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Critical and Radical Social Work
An international journal

‘Disordering’ the world: Frantz Fanon’s contribution to social work’s understanding of decolonisation

Author:
Paul Michael GarrettNUI Galway, Ireland

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Article Category:
Research Article
Copyright:
© Policy Press 2020
Online Publication Date:
05 Aug 2020
Pages:
305–322
Publisher:
Policy Press
Volume/Issue:
Volume 8: Issue 3
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1332/204986020X15945757040444
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Noting current postcolonial critiques and endeavours to ‘decolonise the university’ and its various disciplines, the article points to the importance of the work of Frantz Fanon and especially his Studies in a dying colonialism and The wretched of the earth. The focus is on Fanon’s interrogation of the use of the veil in Algeria and how he perceived that, subject to ongoing revolutionary turbulence, family relations were being progressively transformed. Moreover, it is suggested that his views on violence warrant further exploration than is ordinarily provided in mainstream and conventional accounts of his work. While pessimistic, Fanon’s concerns about the evolution of postcolonial societies were also timely and prescient.

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Paul Michael GarrettNUI Galway, Ireland

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PM.Garrett@nuigalway.ie

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