HOW DOES LANGUAGE WORK AS A COLONIAL TOOL?

LANGUAGE AND CULTURE SPECIAL HOW DOES LANGUAGE WORK AS A COLONIAL TOOL?

The concept of power is often understood in a physical sense between two groups. A broader (and perhaps more effective) way of defining power is as simply the ability to control and coerce others. In Black Skin, White Mask, the psychologist Frantz Fanon examines language and how it has been used to oppress people within the context of colonialism.

Frantz Fanon was born in 1925, in the French colony of Martinique. His family were relatively prosperous, enabling him to attend a prestigious school where he was taught by the noted poet Aimé Césaire. Fanon remembered being taught to speak in pure French rather than in creole. As a result, his French resembled that of a native French speaker and he strongly identified with French culture. In 1943, he left Martinique to fight with Gaullist forces against the Vichy regime, which he perceived as being illegitimate and overtly racist. After the war, Fanon attended the University of Lyon to qualify as a psychiatrist, where he experienced much discrimination. Upon completing his residency, he published the work he is most famous for today:Black Skin, White Mask, in which he discusses the negative psychological impacts of colonialism as well as his own personal experiences of racism throughout his life. He defines colonialism as: ‘A systematic negation of the other person and a furious determination to deny the other person all attributes of humanity, colonialism forces the people it dominates to ask themselves the question constantly: In reality, who am I?’. Following this, Fanon worked in Algeria, where he treated French soldiers who were dealing with trauma after torturing Algerian freedom fighters. Already a staunch anti-colonialist, Fanon’s views grew stronger during his time in Algeria, resulting in him resigning from his job and joining the National Liberation Front (FLN) in Algeria to fight for self-rule. His 1961 book, The Wretched of the Earth, sparked controversy by justifying the use of violence by colonised people to gain independence. Fanon’s work on language, power and oppression have inspired many notable revolutionaries such as Che Guevara, Steve Biko, and Malcolm X. He is often regarded as a seminal author and thinker in postcolonial circles for being an early proponent of the idea that colonialism in Africa was negative.

Fanon addresses language and its link to colonialism in the opening chapters of Black Skin, White Mask. To Fanon, speaking a foreign language is to assimilate into another culture completely and adopt the civilisation of another place at the expense of your own native culture. Within the context of colonisation, this would mean that a colonised subject speaking the language of the coloniser is an attempt of the colonised to become more like the coloniser and enter his world. From this, Fanon goes on to argue that a colonised person speaking the language of their oppressors is oppressing themselves. Fanon used the example of Afro-Caribbeans speaking French or a creole language as people attempting to assimilate into the culture of the coloniser, furthering the notion that their culture is irrelevant and inferior compared to that of the coloniser.

Furthermore, this attempt to be ‘White’ alienates the Black person from other Black people. The impact of colonialism is much more profound than initially thought – the colonised are taught to see themselves as inherently inferior because of the colour of their skin.

Fanon’s analysis of language in Black Skin, White Mask does not end with the notion of colonised people furthering their own oppression by attempting to speak the language. The argument continues after this, pointing out that many people speaking the language of their oppressors also believe that this will enable them to be seen as an equal in their world. However, Fanon points out that this is impossible due to what he describes as the ‘epidermal character of race’. This is to say that a Black person, irrespective of their education, diction or mannerisms, would still be black and therefore inferior in the eyes of the coloniser. To prove this, Fanon uses anecdotal evidence of local French people being surprised (and occasionally threatened) by his articulateness. According to Ashwin Venkatakrishnan Fanon, their surprise is an indication that they see Black people as inherently inferior compared to them and unworthy of treatment as an equal and fellow human. To Fanon, the colonised will always be objectified in this way as a result of being colonised subjects.

This idea that race cannot be transcended by language or mannerisms is a perspective that is prevalent and challenged even today. The hip-hop artist Jay Z expresses this in his 2017 song The Story of O.J. with the line ‘O.J. like, “I’m not black, I’m O.J.”...okay’. In the song, Jay Z refers to Fanon’s view that the colour of your skin automatically establishes a supposed inferiority compared to White people. Race cannot be overcome by wealth, money or language, but is an eternal aspect of someone irrespective of how hard they try to overcome it.

Frantz Fanon uses his experience as a psychiatrist to show the impacts of colonialism. Colonialism dehumanises the colonised and reduces their culture. Languageplays a key role in this displacement of identity and establishes a hierarchy of superiority of the coloniser over the colonised. Irrespective of what you might think of Fanon’s claims, they have remained popular and played a key role in the argument that colonialism is innately negative.