Fanon and Existentialism

From Black Skin, White Masks, this quote illustrates how Black identity is externally imposed by colonial powers and racial stereotypes, leaving little room for self-definition. (1952)

The black man is overdetermined from without.”

Fanon redefines existential freedom as an active process of self-creation, resisting the constraints of colonialism. (1952)

I am not a prisoner of history. I should constantly remind myself that the real leap consists in introducing invention into existence... I am endlessly creating myself.”

Highlights the psychological impact of the white gaze, which objectifies and dehumanizes Black individuals, leading to alienation (1952)

The white man... unmercifully imprisoned me, and I made myself an object.”

From Being and Nothingness, this describes how individuals become self-conscious under the gaze of others, which objectifies and alienates them. (1943)

“I am seen as the Other.”

From Anti-Semite and Jew, Sartre explains how marginalized groups internalize oppressive views, similar to Fanon’s concept of internalized racism. (1946)

The Jew can adopt the anti-Semite’s view of himself, seeing himself as an object of contempt.

From The Souls of Black Folk, Du Bois introduces double consciousness, later expanded by Fanon to describe the internal conflict caused by racialized objectification. (1903)

“It is a peculiar sensation, this double-consciousness, this sense of always looking at one’s self through the eyes of others.”

From What Fanon Said, Gordon explains how colonial narratives impose a divided selfhood on Black individuals. (2015)

The alienated consciousness of the Black subject is marked by a split identity.

Hesitation offers a moment of resistance against ingrained racialized perceptions, aligning with Fanon’s call for self-redefinition. Alia Al-Saji (2014).

Hesitation disrupts racializing habits, creating a space in which perception can be reshaped.”

Wynter connects Fanon’s ideas on decolonization with the necessity of dismantling colonial systems to reclaim identity and freedom (2001)

Decolonization sets out to change the order of the world.

From Black Skin, White Masks, this quote highlights how colonialism creates a psychological inferiority complex in the colonized, reinforcing the dynamic of domination (1952)

“The feeling of inferiority of the colonized is the correlative to the European’s feeling of superiority.”

Fanon examines how language serves as a tool of colonial domination and cultural assimilation, alienating Black individuals from their native identities (1952)

To speak a language is to take on a world, a culture

From Being and Nothingness, this foundational existentialist claim underscores Sartre’s view of radical freedom, which Fanon critiques for its inapplicability under racialized oppression. (1943)

Man is condemned to be free; because once thrown into the world, he is responsible for everything he does.

Wynter’s analysis expands on Fanon’s psychological insights by showing how colonialism imposes internalized control over identity and perception (2001)

The colonial system seeks to occupy the very minds and souls of the colonized.

Gordon captures Fanon’s insistence on self-definition as an inherent right, emphasizing active resistance against colonial constraints (2015)

Fanon argues for the right to define oneself, rejecting the imposed identities that are constructed through colonial racism.”

This captures the layered alienation experienced by Black individuals, as they bear the weight of collective histories and racialized expectations. (1952)

I existed in triple: I was responsible at the same time for my body, for my race, for my ancestors.”

This insight aligns with Fanon’s critique of how the colonial gaze constructs and limits Black identity.Alia Al-Saji (2014)

Racializing perception inscribes certain bodies with meaning that limits their freedom and defines their identity.”

• Fanon critiques the hypersexualization of Black women, arguing that they are constructed as objects of desire within the white colonial imagination.

• This process reflects a colonial power dynamic, where Black women are both dehumanized and fetishized, symbolizing both subjugation and deviant sexuality.

• “The black woman is made to feel inferior, and at the same time, she is turned into an object of desire and exotic fascination.” (Fanon, 1952, p. 45)

hooks (1981)

“The process of decolonization cannot ignore gender, as women are often doubly colonized—by race and by patriarchy.”

What does Fanon mean by sociogeny, and how does it critique biologically deterministic models?

“The black man is not. No more than the white man. Both must turn their backs on the inhuman voices which were those of their respective ancestors in order that authentic communication be possible.”
— Fanon, (1952)
Sociogeny posits that identity is formed through social and historical forces, not innate biology.

How does Fanon describe the effect of the white gaze on bodily consciousness?

“The Negro is comparison... constantly confronting his body with the image of the other.” (Fanon, 1952)

How does Négritude feature in Fanon’s intellectual development?

Fanon saw Négritude as a “stage” in reclaiming identity but ultimately argued it needed to be transcended to avoid essentialism. He valued its affirmation of Black culture while pushing for revolutionary transformation.

In what way does Fanon problematize Merleau-Ponty’s corporeal schema?

Fanon writes that under racism, “the corporeal schema crumbles” and is replaced by a “racial epidermal schema.”
— Fanon, 1952
📌 This challenges phenomenology’s assumption of universal bodily experience.

What is the zone of non-being in Fanon’s work?

A metaphysical space of exclusion where Black existence is negated by colonial violence. It's a space of ontological denial, requiring revolutionary rupture to overcome.

How does Fanon describe colonial temporality?

“The colonized subject is always late. It is the colonizer who decides the hour.” (Fanon 1961)
Colonialism controls time as well as space, delaying Black liberation.

What does Fanon mean when he says “to live is to choose to be free”?

He rejects static identity and embraces lived, embodied freedom through action.
It echoes Sartrean existentialism but insists freedom must be material, not abstract.

How does Fanon describe the violence of decolonisation?

“Decolonisation is always a violent event.”
— Fanon, The Wretched of the Earth (1961)
It is a necessary rupture with colonial structures to reclaim subjectivity.

How does Fanon depict the role of the colonised intellectual?

Trapped between mimicry of colonial culture and alienation from their community, they must commit to revolutionary praxis.
This expands Beauvoir’s “committed intellectual” to a decolonial frame.

How does Fanon critique the myth of colorblind universalism?

“I am not a potentiality of something; I am fully what I am.”
(Fanon, 1952) - He rejects liberal humanism’s erasure of racialised embodiment.

How does touch become a site of resistance and colonial violence in Fanon, as Al-Saji interprets it?

Touch flicks, slaps, tears apart, dissects, and burns his body... Fanon touches the wounds of colonialism with a different orientation.”
(Al-Saji, 2024) -Embodied resistance disrupts the disembodied colonial gaze.

What does Fanon mean by saying “I claim for myself the universal”?

He refuses to be boxed into racialised particularism, asserting a revolutionary claim to full human agency.
(Fanon, 1952)