Creole Skin, Black Mask: Fanon and Disavowal

Author(s): Franoise Vergs

Source: Critical Inquiry, Vol. 23, No. 3, Front Lines/Border Posts (Spring, 1997), pp. 578-595
Published by: The University of Chicago Press
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Creole Skin, Black Mask: Fanon and Disavowal

Fransoise Verges

A specteris hauntingourpostcolonial world,the specterof FrantzFanon.

To live with Fanorfsspecteris to live with the memories,heritage,and
genealogiesof the historyof decolonization and of the clinicin the col-
ony.lMuchhasbeenwrittenaboutFanon's psychologyof racialrelations,
his viewson nationalcultureand the nationalbourgeoisie,and the role
of womenin the nationalstruggle.SomehavereadFanonas a psychoana-
lyst,2othersas one of the foremosttheoristsof nationalliberation.In this

I wantto thank Homi Bhabha,MarianeFerme,DavidLloyd,FransoisFlahault,Mike

Rogin, and Lisa Wedeen for their comments and criticisms.Unless otherwise noted, all
translationsare my own.
1. Jacques Derridahas called for "une politique de la memoire, de l'heritageet des
generations"("apoliticsof memory,heritage,and genealogies")in his Les Spectresde Marx:
L'Etatdeladette,letrasaildudeuil, etlanouselleInternationale (Paris,1993);trans.PeggyKamuf,
under the title Spectersof Marx: The Stateof theDebt,the Workof Mourning,and theNew Interna-
tional (New York,1994).See also Henry LouisGates,Jr., "CriticalFanonism,"CriticalInquiry
17 (Spring1991):457-70. In this essay,Gatescalls for a contextualizationof Fanon'sworks
and seeks to situate"Fanonism"in a criticaltraditionthat paysattentionto genealogy.
2. Fanon trained as a psychiatristin France.He was deeply influenced by Fransois
Tosquelles,with whom he studied.Tosquelleswas a leadingVreformer and theoristof socio-
therapy,with its emphasis on communallife and listening to the patient. Fanon applied
Tosquelles'smethods at the colonial psychiatrichospital of Blida, Algeria. Though he
adopteda psychiatrythatborrowedconceptsfrompsychoanalysis,Fanondefended the psy-
chiatricinstitution.FollowingTosquelles,he wanted a psychiatrichospitalopen to society,
in which patientswould be regardedas temporarilydisturbedand able to reintegrateinto
society.See his articlewith C. Geronimi,"L'Hospitalisation de jour en psychiatrie:Valeurs
et limites,"La TunzsieMedicale 38, no. 10 (1959): 713-32.

CriticalInquiry23 (Spring1997)
t 1997by The Universityof Chicago.0093-1896/97/2303-0011$01.00.
All rightsreserved.

578

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 CriticalInquiry Spring1997 579

essay,I wantto focuson a particularaspectof Fanon'stheory,derivedin

partfromhis readingof Lacanmediatedby Sartreand of Freudmedi-
atedby MarieBonaparte:his disavowalof Antilleanhistoryand the fam-
ilyromancehe constructedforhimself.In orderto get to the mechanisms
of this specificdisavowal,I will do a close readingof BlackSkin, White
Masks3andparticularly of the chapter"TheNegroandPsychopathology."
I thinkthat,at thismomentof returnto Fanon,it is especiallyimportant
to returnto the text andthe waythe argumentunfolds.4
My readinghas been informedby recentworkson creoleness,me-
tissage,and the Caribbeanas a matrixof hybridization and creolization.5
Fanon'srelationto Martiniquewasambivalent.He re-createdhis family,
reinventedhisfiliation,andsituatedhissymbolicancestryin Algeria.The

3. Accordingto CharlesBalandier,it was OctaveMannoniwho suggestedthe powerful

and evocativetitle to Fanon.
4. This explainswhy my essaycontainsso manyquotes and why the tone is somewhat
didactic.It is a deliberatemove.
5. On creolizationand hybridity,seeJean Bernabe,PatrickChamoiseau,and Raphael
Confiant,Eloge de la cre'olite'(Paris,1989), trans. MohamedB. Taleb Khyar,under the title
"In Praiseof Creoleness,"Callaloo 13 (Fall 1990): 886-909; EdouardGlissant,Le Discours
antillais (Paris,1981), trans.J. MichaelDash, under the title CaribbeanDiscourse:SelectedEs-
says (Richmond,Va., 1989) and "BeyondBabel,"WorldLiteratureToday63 (Autumn 1989):
561-63; AbdelkebirKhatibi,"AColonialLabyrinth," trans.CatherineDana,YaleFrenchStud-
ies, no. 83 (1993): 5-11; Jean-ClaudeCarpaninMarimoutou,"Ecriremetis,"Me'tissages,ed.
MarimoutouandJean-MichelRacault,2 vols. (Paris,1993),1:247-60.Criticismsofthe mas-
culinity of the cre'olite'discourse can be found in Penser la cre'olite',ed. MaryseConde and
MadeleineCottenet-Hage(Paris, 1995). See as well A. James Arnold, "The Genderingof
creolite,"pp. 21-40; AmaMazama,"Critiqueafrocentriquede l'Elogede la creolite,pp.85-100;
and FransoiseVerges,"Metissage,discoursmasculin,et deni de la mere,"pp. 69-84. See
also Conde, "Order,Disorder,Freedom,and the WestIndian Writer," YaleFrenchStudies,no.
83 (1993): 121-35. On the psychologyof the colonial relation and its consequences,see
Jacques Andre, L'Incestefocal dans la famille noire antillaise: Crimes,confits, structure (Paris,
1987);AntoineBouillon,Madagascar:Le Colonise'et son ame (Paris,1981);FritzGracchus,Les
Lieux de la meredans les societesafro-americaines(Paris,1986);Simonne Henry Valmore,Dieux
en exil (Paris,1988);ChristianLesne, Cinqessaisd'ethnopsychiatrie antillaise (Paris,1990);and
Jean-FransoisReverzy,"De Babel a Babylone"and "Liberationou alienation,"in Cultures,
exals,et folies dans l'OceanIndien, ed. Reverzy(Paris, 1990), pp. 5-10, 21-37 and "'LesMe-
tisseurs' du guerir et du souffrir dans l'ile de la Reunion dans leurs metissages sym-
boliques,"Me'tissages,2:303-20. About the Caribbeanas a matrix, see the works of Aime
Cesaire,PaulGilroy,C. L. R.James, and DerekWalcott.
Though the most well-knownworksof the theoristsof metissageand creoleness ap-
peared after Fanon'sdeath, Cesaire,Leopold Sedar Senghor,and Rene Depestre were al-
readytheorizingthe processesof metissage.

FransoiseVergesteachescolonialand postcolonialstudiesat the

Universityof Sussex.She is currentlyworkingon the historyof the dis-
Indochina,
courseand institutionsof colonialpsychiatryin Madagascar,
Algeria,and ReunionIsland.

