Synopses & Reviews
Few figures loom as large in the intellectual history of revolution and postcolonialism than Frantz Fanon. An intellectual who devoted his life to activism, he utilized his deep knowledge of psychology and philosophy in the service of the movement for democratic participation and political sovereignty in his native Martinique and around the world.
With FranzFanon, Peter Hudis presents a penetrating critical biography of the activist’s life and work. Countering the prevailing belief that Fanon’s contributions to modern thought can be wholly defined by an advocacy of violence, Hudis presents his work instead as an integrated whole, showing that its nuances—and thus its importance—can only be appreciated in light of Fanon’s efforts to fuse philosophical theory and actual practice. By taking seriously Fanon’s philosophical and psychological contributions, as well as his political activism, Hudis presents a powerful and perceptive new view of the man and his achievement.
This brief, richly perceptive introduction to Fanon will give new force to his ideas, his life, and his example for people engaged in radical political theory and taking action against oppression around the world today.
Review
“With Frantz Fanon: Philosopher of the Barricades,” Peter Hudis makes it clear that he simply has no equal today in using a Marxist-humanist theoretical lens to illuminate the complexities surrounding some of the most important political figures and events of our times. This is an iconoclastic exegesis of Fanon's life and work, and is sure to leave a lasting contribution to the study of this storied revolutionary. In what is sure to become a classic text, Hudis shows himself to be one of the most important thinkers of our generation.”
Review
“If you are new to Fanon or you are returning to his work, Peter Hudis's Frantz Fanon: Philosopher of the Barricades is a must read!”
Review
“Frantz Fanon: Philosopher of the Barricades is a very lively and provocative reading of Fanon's life and work that challenges many of the more recent interpretations of this major Africana figure. In the era of ‘the postcolony’ and its entrapment by neoliberalism, Hudis very strategically places his emphasis on the revolutionary nationalist aspects of Fanon's corpus, and provides a very spirited defense of them. Very good reading for the time of growing inequality that we are passing through.”
Synopsis
"Fanon was consummately incapable of telling the story of himself. He lived in the immediacy of the moment, with an intensity that embodied everything he evoked. Fanon's discourse pertained to a present tense that was unburdened by its narrative past. The little we knew about his personal life had been gleaned from passing allusions, brief glimpses that vanished as quickly as they appeared. . . . Fanon had a profound talent for life; he was a man who wanted to be the subject and actor of his own life, and it was for this reason that he was so engaging and disarming--so alive."--from the IntroductionFrantz Fanon (1925-1961) was born in Martinique, and in 1943 left to fight in Europe with Free French forces. After 1945 he studied medicine and psychiatry in Lyons and began to write. His first analysis of the effects of racism and postcolonialism, Black Skin, White Masks, appeared in 1952 and would become a foundational text for the liberation movements of the 1960s and later for postcolonial studies. In 1952 he moved to Algeria and practiced at the Blida-Joinville psychiatric hospital in French Algeria until 1957. From that year he worked full time for the Algerian independence movement, including a brief appointment as the movement's ambassador in Ghana. One of Fanon's few surviving contemporaries, Alice Cherki worked closely with Fanon at the psychiatric hospital in Blida and then later for the Algerian cause in Tunisia. This book is a record of "an epoch, a life, and a body of work often viewed as inadmissible." Cherki offers a unique assessment of Fanon's complex personality, illuminating both his psychiatric practice--of which she says, "Fanon possessed a tremendous intuition about the unconscious and a great erudition in psychoanalytic theory"--and the sources of his political activism, of his intellectual career as a pivot of the quickly changing world. Given the continuing relevance of Fanon's insights into the enduring legacy of colonialism on the psyches of the colonized, this compelling and personal account of his life and work will be required reading for anyone interested in the consequences of empire.
About the Author
Peter Hudis is the author of Marx’s Concept of the Alternative to Capitalism and professor of philosophy and the humanities at Oakton Community College, Des Plaines, Illinois.