A Reconnoitre of Frantz Fanon’s Theory of Mutation

by Jocelyn Coldrey, 2012

The goal of this paper is to explore Frantz Fanon’s theory of mutation to track the manner in which the psyche of a human has to change to such an extent that a new meaning can be given. Though many Fanonian theorists have asserted that it is necessary for us to explore Fanon’s writings through the geographically space of right now, this paper will rather explain a principle of his thought in order to take it one step further and use it in the present. The necessity of radical mutation is crucial in order to entirely de-colonialize and for a human society to exist alongside symbols and equal opportunities for all, despite ontological and epistemological difference.

Response to Alice Cherki's 'Frantz Fanon: A Portrait'

by Jocelyn Coldrey

Alice Cherki, a trained psychiatrist and psychoanalyst who worked under Fanon at both Bilda and in Tunis, was also an active comrade in the Algerian wage for independence, gives personal insight into fragments of Fanons life as well as the contemporary relevance his work and way of thinking (Cherki, 2006 and Martin, 2004: 165). The book gives a representation of Fanon as a person, exposing his temperament in a textual portrait. Cherki does not write a meticulous biography of Fanon’s life but rather draws to light certain experiences and ways of the world which enable the Fanonian reader to historically contextualize not only what he was exposed to at the time of his writing but also his mode of being in reality. She claims that it is “important to reconstruct the journey if one is to rein in the profusion of attributes that have been imputed to Fanon” (2006: 1). In harnessing her personal interaction with Fanon, and what she found out from other people, she places particular importance on the parallels between the way Fanon viewed psychiatric patients and colonized subjects.  Ultimately her portrayal of Fanon’s life remains true to his belief that “[o]ne must not relate one’s past but, but stand as a testimony to it” (2006: 1).