Cultural Conundrums: Gender, Race, Nation, and the Making of Caribbean Cultural Politics - Essay Example

?A CRITICISM TO FANON Frantz Fanon was born in Martinique which is an overseas region of France. His doctoral thesis, The Disalienation of the Black Man, was rejected and became the foundation of Black Skin, White Mask. The book was written to open the mind of the public about racial problems that other races, especially blacks, are encountering everyday of their lives. Just as the title itself, the literary work was aimed to disclose that a black man needs to wear a white mask to be treated humanely in the society. Even if people would not say a word, just by the look towards black people, it can already be considered as discriminating enough. During the time when the book was written, most of the black men were commonly treated and/or employed as slaves of white men (Fanon, 1952). Anti-colonial struggle can commonly be observed when the locals of a country are fighting not just for their independence but also for their identity. This is very evident especially in Algeria where Fanon went after leaving France. He went there after the publication of the book. However, the thesis of the book can be related to this. A colony can be considered as the black skin that is being ruled by the white mask who is their colonizers. After getting married to a French white woman, Josie Duble, when he started on a new path, he became more concerned with anti-colonial struggle (Fanon, 1952; Pritchard, 2004). The French colonized Martinique in 1695. Together with Guadeloupe and Saint Domigue, they were considered as the old colony. Their economies drastically increased in 3 decades after being colonized (Pritchard, 2004). Black locals though became slaves to white foreigners in the land where there were born and raised. Martinique has been featured in movies and considered as one of a traveller’s getaway havens with its location in the Caribbean. There is one statue at the Savane Park that catches every tourist’s attention. This is the decapitated statue of Josephine Tascher, one of most popular citizen of Martinique who became Napoleon’s lover, wife and empress. Her statue at the park was decapitated a century after Josephine herself almost failed to escape (Barnes, 2006). The decapitation of the statue is said to be the people’s retaliation to Josephine. On the pedestal where the statue stands, words were scribed with the use of red paint. The words written are “Respe ba Matinik. Respe ba 22 Me” or when translated to English “Respect Matinique. Respect May 22.” The date mentioned was the anniversary of the 1848 slave rebellion which steered the abolition of the slavery (Barnes, 2006). Respect is the keyword. Let the whites respect the blacks as they also deserve to be respected. Since being colonized by the French, the people of Martinique looked as the minority in their own land. Instead of them capitalizing on the produce of their lands, they only tend the land for French capitalist. Thinking that they are lesser than the whites, they as blacks sort of threw back their origins and embraced the white culture just to be accepted and treated equally. Locals of Martinique did not have any place in government and were just slaves and workers for the French colonizers (Macey, 2002). When the slavery period ended in 1848, blacks were still not treated equally. Even when black locals started to be educated, they were still being looked at as slaves. It is like telling people that one need not to look at a pretty face or a fair skin to be judged whether you are a good person or not. What is inside a person’s mind and heart is more important than what can be seen with the eyes. A person’s skin colour does not dictate that person’s social status. When a person is white, it does not mean that he belongs to the upper class. When a person is black, it does not mean that he is doomed to be a slave (Macey, 2002). Fanon became a psychiatrist in an Algerian psychiatric hospital during the war. He wanted to get the meaning of things in this world; he desired to get to the source. In search of it, he became focused on the object surrounded by other objects. His desire was blocked when he came into the world and realized that he was just another object. He then met a person who aimed for liberation. This person helped him get back on track. He found himself back to what he originally aimed for (Macey, 2002). Coming into France, Fanon did not have an easy time trying to fit in. White men looked at him like he is a being scaring other people. This is a heartbreaker. He began to have a certain desire because of this. His desire of getting the meaning in this world was hindered by the colour of his skin. That did not stop him. He studied in one of the universities in France and finished a doctorate degree. He did not feel racism through what have been spoken but how with what have been acted towards him. According to the interview of Stuart Hall in the documentary, that is what Fanon would call the “depersonalized-self” or the “colonial self.” He has been already judged just by his personalized appearance and by his roots. It was also