ABSTRACT
This chapter provides an overview of Fanon’s psychiatric work during the 1950s, Fanon’s most active and sustained period as a clinician. The psychiatric writings are considered alongside the circumstances of Fanon’s life and work during this period. Such an overview demonstrates how profoundly close – and even fundamental – psychology and psychiatric practices were to Fanon, from his days as a student in Lyon, to his residency in the south of France, and his professional appointments thereafter in Algeria and Tunisia. An attentive reading of Fanon’s psychiatric texts enables us to track the development of his psychological insights and praxis. It shows, furthermore, how closely related his psychiatric work was to his growing political sensibilities and involvements. The view that has often taken precedence of Fanon as an incidental psychiatrist thus deserves to be refuted.
