Fifty years after Frantz Fanon: beyond diversity

Abstract

SummaryFrantz Fanon (1925–1961), a West Indian of mixed race, was a French colonial psychiatrist trained in Lyon, France, who worked mainly in colonial North Africa between 1953 and 1957. He was one of the earliest psychiatrists to suggest that the lived experience of ethnic minorities within a discriminatory colonial environment could trigger mental illness. This article focuses on Fanon's work and contributions to psychiatry, as well as his philosophy, advocacy for social inclusion and pioneering work in culturally relevant rehabilitation. It also examines what lessons could be learnt from his life's work as a psychiatrist and traces his influence on a generation of psychiatric researchers, suggesting how his contribution may have influenced critical thought and current views.

Fanon, Foucault, feminisms: Psychoeducation, theoretical psychology, and political change

“…I attempt to subvert adaptationist readings of “psychoeducation” through attention to the connections between therapeutic and sociopolitical projects evident in Fanon’s psychiatric practice, the significance of which has only recently been given serious reconsideration (Giordano, 2011; Khalfa, 2015; Khanna, 2013; Menozzi, 2015; Sikuade, 2012). This critical approach to psychoeducation owes much to feminist and Foucauldian arguments, in particular those that demonstrate the reach of pedagogical and psychological discourses outside schooling and therapeutic contexts to inform state and transnational policies and practice (De Vos, 2013; Jones, Pykett, & Whitehead, 2013; Pykett, 2012).…”

“…Having trained as a psychiatrist in France, in Lyon, 3 once assigned to Algeria Fanon worked as the clinical director of Blida-Joinville, a mental hospital outside Algiers. Here he applied the “institutional psychotherapy” approach he had learned from François Tosquelles at his internship at Saint Alban, radically reforming the care of the distressed (see Keller, 2007; Khanna, 2013; Macey, 2012; Menozzi, 2015; Razanajao, Postel, & Allen, 1996; Sikuade, 2012). Tosquelles had been involved both professionally and politically in the antifascist struggle in Spain (Macey, 2012).…”

“… 2. It seems that Fanon did not physically write down the text of BSWM , but rather dictated it to his wife, Josie (Macey, 2012), whom Sikuade (2012) describes as a “Corsican gypsy.” The significance of this, also in relation to Fanon’s portrayal of sexed and gendered relations across and through racialisation, has yet to be discussed. …”

Understanding African Americans Homeschooling Movement in the United States through Social Justice and Equity, Postcolonialism and Critical Theory

“…Colonialism, as described by Fanon in Black Skin, White Masks, has the following characteristics: 1) psychological impacts on colonies; 2) the identity crisis experienced by black colonized people (Al-Qahtani, 2021). In Fanon's view, the racism of colonialism leads to psychopathologies and the development of mental disorders (Sikuade, 2012;Carr, 2016). The colonized cannot form an independent sense of identity due to cultural assimilation or the replacement of their original culture with that of the colonizing states (Dizayi, 2019).…”

Frantz Fanon and revolutionary group praxis

“…It is worth noting that until recently Fanon’s contributions to philosophy, psychiatry and politics have typically been treated separately, and the focus on one has given rise to the neglect of the others. In particular, Fanon’s psychotherapeutic practice has only relatively recently (with the exception of Razanajao et al, 1996 and Keller, 2007) been given fuller consideration (see Gibson and Beneduce, 2017; Giordano, 2011; Menozzi, 2015; Khalfa, 2015; Khanna, 2013; Khalfa and Young, 2018; Sikuade, 2012). I suggest that the conjoint features of Fanon’s practice—political, conceptual and practical (both inside and outside the consulting room)—are of significance to this conference, in at least five ways.…”