Black Skin, White Masks, Internalization, and Action: Comparing Fanon and Beauvoir Anonymous College

In the twentieth century, Frantz Fanon wrote Black Skin, White Masks, where he articulates the psychological toll racism and colonialism have on Black individuals. First, he establishes that systemic oppression marginalizes Black and colonized individuals. Fanon elaborates on the marginalization of colonized and Black individuals when showing how they internalize their oppression. Yet, amid such internalization and oppression, Fanon argues that the neurotic control their fate and possess agency over their destiny. He also reveals that collective action is the mechanism marginalized individuals employ to achieve psychological liberation from such internalized emotions. Lastly, his views reflect Beauvoir's existentialist ideology, her understanding of how women possess agency over their destinies, and how collective action is the key to achieving liberation. Thus, Fanon advances an existentialist ideology that asserts Black individuals have agency over their destinies and possess the ability to overcome their internalized oppression through collective action and psychological liberation.

Fanon lays the foundation for understanding self-internalization by illuminating how the systemic oppression Black and colonized individuals...