![]() ![]() In keeping with the themes of light and dark, the white colonist is considered civilized, and the colonized is a savage. Based on the same Manichaean concept, the colonial world is likewise divided into the civilized and the savage. To Fanon, colonialism is rooted in this basic racist belief. ![]() Manichaeanism assumes that light-the white settler-represents good, whereas dark-the black colonized individual-represents evil. Since “the colonial world is a Manichaean world,” Fanon says, the colonized individual is seen as the “quintessence of evil” and is considered void of any morals or ethics. ![]() Manichaeanism is a Persian religious practice from the 3rd century that is based on the basic conflict of light and dark, and, Fanon claims, it serves as the basis for the racist practice of colonialism. The Wretched of the Earth serves as a sort of guidebook for understanding the colonized and their struggle, and in it, Fanon ultimately argues that colonialism, an inherently racist and violent practice, can only be overcome by using violence in return.įanon maintains that colonialism divides the world into light and dark-or in this case, black and white-in a process he refers to as Manichaeanism. At the time Fanon wrote his book in 1961, many colonized nations were struggling for independence, and the damage of hundreds of years of racism and exploitation was acutely felt by many. Fanon, a French West Indian from Martinique, a French colony located in the eastern Caribbean Sea, had a personal interest in colonialism, and his book focuses on the ways colonialism historically sought to oppress and subjugate much of the Third World through blatant racism and repeated violence. Colonialism began in Europe around the 15th century, and it is still practiced today in some parts of the world. Frantz Fanon’s The Wretched of the Earth is a critical look at colonialism, the practice of taking political control of another country with the intention of establishing a settlement and exploiting the people economically. ![]()
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