A Cognitive Analysis of Frantz Fanon’s Black Skin, White Masks

Abstract

Frantz Fanon’s Black Skin, White Masks (1952) presents a radical cognitive analysis of how colonialism disturbs the psyche, leading to alienation as much from one’s own identity as from others. Through the lens of psychoanalytic theory and concepts of cognitive psychology, Fanon examines how the colonized individual internalizes racial stereotypes and constructs fragmented identities in a colonial system where whiteness is the standard to which society adheres. The epidermal (or skin color)ization of inferiority, an important tenet in Fanon’s argument, helps to make sense of how certain schemas through which we process social interactions became pervasively organized around skin color, which may lead to the internalization of inferiority and a desire to mediate the experience and knowledge of one’s self-world through the lens of skin color. From a cognitive point of view, Fanon’s work examines the way perception, memory and thought processes are formed by systemic racism. Individuals who have gone through colonization find themselves constantly having to navigate a world where negative stereotypes become represented in their lived experience, where discrimination is part of the daily discourse, and their own identity becomes a dissonance in the endogenous order of whom to be as citizens. Fanon’s writings illustrate the ways that colonial subjects suture themselves together in the midst of external pressure to rehearse dominant white conventions. This cognitive perspective highlights how the impact of the colonial mindset manifests in mental health, identity formation, and social relations. Fanon’s investigation leads us to important questions concerning how these schemas which inform and are informed by cultural and historical contexts continue to perpetuate internalized racism and psychological trauma. His works continue to provide significant insights into the cognitive level of colonial oppression and its impact on post-colonial societies.