Frantz Fanon: Gender, Torture and the Biopolitics of Colonialism

Frantz Fanon (1925-1961) was a visionary thinker whose legacy continues to shape conversations on identity, power and resistance. Here, leading Fanon scholar Azzedine Haddour explores themes of gender, revolutionary struggle and the decolonisation of the mind in the first comprehensive study of Fanon’s lesser known work, Studies in a Dying Colonialism (1959). Drawing on archival material, the author explores the historical developments that determined the colonial consensus and the social transformation prompted by the Algerian liberation struggle. Haddour engages with the biopolitics of French colonialism to support Fanon’s claim that the medical establishment acted in complicity with colonialism. He recounts various assimilationist laws that resulted in the gendering of colonial space and shows how the wars alter the perception of the colonised population through modern western technologies like the radio. In an era where global struggles for independence and self-determination persist, this book is an essential journey into the mind of a groundbreaking philosopher and icon of revolution.

Table of Contents:
Introduction 1. Colonisation Medicine and Colonial Biopolitics 2. Torture Unveiled: Rereading Fanon and Bourdieu in the Context of May 1958 3. The Battle of the Veil and of the Waves: Colonial and Anti-Colonial Radio Transmission 4. Republic of Cousins or Citizens 5. The Uses of Medicine: Colonial and Revolutionary 6. Torture and Gender: Interrogation, Resettlement and Pacification 7. Fanon, the French Liberal Left and the Colonial Consensus Conclusion

About the Author :
Azzedine Haddour is Professor in Francophone and Comparative Literature at University College London. He is the author of Frantz Fanon, Postcolonialism and the Ethics of Difference (MUP, 2019) and Colonial Myths: History and Narrative (MUP, 2001), editor of The Fanon Reader (2006), translator of a collection of Sartre’s essays, Colonialism and Neocolonialism (Routledge 2001 and Routledge Classics 2006) and author of various articles on Fanon and postcolonial theory.

Review :
'Few works have more creatively and comprehensively explored Fanon’s perspective on gender relations, the family, and women’s resistance to sexual violence. It provides an outstanding examination of the historical and political circumstances that shaped his least discussed book, Studies in a Dying Colonialism' 'Haddour is a foremost interpreter of Fanon – and here sheds important new light on this critical giant of the twentieth century by focusing on his radical, sadly neglected Studies in a Dying Colonialism, challenging the assumptions of many postcolonial readers' 'A meticulously researched analysis looking beyond Fanon’s most frequently read works on Algerian society under French colonialism and during the War of Independence. Azzedine Haddour explores Fanon’s analyses of gender, the family, medicine, and the use of torture, complementing Fanon’s own writing with a wealth of historical information illuminating the devastating impact of French colonial policy on the Algerian people'