A caged mind and soul

One must look beyond the homogeneous understanding of colonialism as one race dominating the other to grasp the  vigor of its grip. Often at times years long economic repression sets itself as the priority and at other times the subjugation of native people to the imperial rule dominates the discourse. Questions surrounding the immorality and atrocities inflicted under the banner of colonial rule simultaneously emerge in the process. Every question and every new idea that projects from this colossal discussion brings us to a focal point; what does it mean to be colonized? Is it merely limited to Europe’s superiority and its ability to impose itself as the sole authority? Or does it have a deeper meaning that transcends the boundaries set by one’s physical self? For Fanon, the colonial project is interlinked with the colonial subject’s psychology. The settler does not merely occupy the land of the native and extract every possible recourse that it entails, but it knowingly imprints the mind of the colonized subject. This branding of the consciousness is the first milestone that the settler emerges victorious from. For when the native has lost this proxy war, the settler is able to navigate and control other aspects of his life. Fanon calls this act of control and subjugation over the native inherently violent in its very essence. Colonial rule ‘is the bringer of violence into the home and into the mind of the native’ (Fanon, 38) and it is sustained by violence as its unquestioned currency.  

But what does this violence really mean for the colonized subject? More importantly where does it stem from? It becomes imperative to answer the latter in order to fully conceptualize what Fanon intends to propose in his book. With his psychiatric insight, it can be drawn that the colonial subject is a site of many embedded emotions; a palette of anger, hatred and aggression all longing for an outlet. The anger of his land being invaded; the hatred for the settler who he implicitly despises; and the sparking aggression that urges him to break free from the perpetual cycle of submission.  The colonized subject is forever consumed by these strong sentiments which extend to amplify the denationalization of his emotions from its intellectual counterpart. It is the departing of these two worlds within his mind that makes him bow down to the voice of the settler. His mind becomes the breeding ground for a new mentality; one that fails to see the infringement of his freedom. For Fanon, this compartmentalization keeps the colonized subject in a confined space, away from his own true self. It is only when he is by himself, found tossing in bed during the long hours of the night, that he is united with the thought of a world that is free from all constraints.  “During the period of colonization, the native never stops achieving his freedom from nine in the evening until six in the morning” (Fanon, 51).  

These traces of hope and profound optimism conforms to the idea that the colonized subject “is overpowered but not tamed; he is treated as an inferior, but he is not convinced of his inferiority. He is patiently waiting until the settler is off his guard to fly at him” (Fanon, 52). Fanon’s writing speaks directly to the colonized mind that has been conditioned to accept his reality as a product of colonization. This reality is in fact a state of perpetual violence. In his own world the colonized subject is made to see freedom but not allowed to live it. He is made to idealize the settler and his ways but not allowed to achieve it. He is simply allowed to live a mere proportion of his existence. 

And so, Fanon’s diagnosis gives a new definition to violence; in complete contrasts to the horrors of mass killings, demonstrations and vandalism. It is the act placing the the human mind and soul in a cage.