Essay About Part Reconstruction And Part Archive

White Skin, Black Mask
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Review of Black Skin, White Masks
Frantz Fanons astounding debut novel, Black Skin, White Masks
(1952), originally titled An Essay For The Disalienation Of Blacks, defined
colonialism and its effect on the black man and took him further into the
region of the human mind. After taking a position at a psychiatric hospital in
Algeria, he became involved in its war, eventually deserting his cranial post
to become a full-time militant in the Algerian National Liberation Front, and
stemming from this period he penned his infamous manifesto, The Wretched
Of The Earth. A failed assassination attempt years later confirmed his
potency. This complex documentary also reveals the hypocrisies and
inconsistencies lurking within Fanon, the most surprising of all, when he
married a white woman. Part reconstruction, part archive, Black Skin, White
Masks features rare footage of the man himself and experts attest to his
brilliance including Professor Stuart Hall, Francoise Verges, psychoanalyst
Alice Cherki, psychiatrist Jacques Azoulay (who worked and studied with
Fanon), Fanons brother Joby, Mme Felix Fanon, and his sister-in-law and
niece and finally cultural critic Homi K Bhabha offers valuable insight into
Fanons relevance today. Isaac Juliens absorbing ode to Frantz Fanon is a
fitting tribute and in breathtaking homage and style he offers the truth, the
poetry, the bitterness of history and a glowing epiphany to the man himself.
Black Skin, White Masks is a provocative walk through a land filled with