Frantz Fanon's Effects On The Psyche Caused By Civilization

Effects on the Psyche Caused by Civilization

Freud defined civilization as the “whole sum of the achievements and the regulations which distinguish our lives from those of our animal ancestors and which serve two purposes-namely to protect men against nature and to adjust their mutual relations” (Freud, Sigmund 42). Knowing the history of a civilization is crucial to understanding its effects on its own people. Frantz Fanon wrote in his book, Black Skin, White Masks that the black man “has no culture, no civilization, and no ‘long historical past’” (Fanon 17). The black man’s lack of civilization can be attributed to their enslavement. Once black men were taken from their home country and forced into slavery, they lost their own civilization. They were thrust into the New World,

Ironically, their journey to the “land of the free” ended with their liberty being stripped from them and their enslavement. The slaves lost their own civilization because of slavery, which led to their lost heritage and history. Their slavery not only subjugated them to the white man, but it also locked their psyche into ego-restriction. Their minds became trapped at a very young age during the original phase of their psychical development. In this stage, their primary narcissism never fully developed, which is what helped to lead to their obsession with approval from the white man. This incessant need for approval led to an impaired development of the psyche. Another key factor in the development of neurosis in the black slave was the lack of education. Because the black man’s primary narcissism never fully developed, due to his lack of a proper education, he attempted to lose his true self and become the white man. America’s early history of slavery led to the obsessional neurosis that the black man had for the white man. Thus the dramatic effect that a civilization can have on the psyche is