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580 FranfoiseVerges Fanonand Disavowal

Creolefiliation,a site of anxietyand ambivalence, wasdisplaced,and a

revolutionary filiationtook its place;the heroicfightersof the national
strugglebecamehis fathersandbrothers.Butuponhis disavowal he cre-
ated a theoryof masculinityand of a black-and-white relationsuffused
with attraction,repulsion,denial,and anxiety,and, in the process,he
raisedthe question,stillwithus, of the theoriesof psychologyin the post-
colony,theirpotentialpowerof emancipation as wellas theirlimits.
Fanonuseshis readingof Lacarfsmirrorstageand his theoryof fe-
malesexualityto shiftracialdifferencefromthe peripheryto the center
of the colonialrelation.The blackAntilleanmanis prisonerof the image
projectedin the mirror.The otherin Fanonis l'autreavecun petita, the
imaginaryother,the alterityin the mirror.There is no absoluteOther,
I'autreavecun grandA, recognizable beyondthe relationof mirage,the
one to whomwe alwaystalk.6Thoughto Lacan,bothconcepts ofpetzta
andgrandA areinterconnected, Fanoninsistson the mirrorstageas a
capturingmomentfor the blackman.
To Fanon,who wroteBlackSkzn,WhzteMasksin 1951,7his essaywas
a "mirrorwith a progressiveinfrastructure, in whichthe Negro could
retrievehimselfonthe roadto disalienation" (BS,p. 184;trans.mod.).It
wasa study,he said,of the FrenchAntilles:"SinceI wasbornin theAntil-
les, my observations and my conclusionsarevalidonlyfor the Antilles-
at leastconcerningthe blackmanat home"(BS, p. 16).His subjectswere
the alienatedAntilleansof the middleclass(seeBS, pp. 29, 31, and 224).
The youngMartinican mockedtheprojectof Negritudeandaffirmedhis
Frenchness:"Whatis this storyabouta Negro people, abouta Negro
nationality?I am French.I aminterestedin Frenchculture,Frenchcivili-
zation,Frenchpeople.... I am personallyinterestedin the futureof
France,in Frenchvalues,in the Frenchnation"(BS,p. 203;trans.mod.).8
Andyet Fanon,whenin France,discoversthatthoughhe is French,
6. JacquesLacan,Les Psychoses,vol. 3 of Le SeminairedeJacquesLacan, ed. Jacques-Alain
Miller(Paris,1981), p. 286.
7. See Frantz Fanon, Peau Noire, Masques Blancs (Paris, 1975); trans. Charles Lam
Markmann,under the title Black Skin, WhiteMasks (New York,1967);hereafterabbreviated
BS. The firstedition of Peau Noire, MasquesBlancs appearedin the Editionsdu Seuil'scollec-
tion Esprit in 1952. WheneverpossibleI have used Markmann's translation,but I have fre-
quentlyhad to alter it in order to stressnuancesof the Frenchtext that I thought did not
appearin the English.Forinstance,Markmanntranslates"cetravailvoudraitetre un miroir
a infra-structureprogressive,ou pourraitse retrouverle negre en voir de desalienation"(p.
148) as, "thisbook, it is hoped, will be a mirrorwith a progressiveinfrastructure,in which
it willbe possibleto discernthe Negro on the road to disalienation"(p. 184). In Markmann
the readerdiscerns the Negro in the mirrorthat is the book, whereasin Fanon'stext the
book is a mirrorto the Negro.
8. Albert Memmi remarkedthat in 1956 Fanon still protested against injusticeand
abusesas a Frenchcitizen in his letter of resignationfrom the AlgerianBlida-Joinvillehospi-
tal. See Albert Memmi,"LaVie impossiblede FrantzFanon,"Esprit (Sept. 1971): 248-73;
trans. Thomas Cassirerand G. MichaelTwomey,under the title "The ImpossibleLife of
FrantzFanon,"MassachusettsRe7view14 (Winter1973): 12-13; hereafterabbreviated"IL."

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 CriticalInquiry Spring 1997 581

he is black,and thatbothfactsseemexclusive.A lie, a betrayal,an origin

impossibleto symbolizemayexplainthis discovery.In BlackSkin, White
Masks,the firststageof the familyromance,disavowal, emerges.To dis-
avowand to found are the two processesof the familyromance.9But
disavowalfVerleugnungl, whichis the repudiationof realitythroughpa-
role and action,impliesfirstan avowal.Fanon,who was a black,metis
Creoleof the FrenchAntilles,disavowsthe Antilleanstorythat wasthe
sourceof ambivalenceand anxiety.He reconstructsAntilleanrealityas
both protectedfromalienationand subjectedto alienation.He is con-
frontedwith the difficultyof workingthrougha storythatbeginswith
deportation,violence,and the rape of the mother,and of locatingthis
negativityin a symbolicworld.Howto tell a historythatbegins,to use
JacquesHassoun's expression,in "letroude la cale''?lThe avowalof the
violencethat openedAntilleanhistoryis followedby the destructionof
its meaningthroughthe interruptionof the associativechain.llFanon
neverevokesslaveryas a symbolic,economic,and culturalsystem.The
colonizedAntillearfs ancestoris ignored.Fanorfsdisavowal is an elaborate
processthroughwhich he reconstructsa realitythat he cannot inte-
grate.l2Arldthatrealityis slavery.
If filiationis an accidentthat does not entailany other dutiesand
responsibilities thanthosewe construct,thenFanonis entitledto reinvent
a newfiliationwithAlgerianfightersas his fathers.Wearefree to invent
storiesaboutour ancestors,but we haveto confrontthe politicsentailed
by thischoice.Whatdesiredoes thischoiceexpress?Whatis Fanon'sno-
tion of paternalfiliation?Whatis Fanorfsreadingof Freudand Lacan?
That Fanonreads Freudor Lacancorrectlyis not the questionhere.
Rather,it is the culturaland psychicpoliticsthat Fanorfsreadingpro-
ducesfor the colonyand the postcolonythatconcernsus.
In thisrespect,it is alwaysinterestingto carefilllyreadFanorfsfoot-
notes.Tobeginwith,BlackSkin,WhiteMaskscontainsmorefootnotesthan
anyof Fanorfslatertexts.Someof thesefootnotesruntwoor threepages.
In BlackSkin, WhiteMasks'sfootnotes,Fanonoften engageshimselfin a
conversation with an imaginedopponentor appealsto personalmemo-

9. Familyromanceis Freud'sterm for the neurotic fantasyof "getting free from the
parentsof whom the child has a low opinion and of replacingthem by otherswho, as a rule,
are of higher social standing"(SigmundFreud,"FamilyRomances,"TheStandard Editionof
the Complete Psychological
Worksof SigmundFreud,trans. and ed. James Strachey[London,
1953-74], 9:238-39).
10.Jacques Hassoun, "Le Lien social,"lecture given at Saint-Denis,Reunion Island,
Mar.1994.
11.Joyce McDougallarguesfor a clear distinctionbetweendisavowaland denial.With
the latter,realityis reworkedthroughfantasy,not parole and action. See Joyce McDougall,
"Sceneprimitiveet scenariopervers,"Plaidoyer pourunecertaineanomalite(Paris,1978), pp.
35-62; trans.pub., under the title "The PrimalScene and the PerverseScenario,"Pleafor a
ArIeasureofAbnormulity (New York,1980), pp. 53-86.
12. To Freud,disavowalconcernsprincipallysexual differenceand the primalscene.

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582 FranfozseVerges Fanonand Dzsavowal

ries and thus revealsmoreabouthis thoughtsthanhe does in the text.

