La conception de l’histoire et l’importance de l’espace chez Frantz Fanon: une contribution décoloniale au matérialisme historique

Abstract

This paper deals with the concept of history in the work of Frantz Fanon and sheds light on the contribution of this author to historical materialism. It examines three aspects: the critique that Fanon addresses to European Marxists theories that were based on the Hegelian comprehension of history; Fanon’s comprehension of the social structure that reveals the existence of a plurality of temporalities; and the role that Fanon assigns to the spatial dimension in the (re)production and struggle against colonialism. This last element indicates the existence of a spatial turn accomplished by the Martinican psychiatrist before its time. Fanon sheds light on the existence of a plurality of histories, each one relatively independent, although intertwined with the others. Thus, he proposes a new conception of history that is radically decentered and, consequently, a new appreciation of alterity.