said that the “book is not all about racism but a black man wearing a white mask for himself” (Stuart, 1996). Being a colony of France for centuries, it has been Martinique’s “father.” The black child or the colony has that dependency on its white father or the colonizer. It is like treating a white man properly hoping that they would be treated even with a much bit of whiteness. They are hoping for this so that they can taste a little equality, a little acceptance and appreciation from those who have fairer skins than theirs. There were feminists who later on would criticize Fanon for not being fair to Mayotte Capecia since he failed to look at various factors such as the historical text and what Capecia was trying to discuss. Capecia wrote that there is a possibility that white men can help black women to escape the brutality women are experiencing on the hands of a Martinique father which Fanon opposed. He just saw Capecia’s desire for whiteness. However, Fanon took a white woman to be his wife. He was quoted that whomever he chooses as the object of his desire is nobody’s business. Can’t this also be one of the things that Capecia may have written which was not discovered? Black women can also desire white men and be accepted. Women can also say that it is nobody’s business whether they chose a white partner rather than a partner from their own race. Fanon’s brother, Joby, quoted a statement which he made when asked for the reason for marrying a European woman. A question remains unresolved as to why Fanon chose the partner he desired regardless of race but others cannot. “I don’t feel like abandoning my personality by marrying a European woman. If my children are looked down upon, if the crescents of their fingertips are examined, it will be simply because society will not have changed; it will have kept its mythologies intact. For my part, I refuse to consider this issue from the standpoint of either/or.” Joby Fanon stated it during an interview in the documentary (1996). When Fanon addressed this, it is like only black men are the only ones who should be accepted on having a partner from another race. In his case, he married a white European woman. This is where a bit of controversy was stirred up. Fanon was quite used of having such controversies and was not afraid to answer them. Blacks are not just men. There are also women. Therefore if black men should be accepted of having interracial relationships, then the same should also apply to the black women. The same goes with homosexuals. They just have the equal rights as the heterosexuals regardless of their race. After getting his doctorate degree, he got a job in a hospital in France. After a couple months of practice there, he told his brother Joby that there are already a handful of psychiatrists in France to take care of all mental patients. That it is not the place where he should be practicing his degree. He said that he would rather practice either in Martinique or in Africa. He wanted to work for a country that is under colonial domination. In 1952, shortly after completion of his residency, he was appointed as chief of the Blida-Joinville Psychiatric Hospital in Algeria (McPherson, 2007). Or could it be that he would rather serve mental patients with the same colour of skin than those patients who belonged to the race that colonized his motherland? He stirred up controversies while he was in Blida. He has this belief that for a person to be mentally healthy, he should be a part of a healthy society. He freed the mental patients from their chains. He revolutionized mental health care in the facility almost immediately. He also removed any art that constitutes colonization or any form of violence. This started a sense of somewhat freedom to his patients (McPherson, 2007). Here it can be said that the colonization has a negative effect towards not just the physical aspect of a country but how the people who had been taken over would think and feel. The Algerian War of Liberation in 1954 was causing an increasingly unreceptive environment for the mental patients. It is said that there is a psychoanalytic approach when language cannot function anymore. Once language is non-functional, violence is used to maintain the social contract. Violence is then used to start a dialogue therefore language can be once again used. Torture was used against people to gain information against their opponents. Such actions are still being used up to present time. This is according to Alice Cherki who is a psychoanalyst. She used to be an intern for Fanon in Blida (McPherson, 2007). Fanon, according to his brother, was confronted with a major dilemma of healing a mental person which is rejecting the society which Fanon believes would be helping the patient in his healing process. So what he has believed is that he needs to reform the society where the patient can re-enter it. This is what socio-therapy is all about. It was developed by Dr. Toscelles at the St. Alban’s Hospital in France (McPherson, 2007). His practiced when analysed can be thought as if being mentally unhealthy is because that patient is not accepted by society. There can be too many