Hailed by supporters as the preeminent prophet of midcentury decolonization and decried by his adversaries as an apostle of bloody violence, Frantz Fanon means dramatically different things to different people. For some, his early work provides the key to diagnosing a fundamentally anti-Black world, while for others Fanon speaks to a stubbornly internationalist and anti-capitalist politics of Third World Liberation. This seminar seeks to bridge many gaps in our understanding Fanon by understanding his intellectual and political trajectory as a whole.

Born in the French Antilles and trained as a psychiatrist in Europe, Fanon would eventually choose Algeria, dedicating himself to the anticolonial revolution fully in word as in deed. As a result, his life and work were so fully intertwined as to be inseparable: Fanon stands apart not only because he sought to understand reality, but because he dedicated himself wholly to changing it. "Each generation," Fanon famously writes, "must discover its mission, fulfill it, or betray it." Join us as we seek to discover our mission together.

In this 12-week course, we'll read selections from Fanon's four major English-language publications, with an eye to the following questions:

• What is the relationship between racism and (de-)colonization?
• What is Fanon's relationship to the dialectical tradition, Hegelian or Marxist?
• What does it mean to "stretch" Marxist concepts, as Fanon describes it?
• What is the role of violence in history?
• What does Fanon teach us about contemporary struggles, and Palestinian liberation in particular?

This is a hybrid seminar. Philadelphia-based participants are welcome to meet in-person in West Philadelphia, while remote participants will be able to contribute to the conversation via Haymarket's YouTube channel. This course will refer to the new translations of Fanon's work by Richard Philcox, but any edition will work. You can access digital copies of Fanon's books here: Black Skin, White Masks, Toward the African Revolution, A Dying Colonialism, The Wretched of the Earth.

This is the third in a series. Our previous seminars on Black Reconstruction by W.E.B. Du Bois and The Black Jacobins by C.L.R. James can be accessed on Spotify, YouTube, and Haymarket Books.

***Register through Ticket Tailor to receive information about each week’s assigned readings, as well as in-person and virtual meeting details. Each event will also be recorded.***

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This event is sponsored by Haymarket Books and W.E.B. Du Bois Movement School. While all of our events are freely available, we ask that those who are able make a solidarity donation in support of our important publishing and programming work.