Black Skin, White Masks

Black Face, White Masks
Author(s)	Frantz Fanon
Original title	Peau noire, masques blancs
Translator	Charles L. Markmann
Country	France
Language	French
Series	Collections Esprit. La condition humaine
Subject(s)	Black race. Racial discrimination. Racism. Blacks--Social conditions.
Publisher	Paris, Éditions du Seuil
Publication date	1952
Published in English	1967
Pages	222

Black Skin, White Masks is a 1952 book written by Frantz Fanon originally published in French as Peau noire, masques blancs.

In this study, Fanon uses psychoanalysis and psychoanalytical theory to explain the feelings of dependency and inadequacy that Black people experience in a White world. He speaks of the divided self-perception of the Black Subject who has lost his native cultural originality and embraced the culture of the mother country. As a result of the inferiority complex engendered in the mind of the Black Subject, he will try to appropriate and imitate the cultural code of the colonizer. The behaviour, Fanon argues, is even more evident in upwardly mobile and educated Black people who can afford to acquire status symbols. Originally formulated to combat the oppression of black people, Fanon's insights are still influential today, being utilized by various groups such as the Palestinians, the Tamils, African Americans and others, in their struggle for cultural and political autonomy. Fanon presents both historical interpretation and underlying social indictment.

Reception

Black Skin, White Masks remained obscure for decades after its initial publication. Since the 1980s, it has become well-known as an anti-colonial and anti-racist work in English-speaking countries. However, it remains a "relatively minor work" in francophone nations, despite its explicit connection with those countries. Modern discussions among theorists of nationalism, anti-colonialism, and liberation have largely focused on Fanon's later, more revolutionary works, rather than the psychoanalytic explanation of colonial relations.