Fanon

Abstract

Frantz Fanon has always been read as an apostle of violence — much of this owed to Sartre's Preface to Fanon's work, The Wretched of the Earth. There are, however, more nuanced possible readings of Fanon, readings that allow the possibility of new understandings of contemporary violence emanating from the Middle East. In this article, Fanon's intellectual trajectory is traced back to his first writings postulating an equality in which no slaves existed by virtue of there being no longer any masters. The psychological dimensions of Fanon's work are discussed and a hypothesis put forward about a moment of pure psychological lucidity and calm before the suicide bomber of today explodes his or her device. The work of Lacan and Kristeva is discussed in relation to a nuanced reading of Fanon, and an excursion into the Palestine of Hamas helps complete a complex meditation on Fanon's life and work.