FanoWs footnotesare likethe repressed,the unconsciousfoundationsof
his text. Or,in the wordsof GayatriSpivak,they are the marginaliaof
FanoWs texts,his wayof separatinghis publicfromhis privateself.l3
Fanonproducesa theoryof thepsychethatborrowsfrompsychoana-
lyticaltheorybut whosegoal is to makethe unconsciousconscious(see
BS, p. 100).He demonstrates an ambivalent relationshipto psychoanaly-
sis. He declaresthatBlackSkzn,WhzteMaskswill be a "psychoanalytical
interpretation of the blackproblem"(BS, p. 12)butarguesthatthe black
marfsalienationis not an individualquestionand that,againstFreud's
ontogenicperspective,a sociogenicperspectiveis necessary(see BS, p.
13).l4Fanondenouncesthe unconsciousas an illusion,a form of false
consciousness,and unconsciousconflictas a delusion.He writes:"Psy-
choanalysisis a pessimisticview of man. The care of the personmust
be thoughtas a deliberatelyoptimisticchoiceagainsthumanreality.''l5
Fanondoesnot adoptLacarfsposition advocatedas earlyas 1932in his
thesis- thata reworkingof psychiatric knowledgefromthe modelof the
Freudianunconsciouswas necessary.To Fanon, the vecu de la folte,
its parole, is the expressionof a profoundalienationrather than a
systemwithits ownlogic.Yet,Fanonforeseesthe insightsof the theorists
of antipsychiatry that madnessis not a diseasebut a story,the storyof a
situation,of a wandering,of the impossibility to be heard,of a filiation
whosehistoryis one of betrayal,murder,enslavement.It is the storyof a
blackman.
The body of the black man is at the center of BlackSkin, White
Masks a humiliated,mocked,beaten,raped,assaulted,tortured,mur-
deredbody.Fanonscreamsthathe is a manlikeanyothermanandforce-
fully denounces racism, which capturesthe black male body and
Whitemen and whitewomendesirethe
transformsit into a ''thing.''l6
blackman'sbody,not out of love,but to fulfillperversefantasies(passive
homosexualfantasiesforthe whiteman,rapeforthe whitewoman).And
blackwomenrejectthe blackmanbecause,out of alienation,theywant
the whiteman.Fanon'sinsightsinto the constructionof the blackman's
bodyas the siteof projectedparanoidfantasies,as a threatening,menac-

13. See GayatriChakravortySpivak,"Explanationand Culture:Marginalia," In Other

Worlds: Essaysin CulturalPolitics(London, 1988),pp. 103-17.
paranoiaque
14. In his thesis (De la psychose danssesrapports [1932;
atec la personnalite'
Paris,1975]),Lacan,in contrast,challengedthe notions of psychogenesisand organogene-
sis in favorof the notion of psychogeny,or a purelypsychicorganizationof the individual.
15. Fanon,WInformation 5 1 (Dec. 1975): 10.
psychiatrique
16. I have no doubt that Fanon'sdenunciationis still forcefuland to the point. Broth-
ers, friends,and lovershavebroughtme testimonies when I was not myselfa witness of
the waysin which their colonizedbodies are the site of paranoiacaggressivityfrom white
men.

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 CriticalInquiry Spring1997 583

ing body that must be destroyed,remainactual.l7This body is for the

racistworlda phobicobject,an objectof abjection,obsession,andfascina-
tion.YetFanonreconstructs the blackmalebodyto evacuateanysignof
vulnerability,of He
passivity. makesit a tightbody,erectedand immune
to anyform of penetration in orderto protectit againstall formsof as-
sault.The concern upon which thisreconstruction restsis protection;yet
it occludesanypossibilityof exchange.
Quiteearlyin the chapter"TheNegroand Psychopathology" Fanon
proposeshis thesis:"A normal blackchild, having grown up withina nor-
malfamily,willbecomeabnormal on the slightestcontact with the white
world"(BS,p. 143;trans.mod.). This is a radicaldeparture from Freud,
whoinsistsallalongthatthe familyandinfantilesexualityarethe sources
of complexes.l8To Fanon,the encounterof the childwith difference-
sexual,social,and gendered- is situatedin the soc?al of postinfancy. It is
the white worldthat is responsiblefor the alienationand neurosis of
blacks.The whiteworldmakesthe "Negro."Fanonfullyembraces Jean-
PaulSartre'sanalysisin Reflextons surla questtonjuzve(Antz-Semzte andJew)
whereSartreafErmedthat"itis the anti-Semitethatmakes theJew." l9
The encounterwiththe whiteworldprovokesa traumathatis at the
coreof the Negro'spsychopathology. Fanonsuggeststhatthereis a white
unconscious,"
"collective a concepthe borrowedfromJung,in whichthe
Negro occupiesthe positionof the "symbolof sin"(BS,pp. 188, 189).
This is not, as Jung has argued,an archetypebut is rather"simplythe
sum of prejudices,myths,collectiveattitudesof a given group."For
Fanon,the collectiveunconsciousis "cultural" (BS,p. 188).By contrast,
catharsis,"
the notion of "collective which Fanonproposes(BS, p. 145),

17. The beating of Rodney King and the subsequenttrial in Simi Valleywere a re-
minder that the blackmale body in the racistUnited Statesis still subjectedto white para-
noia. See RuthWtilsonGilmore,"TerrorAusterityRace GenderExcessTheater,"in Reading
RodneyKing: Reading Urban Uprising, ed. Robert Gooding-Wtilliams (New York, 1993), pp.
23-37.
18. It is only fair to note, however,that Freudalso writesthat there is no community
that is not affectedand constituted,in what unites and dividesit, by the affectsof love and
hatred,by psychicprocesses(identifications,mechanismsof defense, and so on) whose first
quality is to be unconscious. Social groups are like individuals:they are acted upon by
psychologicalaffects.
19.Jean-PaulSartre,Reyqexions sur la questionjuive (Paris,1954),p. 84; trans.GeorgeJ.
Becker,under the titleAnti-SemiteandJew (New York,1948).TorilMoi arguesin her recent
Simonede Beauvoir that the influence of The SecondSex on Black Skin, WhiteMasks has to be
acknowledged:"Theparallelsbetweenthe two texts are striking"(TorilMoi,Simonede Beau-
voir: TheMaking of an IntellectualWoman[Cambridge,Mass., 1994], p. 204). She rightlysur-
mises that Fanonmust have been awareof de Beauvoir'sanalysisof women'sconstruction
by men. Fanonwas a faithfulreaderof Les TempsModernes,and in 1948 and 1949 thejournal
publishedmanyexcerptsof de Beauvoir'stext. If womanis the Other for man, blackis the
Other for white. For referencesto Sartrein Black Skin, WthiteMasks, see pp. 27, 29, 41, 87,
93, 115, 118, 119, 133, 139.

