Black Skin, White Masks

by

Frantz Fanon

Known as “the father of psychoanalysis,” Sigmund Freud is one of the most important intellectuals of the modern era. Born to a Jewish family in the Freiburg in the Austrian Empire (now the Czech Republic), Freud studied medicine at the University of Vienna. It is difficult to overstate Freud’s impact on the way we understand the human mind today. Fanon’s discussion of repressed traumas and desires, dreams, the Oedipus complex, and many other psychic phenomena can all be directly linked back to Freud. However, as Fanon points out, there are major limitations in applying Freud’s work to the context of black experience, and Freud therefore remains both an essential interlocutor in Fanon’s thinking and an emblem of the ways in which white society is incapable of theorizing black experience.
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Sigmund Freud Character Timeline in Black Skin, White Masks

The timeline below shows where the character Sigmund Freud appears in Black Skin, White Masks. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 2: The Woman of Color and the White Man
Colonialism, Diaspora, and Alienation Theme Icon
Material vs. Psychological Oppression Theme Icon
Knowledge vs. Ignorance Theme Icon
...to build an impression of black people’s worldview: Alfred Adler, George Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, and Sigmund Freud . He returns to the characters of Nini and Mayotte, wondering if it is possible... (full context)