Race, Gender, Class,

Postcolonialism : Toward a
new Humanistic Paradigm ?
Boubakri Randa
OUTLINE :

1. An overview of
Postcolonialism
2. Humanism in context
3. Postcolonialism :Race,
gender and class
4. Conclusion

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A short overview of
Postcolonialism:
❏ Postcolonialism is an intellectual direction that exists
around the middle of the 20th Century.
❏ A critique of western representations of race, ethnicity,
culture and human identity after colonisation.
❏ The study of the power relationships between
previously colonized cultures and people.

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A short overview of
Postcolonialism:

❏ Postcolonialism deals with conflicts between ruler and

subject, mainstream and marginalized, oppressors and
oppressed. At the same time, it celebrates the
suppressed “ other “, challenging the dominant culture
and questioning concepts of established authority.

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A short overview of
Postcolonialism:
❏ The study of the effects of colonialism on cultures and
societies Postcolonial theory does not presume the end of
colonialism, ‘post’ never just means ‘after’.
❏ Unlike postmodernism, postcolonialism does not imply
direct refuting of preceding paradigm. Instead,
acknowledges impacts of colonisation, identifies the
experience of imperial domination as important, draws
attention to legacies of this history in the present.
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Humanism in context :
❏ “ A system of values and beliefs that are based on the idea that
people are inherently good.”
❏ Humanism is also a rationalist outlook or systems of thought
attacking prime importance to humans rather than a divine or
supernatural matters.
❏ Humanism can be identified as a living philosophy, based on
human feelings that are associated with ethics.

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The postcolonial challenge to humanism can be
understood most basically as a critique of the
essentialist terms in which it is often articulated
and its complicity in colonialism. This focuses on
the arrogance of assuming that the ultimate nor-
mative conception of the human is the civilized
European and that colonialism was a civilizing
mission in the name of this humanism. It remains
an open question as to whether a humanism that
seems to have been so tainted by European
forms of knowledge and cultural traditions can
survive in a postcolonial and globalized world.

Chatelier Stephen on Humanism, Postcolonialism 2016 7

Nationalism, Representation
and the elite :
❏ Neo-colonialism : The practise of using capitalism, Globalization
and cultural imperialism to influence a developing country
instead of military control.
❏ Celebrates the activities of individual members of the elite, not
the roles played by less privileged individuals or groups.

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Nationalism, Representation
and the elite :

❏ The subaltern consciousness is erased -- lesser rural gentry,

impoverished landlords, rich peasants and upper-middle-class
peasants role in reform are ignored.
❏ Elitism is supported.

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Nationalism, “ Race” and
ethnicity :
❏ Nationalism erases specificities, setting
norms and limits, lops off
tangentials.Definitions of race and
ethnicity
❏ Race = human invention, not biological
fact. Political constructions which serve
the interests of certain groups.
❏ Ethnicity = language, place of birth, other
cultural or symbolic practices.
Nationalism, “ Race” and
ethnicity :

❏ Nationalism can privilege one

race over another (internal and
external (racism) and lead to a
consolidation of national
identity based upon hate and
difference. (Example: Nigeria)
Gender and sexuality :

❏ Using women as icons of nation reinforces images of the passive

female who depends upon active males to defend her honor.And
asserts the chief agents of decolonization as men.
❏ Gendered representations of the nation intersect with issues of
sexuality and re-enact some of the maneuvers of Orientalism.
❏ Feminist programs have been sacrificed to the cause of national
liberation and women after independence have been reconsigned
to their former domestic roles.

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Frantz Fanon (1925-
61)
❏ was a French psychiatrist, philosopher,
revolutionary, and author who
supported the Algerian struggle for
independence and joined the Algerian
National Liberation.
❏ His work remains influential in the fields
of post-colonial studies and critical
theory.

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Frantz Fanon
( 1925-61 )
❏ As well as being a Marxist, Fanon is
known as a radical humanist thinker on
the issue of decolonization and the
psychopathology of colonization.
❏ His works have incited and inspired
anti-colonial liberation movements for
more than four decades.

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FRANTZ FANON and
Humanism :
▪ Fanon tells his readers, on the first page of his first book, Black Skin
White Masks, that he writes “for a new humanism” (1967:7).
 “For Europe, for ourselves and for humanity, comrades, we must turn over a
new leaf, we must work out new concepts, and try to set afoot a new man.”
(1976: 255)
▪  His commitment to humanism is explicit, constant and resolute. 

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FRANTZ FANON and
Humanism :
▪ Fanon's vision throughout his works was underwritten by a call to human solidarity,
a challenge to both blacks and whites and to all human beings to “move away from
the inhuman voices of their respective ancestors so that a genuine communication
can be born.”
▪  Fanon refused to accept contingent, historically-formed narratives as universal and
necessary truths.
▪ He sought to transform and re-form a truly universal humanism appreciative of all
cultures, embracing the “reciprocal relativism” of each for the purpose of mutual
enrichment.
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Credits:
▪ https://www.researchgate.net/publication/256009274_Frantz_Fanon_Toward_a_Postc
olonial_Humanism
▪ https://rauli.cbs.dk/index.php/foucault-studies/article/download/2637/2654
▪ https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/1600910X.2009.9672743
▪ https://prezi.com/_k-zu71lz7l9/frantz-fanon/
▪ http://ccs.ukzn.ac.za/files/history_seminar.pdf

▪ Presentation template by SlidesCarnival

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