Camus and Fanon on the Algerian Question

This is the first book to offer a systematic comparison of the philosophies of Albert Camus and Frantz Fanon. It shows how the ethical, political, and psychological outlooks of these two influential thinkers can further our understandings of how to bring about justice in the face of deep power imbalances.The author foregrounds the bloody Algerian War of Independence in his analysis of the philosophies of Camus and Fanon. Although neither supported French colonial occupation of Algeria, they held radically different views of the conflict. Fanon supported emancipation through violence, which the author argues has been uncritically romanticized. Camus, on the other hand, supported an ethics of moderation that shunned indiscriminate violence. The author argues that Camus has been unfairly accused of being an apologist for colonialism. Finally, the author draws out the common endorsement of humanist values that drive both Camus’ and Fanon’s thought.Camus and Fanon on the Algerian Question will appeal to scholars and advanced students interested in twentieth-century Continental philosophy, postcolonialism, existentialism, and African philosophy.

"Even as the anti-colonialism that so much drove Fanon has become a powerful force in today’s world, so too do we seem, in recent times, to have been plunged back into what is almost a replay of the events of the 1930s and 1940s that so shaped Camus’ thinking. Algeria is the landscape in which the contrast between Camus and Fanon was largely played out historically and biographically; that contrast is now being played out, in broader terms, across the world. Tabensky’s ground-breaking, rigorous, and thoughtful book is thus a timely intervention in a past debate that nevertheless remains very much alive – a book for the present and for the future."Jeff Malpas, Emeritus Distinguished Professor, University of Tasmania, Australia"This book puts two significant writers, Camus and Fanon, in conversation for the first time. Tabensky moves us beyond superficial or anachronistic depictions to consider the options for social change in the face of entrenched colonial structures. These two would not, and did not, agree on much apart from the necessity of foreign and racial domination to disappear, but considering the two together allows us to see the options for resistance."Bruce B. Janz, University of Central Florida, USA

Pedro Tabensky is the Director of the Allan Gray Centre for Leadership Ethics, Department of Philosophy, Rhodes University in South Africa. He has drawn on the work of Fanon and Camus intellectuals in recent publications. Tabensky is currently working on a book exploring the relationship between education, ethics, and freedom.