At the beginning it was hard to read this, to accept something that I have been internally fighting against since I learned about American history in grade school. I wanted no part in this racial battle, I wanted to be autonomous, just human. But as Fanon pointed out, the concept of self for the colonized is much different. It is always in relation to, never just the pure self. It is always a measurement and never just existing.
From what I remember of history as it was taught to me, any origin that was “successfully” colonized there was one goal, totaly wipe clean any remenice of individual culture, and assimilation. But many where greatly mistakin in to what they were assimilating. This assimilation was not into an equal culture, it was an assimilation into the idea “self” that was preexisting and not ones own. So African’s turned into “Africans”, Indians became “Indians”, and the Native Americans became “Indians”. These lables never belonged to the peoples who adopted them, therefore they did not know the connotations of inferiority they where accepting.
Thus the colonized live in a cycle of acceptance, of a system that never will, nor was created to accept them. They must accept the world and themselves as the culture sees them. The colonized are a walking symbol, constantly living the stereotype, because the stereotype is magnificently flexible to always perpetuate some form of inferiority. Individual success is not just success, it is one step forward for an entire race of people. Therefore when you fail or trip up, an entire people fail and trip up. But it is not the individuals mistake but that of their natural humanity, or inhumanity. It was accepted in the cultures that the colonized adapted to, that civilization of these people was never possible. And though they may appear to be civilized there will always be moments in which their barbaric nature will resurface, “it” is never gone. The blackness is always there, as a reminder a warning to beware, and never truly trusting.
So what does the colonized do. They further separate themselves from their own humanity, studying themselves as well as there counterparts. Always assessing and relating, and adjusting their mask. So hopefully they become so trained on the outside that it will erase in inadequicies on the inside, erase themselves, to become undetectable.
Hey Aliya!
I just wanted to say that this was an awesome post. Your line, “These lables never belonged to the peoples who adopted them, therefore they did not know the connotations of inferiority they where accepting.” was really interesting. I read it and I don’t know if I’ve ever really looked at it that way before. I’m taking ENG 370 – Literature and Empire with Dr. Morrow right now, and we’ve been discussing how Shakespearean colonizers were doing just that. They were giving labels to those they took over. They create in them an “other” which automatically makes them separate from the people who have conquered them. It makes them less which is completely unfair. In The Tempest and A Tempest, Caliban is shown as a “monster” in one, and then more human in the next because he doesn’t just accept the fact that he’s being taken over. He fights it. Great job!