Countering colonial and neo-colonial hegemony: Frantz Fanon, ‘Reciprocal Bases of National Culture and the Fight for Freedom’, The Wretched of the Earth (London: Penguin, 1967), pp. 190–4.

Colonial domination, because it is total and tends to over-simplify, very soon manages to disrupt in spectacular fashion the cultural life of a conquered people. A national culture under colonial domination is a contested culture whose destruction is sought in systematic fashion. This idea of a clandestine culture is immediately seen in the reactions of the occupying power which interprets attachment to traditions as faithfulness to the spirit of the nation and as a refusal to submit. A national culture under colonial domination is a contested culture whose destruction is sought in systematic fashion. This idea of a clandestine culture is immediately seen in the reactions of the occupying power which interprets attachment to traditions as faithfulness to the spirit of the nation and as a refusal to submit. The contact of the people with the new movement gives rise to a new rhythm of life and to forgotten muscular tensions, and develops the imagination.