The Wretched of the Earth, New York, Grove Press (2005).
by Frantz Fanon
The Wretched of the Earth (French: Les Damnés de la Terre, 1961) is a psychiatric and psychologic analysis of the dehumanising effects of colonization upon the individual man and woman, and the nation, from which derive the broader social, cultural, and political implications inherent to establishing a social movement for the decolonization of being and of peoples. The book presents thorough critiques of nationalism and of imperialism, a discussion of personal and societal mental health, a discussion of how the use of language (vocabulary) is applied to the establishment of imperialist identities, such as colonizer and colonized, and a discussion of role of the intellectual in a revolution. The French-language title, Les Damnés de la Terre, derives from the opening lyrics of “The Internationale”, the 19th-century anthem of the Left Wing.
Frantz Fanon was a Martinique-born Afro-French psychiatrist, philosopher, revolutionary, and writer whose works are influential in the fields of post-colonial studies, critical theory, and Marxism.As an intellectual, Fanon was a political radical, and an existentialist humanist concerning the psychopathology of colonization, and the human, social, and cultural consequences of decolonization. In the course of his work as a physician and psychiatrist, Fanon supported the Algerian War of Independence from France, and was a member of the Algerian National Liberation Front. For more than four decades, the life and works of Frantz Fanon have inspired movements in Palestine, Sri Lanka, the U.S. and South Africa.