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

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.