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The Concept of Alienation in the Work of Frantz Fanon Siphiwe Ndlovu

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The Concept of Alienation in the Work of Frantz Fanon Siphiwe Ndlovu The Concept of Alienation in the Work of Frantz Fanon Siphiwe Ndlovu A THESIS SUBMITTED IN FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DERGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY UNIVERSITY OF KWAZULU-NATAL 2017 COMPULSORY DECLARATION This work is my own original work and has not been previously submitted for the award of any degree. Each significant contribution to, and quotation, in this dissertation from the work, or works, of other people has been attributed, and has been cited and referenced. Siphiwe Ndlovu 17 May 2017 Supervisor Doctor Bernard Matolino 17 May 2017 Acknowledgements I dedicate this study to my daughter Ms. Nokunqoba Ndlovu and to my late farther Bernard Ndlovu. I first want to acknowledge and thank my supervisor Dr Bernard Matolino for his supervision. I owe tremendous debt to professors Percy Mabogo More and Paget Henry. To More for offering advice in shaping the direction of the thesis and for availing some of your research materials which have proved to be tremendously useful. I recognise professor Henry for his invaluable input particularly in regards to the manner in which the study could make an authentic contribution to existing knowledge. I thank you for your kindness, warmth and time and interesting discussions we had on the side-lines of the Caribbean Philosophical Association conferences. I thank the National Research Foundation for the generous funding over the years, The University of Venda which has accorded me space, support and time in order to finish my study. Table of Contents Introduction 1 Chapter 1: Fanon: Africana Philosopher of Existence 11 1.0 Introduction 11 1.1 Africana philosophy 13 1.2 Africana existential philosophy 21 1.3 Fanon’s existentialism 28 1.4 Conclusion 39 Chapter 2: The Concept of Alienation in Fanon 41 2.0 Introduction 41 2.1 Alienation: a conceptual analysis 42 2.2 Literature on Fanon’s concept of alienation 40 2.2.1 Socio-economic alienation 51 2.2.2 Psychological alienation 54 2.2.3 Cultural alienation 58 2.3 Argument for an existentialist conception of alienation in Fanon 64 2.4 Conclusion 88 Chapter 3: Freedom in Fanon’s Thought 90 3.0 Introduction 90 3.1 Fanon’s idea of freedom: a revolutionary humanism 91 i | P a g e 3.2 Hegel and Fanon on freedom 112 3.3 Marx on freedom 121 3.4 The existentialists 127 3.5 Conclusion 134 Chapter 4: Alienation within the context of modern western philosophical thought 135 4.1 Introduction 135 4.1 Alienation in Hegel 137 4.2 Alienation in Marx 140 4.3 Non-being as freedom in Sartre’s system 155 4.4 Conclusion 163 Chapter 5: The Case of South Africa 166 5.0 Introduction 166 5.1 The ‘post-colonial’ quagmire and the problem of ideology 168 5.2 The ‘Elite Pact’ of South Africa’s transition 180 5.3 Post-modern responses 198 5.4 Conclusion 201 Chapter 6: Violence: Resolution to the State of Alienation201 6.0 Introduction 203 6.1 Fanon’s theory of violence 204 6.2 Revolutionary humanism 217 6.3 Conclusion 226 ii | P a g e By Way of Conclusion 228 Bibliography 233 iii | P a g e Introduction This study analyses the concept of alienation as it arises in Fanon’s work. The analysis is predicated on the existential philosophical framework of Fanon’s understanding of the recent, current colonial and post-colonial state of affairs – that of a state of alienation – obtaining in colonized cultures, particularly in Africa. It is argued that central to the alienation of Africans is their perceived cultural backwardness coupled with an inborn inferiority imputed to them by their European counterparts. Attendant to this perception is the colour difference(s) of African peoples in relation to European civilisations, with the former having a darker skin pigmentation in comparison to the latter. Accordingly, the racial categories of ‘blackness’ and ‘whiteness’ emerge as social constructs relating to the supposed inferiority and superiority of ‘blacks’ and ‘whites’ respectively. Furthermore, this perceived inferiority and cultural backwardness of Africans make them susceptible to colonization and economic exploitation. The study refers to the situation of the colonization of Africans by a white Europe as a condition of being-black in an anti-black world. Furthermore, in this study, by ‘black’ or ‘black people’ is meant that group of people that the European colonial project regards as ‘non-white’. Steve Biko (1978), the former leader of the Black Consciousness Movement in South Africa in his definition of ‘blackness’ asserts that “Being black is not a matter of pigmentation – being black is a reflection of a mental attitude” (1978: 48). According to Biko’s definition, blacks are those who see themselves as politically, socially and economically excluded by society on the grounds that they