PEAR Soc meets Frantz Fanon
Nihithan (Year 13) recounts his presentation to Philosophy, Ethics and Religion Society earlier this year.
On the theme of Black History Month, I wanted to introduce everybody to one of my favourite philosophers: Frantz Fanon, particularly exploring his book “Black Skin, White Masks” which is about the internalised feeling of inferiority in colonial subjects, and how it should and shouldn’t be combatted. He responds to a novel by Mayotte Capecia (I am a Martinician Woman) about a black woman who desires to marry a white man to be seen as more respectable by the colonial oppressors.
We discussed whether his critique of interracial marriage was outdated or not. Though controversial, his comments did illuminate how important recognition is in identity politics: not just for race, but sexuality, gender religion etc. Then, in an interactive activity, I brought two volunteers to act out Hegel’s story of the Master-Servant Dialectic – an allegory describing the fight for recognition (to the death!) between oppressor and oppressed, where the servant emerges victorious. Fanon built on this allegory, saying that colonial subjects have no choice but violent revolution to be positively recognised. We ended with a full debate on this claim, evaluating whether we agree with his radical claim that revolution was the only way to resist colonialism.
I think the ideas that the students raised were very poignant, and I could tell they were very engaged in this discussion. I hope they all left, learning something new about an incredibly important and underrated philosopher.
It was very fulfilling to research and present to a group of people, so I would encourage any other students to present at PEARSoc, sharing whatever topic to do with philosophy or religion they find interesting. It is always place of rich and fun-filled discussions and debates, particularly due to the emphasis we place on students leading presentations.