Violence and Care: Fanon and the Ethics of Care on Harm, Trauma, and Repair
According to Frantz Fanon, the psychological and social-political are deeply intertwined in the colonial context. Psychologically, the colonizers perceive the colonized as inferior and the colonized internalize this in an inferiority complex. This psychological reality is co-constitutive of and by m...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2022-06-01
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| Series: | Philosophies |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2409-9287/7/3/64 |
| _version_ | 1827294677392424960 |
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| author | Maggie FitzGerald |
| author_facet | Maggie FitzGerald |
| author_sort | Maggie FitzGerald |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | According to Frantz Fanon, the psychological and social-political are deeply intertwined in the colonial context. Psychologically, the colonizers perceive the colonized as inferior and the colonized internalize this in an inferiority complex. This psychological reality is co-constitutive of and by material relations of power—the imaginary of inferiority both creates and is created by colonial relations of power. It is also in this context that violence takes on significant political import: violence deployed by the colonized to rebel against these colonial relations and enact a different world will also be violent in its fundamental disruption of this imaginary. The ethics of care, on the other hand, does not seem to sit well with violence, and thus Fanon’s political theory more generally. Care ethics is concerned with everything we do to maintain and repair our worlds as well as reasonably possible. Violence, which ruptures our psycho-affective, material, and social-political realities, seems antithetical to this task. This article seeks to reconsider this apparent antinomy between violence and care via a dialogue between Fanon and the ethics of care. In so doing, this article mobilizes a relational conceptualization of violence that allows for the possibility that certain violences may, in fact, be justifiable from a care ethics perspective. At the same time, I contend that violence in any form will also eventually demand a caring response. Ultimately, this productive reading of Fanon’s political theory and the ethics of care encourages both postcolonial philosophers and care ethicists alike to examine critically the relation between violence and care, and the ways in which we cannot a priori draw lines between the two. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-09T22:44:10Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-0e27cbd2168845ef81c343d9f7504728 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2409-9287 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-24T14:07:13Z |
| publishDate | 2022-06-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Philosophies |
| spelling | doaj.art-0e27cbd2168845ef81c343d9f75047282024-04-03T09:57:02ZengMDPI AGPhilosophies2409-92872022-06-01736410.3390/philosophies7030064Violence and Care: Fanon and the Ethics of Care on Harm, Trauma, and RepairMaggie FitzGerald0Department of Political Studies, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, SK S7N 5A2, CanadaAccording to Frantz Fanon, the psychological and social-political are deeply intertwined in the colonial context. Psychologically, the colonizers perceive the colonized as inferior and the colonized internalize this in an inferiority complex. This psychological reality is co-constitutive of and by material relations of power—the imaginary of inferiority both creates and is created by colonial relations of power. It is also in this context that violence takes on significant political import: violence deployed by the colonized to rebel against these colonial relations and enact a different world will also be violent in its fundamental disruption of this imaginary. The ethics of care, on the other hand, does not seem to sit well with violence, and thus Fanon’s political theory more generally. Care ethics is concerned with everything we do to maintain and repair our worlds as well as reasonably possible. Violence, which ruptures our psycho-affective, material, and social-political realities, seems antithetical to this task. This article seeks to reconsider this apparent antinomy between violence and care via a dialogue between Fanon and the ethics of care. In so doing, this article mobilizes a relational conceptualization of violence that allows for the possibility that certain violences may, in fact, be justifiable from a care ethics perspective. At the same time, I contend that violence in any form will also eventually demand a caring response. Ultimately, this productive reading of Fanon’s political theory and the ethics of care encourages both postcolonial philosophers and care ethicists alike to examine critically the relation between violence and care, and the ways in which we cannot a priori draw lines between the two.https://www.mdpi.com/2409-9287/7/3/64care ethicsFanoncolonialismviolencecareharm |
| spellingShingle | Maggie FitzGerald Violence and Care: Fanon and the Ethics of Care on Harm, Trauma, and Repair Philosophies care ethics Fanon colonialism violence care harm |
| title | Violence and Care: Fanon and the Ethics of Care on Harm, Trauma, and Repair |
| title_full | Violence and Care: Fanon and the Ethics of Care on Harm, Trauma, and Repair |
| title_fullStr | Violence and Care: Fanon and the Ethics of Care on Harm, Trauma, and Repair |
| title_full_unstemmed | Violence and Care: Fanon and the Ethics of Care on Harm, Trauma, and Repair |
| title_short | Violence and Care: Fanon and the Ethics of Care on Harm, Trauma, and Repair |
| title_sort | violence and care fanon and the ethics of care on harm trauma and repair |
| topic | care ethics Fanon colonialism violence care harm |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2409-9287/7/3/64 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT maggiefitzgerald violenceandcarefanonandtheethicsofcareonharmtraumaandrepair |