Frantz Fanon penned this classic The Wretched of the Earth, in
his last years as he was being treated for leukemia. The urgency of the
book is evident in his style of writing. After having participated in
the Algerian freedom struggle and seen various events in Africa, he
could sense that Africans were probably approaching independence from
the wrong perspective. His predictions ended up being true.
Throughout Wretched,
Fanon sees political education as the key to Africa's freedom and has
great hope that the intellectual was the key to the distinction between
genuine freedom and simply replacing the white colonial actors with
black ones. However, in chapter 4, which will be the focus of our
discussion, Fanon notices that the even the African intellectuals had
baggage - colonialism had made them so sensitive to defending culture
that the intellectuals forgot the larger goal of liberation. On the
other hand, Fanon thought that if African intellectuals went through a
painful journey of conscientization, they would eventually come around
and commit themselves to addressing the challenges facing their people.
Have
these dynamics remained in Africa, or have they changed? What does that
mean for the PhD student studying Kenyan society and the world at
large?What personal challenges might you have to deal with in order to
commit yourself to the academic work you will do?
There
are two translations of the book, one by Constance Farrington (1963)
and Richard Philcox (2004). The later translation is definitely better
and easier to read, and should be in the Daystar library. Most Nairobi
bookshops have the older version.
Remember to post your questions or comments by tomorrow, Thursday, 7pm.