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584 FranfoiseVerges FanonandDisavowal

comesintoplayin facingthe Negroas objectof aggressionand servesas

a channelto releaseaggression.Fanonevokescomicbooksto illustrate
the phenomenonof collectivecatharsis.Sincecomicbooksconstructthe
Negroas "Devil,EvilSpirit,BadMan,Savage," the whitechildinevitably
identifieswith the strongand faircharacter(the white)and rejectsthe
Negro(thecharacterwhois beatenand menacingat the sametime)(BS,
p. 146;trans.mod.).This processof identificationis at workas well in
the Negrochild,whocomesto see himselfas whitebecausehe consumes
similarculturalproductsand because,to Fanon,it is naturalto identify
withthe strong.
The Fanonianscenariosetsup anAntilleanfamilywhereinnocence,
safety,and a strongconnectionbetweenthe imagoof the self and the
familystructurereign.No Oedipuscomplexcanbe observed(seeBS, p.
152).Conflictin the individualis the productof a traumaticsocialand
culturalencounterwith differenceand the effect of separationwith a
nontraumatic world.Beforethisencounterthe ego seemsto haveexperi-
enced only fusionand nonconflict.Withinthe familyconstellation,the
mother'sfunctionhauntsandstructuresthe text.Fanonwrites:"Scientific
objectivitywasforbiddento me becausethe alienated,the neuroticwas
my brother,my sister,my father"(BS, p. 225).JacquesAndreremarks
thatthisenumeration, importantbecauseit designatesnotsocialbutfam-
ilycharacters in the formationof neuroses,is interestingforthe termthat
is absentin the configuration:the mother.20
The Martinican FritzGracchushasshownthe limitsof Fanon'sRous-
seauianapproach,whichpositsa healthyfamilyagainstan alienatingso-
ciety.2lYetFanonknowsbetterthanto believein a childat peacein the
familyenvironment,unaffectedby the desiresof its parents.The re-
pressedknowledgeaboutinfantileconflictreturnshere and therein his
text.Andit is themotherwhoproducesconflict."WhenI amat home,"he
writes,"mymothersingsme Frenchlovesongsin whichthereis nevera
wordaboutNegroes.WhenI disobey,whenI maketoo muchnoise,I am
toldto 'stopactinglikea nigger"'(BS, p. 191).22 Thereis no placefor the
Negrochildin his mother'slove songs.In the languageof love, no little
Negro.Andwhenthe childexpresseshimself,the motherwithdrawsher
loveandaccusesthe childof beinga "nigger." FanonresentstheAntillean
motherforherdesireof whitenessyetavoidsconfrontingthatdesirefully.
Gracchustalks of the Antilleanmotherwho conceivesan "imaginary
whitechild"and howthiswishburdensthe realchild.Withwhatidealis

20. See Andre, "Fanonentre le reel et l'inconscient:Apropos de la relationraciale,"

MemoireInternationalpour FrantzFanon,PresenceAfricaine 40 (1984): 122. I have bene-
fited fromAndre'sanalysisof Fanon'srelationto the unconscious.
21. See Gracchus,Les LieuDc
de la meredans les societesafro-americaines,p. 198.
22. See also BS, p. 220: "'Saythank you to the nice man,'the mother tells her little
boy . . . but we knowthat often the little boy is dying to screamsome other,more resound-
ing expression."

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 CriticalInquiry Spring1997 585

theAntilleanchildconfrontedin infancy?Whatarethe desires,fantasies,

andrepresentations projectedbythe fatherandthe motheron thatchild?
Fanonarguesthatthe desirefor thingswhiteoccursonlywhenthe child
meetsthe whiteworld.Yet,the whitemasteroccupiesthe historyof the
The whitemasterbegetslittleNegroesbut re-
Antillesand its imaginary.
fusesto inscribehispaternityin the Symbolic.He occupiesthe Imaginary
wherehis presenceburdensthe Antilleanin a fruitlesssearchfor legit-
imacy.
WhenFanonreturnsin thechapterto the questionof whythe Negro
is a phobicobject,thereis a suddenshiftin the developmentof his argu-
ment. He evokesnot the socialbut the sexualto explainphobia."The
Negrophobicwoman,"Fanonwrites,"is in fact nothingbut a putative
sexualpartner just asthe Negrophobicmanis a repressedhomosexual"
(BS, p. 156). Sartremakesa similarpoint in Anti-Semite andJew:"Anti-
Semiticwomenoften havea mixtureof sexualrepulsionand attraction
towardJews."23 Fanonunderstandsthatsexualityhasto do withsignifiers
and the Symbolic,and in the followingpages (see BS, pp. 155-60) he
definesthe relationshipbetweenphobia,as repressedsexualattraction,
and desire.Phobia,in Fanoniantheory,is "'aneurosischaracterized by
theanxiousfearof an object"'(BS,p. 154).24 The phobicobject,"overdeter-
mined," withits rootsin infantilelife, repulsesand awakenssexualrevul-
sion (BS, p. 155). But in phobia,Fanonsays,one can also look for a
completeinversion.Therefore,to understandthis paradox,that under
phobiathereis attractionand desire,Fanonasks,Couldnot the fear of
rapeby Negroesbe a "cryout for rape"on the partof whitewomenand
"canone not speakof womenwhoaskto be raped?"(BS,p. 156).25 Notice
the collapsebetweenattraction/repulsion and desirefor rape.Repulsion
anddesireareexplainedbythe projectionof fantasticpowers,fearedand
wanted,that one attributesto the objectof desire.But, for Fanon,it is
reallyan "abnormal" sexualitythatsustainsthesefantasies,and he con-
cludesthat "all the Negrophobic womenI have knownhad abnormal
sexuallives"(BS, p. 158).
But FanoWs readingof LacaSsmirrorstagerevealsthe mechanisms
of his problematic.Fanonrefersto the notionof the mirrorstage that
23. Sartre,Anti-SemiteandJew, p. 48.
24. Quoted from Angelo Hesnard, L'Universmorbidede la faute (Paris, 1949), p. 37.
Hesnard was a Frenchpsychologistwho wanted to reconcile Freud and Janet. Hesnard,
accordingto ElizabethRoudinesco,wanted to make Freud"French,"to take out of Freud
what was too "heterogeneous"and too related to "Germanphilosophy"(ElisabethRou-
dinesco,La Bataillede centans: Histoirede la psychanalyseen France,2 vols. [Paris,1982], 1:275).
25. Freud notes that "whatthe patient actuallyfears is a repetitionof such an attack
under those special conditions in which he believes he cannot escape it."He adds: "The
fear of this emotionalstate . . . is not derivedfromany memorywhatever."Phobia's"specific
cause is the accumulationof sexualtension"(Freud,"Obsessionsand Phobias:Their Psychi-
cal Mechanismsand Their Aetiology"[1895], CollectedPapers, trans.Joan Riviere,4 vols.
[London, 1959], 1:136,1 37).

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586 FranfoiseVerges FanonandDisavowal

Lacanhad developedin the chapteron familywrittenfor volume8 of

the Encyclopediefranfatse(1938).26It is not thereforea referenceto the
morewell-known articlepublishedin 1949thatappearedin Ecrits(1977):
"LeStadedu miroircommeformateurde la fonctiondu Je telle qu'elle
nous est reveleedans l'experiencepsychanalytique." Lacan,in the En-
cyclopediearticle,affirmsthe centralityof the familyin understanding
complexes:the familyhas "shownitselfto be the site in whichthe most
stableand typicalcomplexesarise."The family"playsan essentialrolein
the transmission of culture"and "prevailsin the primaryeducationfor
the repressionof instinctsand the acquisitionof languageaptlynamed
maternallanguage."27 Familialcomplexesare at the heartof the forma-
tionof humanpersonality, whichis structuredthroughunconsciousrep-
resentationsor imagoesthat in turn definea mode of identificationof
recognitionor misrecognition. Lacanthereforeputs the familysquarely
at the centerof identificatory processes whichis whatFanoncontests
for theAntilleans.
Lacandistinguishestwo stagesbeforethe Oedipuscomplex.First,
thereis the "weaningcomplex"(complexe dusevrage)thatrepresentsthe
"primordial formof maternalimago."Then,thereis the "intrusion com-
plex"(complexe del'intrusion) ("F,"8.40.9, 8). The mirrorstageoccursat
theend of the periodof weaningandallowsthe subjectto realizea specu-
laryunityof the ego wherethe otherhasno place:"Inthisworld,we will
see, thereis no other."28 The subjectrestoresthroughthis stagethe lost
unityof the self(afictional unity),a unityexperiencedthroughthe symbi-
oticrelationwiththe mother.Thisspecularityis, accordingto Lacan,the
mostintuitiveformof affectiveunity,of identity."Whatthe subjectsalutes
in this representation is the mentalunity that is inherentin this very
representation" ("F," 8.40.10).In the samemoment,the imagogivesform

