Fanon and the Decolonization of Philosophy

Fanon, unbowed and rebellious, fought tenaciously and victoriously against the supremacy exerted by the powerful over the weak....This volume brings together twelve contributors wanting to illuminate, forty-nine years after his death, how Fanon thought and acted, the ways his thinking is still pertinent to our knowledge of the places he affected, and the ways his thinking confronts the experiences, problems, and issues of the present."---Mireille Fanon-Mendes France, from the foreword

"If what we call `philosophy' is to rise to the task of decolonizing itself, it must take stock first of its erasures, then of the critical tools still available to it---many of them coming from beyond the `tradition.' This important volume answers both these imperatives. It offers us a return to Fanon's thought at a crucial time when globalization and neoliberallsm have reshaped older colonial patterns of international disempowerment and poverty. In so doing, it shows the pertinence---in fact, the indispensability---of Fanon in our time."---Bettina G. Bergo, Universite de Montreal

"Elizabeth A. Hoppe and Tracey Nicholls's impressive and welcome collection of essays is invaluable reading for those anxious to evaluate and counter the juggernaut of neollberalism that is transforming human possibility through the shaping of human and capital flows....Their fascinating, brilliant, and valuable collection explores wide-ranging topics responsible to a refreshingly generous orientation."---D. Moore, DePaul University

Fanon and the Decolonization of Philosophy explores the range of ways in which Frantz Fanon's decolonization theory can reveal new answers to perennial philosophical questions and new paths to social justice. The chapters in this book explore aspects of Fanonian thought as diverse as humanistic psychiatry, the colonial roots of racial violence and marginalization, and decolonizing possibilities in law, academia, and tourism. In addition to examining philosophical concerns that arise from political decolonization movements, many of the chapters turn to the discipline of philosophy itself and take up the challenge of suggesting ways that philosophy might liberate itself from colonial---and colonizing---assumptions. This vision of social justice is endorsed in the foreword by Fanon's own daughter, Mireille Fanon-Mendes France, a noted human rights defender in the French-speaking world.

Elizabeth A. Hoppe is associate professor of philosophy at Lewis University.
Tracey Nicholls is assistant professor of philosophy and codirector of the women's studies program at Lewis University.