What is the role of the academy in all this? Do we as intellectuals have a duty in controlling the excess and self-interests of the national bourgeoisie? How can we then ensure equity and equality of the masses when as the academia we rarely raise our voices on such matters?
ReplyDeleteThe entire book "The Wretched of the Earth" is Fanon's answer to your question "do we intellectuals have a duty?" He says we do. So the book is trying to explore how that will happen, and whether we're capable of doing it.
DeleteFanon was prophetic in the manner that he predicted that the negotiated post colonial states would be failures. This is because the struggle for decolonization was hi-jacked by the middle class bourgeoisie whose desire was to replace the colonial master with themselves. The violence that Fanon suggests as a the harbinger of independence is premised on the idea that the colonials will not cede power willingly. It has to be wrestled from them. The intellectuals are criticized because they invest in the status quo and eschew change. What is the preparation that would steel the intellectual to enable them play a role in liberation?
ReplyDeleteFanon himself like Christopher Okigbo joined in fray; do intellectuals have a role in the actual struggle or is it enough to provide the intellectual, theoretical guidance. We are told that Amilcar Cabral noted that there can be no revolution without a revolutionary theory so we we need academics in the trenches?
In the world that has become very materialistic does the meagerly remunerated academic a match for the well-financed demagogues in determining the national discourses? Is the absence of a respected seat for the academy the reason that intellectuals are unable to determine public policy discourse in Africa?
My immediate response is that we need to be in the trenches, but we also need to decide where those trenches are. Many times they are not in the ground. They are in the hospitals, classrooms and churches.
Delete1. Do the wretched of the earth stand a chance of being truly free through the use of force, violence and uprising as recommended by Fanon in the globalized world today?
ReplyDelete2. Is the Fanon's recommended ideal culture tenable, a culture devoid of pre-colonial African traditions, colonialism and globalization?
Your question 2 is what had the African diaspora and the African motherland clashing in 1956. Fanon's reply is that if the culture is not used for freedom, then it is not culture. It's dead tradition. Recall what he said in the first chapter about the European using his historical memory to create colonies in Africa. So Fanon is saying Africans must use culture for liberation - not simply to show off about as proof that we're equal to whites.
ReplyDelete1. According to Fanon the process of decolonization requires some form of violence because when the colonist himself comes into a country and colonizes it, he does so with some form of violence and the language spoken by his soldiers and policemen is that of violence. Bearing in mind the dictatorship that is evident in some African countries, would he (Fanon) also advocate for violence to get rid of such leaders?
ReplyDelete2. Would the middle class or bourgeoisie help in this process especially by educating or sensitizing the masses about their rights and the roles they need to play in the process of liberating themselves from the dictators?
3. The national middle class which takes over power at the end of the colonial regime is an under-developed middle class. We can see that in most African countries. This middle class comes in and become like mini colonists or home grown colonists. What role would the scholars play in connecting the low class masses with the ruling class bourgeoisie?