Discovering Democracy in the Work of Frantz Fanon

Mark Purcell is Professor in the Department of Urban Design and Planning at the University of Washington, USA, where he researches urban politics, political theory, social movements, and democracy. He is the author of The Down-Deep 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.

• 1. Introduction 2. My Project of Democracy 3. A Disempowered Left 4. The Major Fanon 5. The Minor Fanon 6. Conclusion

“This short but powerful book makes an excellent and useful contribution to Fanon studies and to radical democracy studies. It is a timely and accessible book that will make clear the importance of Fanon’s ideas and practices for the world today.”Nigel Gibson, Professor of Africana Thought, Postcolonialism and African Studies, Emerson College, and author of Fanon: The Postcolonial Imagination (2003)“This book adds new perspectives on the relevance of democracy in Fanon’s work and the relationship between the ‘destructive’ and ‘democratic’ Fanon. It also goes beyond mainstream scholarship on liberal democracy by highlighting radical understandings of democracy ‘as a way of life in which people retain their power and use it to directly manage their affairs themselves’ in Fanon’s revolutionary writings and actions. A key feature of this book is its emphasis on how Fanon’s ideas and practices can contribute to reinventing democracy for the benefit of all people around the world, especially the damned, unheard, and colonized of the earth – a message that will be crucial for us to hear in today’s climate.”Sean Taudin Chabot, Professor of Sociology, Eastern Washington University