Interview with Fanonian Practices in South Africa Author Nigel Gibson
Nigel Gibson speaks about the origins of his interest in Frantz Fanon and the light that his new book, Fanonian Practices in South Africa, sheds on how Fanon’s ideas and values have come to be expressed in certain sections of South Africa’s public discourse:
How did you become interested in Fanon?
I came to Fanon by reading a book written by two African Americans on Fanon and Steve Biko in the late 1970s. Fanon was very influential in the ’60s in the U.S. and it is through the black movements in the U.S. that Fanon made his way to South Africa. It was 1968 and the middle of the black power movement in the U.S. and Fanon was also being discussed in the burgeoning black theology movement in seminaries and churches and so forth. These writings surreptitiously made their way to South Africa and to a young Steve Biko. Fanon’s idea of mental liberation struck a chord. You might think it is easy to talk about now, but at that point it was really powerful, after living under apartheid and thinking about black self-determination and that blacks had to discover their own source of freedom without any sort of outside liberator.
How did Fanonian practices come into play?
It has to do with Biko’s critique of white liberals. It involves thinking about the fact that apartheid ended in 1994, at the high point of neo-liberalism, which emphasized individuals pulling themselves up by their bootstraps rather than a systematic critique of the structural legacies of apartheid. Biko’s critique of liberalism takes on a new meaning since post-apartheid in Africa has become a sort of liberal society where many blacks have property but all too many remain in the same conditions they had during apartheid. The liberals are essentially saying that apartheid is over and it’s up to you to become an entrepreneur. But in reality many people are just struggling to survive. So there is a real class element to it. “Fanonian practices” is that, in a way, but it’s also something else.
Book details
- Fanonian Practices in South Africa: From Steve Biko to Abahlali baseMjondolo by Nigel Gibson
EAN: 9781869141974
Find this book with BOOK Finder!
Please register or log in to comment