4 - Fanon and Development: A Philosophical Look
Corresponding Author(s) : Lewis R. Gordon
Africa Development,
Vol. 29 No. 1 (2004): Africa Development: Special Issue on 'Philosophy and Development'
Abstract
This article examines concepts of imitation, theodicy, and immaturity in Fanon's ideas on development and explores how his critique unfolds in the thought of two scholars influenced by his work: Sylvia Wynter and Irene Gendzier. Wynter, working from a poeticist semiotic perspective, rejects development as a much limited concept premised upon European normativity and calls for building an epistemological revolution. Gendzier, through a genealogical historicist critique of development studies, substantiates Wynter's critique and argues that development studies reveals more about the First World than any others. The author then considers and issues a critique of Amartya Sen's recent effort to rescue development studies through his formulation of development as an economy of freedom. The rest of the article presents an Africana postcolonial phenomenological treatment of freedom as a dialectical relationship between the lived reality of choices and social options and the need for a radical humanistic globalism with which to fight contemporary neoliberal and conservative ones.
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- Alessandrini, A.C., ed., 1999, Frantz Fanon: Critical Perspectives, New 'Routledge.
- Amin, S., 2002, 'Globalization and Capitalism's Second Belle Epoque', Radical Philosophy Review, Vol. 5, Nos. 1-2, pp. 86-95.
- Aristotle, 2002, Aristotle: Nicomachean Ethics, trans. and historical introduction by C. Rowe, philosophical introduction and commentary by S. Broadie, New York, Oxford University Press.
- Arrighi, G., 2002, 'Global Inequalities and the Legacy of Dependency Theory', Radical Philosophy Review, Vol. 5, Nos. 1-2, pp. 75-85.
- Bogues, A.B., 2003, Black Heretics, Black Prophets: Radical Political Intellectuals, New York, Routledge.
- Cugoano, Q.O., 1999, 'Thoughts and Sentiments on the Evil ofSlavery' and Other Writings, ed., V Carretta, New York, Penguin Books.
- Dante Alighieri, 1982, 'The Divine Comedy of Dante Alighieri', volume 1, Inferno. A verse translation by A. Mandelbaurn, with notes by A. Mandelbaum, G. Marruzzo and L. Magnus, with drawings by B. Moser, Toronto: Bantam Books.
- Du Bois, W.E.B., 1969, The Souls a/Black Folk, with introductions by N. Hare and A.F. Poussaint, revised and updated bibliography, New York, Signet Classic/New American Library.
- Eisenstadt, H., cd., 1968, The Protestant Ethic and Modernization, New York,Basic Books.
- Fanon, F., 1991, les Damnés de la terre, preface by J.P. Sartre, presentation by Gérard Chaliand, Pari , Gallimard [1961 edition, published by Maspero].
- Fanon, F., 1967, Black Skin, White Masks, trans. C.L. Markmann, New York, Grove Press.
- Fanon, F., 1963, The Wretch<'d of the Earth, trans. C. Farrington, New York,Grove Press.
- Fanon, F., 1952, Peau noire, masques blancs, Paris, Éditions du Seuil.
- }ates, Jr., H.L., 1991, 'Critical Fanonisl]l', Critical Inquiry, Vol. 17, No. 3, pp.457-478.
- endzier, I.L., 1973, Frantz Fanon: A Critical Study, New York, Pantheon Books. 3endzier, I.L., 1995, Development Against Democracy: Manipulating Political
- Change in the Third World, Hampton, CT, The Tyrone Press.
- ibson, N.C., ed., 1999, Rethinking Fanon: The Continuing Dialogue, Amherst Humanity Books.
- ordon, L, 2004, Forthcoming, 'Philosophical Anthropology, Race, and the Political Economy of Disenfranchisement', Columbia Human Rights Law Review.
- ordon, L, 2003, 'The Human Condition in an Age ofDisciplinary Decadence: Thoughts on Knowing and
- Leaming', Philosophical Studies in Education, Vol. 34, Vol. 1, pp. 105-123.
- ordon, L., 2002, 'A Questioning Body of Laughter and Tears: Reading Black Skin, White Masks through the Cat and Mouse of Reason and a Misguided Theodky'. Parallax, Vol. 8, No. 2, pp. 10-29.
- ordon, L, 2000, Existentia A/ricana: Understanding A/ricana Existential Thought, New York, Routledge.
- ordon, L, ed., 1997, Existence in Black: An Anthology of Black Existential Philosophy, New York, Routledge.