factors. One can be social class, gender and even race. Since the war commenced, the more the patients were confined inside the facility in its buildings. They cannot go outside due to the threats that the war brings to the country. This is working against the beliefs and theories of Fanon. He rebelled against the administration and that backfired at all his innovations. He then felt that his theories now should be practiced in a larger society which made him decide to go back to Martinique. He stated in his resignation letter in 1956: How can one describe the status of Algeria? It amounts to systematic dehumanization. […] The events in Algeria are the logical result of a failed attempt to deprive an entire people of its intellect. […] My decision is, at whatever cost, to accept no further responsibility under the false pretext that one cannot do otherwise. For all these reasons I must ask you to accept my resignation and terminate my appointment in Algeria (McPherson, 2007). Fanon went straight on with the French government as to what is happening in Algeria. Black men started to fight against the white men for the land taken away from their ancestors centuries ago. They fought against the people who took their forefathers slaves. When blacks became educated, they are seeing more and more of the things and rights that they are being deprived of. When they started fighting with their minds, the whites fought with their guns and re-entered fear in the equation. But the black people are not afraid anymore. They have learned how to fight and that is the reason why the war for freedom began. After this statement, he was eventually expelled by the French government from Algeria. Fanon then settled in Tunis as a full-time member of Front de Liberation Nationale (FLN). He was shortly reunited with his wife Josie and his son, Olivier (McPherson, 2007; Onwar.Com, 2003) Stuart Hall described the use of the veil as a way to bar others to see what is not needed to be seen. But it is not preventing the person who wears the veil to see what is happening around her. Algerian women who were involved in the struggle used their veil to transport explosives and fire arms during the war. They were able to do this because the French actually respected the beliefs of these women and their religion which is Islam. He stated that these women can use their veils against their meaning. The way that Fanon has stated this matter could be said that it was an act being done with time (McPherson, 2007; Onwar.Com, 2003). It can be considered that though what have been printed is true, Islamic women are deeply honoured and respected in the religion. Even white men do not touch Islamic women. When it was found out that militants are using their women in war, it put the women in danger. There were people who disagreed with Fanon’s rationalization of the conservatism of Algerians especially their women. With this in mind, Algerian women were sent away to Tunisia since it was becoming too much of a problem for the army to protect the women of their land. Stuart Hall said that if the essay will be put into the context of Algerian Islamic culture, Fanon does not have much understanding and failed to see the complexity of the religion and the culture itself. Culture then takes revenge on the revolution itself (McPherson, 2007; Onwar.Com, 2003). Daniel Boukman, a poet and a playwright stated that in 1961, Fanon became an inspiration to the Algerians and legitimized their actions. Fanon was already been diagnosed with leukaemia and was already dying during the French colonial war (McPherson, 2007; Onwar.Com, 2003). Charles de Gaulle proclaimed Algeria to be an independent country on July 3, 1962. However it was only on July 5th that the Provisional Executive proclaimed the official independence. This coincided with the 132nd year when the French landed on Algerian soil. The eight-years of war caused the lives of an estimated 300,000 men and women. Hall however stated during the middle of the documentary that wars are more violent than what is written. So the estimated number may just be the accredited numbers of deaths and not the official ones (Onwar.Com, 2003). After the Algerian independence was proclaimed, the country failed to get up from the slumped that the war brought to them. They paid a very high price for their coveted independence. In 1965 however, it was recorded that an estimated half a million Algerians migrated to France for economic purposes. It is such a peculiar act since the Algerians decided for the French to leave their land but in return they would go to France to improve their way of living. It was the so-called duty of the French as a colonizing country to just accept the migrants coming from Algeria with the aim of easing the growing tension in Algeria with regards to their political situation (House, 2006). During the migration years between 1975 and 1985, certain connotations were given to Algerian descent males and females. Males were connoted as “criminals” and their “refusal to integrate” while the females were connoted as “passive and submissive” and contrary to the males, they were more willing to “integrate.” Since