Franz Fanon’s The Wretched of the Earth

This thought provoking task on Franz Fanon’s The Wretched of the Earth was assigned by Megha ma'am to enhance our critical thinking.

Introduction to the Author: Frantz Fanon



Frantz Fanon (1925–1961) was a psychiatrist, philosopher, and revolutionary writer from Martinique, a French colony in the Caribbean. Trained in medicine and psychiatry in France, Fanon later worked in Algeria, where he witnessed firsthand the brutality of French colonialism. His experience treating both French soldiers and Algerian patients suffering from trauma led him to explore the deep psychological effects of racism, oppression, and dehumanization.

Fanon’s works, including Black Skin, White Masks (1952) and The Wretched of the Earth (1961), fuse psychology, Marxism, and anti-colonial thought to explain how colonial power operates not only through political domination but also through mental and emotional control. His writings inspired numerous independence movements across Africa, Asia, and the Caribbean, and continue to influence postcolonial theory, cultural studies, and liberation philosophy.

He died of leukemia at the age of 36, shortly after completing The Wretched of the Earth—a text that remains one of the most revolutionary books of the twentieth century.


Introduction to the Text: The Wretched of the Earth



Published in 1961, The Wretched of the Earth is Fanon’s most powerful and radical work. It was written during the Algerian War of Independence (1954–1962), a brutal struggle between French colonial forces and the Algerian National Liberation Front (FLN). The book was immediately banned in France because it openly supported anti-colonial violence and called for complete decolonization.


The text is divided into five major chapters:

  • Concerning Violence

  • Spontaneity: Its Strength and Weakness

  • The Pitfalls of National Consciousness

  • On National Culture

  • Colonial War and Mental Disorders


Through these sections, Fanon examines how colonialism works—politically, economically, and psychologically—and how it can be destroyed. He argues that colonialism is inherently violent and that liberation requires reclaiming both land and humanity through revolutionary struggle.

Two of the book’s most striking ideas are Fanon’s analysis of violence as a force of liberation and his use of the concept of Manichaeism to describe the moral and spatial division of colonial society.


1) What is the role of violence in colonialism with reference to The Wretched of the Earth?


Colonialism as a System of Violence

For Fanon, violence is the very foundation of colonialism. The colonizer does not enter a foreign land with peace or dialogue but with military power, guns, and conquest. Fanon asserts, “Colonialism is not a machine capable of thinking; it is naked violence.” The colonized world is created through the destruction of native cultures, the theft of land, and the suppression of local traditions.

Thus, the first violence is not that of the colonized, but that of the colonizer. It is through force that the colonizer imposes order, enforces laws, and justifies exploitation. Everyday acts—forced labor, police control, economic deprivation—are all forms of structural violence. The colonized person, therefore, lives in a constant state of fear and humiliation.


Violence as Liberation:

Fanon argues that the same force that created the colonial order must be used to destroy it. He does not romanticize war but insists that only revolutionary violence can break the cycle of submission and inferiority. Peaceful protest or negotiation cannot work because colonial power never gives up its dominance voluntarily.

Revolutionary violence, according to Fanon, serves as a cleansing force. It allows the oppressed to regain their agency, dignity, and humanity. In fighting back, the colonized person no longer sees themselves as an object or victim but as a subject of history. Fanon writes, “At the level of individuals, violence is a cleansing force. It frees the native from his inferiority complex and from his despair and inaction.”

This is not merely a political idea—it is psychological liberation. For centuries, the colonized have internalized feelings of inferiority. Through struggle, they purge this inner fear and reconstruct their identity as free beings.


Psychological Function of Violence:

As a psychiatrist, Fanon understood that colonialism causes deep mental wounds. The colonized experience feelings of anger, shame, and powerlessness. Revolutionary violence, therefore, becomes a form of psychological therapy—a way of releasing years of suppressed rage.

Fanon’s discussion of “Colonial War and Mental Disorders” in the final chapter provides real case studies from Algerian hospitals. These examples show how both colonizers and colonized suffer mental trauma from the violent system they inhabit. Yet, paradoxically, Fanon sees the collective struggle for independence as a way to heal these wounds. Violence, when directed toward liberation, can rebuild a shattered sense of community and purpose.