- ordon, L, Sharpley-Whiting, T.D. and White, R.T., eds., 1996, Fanon: A Critical Reader, Oxford, Blackwell Publishers.
- ordon, L, 1995, Fanon and the Crisis of European Man: An Essay on Philosophy and the Human Sciences, New York, Routledge. ·
- yekye, K., 1995, An Essay on African Philosophy: The Akan Conceptual Scheme,Philadelphia: PA, Temple University Press.
- Hegel, G.W. F., 1956, The Philo!iophy of History, with prefaces by C. Hegel and translator, J.
- Sibree, and new introduction, by C. J. Friedrich, New York, Dover Publications.
- Husserl, E., 1910-1911, 'Philosophie ais strenge Wissenschaft', Logos, Vol. I,pp. 289-341.
- ltzigsohn-;--J., 2002-2003, 'Dependency and Beyond: Elements for anAnalysis of Social Change in Latin America', Radical Philosophy Review, Vol. 5, Nos. 1-2,pp. 54-74.
- Kant, lrnrnanuel. 1998, Critique of Pure Reason, trans. and ed. by P. Guyer andA.W. Wood, New York, Cambridge University Press.
- Kopytoff, I., ed., 1987, The African Frontier: The Reproduction of Traditional AJi-ican Societies, Bloomington, Indiana University Press.
- Masolo, D.A., 1998, 'Sartre FiftyYears Latet: A Review of Lewis Gordon's Fanon and the Crisis of European Man', American Philosophical Association Newsletter on Philosophy and the Black Experience, Vol. 97, No. 2, pp. 24-29. Masolo, D.A., 1994, African Philosophy in Search of ldentity, Bloornington,Indiana University Press.
- Mbiti, J., 1990, Afi-ican Religions and Philosophy, second revised and enlarged edition, Oxford, Heinemam1erleau-Ponty, M., 1968, The Visible and the Invisible: Followed by Working
- Notes, edited by C. Lefort and trans. by A. Lingis, Evanston, Northwestem University Press.
- Paget, H., 2003, 'Globalization and the Deformation of the Antiguan Working Class', presented atthe UWI Country Conference on Antigua, November 13-15. Paget, H and Itzigsohn, J., eds., 2002, 'Introduction: Special Symposium on
- Development', Radical Philosophy Review, Vol. 5, Nos. 1-2, pp. 26-27.
- Paget, H., 2002, 'Cultural Dependence in the Age of Informatic Capitalism',
- Radical Philosophy Review, Vol. 5, Nos. 1-2, pp. 28-53.
- Paget, H., 2000, Caliban's Reason: Introducing Afro-Caribbean Philosophy, NewYork, Routledge.
- Paget, H., 1997, 'African and Afro-Caribbean Existential Philosophies', in Gordon, L, ed., Existence in Black: An Anthology of Black Existential Philosophy, New York, Routledge.
- Rousseau, J.J., 1998, Du Contrat social, unedited facsimile, original edition,comments by Voltaire, Paris, Serpent Plumes.
- Schutz, A., 1970, The Phenomenology of the Social World, trans. G. Walsh and F. Lehnhert, with
- introduction by G. Walsh, Evanston, IL, Northwestem University Press.
- Schutz, A., 1962, Collected Papers, Vol. 1, The Problem of Social Reality, ed., with an intro. by M. Natanson, preface by H. L. Van Breda, The Hague, Martinus Nijhoff.
- Sen, A., 1999, Development as Freedom, New York, Anchor Books.
- Shaw, T., Sinclair, P., Andah, B. and Okpoko, A., eds, 1993, The Archaeology of Africa: Food, Metals, and Towns, New York, Routledge.
- faiwo, O., 1996, 'On the Misadventures ofNational Consciousness: A Retrospect on Frantz Fanon 's Gift of Prophecy', in Fanon: A Critical Reader, Gordon et al., eds., Oxford, Blackwell Publishers, pp. 255-271.
- Weber, M., 2002 [1905), The Protestant Ethic and the 'Spirit' of Capitalism and Other Writings, edited, trans. with an introduction by P. Baehr and G.C. Wells, New York, Penguin Books
- Woddis, J., 1972, New Theories of Revolution: A Commentary on the Views of Frantz Fanon, Régis Debray, and Herbert Marcuse, New York, International Publishers.
