Frantz Fanon

Frantz Fanon was a widely popular author, revolutionary, and mental health practitioner from Martinique who wrote widely influential books of philosophy, psychology, and critical race theory in the 1950s and 1960s. His books examined the psychological toll of colonization for the colonized, the solidarity of people of color, and the larger structural systems of racism. His books remain widely influential today.

Born in 1925 in Fort de France in the Caribbean island of Martinique, Fanon was a part of the colonial French empire. His mother was an elementary school teacher and his father was a laborer. As a young person, Fanon was educated in France and studied medicine and psychiatry at Lyon University. During this time, Fanon was heavily influenced by the ideas of anti-colonialist philosophers Jean-Paul Sartre and Albert Camus.

After qualifying as a physician, Fanon served in the French army during World War II. After the war, he continued to practice medicine and moved to Algeria where he became involved in the Algerian War of Independence before becoming a diplomat of the provisional Algerian government.

It was during this period that Fanon wrote several of his most influential books, including Black Skin, White Masks and Wretched of the Earth. In Black Skin, White Masks, Fanon explored the psychological impact of colonization for the colonized, and argued for solidarity among people of color.

In Wretched of the Earth, his most famous and influential work, Fanon continued to explore the psychological effects of colonization, in addition to providing a deeper exploration of the larger systemic racism within indigenous, industrial, and colonial societies. He argued that colonized people had a right to revolution and advocated for complete decolonization as the only true form of liberation.

Fanon's books were incredibly influential in the anti-colonial struggles of the 1960s and 1970s, helping to shape global movements of resistance to imperialism and social and economic oppression. His ideas remain relevant and widely studied today.

In addition to his more widely known works, Fanon authored many other books and articles on a range of topics. His writings explored themes such as race, gender, colonialism, and class within a psychoanalytical framework, and he studied the social and cultural studies of racism and colonialism as well. He also wrote extensively about mental health issues and the general advancement of psychology.

In his last book, A Dying Colonialism, Fanon provided a detailed analysis of the effects of colonialism on Algerian culture and society, and argued for revolutionary anti-colonialism as a form of self-determination.

Overall, Frantz Fanon was a powerful voice of anti-colonialism and anti-racism, whose works remain highly influential. He wrote extensively about the psychological, social, and cultural effects of colonialism, and advocated for revolutionary anti-colonialism as a means of achieving liberation. He was an incredibly influential author, physician, and thinker, whose writings continue to inspire and shape modern-day political and social thought.