Conclusion: Violence as Renewal:

Fanon’s notion of violence remains controversial, but in his context, it is a call for human renewal. Colonialism dehumanizes; liberation, through struggle, rehumanizes. For Fanon, violence is not about destruction but about creating a new world—one in which freedom, equality, and dignity replace submission and fear.


2)  Describe what Manichaeism means in a colonial context.


Meaning of Manichaeism:

The word Manichaeism comes from the ancient Persian religion founded by Mani, which divided the universe into two eternal forces: good and evil, light and darkness. Fanon adopts this term metaphorically to describe the rigid, binary world of colonialism. In colonial society, everything is divided into opposites:

  • the colonizer vs. the colonized,

  • the white vs. the black,

  • the civilized vs. the primitive,

  • the master vs. the slave.

This Manichaean structure is not merely symbolic—it organizes space, law, and culture. It defines who is human and who is not.


The Manichaean Structure of the Colonial World:

In Fanon’s words, “The colonial world is a world cut in two.” The colonizers occupy clean, well-lit cities with paved roads and modern facilities, while the colonized live in poverty-stricken zones—dirty, overcrowded, and neglected. The physical separation mirrors the moral hierarchy the colonizer imagines.

The colonizer portrays themselves as superior, rational, and moral, while the colonized are seen as lazy, violent, and irrational. Religion and education are used to reinforce this divide: the colonizer becomes the agent of “light” and “civilization,” while the native is placed in the realm of “darkness” and “barbarism.”


Psychological Consequences of Manichaeism:

This binary world deeply shapes the minds of the colonized. They internalize the colonizer’s view and begin to see themselves as inferior. This leads to self-hatred, cultural alienation, and identity crisis—themes Fanon had already explored in Black Skin, White Masks.

The colonized person struggles to imitate the colonizer’s language, dress, and manners, hoping to gain acceptance. But the Manichaean division ensures that acceptance never comes. The native remains permanently “other.” This psychological trap fuels frustration and ultimately leads to rebellion.


Breaking the Manichaean Divide:

Fanon argues that this rigid division can only be destroyed through revolutionary transformation. The colonized must break both the physical and mental boundaries imposed on them. When they rise in revolt, they destroy not only the colonizer’s power but also the false morality that defines them as subhuman.

Thus, the act of resistance—political and cultural—shatters the Manichaean world and makes way for a new humanism. Fanon’s vision is not just to replace one race with another but to create a society beyond such binaries.


Conclusion: Manichaeism as Colonial Logic

Through the concept of Manichaeism, Fanon exposes the moral hypocrisy of colonialism. The colonizer justifies domination through a false moral code, dividing the world into good and evil while claiming righteousness. Fanon turns this logic against them, showing that true morality lies in freedom and equality, not oppression. The destruction of this Manichaean world is the first step toward a truly decolonized humanity.


Final Reflection:


In The Wretched of the Earth, Fanon presents colonialism as a total system—economic, psychological, and moral. Violence and Manichaeism are not isolated concepts but interconnected forces that sustain and define colonial rule. Violence maintains the structure, while Manichaeism provides its justification.

For Fanon, decolonization is both a physical and mental revolution. It requires breaking free from the colonizer’s control, confronting internalized inferiority, and rebuilding the world on new terms of dignity and equality. His ideas continue to resonate today in discussions of racism, nationalism, and global inequality—reminding us that the struggle for liberation, though historical, is never truly complete. 


References:

Fanon, Frantz. The Wretched of the Earth. Translated by Richard Philcox, Grove Press, 2004. https://archive.org/details/wretchedofearth0000fran


Gibson, Nigel C. Fanon: The Postcolonial Imagination. Polity Press, 2003. https://www.politybooks.com/bookdetail/?isbn=9780745628431


Young, Robert J. C. Postcolonialism: An Historical Introduction. Wiley-Blackwell, 2001. https://www.wiley.com/en-us/Postcolonialism%3A+An+Historical+Introduction-p-9780631200710


Zahar, Renate. Frantz Fanon: Colonialism and Alienation. Monthly Review Press, 1974. https://monthlyreview.org/product/frantz_fanon_colonialism_and_alienation/


Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. “Frantz Fanon.” Stanford University, 2022. https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/frantz-fanon/

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