Discovering Democracy in the Work of Frantz Fanon
This book offers a unique re-reading of Frantz Fanon as an affirmative proponent of radical democracy. It is the discovery of a Fanon who is occupied with creation, not destruction, and who insists that people must retain their power and use it to manage their lives together. This aspect of Fanon is often overlooked as other dimensions, such as colonialism, race, and power, are at the forefront. The re-reading of Fanon staged in this book sets out to recover the important motif of democracy in Fanon as a crucial contribution to brokering social change and action in the face of democratic erosion today.
The book proposes democracy as a new, creative way forward. But it insists that we understand democracy radically, as a way of life in which we do not
destroy what we are against. Instead we create, together, new democratic lives in common. As such, it will be an important resource not only for researchers, students, and instructors in cultural and postcolonial studies but also social theory, contemporary sociology, American politics, and race and ethnicity studies.
Mark Purcell is Professor in the Department of Urban Design & Planning at the University of Washington, USA, where he researches urban politics, political theory, social movements, and democracy. He is the author of The Deep-Down Delight of Democracy (2013), Recapturing Democracy (2008) and numerous articles in journals including International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Urban Geography, Environment and Planning, Antipode, Urban Studies, Political Geography, Review of International Political Economy, and Planning Theory.