are not white. Within the apartheid context in which Biko wrote, this meant to be oppressed and to be subservient to a white person and being subjected to all the social exclusions that the word entailed. When an individual aspires to be accepted as a white person and is rejected because of his or 1 | P a g e her skin colour, that person, according Biko, remains a ‘non-white’ (1978: 48) and, therefore, black. Biko emphasizes blackness as primarily a state of mind, as opposed to it being a matter of skin colour. But, it is clear that this state of mind arises from the fact of being racially black in an anti-black social environment. Biko’s understanding of blackness is based on how one conceives himself/herself within the social context of racial discrimination in which one finds oneself. Fanon, on the other hand, does not primarily construe blackness as a state of mind. For him, being black is first and foremost a matter of pigmentation. He, thus, conceives of black existence as a kind of wretchedness and depersonalization that black people, as a group, are made to live in under structures of anti-black racism. This is because for him the suffering of black people is experienced as a lived experience as opposed to it being an intellectual one. It is a reality that generates responses such as the following: “‘Dirty nigger’ or simply, ‘Look, a Negro!’” (Fanon 1967a: 82) among members of the colonizing race. So, although Biko and Fanon’s emphasis on the term ‘black’ differ, what they share is the recognition that blackness arises from the reality of being categorized as not being white, the so called ‘non-whites’. So I use the term ‘black’ broadly to refer to those people that the colonial project classifies as ‘non-white’. Notably, the term ‘post-colonial’ is used in this study in reference not only to the continuation of colonial structures and systems of domination among the post-independence state(s) but also to the maintenance of colonial logics of domination that undermine the integrity, sovereignty and the independence of the previously colonised world. So, the term is used here in the same way as the decolonial thinkers such as Ramon Grosfoguel (2007), Aníbal Quijano (2007) and Sabelo Ndlovu-Gatsheni (2003) to mention but a few, use the term. For 2 | P a g e instance, Ndlovu-Gatsheni speaks of the ‘post-colonial’ as a system of “coloniality [that] articulates continuities of colonial mentalities, psychologies and worldviews into the so-called ‘postcolonial era’ and highlights the social hierarchical relationships of exploitation and domination between Westerners and Africans that has its roots in centuries of European colonial expansion but currently continuing through cultural, social and political power relations” (2013: 8). So while the ‘post’ in ‘post-colonial’ may give an impression of transcendence and the overcoming of the colonial order, its usage here as can be gleaned from this passage, recognisises the continuing nature of the colonial logic of domination in a neo-colonial form. In dealing with the concept of alienation as it arises in Fanon, the study recognizes firstly, that other, non-philosophical conceptions of the notion as it obtains in Fanon, do exist (Chapter two). However, restricting the analysis to these ignores the philosophical underpinning of the concept as it arises in Fanon. Thus, in making a case for the philosophical analysis of the concept, the study locates Fanon within the Africana existential tradition and argues that for Fanon, alienation manifests itself as colonial despair brought about by the race-based system of colonialism. Ania Loomba (1998) describes colonialism as “the take-over of territory, appropriation of material resources, exploitation of labour and interference with political and cultural structures of another territory or nation” (1998: 6). From this description, it is evident that, at the heart of colonial conquest is the desire and intention to subjugate, exploit and to dominate over the conquered people and their territory. This situation gives rise to the feeling of alienation among members of the oppressed group(s). One of the major results of colonisation is the apportionment of civil liberties according to skin colour such that the status an individual enjoys in society is in accordance with his or her 3 | P a g e skin colour in the racial hierarchy. In other words, the consequence is the racialization of social privileges. Fanon understood not only this logic of colonialism very well but also that, the inferiority of blacks was the result of a double process which at first, entailed the economic logic of colonization and secondly, the racialization of inferiority or what he refers to as “the epidermalization of that inferiority” (Fanon 1967a: 13). The result of such processes manifest in the form of racial domination and inequality. Thus, being white would be associated with wealth, and blackness with poverty.
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