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This is a Literature Review study.

October 10, 2025

The Normal and the Pathological: Frantz Fanon, Georges Canguilhem, and Colonial Fascism

Key Points

Fanon argues that racism is pathological, constraining future openness, and fostering a toxic norm.
The article uses historical debates on fascism and biopolitics to illustrate Fanon’s theoretical revisions using Canguilhem.
By engaging with Canguilhem’s thoughts, Fanon crafts a vital anti-colonial politics embodied in the African Legion.
The analysis reveals how pathology in social norms can lead to oppressive political structures like fascism.

Abstract

Abstract: This article unpacks Frantz Fanon’s theoretical analysis of the normal and the pathological through the French philosopher of science, Georges Canguilhem. Placing Fanon in conversation with Canguilhem I argue that, for Fanon, racism is pathological because it establishes a norm that continually constrains openness towards the future. Drawing on historical and contemporary debates on fascism, vitalism, necropolitics, and biopolitics, I show how Fanon engages with Canguilhem’s theory of the normal and the pathological to revise his account of fascism, and to generate a vital, anti-fascist, anti-colonial, politics through a volunteer army—the African Legion.

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