- Wynter, S., 1996, 'Is 'Development' a Purely Empirical Concept or also Teleological?: A Perspective from 'We the Underdeveloped", in Prospects for Recovery and Sustainable Development in Aji-ica, A.Y. Yansané, ed., Westport, CT, Greenwood Press, pp. 299-316.
- Wynter, S., 2001, 'Towards the Sociogenic Principle: Fanon, Identity, the Puzzle of Conscious Experience, and What lt Is Like to Be 'Black", in National Identifies and Sociopolitical Changes in Latin America, M.F. Dunin-Cogan md A. G6mez-Moriana, eds., New York, Routledge, pp. 30-66.
References
Alessandrini, A.C., ed., 1999, Frantz Fanon: Critical Perspectives, New 'Routledge.
Amin, S., 2002, 'Globalization and Capitalism's Second Belle Epoque', Radical Philosophy Review, Vol. 5, Nos. 1-2, pp. 86-95.
Aristotle, 2002, Aristotle: Nicomachean Ethics, trans. and historical introduction by C. Rowe, philosophical introduction and commentary by S. Broadie, New York, Oxford University Press.
Arrighi, G., 2002, 'Global Inequalities and the Legacy of Dependency Theory', Radical Philosophy Review, Vol. 5, Nos. 1-2, pp. 75-85.
Bogues, A.B., 2003, Black Heretics, Black Prophets: Radical Political Intellectuals, New York, Routledge.
Cugoano, Q.O., 1999, 'Thoughts and Sentiments on the Evil ofSlavery' and Other Writings, ed., V Carretta, New York, Penguin Books.
Dante Alighieri, 1982, 'The Divine Comedy of Dante Alighieri', volume 1, Inferno. A verse translation by A. Mandelbaurn, with notes by A. Mandelbaum, G. Marruzzo and L. Magnus, with drawings by B. Moser, Toronto: Bantam Books.
Du Bois, W.E.B., 1969, The Souls a/Black Folk, with introductions by N. Hare and A.F. Poussaint, revised and updated bibliography, New York, Signet Classic/New American Library.
Eisenstadt, H., cd., 1968, The Protestant Ethic and Modernization, New York,Basic Books.
Fanon, F., 1991, les Damnés de la terre, preface by J.P. Sartre, presentation by Gérard Chaliand, Pari , Gallimard [1961 edition, published by Maspero].
Fanon, F., 1967, Black Skin, White Masks, trans. C.L. Markmann, New York, Grove Press.
Fanon, F., 1963, The Wretch<'d of the Earth, trans. C. Farrington, New York,Grove Press.
Fanon, F., 1952, Peau noire, masques blancs, Paris, Éditions du Seuil.
}ates, Jr., H.L., 1991, 'Critical Fanonisl]l', Critical Inquiry, Vol. 17, No. 3, pp.457-478.
endzier, I.L., 1973, Frantz Fanon: A Critical Study, New York, Pantheon Books. 3endzier, I.L., 1995, Development Against Democracy: Manipulating Political
Change in the Third World, Hampton, CT, The Tyrone Press.
ibson, N.C., ed., 1999, Rethinking Fanon: The Continuing Dialogue, Amherst Humanity Books.
ordon, L, 2004, Forthcoming, 'Philosophical Anthropology, Race, and the Political Economy of Disenfranchisement', Columbia Human Rights Law Review.
ordon, L, 2003, 'The Human Condition in an Age ofDisciplinary Decadence: Thoughts on Knowing and
Leaming', Philosophical Studies in Education, Vol. 34, Vol. 1, pp. 105-123.
ordon, L., 2002, 'A Questioning Body of Laughter and Tears: Reading Black Skin, White Masks through the Cat and Mouse of Reason and a Misguided Theodky'. Parallax, Vol. 8, No. 2, pp. 10-29.
ordon, L, 2000, Existentia A/ricana: Understanding A/ricana Existential Thought, New York, Routledge.
ordon, L, ed., 1997, Existence in Black: An Anthology of Black Existential Philosophy, New York, Routledge.
ordon, L, Sharpley-Whiting, T.D. and White, R.T., eds., 1996, Fanon: A Critical Reader, Oxford, Blackwell Publishers.
ordon, L, 1995, Fanon and the Crisis of European Man: An Essay on Philosophy and the Human Sciences, New York, Routledge. ·
yekye, K., 1995, An Essay on African Philosophy: The Akan Conceptual Scheme,Philadelphia: PA, Temple University Press.
