Revolutionary Decolonization and Construction of a National consciousness in The Wretched of the Earth by Frantz Fanon

Abstract

This article questions the concept of Decolonization proposed by Frantz Fanon primarily in his book The Wretched of the Earth (1961). We will discuss the concepts of Revolution, National Consciousness, and National Culture, constituting a lexical-ideological network that supports his idea of Decolonization. We propose that in Fanon’s book, Decolonization is Revolutionary because it aims for the political liberation of the Third World as well as the total transformation of colonized societies, subverting racial and social hierarchies imposed by imperialism and colonialism. Furthermore, we propose that Fanon’s idea of Decolonization includes a racial factor not considered by the Western left, and therefore its importance lies in the formation of Third World anticolonial thought. The relevance of such thought can be found in reconsidering, through the locus of enunciation of resistance, political and epistemic relations between the West and subaltern social groups.