Decolonizing Madness: The Psychiatric Writings of Frantz Fanon

by Frantz Fanon, Nigel C. Gibson (Editor), Alice Cherki (Preface)

The Martiniquian-born theorist, revolutionary, and psychiatrist Frantz Fanon was a foundational figure in postcolonial thought and practice, and along with Foucault and Lacan, he remains an indispensable thinker on the complex interrelationships of identity, politics, and psychoanalysis. His biographers have always noted that his medical career was not a profession he chose by chance but one that reflected his humanist convictions, yet his psychiatric work has only received sustained attention in recent years - and then only from scholars fluent in French. Now available for the first time in English, the pieces collected here demonstrate in concrete ways how Fanon's conception of a radical psychiatry based in human liberation and self-activity was directly related to his philosophy and politics. They offer specific content for ongoing debates over psychiatry and politics in contemporary society, and together form an essential text for anyone working in postcolonial studies, Fanon studies, history, psychiatry, and politics.

Genres: Psychology, Nonfiction, Politics, Philosophy, Race, Mental Health, History

224 pages, Paperback

First published December 10, 2014

About the author

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.

Reviews

[hajrah ♡ · Rating 5 out of 5]

never before has a piece of academic literature aligned so completely with my serious scholarly interests. i have a crush on fanon also.

[Martina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sicuramente consigliato agli appassionati della storia, dell'antropologia e della psicologia. Beneduce spiega e esplicita gli scritti di Fanon, come se li avesse scritti per mano sua. Interessante e complesso.

[Anna · Rating 2 out of 5]

L'introduzione è talmente lunga e superflua da essere imbarazzante.

[Cody Bivins-Starr · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is virtually impossible to find, and the pdf I found is missing editorial introductions and a final essay, but Fanon’s texts remain.

The underlying thread of Fanon’s psychiatry is the colonial inheritance of medical/psychiatric practice. In medics contexts what cannot be “diagnosed” does not exist. In the body of the colonized subject, this relationship is exacerbated. Fanon views madness as potentially social, something that comes not as a result of denying reality but attempting to face it. When met with ineffability, the social structure of capitalism cannot but deny its humanity. In his practice, Fanon advocated for the subjectivity of his patients. Likewise, he participated in efforts to collectivize the psychiatric hospitals, seeing profound results. The text ends with an essay on the colonial subject, and the experience of colonialism as a psychiatric detriment to the person - in particular the relationship between labor, surveillance, and psychiatric internalization of the settler gaze.

A profound work, but perhaps the most profound is Fanon’s reflections of the communal transformation of the psychiatric hospital. He writes:

“Christmas, with its deeply embedded traditions, provided us with an opportunity… Religious hymns, choirs, carols… hands trembling with emotion. When we proposed the patients organize regular festivities… we hardly encountered any opposition. We attend merely as spectators. When the paranoid patient responsible for the musics number kept watch on the catatonic patient out of the corner of her eye to make sure she wasn’t losing the thread, pinching her when necessary to get her moving again.”