Deane Lindhorst
The aim of this essay is to write a reflection on Tracy
Denean Sharpley-Whiting’s insightful study of a number of feminist scholars’
reading of Frantz Fanon and his works. Many of these scholars have denounced
Fanon as being anti-feminist, and as having nothing to contribute to the
discipline of feminist studies. Denean Sharpley-Whiting, and a number of other
feminist scholars, argue that through understanding Fanon’s conception of a
new-humanism, achieved through emancipatory praxis, his life and his works can
contribute to the emancipation of woman. This essay, rather than articulating
the debate of Fanon’s positioning within feminist discourse, is going to argue
that understanding Fanon’s commitment to praxis has and can be useful to the
liberation of individuals which might be under numerous guises of oppression.
In thinking about how Fanon can be used in the project of
women’s emancipation Denean Sharpley-Whiting presents an alternative reading of
Fanon; a reading in which his commitment to emancipation and liberation, as
well as his belief in a new humanism, through action can said to represent a form
of pro-feminist consciousness (Denean Sharpley-Whiting, 1999: 3). Fanon’s
understanding of emancipation, brought about through actively deconstructing
systems of oppression speaks to “a ‘New Humanism’ profoundly grounded in the
belief in ‘ [a] social democracy in which man and woman have an equal right to
culture, to material well-being, and to dignity’” (Denean Sharpley-Whiting,
1999: 3).
Denean Sharpley-Whiting argues that although feminist
thought has often taken the form of different schisms, all feminist thought as
had at its heart the tenants of a struggle towards human freedom (Denean
Sharpley-Whiting, 1999: 24). This then is why many of Fanons statements and
beliefs can be said to be pro-feminist; as he believed that through actively
resisting systems of oppression and domination relations between people would
fundamentally be changed to incorporate human freedom (Denean Sharpley-Whiting,
1999: 24).
Fundamental in achieving this new humanism is the
deconstruction of systems of oppression; oppression in which ever form it takes
at the time. Denean Sharpley-Whiting argues that it is during moments of active
struggle against systems of oppression that Fanon’s thoughts can be said to
embody a pro-feminist consciousness (Denean Sharpley-Whiting, 1999: 3). This
pro-feminist consciousness takes the form of subjects beginning to consciously
and actively take hold of forming their identities and moving towards the
reclaiming of human freedom in a space in which efforts of resistance and
defiance can begin to unmask ideologies, ideas of race, nationalism and the
tenants of patriarchal systems (Denean Sharpley-Whiting, 1999: 18).
Implicit in this understanding of identity formation through
action is the idea of transcendence; in other words that to be human is to
continuously be involved in a process of self-creation (Birt, 2009, 2). To be
more precise this process of self-creation, when thwarted or inhibited by
oppression, can become manifest through actions to dismantle or destroy the
source of that oppression (Birt, 2009, 2). Thus Fanon believes that through
revolutionary actions and commitment to praxis, individuals can be human
through this affirming process of continual self-creation.
Denean Sharpley-Whiting notes how certain feminist thinkers,
like bell hooks, continue to think along a similar line and continue to be
committed to praxis; in order to see the actualisation of their ideas in the
world (Denean Sharpley-Whiting, 1999: 88). Denean Sharpley-Whiting notes that hooks
as a feminist activist continues to aspire to “’integrate feminist thinking and
practice into daily life… to assist women who live in sexist households in
their effort to bring about feminist change’” (Denean Sharpley-Whiting, 1999:
88). Denean Sharpley-Whiting also notes how hooks acknowledges the influence of
Fanon in developing her liberation framework routed in action (Denean
Sharpley-Whiting, 1999: 89).
Similar to the thoughts of Fanon, hooks
argues that resisting and deconstructing systems of oppression is indispensable
in bringing about the freedom to self-create; in other words the freedom to be
human as Fanon would conceive (Birt, 2009, 2).
Hooks, and I believe Fanon, argue that “Oppression is a dam which blocks
the free flow of transcendence. It can be breached only with the weapons of
resistance” (Birt, 2009, 2). In this
vein of through consciousness needs to become oppositional; in the sense that
it needs to oppose systems, such as patriarchy, that would see the persons
transcendence ossified and subjugated (Birt, 2009, 2). Although taken out of context the following
quote serves as an example of hooks continued belief in an actional way of
being in the world; “The moment we choose to love we begin to move towards freedom,
to act in ways that liberate ourselves and others. That action is the testimony
of love as the practice of freedom” (2001: 250).
Although only using one example I
feel the scholarship and life of bell hooks serves as a powerful marker of how
commitment to actualising ones values and beliefs can in part answer Denean
Sharpley-Whiting statement that “the divide between theory and praxis must be
bridged” (Denean Sharpley-Whiting, 1999: 100). Once this divide has been
bridged, through active measures of resistance, Fanons dream of world where men
and women have equal claim to be human might
be realised.
After having briefly explored
Fanon’s understanding of a New Humanism through praxis, and relating it to the
work of a few contemporary feminist theorists, such as Bell hooks and Tracey
Denean Sharpley-Whiting, a conclusion can be stated. A conclusion that asserts
that while acknowledging potential sexist flaws in the epistemological work of
Fanon; overall his commitment to the liberation of human beings can be regarded
as and utilised as a form of pro-feminist consciousness. Through a commitment
to action and the act of self-creation Fanon’s life and work has inspired many
individuals to develop a way of being in the world that has led and continues
to lead to gradual and meaningful liberation. Bell hooks in Tracey Denean
Sharpley-Whiting states that “it was the practice of being a resisting reader
that enabled me to hear in Fanon’s theories of decolonisation, paradigms I
could use constructively in order to liberate myself” (Denean Sharpley-Whiting,
1999: 90).
Reference
List
Birt, R. 2002.
Transcendence in the Thought of Bell Hooks: Some Reflections on Resistance and
Self-Creation. 8 (2), pp. 1-28.
Denean Sharlpey-
Whiting, T. 1998. Frantz Fanon: Conflicts & feminisms. New York:
Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, INC.
Hooks, B., 2001. All
About Love: New Visions. New York: Perennial.
