Philcox (xiii): “Man freed from the springboard embodying the resistance of others and digging into his flesh in order to find self-meaning.”
Markmann (3): “Mankind set free of the trampoline that is the resistance of others, and digging into its own flesh to find a meaning.”
Fanon (7): « L’Homme libéré du tremplin que constitue la résistance d’autrui et creusant dans sa chair pour se trouver un sens. »
My Translation: “Man liberated from the vacillation which the resistance of others constitutes and hungering in his flesh to make sense of that self.”
The metaphorization of a springboard suggests that the resistance of others Fanon is thinking of has high intensity and low intensity periods, but that it is also constant. There is no respite from it even when it is less intense, and yet somehow man can be liberated from this resistance. The springboard is an active image, as is the original “tremplin,” which also suggests that there’s some kind of body of water or other place from which one jumps off the springboard and into. Without the elaboration of such a metaphor to tell us what the body of water could mean, it seems likely that it is that freedom where a person can be introspective and find self-meaning. Thus, the image evokes hope.
Philcox (9): We recall once again that our findings are valid for the French Antilles; we are well aware, however that this same behavior can be found in any race subjugated to colonization.”
Markmann (15): “Let me point out once more that the conclusions I have reached pertains to the French Antilles; at the same time, I am not unaware that the same behavior patterns obtain in every race that has been subjected to colonization.”
Fanon (20): « Nous rappelons encore une fois que les conclusions auxquelles nous aboutirons valent pour les Antilles françaises ; nous n’ignorons pas toutefois que ces mêmes comportements se retrouvent au sein de toute race ayant été colonisée. »
My Translation: “We recall one more time that the conclusions in which we will result apply to the people of the French Antilles; we aren’t unaware at all that these same behaviors are found in the breast of each race having been colonized.”
It is interesting that Fanon reiterates in what context Black Skin, White Masks is significant. The psychosociocultural context of the French Antilles suffices to distinguish the work as a psychiatric study from a study on North Africa or West Africa. At the same time, though, Fanon asserts the psychiatry carries over to other psychosociocultural contexts because of colonization. Colonization then propagates psychiatric disorders on its own regardless of other cultural factors such as community support. The curious assertion of the colonization of the mind originates in the assimilationist methods of French colonization, where colonized subjects were forced or encouraged to adopt French language, clothing, Catholicism, and social structures, among other things. The behavior could be the result of losing one’s previous context and being forced to adapt to a new one.
Philcox (40): “She was no longer the girl wanting to be white; she was white.”
Markmann (41): “She was no longer the woman who wanted to be white; she was white.”
Fanon (47): « Elle n’était plus celle qui avait voulu être blanche, elle était blanche. »
My Translation: “She was no longer she who had wanted to be white, she was white.”
Philcox’s translation infantilizes the whole notion through the use of “girl.” The original “celle” is a feminine demonstrative pronoun, such that there’s no notion of age in Fanon’s original text. Philcox and Markmann both bring age into the English, but that limits the application of the study to either non-adult females or adult females, respectively. The use of “celle” encapsulates both those groups, which may hint at a colonial history of white men marrying black women of any age because they wanted to and could. The other interesting note is that the use of the imperfect in “she was white” suggests a conditional whiteness that could be revoked through the dissolution of the marriage to the white man.
Philcox (54): “Barely off the ships in Le Havre, they head for the bordellos.”
Markmann (52): “As soon as their ships docked in Le Havre, they were off to the houses.”
Fanon (58): « A peine au Havre, ils se dirigent vers les maisons closes. »
My Translation: “No sooner than in Le Havre, they make a beeline for the brothels.”
This line stands out against the prominent desire for marriage to extricate a black man from the complexes of racism and colonization. The brothel signifies a fleeting and secretive tryst that in few ways could be seen to satisfy the same desires as the ones Fanon says occur in a long-standing relationship with a white woman. And yet, Fanon concludes that they produce the same effect. There’s perhaps the immediacy of the act which amplifies the effect of having sex with a white prostitute to equal a relationship with a white woman. Maybe it’s not a hierarchy of equivalences but more a binary of sleeping with white women to feel free of the preconceived understandings of being a black man.
Philcox (74): “After having imprisoned the Malagasy in his customs; after having unilaterally analyzed his vision of the world; after having drawn a closed circle around the Malagasy; after having said that the Malagasy has a dependency relation with his ancestors, characterized as being highly tribal, the author, in defiance of all objectivity, applies his findings to a bilateral understanding—deliberately ignoring the fact that since Gallieni the Malagasy has ceased to exist.”
Markmann (69-70): “After having sealed the Malagasy into his own customs, after having evolved a unilateral analysis of his view of the world, after having described the Malagasy within a closed circle, after having noted that the Malagasy has a dependency relation toward his ancestors—a strong tribal characteristic—M. Mannoni, in defiance of all objectivity, applies his conclusions to a bilateral totality—deliberately ignoring the fact that since Galliéni, the Malagasy has ceased to exist.”
Fanon (76): « Après avoir enfermé le Malgache dans ses coutumes, après avoir réalisé une analyse unilatérale de sa vision du monde, après avoir décrit le Malgache en cercle fermé, après avoir dit que le Malgache entretient des relations de dépendance avec les ancêtres, caractéristiques hautement tribales, l’auteur, au mépris de toute objectivitié, applique ses conclusions à une compréhension bilatérale,– ignorant volontairement que depuis Galliéni le Malgache n’existe plus.»
