Author(s): Frantz Fanon

Politics | Ethnicity, Race and Identity | History | Psychology

Since the publication of The Wretched of the Earth in 1961, Fanon's work has been deeply significant for successive generations of intellectuals-for anti-colonial and civil rights activists in the 60s and 70s, for those working in postcolonial studies from the 80s to the present day, and currently for specialists of French and North African history, of colonial psychiatry, and ethnopsychiatry, and for all those who work with conflicts of identity in postcolonial societies. Frantz Fanon is regarded as a foundational thinker of Postcolonial Studies, bringing together the analysis of colonialism from an objective, historical perspective and an interrogation of its subjective effects on colonizer and colonized alike. This book furthers his powerful intervention into how we think about identity, race and activism and provides a unique insight into Fanon's literary works and psychiatric, philosophical and historical theories. Alienation and Freedom offers a remarkable opportunity to discover a range of unknown literary, psychiatric, and political works by Fanon, many of which were never published before, and throws new light on the thinking of a major 20th-century philosopher whose disruptive and moving work continues to shape how we look at the world.

Contents: General Introduction, by Jean Khalfa and Robert J.C. Young Part One: Theatre Fanon, Revolutionary Playwright, by Robert J.C. Young Parallel Hands The Drowning Eye Part Two: Psychiatric writings Fanon: A Revolutionary Psychiatrist, by Jean Khalfa Mental alterations, character modifications, psychic disorders and intellectual deficit in spinocerebellar heredo-degeneration: on a case of Friedreich's ataxia with delusions of possession Letter to Maurice Despinoy Trait d'union On some cases treated with the Bini method Indications of Bini therapy in the framework of institutional therapies On an attempt at readaptation of a patient with morpheic epilepsy and series character disorders Note on techniques of sleeping therapy with conditioning and electroencephalographic monitoring Notre Journal, introduction by Amina Azza Bekkat Letter to Maurice Despinoy Social therapy in a ward of Muslim men: methodological difficulties Daily life in the douars Introduction to sexuality disorders among North-African men Current aspects of mental assistance in Algeria Ethnopsychiatric considerations Confessional behaviour in North Africa (1) Confessional behaviour in North Africa (2) Letter to Maurice Despinoy Attitude of Maghrebin Muslims towards madness The TAT with Muslim women, sociology of perception and imagination Letter to the resident minister The phenomenon of agitation in the psychiatric setting: general considerations, psychopathological meaning Biological study of the action of lithium citrate in manic fits On a case of torsion spasm First attempts with injectable meprobamate in hypochondriac states Day hospitalization in psychiatry: value and limits Day hospitalization in psychiatry: value and limits. Second part: doctrinal considerations Psychiatry in its meeting with society Part Three: Political writings Introduction, by Jean Khalfa The Demoralized Foreign Legion Algeria's Independence: an everyday reality National Independence: the only possible outcome Algeria and the French Crisis The Algerian conflict and African anticolonialism A democratic revolution One more time: the reason for the prerequisite Algerian revolutionary consciousness Strategies of an Army with its Back to the Wall The survivors of no man's land The testament of a 'man of the left' The rationale of ultracolonialism The Western World and the Fascist Experience in France Gaullist Illusions The Cross of a People The Anti-Imperialist Movement's Rise and the Retards of Pacification The United Combat of African Countries Richard Wright's White man, listen! At Conakry, He Declares: 'World Peace passes via National Independence' Africa Accuses the West The Stooges of Imperialism Letter to Ali Shariati, presentation by Sara Shariati Part Four: Publishing Fanon (France and Italy, 1959-1971) Introduction, by Jean Khalfa Correspondence between Francois Maspero and Frantz Fanon The Italian Fanon: unearthing a hidden editorial history, by Neelam Srivastava Part Five: Frantz Fanon's library List established, presented and commented upon by Jean Khalfa Key dates Index