most of the Algerians have French nationality due to the colonization, they did not have much problem of having an equal treatment in the French dominated society. There have been separate factions with regards to the roots or descent of some Algerians. Some would say that they were French in descent as their parents were French and the more recent Algerian who stepped on French soil is from an Algerian descent (House, 2006). Though having black skins, they were wearing white masks to have a better stature in a white dominated foreign country. It is only the country which was liberated from its colonizers, not the countrymen. The Oedipus complex also comes into play. They are being dependent on their white fathers. They flew from their country after it was declared independent and followed their colonizers to their mother-land to continue harvesting the fruits of their white fathers. They are not detaching themselves from the French as it would be beneficial for them if they would be considered as French nationals rather than Algerian nationals in a world where blacks is not much accepted not because they are not capable of doing but because of the colour of their skin and where they have originated (BBC.Com, 2011). After the liberation of the country, it was plagued with war up to this date. Military and Islamist militants are continuously fighting each other. In 1992, a civil war ended the lives of an estimated 150,000 people. Though it was reported that political violence has decreased during the 1990s, it is now being shaken by Al-Qaeda in the Land of Islamic Maghreb (AQLIM) with bombing campaigns (BBC.Com, 2011). Poverty has been spread throughout the country after they were liberated. This was brought about by the damaged that the wars inflicted the country. There were not much income generating factors present therefore the post-war unemployment rate ballooned and the country failed to recover from. It was not a fight any more for freedom but a fight to stand on its own feet. They failed to do such and instead of helping the country where they were born, they embraced the nationality that they were born with due to the colonization. Major demonstrations happened during the early part of 2011 due to high prices of commodity especially of food and what seems to be a never-ending problem of unemployment. It is not just those that plague the country, but also hunger and poverty. Though in Africa, Algeria is the 4th richest country because of its fossil fuels (Abbas, 2010). According to the website of Global Finance, Algeria ranked as the 85th poorest country in the world. It was also stated in the website that it is one of countries with emerging and developing economies. Fanon concluded Black Skin, White Mask with what he called his “final prayer”: “Oh my body, make me always a man of questions!” This is not just his prayers, but the prayers of those with black descent who are being judged just with the colour of their skin. Black men need not open their mouths to speak of who they are and what they are capable of. Just with a look, people have already generalized who they are without even having to question them. They need to prove so many things and yet society is not treating them fair enough. We cannot blame those who were born with Algerian-descent to consider themselves with French nationality as this is giving them more space to breathe and be able to live a more decent life. It was the central representation of the Fanon’s essay. It is not a question of a person’s capability, talent or wisdom. It is always a question about the colour of their skin and where they will be tracing their roots. Even if black people were made slaves in their own land, it does not mean that they do not have any ambitions and that is the only place where they truly belong. Let us not hinder one’s potentials just by the colour of their skin. For those people who have judged because of this, let it not be the cause of anger towards your fellow. Yet let this be the inspiration and the instrument for you to regain one’s freedom and identity. One can be just himself in order to succeed in this world. Let us not be judgmental just because we consider others as different because of their race or ethnicity. Racism has been a problem that a foreigner experiences in a land where his race is considered as a minority. A country that has been colonized has always had an opportunity to experience freedom. When this country has been liberated, its people have also been liberated and should practice independence. Just like what happened after the French colonial war, though the country was freed its people were not. Why? Because of the colonial mentality inculcated to its people. Black men does not have to prove themselves to be as worthy as white men. People were born equally regardless of their race. If the creator made man to be equal with his fellow, then man should treat his fellow equally regardless of their race and the colour of their skin. A black man can be a black man in a white man’s world. It does not make him a minority but he also deserves to be treated equally. 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