Hegel, G.W. F., 1956, The Philo!iophy of History, with prefaces by C. Hegel and translator, J.
Sibree, and new introduction, by C. J. Friedrich, New York, Dover Publications.
Husserl, E., 1910-1911, 'Philosophie ais strenge Wissenschaft', Logos, Vol. I,pp. 289-341.
ltzigsohn-;--J., 2002-2003, 'Dependency and Beyond: Elements for anAnalysis of Social Change in Latin America', Radical Philosophy Review, Vol. 5, Nos. 1-2,pp. 54-74.
Kant, lrnrnanuel. 1998, Critique of Pure Reason, trans. and ed. by P. Guyer andA.W. Wood, New York, Cambridge University Press.
Kopytoff, I., ed., 1987, The African Frontier: The Reproduction of Traditional AJi-ican Societies, Bloomington, Indiana University Press.
Masolo, D.A., 1998, 'Sartre FiftyYears Latet: A Review of Lewis Gordon's Fanon and the Crisis of European Man', American Philosophical Association Newsletter on Philosophy and the Black Experience, Vol. 97, No. 2, pp. 24-29. Masolo, D.A., 1994, African Philosophy in Search of ldentity, Bloornington,Indiana University Press.
Mbiti, J., 1990, Afi-ican Religions and Philosophy, second revised and enlarged edition, Oxford, Heinemam1erleau-Ponty, M., 1968, The Visible and the Invisible: Followed by Working
Notes, edited by C. Lefort and trans. by A. Lingis, Evanston, Northwestem University Press.
Paget, H., 2003, 'Globalization and the Deformation of the Antiguan Working Class', presented atthe UWI Country Conference on Antigua, November 13-15. Paget, H and Itzigsohn, J., eds., 2002, 'Introduction: Special Symposium on
Development', Radical Philosophy Review, Vol. 5, Nos. 1-2, pp. 26-27.
Paget, H., 2002, 'Cultural Dependence in the Age of Informatic Capitalism',
Radical Philosophy Review, Vol. 5, Nos. 1-2, pp. 28-53.
Paget, H., 2000, Caliban's Reason: Introducing Afro-Caribbean Philosophy, NewYork, Routledge.
Paget, H., 1997, 'African and Afro-Caribbean Existential Philosophies', in Gordon, L, ed., Existence in Black: An Anthology of Black Existential Philosophy, New York, Routledge.
Rousseau, J.J., 1998, Du Contrat social, unedited facsimile, original edition,comments by Voltaire, Paris, Serpent Plumes.
Schutz, A., 1970, The Phenomenology of the Social World, trans. G. Walsh and F. Lehnhert, with
introduction by G. Walsh, Evanston, IL, Northwestem University Press.
Schutz, A., 1962, Collected Papers, Vol. 1, The Problem of Social Reality, ed., with an intro. by M. Natanson, preface by H. L. Van Breda, The Hague, Martinus Nijhoff.
Sen, A., 1999, Development as Freedom, New York, Anchor Books.
Shaw, T., Sinclair, P., Andah, B. and Okpoko, A., eds, 1993, The Archaeology of Africa: Food, Metals, and Towns, New York, Routledge.
faiwo, O., 1996, 'On the Misadventures ofNational Consciousness: A Retrospect on Frantz Fanon 's Gift of Prophecy', in Fanon: A Critical Reader, Gordon et al., eds., Oxford, Blackwell Publishers, pp. 255-271.
Weber, M., 2002 [1905), The Protestant Ethic and the 'Spirit' of Capitalism and Other Writings, edited, trans. with an introduction by P. Baehr and G.C. Wells, New York, Penguin Books
Woddis, J., 1972, New Theories of Revolution: A Commentary on the Views of Frantz Fanon, Régis Debray, and Herbert Marcuse, New York, International Publishers.
Wynter, S., 1996, 'Is 'Development' a Purely Empirical Concept or also Teleological?: A Perspective from 'We the Underdeveloped", in Prospects for Recovery and Sustainable Development in Aji-ica, A.Y. Yansané, ed., Westport, CT, Greenwood Press, pp. 299-316.
Wynter, S., 2001, 'Towards the Sociogenic Principle: Fanon, Identity, the Puzzle of Conscious Experience, and What lt Is Like to Be 'Black", in National Identifies and Sociopolitical Changes in Latin America, M.F. Dunin-Cogan md A. G6mez-Moriana, eds., New York, Routledge, pp. 30-66.