by Azzedine Haddour
Pluto Press
5/20/2025, paperback
SKU: 9780745341545
A groundbreaking study of Fanon's role in the Algerian liberation struggle
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 decolonisation 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 a fascinating new journey into the mind of a groundbreaking philosopher and icon of revolution.
Reviews:
"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." --Jane Hiddleston, author of Frantz Fanon: Literature and Invention
"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." --Judith Still, Emeritus Professor of French and Critical Theory, University of Nottingham
"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." --Peter Hudis, author of Frantz Fanon: Philosopher of the Barricades
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 and Colonial Myths: History and Narrative, editor of The Fanon Reader, and translator of a collection of Sartre's essays, Colonialism and Neocolonialism.