Dialogues between Frantz Fanon and Ousmane Sembene: a view on colonial alienation

• Grant number: 24/00189-0
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Master
• Start date: July 01, 2024
• End date: February 28, 2026
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - Sociology - Other specific Sociologies
• Principal Investigator: Mário Augusto Medeiros da Silva
• Grantee: Natalia Ventura de Souza
• Host Institution: Instituto de Filosofia e Ciências Humanas (IFCH). Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Campinas , SP, Brazil

Abstract

The problem of alienation is extensively studied in social theory, being aphenomenon that corresponds to the externalization of the being in relation to what isexternal to it. It is a concept that is frequently used to interpret labor relations, mainly becauseit was significantly developed by intellectuals such as Marx and Hegel. However, the colonialsituation takes a significant leap in analysis, as it understands colonialism from its totalizingscope that encompasses not only the economy but also the politics, culture, and psyche ofthose around it. To understand this issue, the present research takes as a starting point theanalysis of the trajectory of Martinican psychiatrist and philosopher Frantz Fanon andSenegalese writer and filmmaker Ousmane Sembène. The focus on these intellectuals is dueto them being contemporaries of the 20th century, sharing similar experiences resulting fromFrench colonization. Thus, the period analyzed in the lives of Fanon and Sembène spans theyears of World War II to the struggles for independence in Africa around the 1960s.