26. Fanon had read Lacan'sthesis and used some of his concepts in his own thesis;
see BS, p. 80. Lacan'scontributionto the Encyclopedie fran,caisewas reedited under the title
LesComplexes familiauxdanslaformationdel'individu: Essaid'analyse d'unefonctionenpsychologze
(Paris,1984).Formoreinformationon Lacan'scollaboration,see Roudinesco,Jacques Lacan:
Esquissed'unevie, histoired'unsysteme
depensee(Paris, 1993), pp. 193-204 and Histoirede la
psychanalysefran,caise,
2:156-58. Lacanin 1951 had publishedmore than seventyarticlesin
different reviews of psychoanalysis.See especially his "Le Stade du miroir comme for-
mateurde la fonctiondu Je telle qu'ellenous est reveleedansl'experiencepsychanalytique,"
Revuefran,caisedepsychanalyse4 (1949):449-55; rpt. in Ecrits(Paris,1966),pp. 93-100; trans.
Alan Sheridan,under the title "The MirrorStage as Formativeof the Functionof the I as
Revealedin PsychoanalyticExperience,"Ecrits:A Selection(New York,1977),pp. 1-7.
27. Lacan,"LaFamille,"Encyclope'diefran,caise,20 vols. (Paris,1938):8.40.5-6,3; here-
after abbreviated"F."
28. Lacanwrites:"Nousvoulons . . . penetrer sa structurementaleavec le plein sens
du mythe de Narcisse;que ce sens indique la mort:l'insuffisancevitale dont ce monde est
issu; ou la reflexion speculaire:l'imago du double qui lui est centrale; ou l'illusion de
l'image:ce monde, nous l'allonsvoir,ne contientpas d'autrui"("F,"8.40.10).

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 CriticalInquiry Spring1997 587

to the self it sustainsthe subject'sunity and radicallyalienatesthat

unity.
Fanonwrites,"Itwouldbe interestingon the basisof Lacan'stheory
of the mirrorstageto investigatethe extentto whichthe imagoof his fellow
builtup in the youngwhiteat the usualage wouldundergoan imaginary
aggressionwith the appearanceof the Negro"(BS, p. 161 n. 25; trans.
mod.).Fanonarguesthat"onlyfor the whitemanis the otherperceived
on the level of the body image,absolutelyas the not-self that is, the
unidentifiable, the inassimilable."It is differentfor the blackbecauseof
"historical and economicrealities." Whenthe (white)subjectexperiences
anxietyand suspicion, this oneness is threatened,the "othertakes a
hand,"and the fantasy of the Negro as "murderer" intervenes(BS, pp.
161-62 n. 25; trans. mod.).There is hallucination, and insteadof seeing
the imago of his self in the mirror,the subjectsees the imago of the
other whois blackand threatening(becauseof the whitecollectiveun-
consciousdescribedearlier).In the Fanonianapproach,the otherforthe
whitemustbe black,and vice versa,becauseof the dialecticthat Fanon
embraces.The otheris the projectionin the mirrorof whatthe subject
desiresandrejects the womanforthe man;theJewfor the anti-Semite;
the blackfor the white.
In psychoanalysis, hallucinationrefersto a specificprocess:regres-
sion,at first,followedby a momentwhenrealityis brokendownand the
repressedis takenfor real. In Fanon,hallucinationis the identification
witha threateningOther.The ego losesits fictionalunityand the Other
becomesthis fictionalself of the mirrorstage.The Fanonianscenario
positsa self thatis wholebut,whenthreatenedin its wholenessby some
psychoticmoment,hallucinates andseesan otherwhohasbeenculturally
constructedas menacing.But if the "mirrorhallucination" is thatof the
blackfor the white,and the whitefor the black,for the Antillean,"the
mirrorhallucinationis alwaysneutral"(BS, p. 162 n. 25). WhatFanon
meansis thatalthoughthe hallucination shouldbe the whitefor the An-
tillean,it is anotherblackwho servesthis function.This is due to the
alienationof the Antillean(seeBS, pp. 162-63 n. 25).
Fanongivestwo personalexamples.Whenhe was thirteenhe had
been fascinatedby tales of WorldWarI Martinicanveteranswho de-
scribedthe "cruelty"of Senegalesesoldiers.But one detailaboutthese
soldierscapturedhis imagination:their uniformand particularlytheir
redchechia(fezzes)andbelts.So, whenSenegalesesoldierswerein town,
Fanonlookedfor the soldiersthroughthe streetsof Fort-de-France and
was"inrapture"alongwiththe restof his familywhenhis fatherbrought
home these items (BS, p. 163 n. 25).29The secondincidentoccurred

29. The red chechuzwas the markerof the Senegalesesoldier.With its black tassle, it
figures prominentlyin advertisementsfor the colonial army.The famous brand of choco-

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588 FranfoiseVerges FanonandDisavowal

duringWorldWarII whenGuadeloupean teacherscameto Martinique

fromtheirislandto correctexaminations of thebaccalaureate.The young
Fanon,"drivenby curiosity,went to the hotel wherethey werestaying,
simplyin orderto see Mr.B., a philosophyteacherwhowassupposedto
be remarkably black"(BS,p. 164 n. 25).3Blacksfromelsewhere,West
Africaor Guadeloupe,were the hallucinatedimago.Militarizedblack
bodiesor examinersfromthe sisterislandwerethe threateningothers
for the youngMartinican.
To the youngFanon,the blackmaSsbodywasan objectof fascina-
tion,his "mirrorhallucination." The chechia andbeltsand theirredcolor
fetishizedand embodieda blackmalebodysaturatedwithrawsexuality
and associatedwithphysicalforce.Wherehe shouldhaveseen a white,
he sawa blackbecausehe waswearinga whitemask.Fanonexplained
thisdisplacement culturally.
If the Senegalesewasthe otherto his young
self,it wasbecauseas a youngboyhe had been traumatized by negative
imagesof theAfrican.AlthoughFanonhasnotedthesexualdimensionof
attraction/repulsionin the constructionof the blackas other for the
white,he insistedon the culturalaspectof his attraction/repulsion
for the
blackmalebodyor the fetishizedobjectsassociatedwiththatbody.
Fanonfearsrape. Rapeby the whitefather,the Master,the racist.
But thereis also a fear of being seducedby the blackSenegaleseman.
Thesefearsdo not havethe samesignificance.Rapeby the whitefather
is an actof pureviolence,of inscriptionupon the blackmalebodyof his
Lawof power.The blackmaleSenegaleseor Guadeloupeanbodyis in-
fusedwithpowerandmystery.The youngFrantzmustseethem.A glance
at theirblackness,a touchof theirclothesputshim in rapture.But he is
afraidof theirpowerof seduction.Fanontells the storyof a youngboy
attractedto blackbodiesbutrecoilsfrominvestigating thisattractionfur-
therexceptto underscorethe culturalaspectohisdesire.To Fanon,the
unityof the self, howeverfictional,constitutedduringthe mirrorstage
and supportingthe individualconceptionof the self, is lackingin the
developmentof the blackman becauseof historicaland economicrea-
sons.Whenthe unityof the self is threatened,hallucination occurs.For
the whiteman,the hallucinatedimagois a blackman,but for the black
man it is a white man. This dual hallucinationdoes not workfor the

late, Banania,had a laughing Senegalesesoldier with a chechiaon the box with the slogan
"Y'abon Banania!"The Senegalesesoldierwas constructedas fearless,cruel, and sexually
threateningin the texts and representationsof the Frenchcolonialarmy.They were often
used as repressiveforces against rebellious natives in Madagascar,Reunion Island, and
Indochina. For an interpretationof the black soldier'sbody as source of racialanxiety in
Germany,see Klaus Theweleit, Male Fantasies, trans. Stephan Conway,Erica Carter,and
ChrisTurner,2 vols. (Minneapolis,1987).
30. It is said that middle-classMartinicanstend to regardGuadeloupeanswith some
contemptfor their "blackness."