My Translation: “After having shut the Malagasy in his customs, after having conducted a unilateral analysis of his worldview, after having drawn the Malagasy into a closed circle, after having said that the Malagasy maintains dependent relationships with his ancestors, highly tribal characteristics, the author, with no regard for any objectivity, applies his conclusions to a bilateral understanding, – willfully unaware that after Galliéni the Malagasy no longer existed.”
The length and emphasis of this statement in relation to the text around it brings attention to the assertion that no Malagasy people have existed since they were colonized. It comes with a critique of the logical approach through which Mannoni’s research was conducted to emphasize the fact that this interpretation was not culturally sensitive or relevant and therefore has no importance to the subjects of the study. Then, Fanon’s final assertion claims that the subjects of the study no longer even exist as an ethnic identity and doubly marks Mannoni’s work as irrelevant to psychiatry and the study of human communities.
Philcox (119): “Yet, with all my being, I refuse to accept the amputation.”
Markmann (108): “Nevertheless with all my strength I refuse to accept that amputation.”
Fanon (114): « Pourtant, de tout mon être, je refuse cette amputation. »
My Translation: “Except, with my embodiment intact, I refuse this amputation.”
The rejection of blackness as bodily deformity that concludes “The Lived Experience of the Black Man” suggests a distinction between blackness and deformity in how it influences social perception. To some degree, it could be interpreted as rejecting the negative stigma of deformity. On the other hand, it establishes the difference between social understandings of race and bodily difference, although both are simple physical anomalies. It perhaps demonstrates a divided front against stigma based on human differences because the social perceptions have become so engrained that they come off as integral to the physical anomalies themselves. On the other hand, Fanon is asserting a truism that blackness should be no limitation or incapacitation in society.
Philcox (126): “In the Antilles, the black schoolboy who is constantly asked to recite ‘our ancestors the Gauls’ identifies himself with the explorer, the civilizing colonizer, the white man who brings truth to the savages, a lily-white truth.”
Markmann (114): “The black schoolboy in the Antilles, who in his lessons is forever talking about ‘our ancestors, the Gauls,’ identifies himself with the explorer, the bringer of civilization, the white man who carries truth to savages—an all-white truth.”
Fanon (120): “Aux Antilles, le jeune Noir, qui à l’école ne cesse de répéter « nos pères, les Gaulois », s’identifie à l’explorateur, au civilisateur, au Blanc qui apporte la vérité aux sauvages, une vérité toute blanche.”
My Translation: “In the Antilles, the young black man, who at school doesn’t stop repeating ‘our forefathers, the Gauls,’ identify themselves as the explorer, the civilizer, as the white man who brings truth to the savages, a totally white truth.”
This passage identifies the extent to which the assimilation of French colonization induced the whitewashing of the black person’s mind. The education system is Napoleonic, which means it was standardized across the Metropole and French colonial territories, such that “our ancestors the Gauls” had to be learned by every French student. In this way, national propagandist history supercedes the racial and colonial histories that would suggest that the colonial subjects of the Antilles do not have the Gauls as ancestors. In the same manner, the colonial subjects in the Antilles are made to empathize with the colonial propaganda of being on a “civilizing mission” endorsed by the French Catholic faith, which as Fanon points out is “a totally white truth.”
Philcox (197): “to induce man to be actional, by maintaining in his circularity the respect of the fundamental values that make the world human, that is the task of utmost urgency for he who, after careful reflection, prepares to act.”
Markmann (173): “To educate man to be actional, preserving in all his relationships respect for the basic values that constitute a human world, is the prime task of him who, having taken thought, prepares to act.”
Fanon (180): “Amener l’homme à être actionnel, en maintenant dans sa circularité le respect des valeurs fondamentales qui font un monde humain, telle est la première urgence de celui qui, après avoir réfléchi, s’apprête à agir.”
My Translation: “To bring man to the point where he would take action, while maintaining in his well-rounded nature the respect of fundamental values that structure the human world, such is the greatest urgence of the person who, after having reflected, prepares himself to act.”
Fanon’s notion of creating a human who is actionnel, or literally “of action,” necessarily requires an understanding of ethics. The idea that one’s ethical sense exists in her or his “circularity” draws away from the main point, which is the connection between taking action and being ethical, because of the figurative imagery. Fanon refers to the idea of being a well-rounded person in “circularité,” which adds another dimension to a human of action. The urgency Fanon evokes emphasizes the importance of beign ethical and well-rounded to truly act. He’s reiterating the common adage to think before speaking, although with a minor alteration to think totally before acting, lest it not be action at all.
Philcox (206): “The black man is not. No more than the white man.”
Markmann (180): “The Negro is not. Any more than the white man.”
Fanon (187): “Le ***** n’est pas. Pas plus que le Blanc.”
My Translation: “The black man is not. Not more than the white man.”
The abrupt nature of this passage gives it multiple meanings. Taken with the preceding paragraph, these statements may mean that the black man nor the white man is the ideal notion of human, suggesting that skin color has no bearing on one’s humanity. Taken on its own, the passage also corroborates that the black man and the white man do not exist, because the notion of skin color is not a substantial difference to distinguish different groups of people. After the conversation in class last week on how Fanon may have been asserting that race is a social construct, and how avant-garde that would have been in the fifties, the ambiguity of this passage only reaffirms that the idea of a social construct in Black Skin, White Masks.
