From: abhatti-AT-ccs.carleton.ca (akram bhatti) Subject: Re: Fanon Date: Thu, 7 Nov 96 20:15:11 EST Hello to all: I find the interest in Fanon inspiring. I think one of Fanon points of many that was not explicitly stated is the continuing reliance, that those of us involved in the whole "postcolonial" discourse , on Western categories to articulate postcolonial experiences. Some of them of migration, dislocation, displacement, the desire to name experience, to (re)create identity, anti-essentialist thrust of analysis etc...but I wonder why we continue to use enlightment categories of philosphy and sociology as our white fathers and mothers of modernism's past. I am not saying that we can necessarily escape the use of these Western epistemological categories but if "we" are going to envisage an alter/native perspective then we need to re-think the categories and classificatory tools that are at hand. I am not sure if the above is all clear but I think Fanon at the level of the nation-state whereas what is precisely different today, if you like postcolonial in my opinion, is that the level of critique has to traverse the global-local which as Stuart Hall stated cannot be "read against the nation-state template." Fanon is an invaluable "father" for postcolonial discourse in his brilliance to expose teh "bad" within the colonized ie., the Western educated Native elite who become the future colonizers. There is much more to say but will entertain discussion by all means. Fanon asks the Black man what does he want? I think we need to ask ourselves what does the postcolonial subject want? I know that I am often wondering at my complete mental reliance on Western categories when I look to the East so to speak, to speak of the East. Am I really speaking or simply mimicking more like aping? I am not sure. Well to those that get to this point sorry about the long email just some thoughts for a Thurday evening as I (evening) dream about Fanon and wonder about the man and how to stay "true" to his concerns for the dark side of the world. --- from list postcolonial-AT-lists.village.virginia.edu ---
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