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Jana Evans Braziel, Assistant Professor
229B Mc Micken Hall
Department of English and Comparative Literature
University of Cincinnati
ML 210069
Cincinnati, OH 45221-0069
Office # (513) 556-0834
Fax # (513) 556-5960
jana.braziel@uc.edu
evans_braziel@hotmail.com

Questions for Sartre, "Preface" to The Wretched of the Earth

To whom does Sartre address the Preface? Why? To whom does Fanon, according to Sartre, address the book?

Why does Sartre refer to the colonized as the "half-native"? How does Sartre define the hybridity of the biculturalism of the colonized? the "split" both culturally and psychically in the 'colonized'?

What role will violence play in decolonization? What is Sartre's tone? What is the role of violence in the rebellion of the 'colonized'? in decolonization? in national recreation of subjects? What is the relationship between the violence of the colonizers and the colonized?

What does Sartre state as his intent for writing the Preface? How will Europe also be decolonized?

Why does Sartre argue against a nonviolent end to colonization?

According to Sartre, what enables or subtends "Humanist" ideology? What is the relationship between Humanism and wealth?

Questions for Frantz Fanon, "Conclusion" to The Wretched of the Earth

 How does Fanon reverse the ostensible roles of ëcolonizerí and "colonized"?

Why is Fanon's critique of "Humanism" and the Western ideal of "Man" so acrimonious? What are the incongruities and hypocrisies, according to Fanon, evident in Western ideology and Western military power?

Fanon says, "Let us waste no time in sterile litanies and nauseating mimicry." To what is Fanon referring in the statement? Why "nauseating mimicry"? According to Fanon, what is the role of mimesis ("imitation," "copy") and "narcissism" in constructing the "colonizer" and colonialism?

Why does Fanon compare the United States to a "monstrous offspring" of Europe's paternity?

Written in 1961, does this critique still seem relevant today?

For Fanon, how does the hope for humanity lie within Africa? what role will nationalism play?

What role will unity among Africans and other Third World citizens play?

Questions for Robert Young, "Disorienting Orientalism"

What are the critiques against "Humanism" by Fanon and Sartre as Young outlines them?

What implications does this critique have for re-valuations of History, knowledge, etc. as defined by the West?

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