Two New Books Reexamine Frantz Fanon's Legacy Through Embodiment and Politics
Two recent works delve into the life of Frantz Fanon, the Martinican psychiatrist and anti-colonial thinker who passed away in 1961. Adam Shatz's biography, titled 'The Rebel's Clinic,' alongside Matthew Beaumont's 'How We Walk: Frantz Fanon and the Politics of the Body,' explores Fanon's concepts regarding the body and trauma. After completing his psychiatry studies in Lyon and serving in World War II, Fanon became the director of a psychiatric hospital near Algiers in 1953. He was deported in 1957 due to his connections with Algeria's National Liberation Front and subsequently worked in Tunis. Fanon succumbed to leukemia at the U.S. National Health Institute in Bethesda, Maryland, after being transported by the CIA. Both authors reflect on Fanon's views about the 'regenerative potential' of violence and his impact across multiple disciplines.
Key facts
- Frantz Fanon died in 1961 at age 36 from leukemia in Bethesda, Maryland.
- He was flown to the U.S. National Health Institute by the CIA at the request of Algeria's provisional government.
- Fanon served in the French Army during World War II before studying psychiatry in Lyon.
- He directed a psychiatric hospital outside Algiers in 1953 and was deported in 1957 for his FLN connections.
- Fanon wrote 'The Wretched of the Earth' and served as the FLN Ambassador to Ghana.
- Adam Shatz's biography 'The Rebel's Clinic' and Matthew Beaumont's 'How We Walk' were both published recently.
- Fanon believed violence could have 'regenerative potential' as psychological medicine.
- His clinical work included shock therapies and research on Friedreich's ataxia.
Entities
Artists
- Frantz Fanon
- Matthew Beaumont
- Adam Shatz
- Natasha Marie Llorens
- Alice Cherki
- Diana Fuss
- Franco Basaglia
- Zohra Drif
- Josie Fanon
Institutions
- U.S. National Health Institute
- CIA
- French Army
- National Liberation Front (FLN)
- Algerian provisional government
- Bloomsbury
- Verso
- Royal Institute of Art
- Center for Art and the Political Imaginary
- ArtReview
- HBO
Locations
- Bethesda
- Maryland
- United States
- Martinique
- Algiers
- Algeria
- Tunis
- Tunisia
- Ghana
- Lyon
- France
- Stockholm
- Sweden
- Italy