Date: Thu, 2 Nov 1995 10:53:39 +0800
Subject: Re: Fanon's "dual narcissism"


Hi Holger

Well, I am not sure about your last point in relation to Hegel:

>in my view, that, by sticking to the warped concepts of "black" and
>"white", both have not yet arrived at their true humanity, which would see
>only one race, i.e. the human race.
>

With more thought and discussion I think maybe Fanon suggests that the term
"dual narcissism" is a kind of 'double self applause'.  It seems that this
'double self applause' is linked to a consciousness of Schizophrenia
(meaning having an existential beingness of Black, and a projected image of
'white' which is equated with being civilised and superior) and Alienation (
in the mainstream Marxist sense).  I guess the alienation comes about from
the "self-denial" of one's beingness?

I think that what I have said is similar to what you are saying:
   
>For Fanon this inferior self-perception is his
>psychoexistential Dasein/existence: "For the black man there is only ONE
>destiny.  And it is white."  The white man does not suffer from any similar
>self-denial.

I'd appreciate your feedback/comment on my further thoughts.

Regards Debbie




>Hi Deb,
>
>In a message dated 95-10-31 21:31:33 EST, you write:
>
>> I have read Freud's paper
>>'On Narcissism: An Introduction' for further clarification, but I am not
>>much clearer.  Fanon I think links the idea of "dual narcissism"  to the
>>notion of an authentic seal of 'whiteness' for the white man and 'blackness'
>>for the black man (man = men in Fanon's work here!).  I take the meaning of
>>dual as twofold or double then perhaps what is being suggested is two
>>"instincts of self-preservation" (Freud 66) that parallel each other in the
>>desire for authenticity of 'whiteness' and 'blackness'.
>
>I have just re-read the Fanon passage and in my mind he suggests the
>following.  First, I would not necessarily link his comment to close to
>Freud's concept, because Fanon makes it clear that "the black man's
>alienation is not an individual question".  And indeed the black man's
>blackness is, or at least (historically) was for a long time, constructed as
>inferiority.  For Fanon this inferior self-perception is his
>psychoexistential Dasein/existence: "For the black man there is only ONE
>destiny.  And it is white."  The white man does not suffer from any similar
>self-denial.  He is what he is what he is: "The white man SLAVES to reach the
>human level."  But, as Hegel pointed out correctly, BOTH the slave and his
>master are prisoners who have not yet attained their full humanity.  "I
>believe that the individual should tend to take on the universality inherent
>in the human condition", Fanon writes, but the hastens to point out what
>Nietzsche said, namely, that our personality is being constructed during the
>socialization processes of our childhood. "Dual narcissism", then, would
>mean, in my view, that, by sticking to the warped concepts of "black" and
>"white", both have not yet arrived at their true humanity, which would see
>only one race, i.e. the human race.
>
>Let me know what you think.
>
>
>Holger Henke
>
>
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>
>

--------------------------------------

Debbie Rodan
Dept. English and Comparative Lit.
d_rodan-AT-central.murdoch.edu.au



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