Reading Anticolonialism

UG - Undergraduate

This course offers an immersive introduction into the history and thinking of anticolonial practice through an in-depth engagement with Frantz Fanon's The Wretched of the Earth, one of the most influential works in anticolonial thought. Fanon, a Martinique-born psychoanalyst joined the anti-colonial struggle against French colonialism in Algeria and diagnosed the relationship between the colonized and colonizer. This work inspired members of the Black Panther Party, anti-racist movements in the US as well as anti-colonial and anti-imperialist movements across the world. Influential political thinker Angela Davis names it as one of six books everyone should read. Spending the bulk of the semester close reading this text, we will not simply "do the readings"; instead, students will be taught to spend extended time with the text, examining it from multiple angles and responding critically to its arguments. We will also read Fanon's influence in contemporary Hip Hop, Black radical writing, global anti-colonial political movements and activist organizing.

This course introduces students to an anticolonial lens on modern history--with accounts of major world events that diverge starkly from the Eurocentric versions that typically dominate both academic and popular tellings. Fanon's text will serve as a springboard to discuss the psychological, social, and political impacts of colonialism, violence, and liberation struggles in the colonized world. By the end of the course, students will not only be familiar with the canonical significance of The Wretched of the Earth but will also explore the relationship of Fanon's ideas to the (neo-)colonial present.

Through rigorous analysis, the class will train students to dissect language, explore subtext, question assumptions, and make active use of the text's ideas in their own artistic practice and intellectual and political work, and weekly writing workshops will guide students in the relationship between critical reading and critical writing practices.