An outstanding new biography of Frantz Fanon sees the psychiatric clinic he ran in Algeria as a cornerstone of his thinking and activism.
How could the psychiatrist treat his patients’ psychic wounds while fighting against their dehumanization?Source: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2024
The fifth of eight siblings—likely named “Frantz” after his mother’s Alsatian roots—a now-28-year-old Fanon had been appointed director of Algeria’s Blida-JoinvilleThe country would soon be embroiled in violent conflict, and his staff and patients would be forced to live in “an atmosphere of permanent insecurity.”The Rebel’s Clinic: The Revolutionary Lives of Frantz Fanon
drove the man home; on the sofa, the man explained that he had stumbled upon an Algerian who had been tortured at police headquarters. Fanon learned afterward that the officer had himself tortured the patient in question and that, after the encounter, the patient had gone missing. “We eventually discovered him hiding in a bathroom where he was trying to commit,” Fanon wrote in his case notes. “The Algerian victim was convinced that his torturer had come to the hospital to arrest him.
The clinic at Blida-Joinville gave Fanon a chance to apply some of his most progressive policies, to help restore soldiers to health while serving the independence struggle. It built on close precedents such as the Lafargue Clinic—founded in Harlem, New York, in 1946—which for 12 years served residents and sought “not only to heal the wounds of racism but also to challenge the racist biases of American psychiatry.
There were practical considerations, too, tied to language and translation. Since, at the time, Fanon spoke neither Arabic nor Berber , “he often depended on interpreters—Algerian nurses, for the most part—to communicate with his patients.” His work with Algerians was thus “a work of constant translation” risking its own, milder forms of misrecognition and misunderstanding.
United Kingdom Latest News, United Kingdom Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Algeria targets television stations for Ramadan advertising blitz and immoral programmingAlgerian officials are chiding television stations over the content choices they’ve made since the start of Ramadan
Read more »
Algeria targets television stations for Ramadan advertising blitz and immoral programmingAlgerian officials are chiding television stations over the content choices they’ve made since the start of Ramadan. The North African nation's communications minister this week summoned television station directors to question them about their advertising and certain subject matter broadcasted.
Read more »
Algeria sets election for September, when military-backed president will vie for 2nd termAlgeria will hold its next presidential election on September 7, providing more than five months for first-term President Abdelmajid Tebboune to campaign for a second term to lead the oil-rich north African nation.
Read more »
Algeria to hold election on Sept. 7, giving president time to campaignAlgeria will hold its next election on Sept. 7, giving first-term President Abdelmajid Tebboune more than five months to campaign should he decide to seek a second term leading the oil-rich north African nation. Only Zoubida Assoul of the Union for Change and Progress has come forward to challenge Tebboune, who has not officially announced plans to seek reelection as president of the country of 44 million people which is facing mounting political and economic challenges.
Read more »
Algeria hails French condemnation resolution of 1961 crackdownAlgerian President Tebboune praised French resolution condemning the 1961 crackdown on peaceful Algerian protesters, citing its significance.
Read more »
No 'Clear Message of Peace': Russia, China, and Algeria Vote Down US Gaza ResolutionJake Johnson is a senior editor and staff writer for Common Dreams.
Read more »