Nigel Gibson on Fanon and the “New North African Syndrome”
Nigel Gibson, author of Fanonian Practices in South Africa, recently gave a paper on Frantz Fanon as part of a Rhodes University Seminar series. His paper is titled “The New North African Syndrome” and looks at resuscitating the Fanonian analytical tradition, in light of the recent revolutions in North Africa, and in commemoration of the 50th anniversary of Fanon’s The Wretched of the Earth, since its publication in 1961:
What better way to celebrate, commemorate, critically reflect on, and think through Fanon’s The Wretched of the Earth fifty years after its publication with a new North African syndrome: Revolution—or at least a series of revolts that continue to rock regimes across North Africa and the region. Fanon begins The Wretched writing of decolonization as a program of complete
disorder, an overturning of order—often against the odds—willed from the bottom up. Without time or space for a transition, there is instead an absolute replacement of one “species” of humanity by another. In periods of revolution, like the one we are experiencing today, such absolutes appear quite normal. Indeed, radical change becomes the “new normal” and the idea that revolutionary change is impossible is simply the rantings and ravings of the conservatives and reactionaries of the ancient regime.
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Book details
- Fanonian Practices in South Africa: From Steve Biko to Abahlali baseMjondolo by Nigel Gibson
EAN: 9781869141974
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