Full Text Available
Note: Clicking the button above will open the full text document at the original institutional repository in a new window.
Idylls, Imitation, Ideology and Imperialism: A Fanonian Critique of National Liberation
Decolonisation flooded through Africa after WW2, spearheaded by national liberation movements, apparently. In most cases, this did not lead to national sovereignty or independence, and did not alleviate poverty. Decolonisation eventually led to inequality, economic stagnation, and new, subtle forms...
Saved in:
| Main Author: | |
|---|---|
| Other Authors: | |
| Format: | Thesis |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Department of English Language and Literature
2021
|
| Subjects: | |
| Tags: |
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
|
| _version_ | 1867613320643608576 |
|---|---|
| access_status_str | Open Access |
| author | Moodley, Seshadari Jesse |
| author2 | Higgins, John |
| author_browse | Higgins, John Moodley, Seshadari Jesse |
| author_facet | Higgins, John Moodley, Seshadari Jesse |
| author_sort | Moodley, Seshadari Jesse |
| collection | Thesis |
| description | Decolonisation flooded through Africa after WW2, spearheaded by national liberation movements, apparently. In most cases, this did not lead to national sovereignty or independence, and did not alleviate poverty. Decolonisation eventually led to inequality, economic stagnation, and new, subtle forms of outside control. Fanon's incomplete work shows contradictions in national liberation (and the parties which represent it). Using Fanon's work, I criticise nationalism, the expected role of the national bourgeoisie, racism and consumerism, and reified conceptions of politics, democracy, corruption and socialism. Each of these reified conceptions, common to decolonial movements, is presented by the national liberation movements as the overcoming of problems of Western modernity. In fact, I show that these conceptions are all new forms of the problems they claim to overcome. I supplement Fanon's work with ideas and arguments from Marxism and psychoanalysis, as well as many interesting examples from decolonisation. These show how Fanon's predictions were frequently correct, though he lived to see few of them. I use Fanon's writing to show some of the ideologies underlying the worldview of national liberation. Those ideological motifs that are continually present include Freudian illusion, reification (I show how countries, leaders, people etc. are erroneously represented as independent of each other), false identification (particularly the representation of a whole thing by its parts or its symbols, including operationalism), interpellation of individuals as subjects, and images and symbols that manipulate the unconscious. These lead to false interpretations of decolonisation, and individuals celebrating their own domination. Fanon understands decolonisation as not an end to colonisation but a continuation of imperialism; we will read it thus, not as a break from the past but a continuation of its problems. |
| format | Thesis |
| id | oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/33870 |
| institution | University of Cape Town (South Africa) |
| language | eng |
| last_indexed | 2026-06-10T12:34:14.045Z |
| license_str | Not specified — see source repository |
| provenance_str_mv | Harvested via OAI-PMH from UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository |
| publishDate | 2021 |
| publishDateRange | 2021 |
| publishDateSort | 2021 |
| publisher | Department of English Language and Literature |
| publisherStr | Department of English Language and Literature |
| record_format | dspace |
| source_str | UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository |
| spelling | oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/33870 Idylls, Imitation, Ideology and Imperialism: A Fanonian Critique of National Liberation Moodley, Seshadari Jesse Higgins, John English Literary Studies Decolonisation flooded through Africa after WW2, spearheaded by national liberation movements, apparently. In most cases, this did not lead to national sovereignty or independence, and did not alleviate poverty. Decolonisation eventually led to inequality, economic stagnation, and new, subtle forms of outside control. Fanon's incomplete work shows contradictions in national liberation (and the parties which represent it). Using Fanon's work, I criticise nationalism, the expected role of the national bourgeoisie, racism and consumerism, and reified conceptions of politics, democracy, corruption and socialism. Each of these reified conceptions, common to decolonial movements, is presented by the national liberation movements as the overcoming of problems of Western modernity. In fact, I show that these conceptions are all new forms of the problems they claim to overcome. I supplement Fanon's work with ideas and arguments from Marxism and psychoanalysis, as well as many interesting examples from decolonisation. These show how Fanon's predictions were frequently correct, though he lived to see few of them. I use Fanon's writing to show some of the ideologies underlying the worldview of national liberation. Those ideological motifs that are continually present include Freudian illusion, reification (I show how countries, leaders, people etc. are erroneously represented as independent of each other), false identification (particularly the representation of a whole thing by its parts or its symbols, including operationalism), interpellation of individuals as subjects, and images and symbols that manipulate the unconscious. These lead to false interpretations of decolonisation, and individuals celebrating their own domination. Fanon understands decolonisation as not an end to colonisation but a continuation of imperialism; we will read it thus, not as a break from the past but a continuation of its problems. 2021-09-14T14:20:42Z 2021-09-14T14:20:42Z 2021 2021-09-10T10:20:27Z Master Thesis Masters MA http://hdl.handle.net/11427/33870 eng application/pdf Department of English Language and Literature Faculty of Humanities |
| spellingShingle | English Literary Studies Moodley, Seshadari Jesse Idylls, Imitation, Ideology and Imperialism: A Fanonian Critique of National Liberation |
| thesis_degree_str | Master's |
| title | Idylls, Imitation, Ideology and Imperialism: A Fanonian Critique of National Liberation |
| title_full | Idylls, Imitation, Ideology and Imperialism: A Fanonian Critique of National Liberation |
| title_fullStr | Idylls, Imitation, Ideology and Imperialism: A Fanonian Critique of National Liberation |
| title_full_unstemmed | Idylls, Imitation, Ideology and Imperialism: A Fanonian Critique of National Liberation |
| title_short | Idylls, Imitation, Ideology and Imperialism: A Fanonian Critique of National Liberation |
| title_sort | idylls imitation ideology and imperialism a fanonian critique of national liberation |
| topic | English Literary Studies |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/11427/33870 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT moodleyseshadarijesse idyllsimitationideologyandimperialismafanoniancritiqueofnationalliberation |