Review: This is history happening in real time and at ground level ... An important book. The editors have performed a great service to present and future generations of 'Fanonistes' by assembling these texts with forensic care. * Literary Review *
We must thank Jean Khalfa and Robert Young for this precious compendium. It overflows with possibility and will do more than merely transform scholarly understanding of Fanon's work and life. Here, at last, is the means to surpass the caricatures and undo all the bad faith that has passed for too long as both criticism and exposition of his revolutionary humanist ethics, his epistemology and his politics. A new era of Fanon studies begins now. -- Paul Gilroy, Professor of American and English Literature at King's College London, UK, author of 'There Ain't No Black in the Union Jack'
The demand has been there for years: More, Fanon, give us more! Well, here it is. This collection of formerly unpublished writings has both beauty and breadth. Jean Khalfa and Robert J.C. Young's erudite, lucid analyses and commentaries contextualizing the selections, and other gems, including correspondence on publishing his works and a catalog of Fanon's library. There is much here not only for scholars but anyone interested in learning more about and from this great revolutionary thinker and fighter for the causes of dignity and freedom. -- Lewis R. Gordon, author of 'What Fanon Said: A Philosophical Introduction to His Life and Thought'
The publication of Alienation and Freedom is one of the most significant intellectual achievements in the last half century. The volume reaffirms Frantz Fanon's status as a leading twentieth-century philosopher, psychiatrist, decolonial theorist, and revolutionary. It also reveals a lesser-known Fanon, a Fanon whose previously unpublished works of poeticism and historicism concern themselves with the myriad ways in which we may discern and express the meaning of freedom. The book is brilliant and the editing of Jean Khalfa and Robert J.C. Young superb. -- Neil Roberts, author of 'Freedom as Marronage' and President of the Caribbean Philosophical Association
The first intimate look at Frantz Fanon's brilliance and wide-ranging interests, this volume gives us the full range of his gifts as a playwright, an innovative psychiatrist fully aware of the importance of his theories, and a committed political philosopher. The last section (on his library) lets us share the full intensity of his whole intellectual trajectory-one that influenced the course of decolonial thinking on all continents. Editors Jean Khalfa's and Robert Young's painstaking work is a publishing event and an indispensable resource for anyone interested in understanding alienation and the search for social justice. -- Francoise Lionnet, Professor of Romance Languages and Literatures, Comparative Literature, and African and African American Studies, Harvard University, USA
In Alienation and Freedom, Jean Khalfa and Robert J.C. Young, two of the world's leading scholars of contemporary thought and postcolonial studies, transport us on an off-road adventure, challenging us at every turn to navigate the treacherous terrain of colonialism, global black consciousness, identity, philosophy, psychiatry, and race, hallmarks of the pioneering writings of Frantz Fanon. Including many previously unavailable or inaccessible essays, this book further confirms Fanon's status as a major global thinker whose insights, the lasting resonance of which, remain of crucial importance to 21st century society. -- Dominic Thomas, Letessier Professor of French, University of California, Los Angeles, USA
This text compels us towards a more complete understanding of the thinking of Frantz Fanon. This is an impressive array of materials, many unpublished before, which will be absolutely essential to a new generation of scholars and general readers of Fanon. -- Carole Boyce Davies, Professor of Africana Studies and English, Cornell University, USA
Here are collected two plays never published before, written when he was a medical student; scientific papers reminded us of his career as a psychiatrist; newly discovered pieces he wrote, often anonymously in El Moudjahid, the organ of the National Liberation Front that led Algeria to independence. But this volume is certainly not a collection of disparate additional pieces from an author whose oeuvre is already complete. On the contrary this book by Frantz Fanon forms a unity: like the rest of the works by the author of the Wretched of the Earth it tells in a unique way the story of the emancipation of the human being from everything that alienates her, everything that separates her from her humanity. Thus it sheds a new light on Frantz Fanon. -- Souleymane Bachir Diagne, Professor of Philosophy, Columbia University, USA