3rd Saturday Documentaries – Frantz Fanon: His Life, His Struggle, His Work

Frantz Fanon, was a Martinique-born psychiatrist, political philosopher and Pan-Africanist. He used both his clinical research and lived experience of being a black man in a racist world to analyze the effects of racism on individuals –- particularly on people of color — and of the economic and psychological impacts of imperialism.

He gravitated towards radical politics and the philosophy of black consciousness known as negritude. His 1952 book, Black Skin, White Masks, offers a penetrating analysis of racism and of the ways in which it is internalized by its victims. In it Fanon espouses the concept of cognitive dissonance, and says, “Sometimes people hold a core belief that is very strong. When they are presented with evidence that works against that belief, the new evidence cannot be accepted. It would create a feeling that is extremely uncomfortable, called cognitive dissonance. And because it is so important to protect the core belief, they will rationalize, ignore and even deny anything that doesn’t fit in with the core belief.”