The Wretched Of The Earth By Frantz Fanon: An Analysis

After World War Two many colonized countries formed nationalist movements that advocated for decolonization, which called for the withdraw of colonial powers from their country and the formation of their own self-determination. Nationalist movements utilized non-violent tactics to spur decolonization such as boycotting the colonialist’s products or refusing to work for the colonialists, but when these peaceful protests were ineffective, nationalists turned to violence in order to decolonize. Frantz Fanon, a psychiatrist during the Algerian war of independence, wrote about the effects of decolonization in one of his most famous books, The Wretched of the Earth, where he defends the use of violence during decolonization. In this paper, I will look at the chapter “On Violence”, in Frantz Fanon’s book The Wretched of the Earth, and argue that Fanon believed that violence was a necessary process during decolonization because it fulfilled the colonized persons double consciousness whereby they retained agency by regaining their humanity and dignity. …show more content…
Fanon also believed that during the Cold War the Soviet Union and United States helped countries decolonize because they wanted to create neocolonialism whereby the U.S. or Soviets could exploit the former colonized country, which made colonized countries dependent upon the Soviets or U.S. for economic aid. However, Fanon’s work on violence during decolonization is limited because Fanon did not consider the negative effects violence had on a person’s mental health or the role women played during the violent periods of decolonization and how women were negatively affected by sexual