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 CriticalInquiry Spring1997 589

Antillean,who,becausehe thinkshe is white,wearsa whitemask,has a

blackhallucinatedimago.
The significanceof the look in the constructionof the Otheris evi-
dent in Fanonand, of course,in BeingandNothingness.Sartreinsistson
the significanceof the lookfor one'ssenseof being:"Weexperienceour
inapprehensible being-for-others in the form of a possession.I am pos-
sessedby the Other;the Other'slookfashionsmy bodyin its nakedness,
causesit to be born, sculpturesit, producesit as it is, sees it as I shall
neversee it.''3lThe self is constitutedby the look of the Other:"L'Autre
me voit,doncje suis."32 Fanonpresentsthe Negroas prisonerof thewhite
maSslookandviceversa.The lookof the Otherbecomesone'sowncon-
science,andthe illusionof beingconstantlywatchedprecludesanypossi-
bilityof ambiguitybecausethe Otherzs the mirrorin whichone sees
oneself.Whitesandblacksarelockedin a mortalembrace.
But LacanattackedSartre'sphilosophy and by extensionFanon's.
In hisessayon the mirrorstage,Lacanwrote:"Thatphilosophy[ofbeing
and nothingness]grasps negativityonly within the limits of a self-
sufficiencyof consciousness,which,as one of its premises,links to the
meconnaissances thatconstitutethe ego, the illusionof autonomyto which
FanoWs
it entrustsitself."33 readingof LacanthroughSartresupported
his theoryof botha Lacanianunderstanding of desireappliedto the colo-
nialsituationanda Sartrianconsciousness thatanimatedthe strugglefor
emancipation. The desirefor anotherwasthe desirefor thatother'sde-
sire for oneself,or whatthe blackdesiredwas the white'sdesire(even
negative)for the black,and viceversa.YetFanonforeclosedin the same
gesturethe symbolicinscriptionof thisdesirebecausehe couldintegrate
the black'sdesirefor the whiteonly as the productof socialalienation.
Desireand differencehad to be annulledby changingthe orderof the
world.Fanonaspiredto a universal theuniversally human anddiffer-
ence couldonlybe invidious.The unconsciouswasthe negativeof con-
sciousness;it maskedtheconsciousness. The goalwasthereforeto destroy
the whitemaskon blackconsciousness. The politicalprojectbornout of
thisapproachwasto achieve,not singularities, but a totality.Behindthe
mask,the revealedtruth.The disavowal of Antilleanhistoryandthe con-

31. Sartre,Being and Nothingness:An Essayon PhenomenologicalOntology,trans Hazel E.

Barnes(New York,1956),p. 364.
32. FranSoisGeorge,Deux etudessur Sartre (Paris,1976), p. 321; quoted in MartinJay,
"Sartre,Merleau-Ponty,and the Searchfor a New Ontologyof Sight,"in Modernityand the
Hegemonyof Vision,ed. David MichaelLevin (Berkeley,1993), p. 156. I have chosen not to
use the termgaze, which is now often understoodin Lacanianterms.There is a difference
in Lacan between the look and the gaze. No individualcan give the gaze. It seems that
Fanonis closerto the Sartrianconceptof the look ratherthan to Lacan'sconceptof the gaze.
33. Lacan, "The MirrorStage as Formativeof the Functionof the I as Revealedin
PsychoanalyticExperience,"p. 6.

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590 FranfoiseVerges FanonandDisavowal

sequentfamilyromancewerethusbuiltupon the avowalof the mecha-

nismsof desirein the colony,but this avowalwasmadeby appealingto
transparent consciousness.To Lacan,in the Sartrianapproach,the "con-
sciousnessof the other[could]be satisfiedonlyby Hegelianmurder." The
psychoanalysis"
possibilityof an "existential wasdismissedby Lacan,for
whomthe functionof meconnaissancewasthe startingpointof anyunder-
standingof the processof subjectformation.34 By contrast,Fanon'sap-
proachdeniedanymeconnaissancebecauseit wouldhavequestionedthe
Sartrianfreedomof the subject.The empiricalsubjectprecededthe psy-
chicsubject.Misrecognition wasthe productof socialalienation.
Fanonalso responded to Lacan'sremarkon the relationship between
paranoiaandthe fraternalcomplex.Lacan had argued thatthisrelation-
ship could be explainedbecausethe "familygroup is reducedto the
motherandthebrothers"("F," 8.40.11).Fanonappliedthisremarkto the
colonyandwrote:"Afewyearsago, I remarkedto somefriendsduringa
discussionthatin a generalsensethe whitemanbehavestowardthe Ne-
gro as an elderbrotherreactsto the birthof a younger"(BS, p. 157).If
the whiteolderbrotherhad reactedwithjealousyand paranoiato the
intrusionof the youngerblackbrother,who was the mother?Wasit
France,motherFrance?Frantzhad provenhis loyaltywhenFrancehad
been threatened:"Whenmen . . . invadedFrancein orderto subjugate
her,my positionas a Frenchmanmadeit plainto me thatmy placewas
not outsidebut in the veryheartof the problem"(BS, p. 203). Fraternite
had been a promiseof the FrenchRevolution;Antilleanmen thought
that they wouldbe welcomedby their metropolitanbrothers.But the
brothersin the metropolehadreactedwithjealousyandhad demonized
the youngerblackbrother,projectingonto him all theiraggressivefeel-
ingsmixedwiththe guiltfor thesefeelings all thison top of attraction
and desire.
Fanonhad campaignedfor AimeCesairein 1946whenthe antico-
lonialistsin the old colonies Martinique,Guadeloupe,Guyana,Re-
union werefightingfor departmentalstatus,for assimilationand the
applicationof sociallawsand regulationsin the workplace.Theyaspired
to socialequalitywiththe metropolitan brothers,and Fanonrightlyana-
lyzedthe rejectionof the colonizedbrothersin psychoanalytical terms:
anxiety,jealousy,and fearsof the metropolitanbrothers.However,the
bodythe Antilleanmen werefightingfor wasnot merelyFrancebut re-
publicanFranceandits Revolutionary Antilleansdid notthinkof
ideals.35
themselvesas whiteorblack;theybelievedthattheywereFrenchcitizens.
34. Ibid.
35. See the speechesof Aime Cesaire,Gastonde Monnerville,Leon de Lepervanche,
and RaymondVergesat the Archivesof the ConstitutiveNationalAssemblyof 1945. To be
sure, these anticolonialistleaders demanded assimilation,and this gesture can be read
merely as the demand of alienated fools (which is Fanon'sreading in TheWretched of the
Earth).However,it would be too simple to reduce the radicalismof republicanideals in

