Frantz Fanon
Martiniquais-Algerian · 1925–1961
Psychiatrist, philosopher, and revolutionary whose writings on colonialism, race, and decolonization — blending clinical observation with political urgency — became foundational texts of postcolonial thought.
Wikipedia ↗“O mon corps, fais de moi toujours un homme qui interroge !”
French
“O my body, make of me always a man who questions!”
“Parler une langue, c'est assumer un monde, une culture.”
French
“To speak a language is to take on a world, a culture.”
“Le colonisé se sera d'autant plus échappé de sa brousse qu'il aura fait siennes les valeurs culturelles de la métropole.”
French
“The colonized is elevated above his jungle status in proportion to his adoption of the mother country's cultural standards.”
“Je dois me rappeler à tout instant que le véritable saut consiste à introduire l'invention dans l'existence.”
French
“I should constantly remind myself that the real leap consists in introducing invention into existence. In the world through which I travel, I am endlessly creating myself.”
“Chaque génération doit dans une relative opacité découvrir sa mission, la remplir ou la trahir.”
French
“Each generation must, out of relative obscurity, discover its mission, fulfill it, or betray it.”
“La décolonisation est toujours un phénomène violent.”
French
“Decolonization is always a violent phenomenon. At whatever level we study it — relationships between individuals, new names for sports clubs, the human admixture at cocktail parties, in the police, on the directing boards of national or private banks — decolonization is quite simply the replacing of a certain "species" of men by another "species" of men.”