Fanon and Lacan

Fanon and Lacan: Decolonial Psychoanalysis explores the influence of psychoanalysis on Frantz Fanon’s thought and delves into Fanon’s innovative use of psychoanalysis as a way of diagnosing and addressing the socio-psychological traumas of colonialism and racialised structures of power.

The contributors in this volume highlight how, by engaging with Lacanian concepts such as the mirror stage, the imago, and the body-in-pieces, Fanon rearticulated psychoanalysis into a vernacular form responsive to the dilemmas of racism and colonial violence. Beginning with a comparative historical investigation of Fanon and Lacan’s works, the book goes on to query the role played by key figures – Octave Mannoni, Maurice Merleau-Ponty, François Tosquelles, and others – in establishing points of connection between the respective decolonial and clinical projects of Fanon and Lacan. Readers will uncover how Fanon’s critical dialogue with Lacan and Francophone psychoanalysis more broadly opens new pathways for confronting the unconscious foundations of racism and exclusion, while offering tools for exploring disalienation and liberation.

Ideal for scholars, students, and practitioners in psychoanalysis, the history of psychoanalysis, postcolonial studies and critical theory, this book is essential for anyone seeking to understand the intersection of colonialism, race and the psyche.