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 CriticalInquiry Spring1997 591

But to Fanonthe AntilleanNegroremainedimprisonedin the mir-

ror stage,in the mirageof the imaginaryother.The AntilleanNegrois
forevercapturedin thismirage.Fanonpresupposesthe empiricalsubject
of sociology,and he opposes empiricalrealityto psychicrealityeven
thoughhe knows,andargues,thatpsychicrealityinformsempiricalreal-
ity.Wearein a systemof presence/absenceseeingimpliespresence.The
existenceof one termis determinedby the presenceof the other.Rather
than thinkingthe relationself/otherin dynamicterms,Fanonpositsa
pointof stasis.The Negrolooksin the mirrorand sees a white.Taking
off the mask,he is supposedto see himself.Thereis no thirdterm,no
languagethatmediatesdesireand subjectivization. Identityis governed
by the Otherratherthanarticulatedby both the Other'sdesireand dif-
ference.
In the paragraphsfollowinghis theoryof the mirrorstage, Fanon
turnsto his theoryof femalesexuality.He analyzesthe reasonsforwhich
"theNegrosymbolizesthe biologicaldanger"(BS, p. 165),whythe Ne-
gro = biology= penis(seeBS, p. 170).He contendsthatthe conception
of the Negro as biologyis neededto fulfillsexualfantasies,whetherof
whitepassivehomosexualsor of sexuallyrepressedwhitewomen(seeBS,
pp. 165, 177).Todevelophis analysisoffemalesexuality,Fanonexplores
whathe callsthe "fantasy: A Negrois rapingme"(BS, p. 178).Fanonuses
HeleneDeutsch'sand MarieBonaparte's theoriesof femalesexualityto
constructa scenariothatexplainswhitefemalesexualityand fantasy.He
followsDeutschand Bonaparte'svisionof progressivesexual develop-
mentof the femalesubjectfromclitoralto clitoral-vaginal pleasureto the
assumptionof her destinywithinfemininity,namely,her roleas mother.
The scenarioconstructedby Fanonbased on Deutschand Bona-
parte'stheoriessaysthatthe littlegirl'sdesireto be violatedis activated
uponwitnessinga childbeingbeatenby the father,the objectinvestedby
the littlegirlwithaggressivelibido.Shewantsto be beatenby her father
as well.But the fatherrefusesto fulfillthe aggressiverole demandedby
the unconsciousof the littlegirlwhenshe is aroundfive.The aggressive-
ness of the little girl is now withoutsupportand needs to be invested
elsewhere.Sinceat this age the littlegirl has accessto cultureand folk-
lore,the Negrobecomesthe "predestined repositoryof [thegirl's]aggres-
sivity.""Weobserve" Fanonwrites "thatwhen a womanlivesa rape
fantasyby a Negro,it is in factthe realizationof a dream,of an intimate
wish.... The womanrapes herself."The proof of this phenomenon
wouldbe that womenoften cry to their partnersduringintercourse:
"Hurtme!"Fanonconcludesthatshe is then realizinga wishto be hurt
like she wouldhavelikedto hurther mother;she realizesindirectlythe
wishto disembowelthe mother(BS, p. 179;trans.mod.).

the colonies to alienation. Fanon posited race as the foundation of the community.The
anticolonialistsposited classand the republic.

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592 FranfoiseVerges Fanonand Disavowal

Fanonseems to have adoptedBonaparte'sreadingof Freud'ssce-

narioratherthanFreud's.Bonapartearguedthatif in the fantasyof the
littlegirlthe beatenchildis mostoftena boy,it is "aboveall becauseshe
wishesher fatherto beat whatis equivalentto the child in her uncon-
scious,namelyher smallmale phallus,the clitorismultipliedas a royal
pluralin the finalbeatingphantasy." "Beating,in fact,"Bonapartesays,
"isan actpreliminary to penetration,to effraction.One knocksat a door
beforeentering.One shakes,if necessary,the lock or key."The penis
becomesfor the womanthe substitutefor the "rod"with which,as the
littlegirl,she wishedto be beaten.The maSspenisgives"blows" to the
woman,andit is a "sortof beating"thatsheloves,Bonaparteconcludes.36
FanoWsscenarioechoes Bonaparte's.The "Hurtme!"that he claims
womenscreamto theirpartneris the expressionof theirdesirethatthe
penisactas a rod.
The fantasy"ANegrois rapingme"is thus the conjunctionof two
desires:to disembowelthe motherand to be beaten/penetrated by the
father'spenis. Both desiresare fulfilledthroughthe fantasyof being
rapedby the Negro.The Negrooccupiesboththe positionof the father
fulfillingthe wishto be hurtand the wishto attackthe mother.Thereis
a conflationbetweenthe littlegirlandthe Negro,andthe latterbecomes
the aggressorof the female/maternal body.The Negro can occupythis
placebecauseculturehasconstructedhimas violentand murderous.In
the Freudianfantasy,beatingalsomeansto thechildan affirmation of the
father'slove.The Negrowouldthen givethe whitewomana masochistic
affirmationof love. Fanonthen wondershow this fantasyworksfor the
womanof colorandconcludes,paraphrasing Freudin Femininity:"Wedo
not know."Yet,evenif he does not know,Fanonis stillableto arguethat
for manywomenof the Antillesthe typicalaggressoris representedby
the Senegalese,or at anyrateby a sociallyor raciallyinferiorman(BS, p.
180;trans.mod.).37

36. Marie Bonaparte,"'AChild Is Being Beaten'.. . or a Woman,"FemaleSexuality,

trans.John Rodker(New York,1953),pp. 84, 85.
37. But we saw that it was the young Frantzwho was fascinatedby the Senegalese.
Homi Bhabha,in his essay "RememberingFanon:Self, Psyche,and the Colonial Condi-
tion,"alludesto this passage.He saysthat Fanonignoresgender differenceand that his use
of the term man connotes humanness.Bhabhathen writesthat Fanon "pre-emptsa fuller
psychoanalyticdiscussionof the productionof psychicaggressivityin identificationand its
relationto culturaldifferenceby citing the culturalstereotypeas the predestinedaim of the
sexual drive."It seems to me that Fanon presentsa psychoanalyticaldiscussionof sexuality
and the racialrelation.Fanoncollapsesthe culturaland psychologicalbecausethis synthesis
is the very foundationof his theory.The questionis not to bringa "facilechargeof 'sexism"'
againstFanon,whichis what Bhabhawantsto avoid,but to deconstructthe terms through
which Fanonarrivesat his conclusionsaboutfemale sexuality(Homi Bhabha,"Remember-
ing Fanon:Self, Psyche,and the ColonialCondition,"in ColonialDiscourseand Post-Colonial
Theory:A Reader,ed. PatrickWilliamsand LauraChrisman[New York,1994], p. 123).

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 CriticalInquiry Spring 1997 593

Basedon his interpretation of womeSssexualfantasies,Fanoncon-

structsa theoryof blackmasculinity thatdemandsof blackwomena "love
that will strengthen[the blackman] by endorsing[his] assumptionof
manhood" whichseems to be Fanon'sconceptionof love (BS,p. 41;
trans.mod.).Fanonassumesthatthereis one conceptionof masculinity,
one thatrequiresfemalesubmission.Womenare a degradedmirrorfor
the blackman,and men are the effectivemirrorthatreaffirmsthe unity
of the self.The Martinican psychiatrist
clearlyunderstandsthatthe femi-
ninizationof the colonizedmanimpliesat oncedesirability andweakness
and that sexual identityis tied inevitablyto culturalidentityand the
structuresof power.Butthe recoveryof thiswoundedmasculinity is done
at the expenseof women'sowndesires.Fanon'sphallocentrism maybe a
responseto emasculationby whites,but the storythathe tellsis a story
amongmen withwomen'sbodiesas hostagesin the racialwar.Desirefor
rape is centralin the Fanoniananalysisof femalesexuality.Withinhis
developmental model,Fanonpositsan ego woundedby colonialismthat
can recoverits unity and autonomythroughviolentcatharsis.It is a
transparent ego. Fanon'sinsistenceon the cultural,as wellas his concep-
tionof masculinity, leadhimto finallyembracea notionof an unpolluted
ego reachedthroughstagesof progressivedevelopment.
It wasin Algeriathat Fanonfound the virilemalethatwouldbelie
the colonialconstructionof emasculatedmasculinity.What Dora had
been for Freudand his theoryof hysteria,whatAimeehad been for La-
canand his theoryof paranoia,theArabMuslimmanwasfor Fanonand
his theoryof colonialpsychopathology. Withthe Algerianfighter,Fanon
foundan individualwhosemasculinityhadbeen woundedbut whohad,
in contrastto the blackman of the Antilles,the courageto attackthe
castratingmaster,the Frenchman,and to castratehim in return.Albert
Memmihas arguedthatfor Fanon"identification withAlgeriatook the
place of an unattainableidentificationwith Martinique" ("IL,"p. 17).
Fanon'sembraceof Algeriawastotal.As Memmiwrote,"Amanwho has
neverset footin a countrydecideswithina ratherbriefspanof timethat
thispeoplewillbe his people,thiscountryhis countryuntildeath,even
thoughhe knowsneitherits languagenorits civilizationand hasno par-
ticularties to it" ("IL,"p. 22). Fanonthoughtthat the Antilleanscould
not liberatethemselves."Oneof thesedays,Francewillforceyou to take
your independenceby kickingyour ass. You will owe it to Algeria,
our Algeria,"he said to a Guyanesefriendin 1958.38BerteneJuminer
describedhow Fanonwas gloatingwhen some weekslater there were

38. Quoted in Bertene Juminer, in "Hommages a Frantz Fanon," PresenceAfricaine 40

(1962): 126.

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594 FranfoiseVerges FanonandDisavowal

riots in Martinique.ManyMartinicanshad been killedby the French

police,and Fanonsaid:

Theyshouldtaketheirdead,disembowelthemandexhibitthemon
trucksthroughoutthe city,screamingto the people:"Thisis the
deedof the colonialists."
Buttheywillneverdo suchthing.Theywill
againvotesomemiserablemotionsandreturnto theirmiserablelife.
In a way,this angryoutburstreassuresthe colonialists.It is only a
release,somethinglikean eroticdream.Onemakesloveto a shadow.
Onesoilshis bed. Butthe dayafter,everythingis backto order.One
does not thinkaboutit anymore.39

Angrydemonstrations againstcolonialismin Martinique were,to Fanon,

a man'swetdream.
Fanon'sphilosophyof the alienatedsubjectthatpresupposeda before
of truthand integrityand an afterof regainedauthenticitycouldnot be
appliedto the Creolesubject.Therewasno precolonialcultureand soci-
ety to returnto, no pastto glorify,no heroicfathers,no momentbefore
the Master.ThusFanondisavoweda societyin whichthe Masteris always
present,on the sceneof historyandin the primalscene.Fanondisavowed
the Creolefiliation:the enslavedfatherand the rapedmothercouldnot
be his parents.Nor did he symbolizemetissage, thisencounter,violentor
loving,betweenpeopleof differentracesof whichhe wasa product.For
Fanon,the Antilleanswere emasculatedmen. Algeriagave Fanonhis
dreamedfiliation.It embodiedthe future of emancipatedmankind
and could claim, Fanon imagined,a precolonialpast untaintedby
the whites.40
Algeriawasthe authenticsceneof recoveredvirility.Fanonclaimed
thathe had finallyencounteredhis fathers.He wrotenospereswhenhe
spoke of the Algeriansin the nationalistnewspaperEl Moudjahid. To
Fanon,the Antilleanswerecaughtin the realmof the Imaginary.The
relationto the Otherwasskewedbecausethe Otheris alwaysthe white
whooccupiesthe positionof the Symbolic,of language,and of the Law.
The nativemother,on the otherhand,hinderedthe subject'saccessto a
blackauthenticSymbolic.Fanonspokeof"lactification," or nursingby
the mother,to designatethe alienateddesirefor whiteness(BS,p. 47).
Fanon'sanalysisof the psychopathology of the Negroof the Antilles,
of the blackCreole,hasdeeplyinfluencedpostcolonialpsychiatry andits
therapeuticproject.His disavowalof the creolite of the Antilleanfamily
39. Quoted in ibid., p. 127.
40. See Fanon, Towardthe African Revolution, trans. Haakon Chevalier(New York,
1967), pp. 146, 179. ChristopherMillerhas noted the missionaryaspect of this vision. He
writes that the "relationbetween North and South, between 'AfricanAlgeria'and 'all of
Africa"'was conceived by Fanon as a "relationof uplifting, tutelage, and assimilation"
(ChristopherL. Miller,Theortesof Africans: FrancophoneLiteratureand Anthropologyin Africa
[Chicago,1990], p. 49).

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 CriticalInquiry Spring1997 595

andhis constructionof a Creolemasculinity and femininity,entirelysub-

jected to the desireof the white,havesupporteda conceptionof man-
hood and womanhoodalonglines thathaveenforcedheterosexualand
modernizingnorms.Creolesocietiesmight have been "unheroic," but
their"unheroic. . . responseensuresthatpartof the stagealwaysremains
occupiedby the 'cowardly' and the 'compromising' whomayat someop-
portunemomentasserttheirpresence.''4l Fanon'snotionof masculinity
proposeda modernization of the Creolemalethroughhis entranceinto
a "responsibilized" patriarchy. The Antilleanmalewasweak;he danced
and sang,mimickingthe whiteman,whenhe shouldhaveseizeda gun
and fought.
Today,similardiscoursesdefinethe Creolemen of the Frenchterri-
toriesas men who do not knowhow to takecareof theirfamilies.They
are not disciplined.They refuseto work.They are everythingthat the
modernwhitemanis not:violent,drunk,lazy,fatheringbut not parent-
ing. The historyof masculinity in the colonyis inseparablefromthe his-
toryof the strategiesof the Frenchstateto disciplinethe colonizedandof
the historyof the sitesof resistanceto Frenchconceptionsof masculinity.
Fanon'sinsightsinto the constructionof masculinities in the colonyde-
serveto be reconsideredwithrecentworksin anthropology, feministthe-
ory,and psychology,with the worksof poets and writerswhosewords
speakaboutthe peoplewhohad"noIndustrialRevolution,no revolution
of anykind,no AgeofAnything,no worldwars,no decadesof turbulence
balancedby decadesof calm."42 But theyare peoplewhoseimagination,
myths,and narrativestell the storyof masters,slaves,maroons,mad
people:womenand men yokedtogetheron smallislandsby history.

41. Ashis Nandy, The IntimateEnemy:Loss and Recoveryof Self under Colonialism(New
Delhi, 1993),p. 111.
42. JamaicaKincaid,A Small Place (New York,1988),p. 79.

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