LANGUAGE IN INDIA

Strength for Today and Bright Hope for Tomorrow

Volume 26:2 February 2026
ISSN 1930-2940

Editors:
         Selvi M. Bunce, M.A., Ph.D. Candidate
         Nathan Mulder Bunce, M.A., Ph.D.
         Sam Mohanlal, Ph.D.
         B. Mallikarjun, Ph.D.
         A. R. Fatihi, Ph.D.
         G. Baskaran, Ph.D.
         T. Deivasigamani, Ph.D.
         Pammi Pavan Kumar, Ph.D.
         Soibam Rebika Devi, M.Sc., Ph.D.

Honorary Managing Editor & Publisher: M. S. Thirumalai, Ph.D.

Celebrate India!
Unity in Diversity!!

HOME PAGE

Click Here for Back Issues of Language in India - From 2001

Poetic Encounter
Available in https://www.amazon.in/dp/B09TT86S4T

Poems
Naked: the honest musings of two brown women
Available in https://www.amazon.in

Decrees
Available in https://www.amazon.com

BOOKS FOR YOU TO READ AND DOWNLOAD FREE!

REFERENCE MATERIALS

BACK ISSUES

  • E-mail your articles and book-length reports in Microsoft Word to languageinindiaUSA@gmail.com.

  • PLEASE READ THE GUIDELINES GIVEN IN HOME PAGE IMMEDIATELY AFTER THE LIST OF CONTENTS.

  • Your articles and book-length reports should be written following the APA, MLA, LSA, or IJDL Stylesheet.

  • The Editorial Board has the right to accept, reject, or suggest modifications to the articles submitted for publication, and to make suitable stylistic adjustments. High quality, academic integrity, ethics and morals are expected from the authors and discussants.

Copyright © 2025
M. S. Thirumalai

Publisher: M. S. Thirumalai, Ph.D.
11249 Oregon Circle
Bloomington, MN 55438
USA
Custom Search

Language and Power: Shaping Self and Identity in Fanon's Thoughts

Dr. Asha Sundaram

Abstract

The paper explores Frantz Fanon's theoretical assumptions on the effects of colonisation on the language and mind from his seminal work, Black Skin, White Masks. Fanon's conceptions on language and self, a brief history of French language in Algeria in the context of French colonisation, his arguments on language of both the colonizer and colonized are explained and analyzed in detail. The degree of ambivalence, the amount of resistance, the intensity of subordination, the extent of assimilating to a colonised culture and civilisation, the level of linguistic suppression in mastering a dominant language and its effects on the construction of self and identity of the colonised forms the essence. The paper is written from the perspective of how language can act as a tool of domination of power and control by creating a sense of alienation and subjugation in the colonised minds.

Keywords:Colonisation, Language, Self, Psyche, Society, Culture, Colonial Domination

Introduction

Frantz Fanon's book Black Skin, White Masks (1952) documents psychoanalysis of the aftermaths of colonisation on the human psyche. The book was written with reference to French colonization of Algeria revealing linguistic, social, cultural and psychological consequences of French colonial rule on Algerian people. It portrays how the dominant, colonial culture forces the submissive colonized people to wear white masks for acceptance in the colonized society. From a dehumanisation perspective, the book is an excellent example of how colonial domination persists silently resulting in a racist society. The ‘Black Skin’ in Fanon refers to people of all colonised cultures who are subjugated by the colonial rule. Black people are compelled to hide their identities or true selves; they are made to assimilate with the white man’s language and culture causing immense psychological depression. They feel inferior in every single way resulting in mental illness. A psychiatrist by profession, Fanon encodes his own personal experience while writing a literary piece for racist psychology and postcolonial theories. He examines the cultural and linguistic societal prejudices and stereotypes that eventually create conflicts between the self and identity forced upon by others. The metaphor of ‘white masks’ signifies the acceptance of the behavior, mannerisms, culture and language of the colonizer by the Black people at the cost of their existence. Throughout the book, Fanon argues for a humanistic society that appreciates the lived experiences of the people from colonised cultures and hides the white masks that one tries to assume and project.

French language and Algeria in the French colonisation context

France colonised Algeria, the North African state on the Mediterranean coast, in 1830. The French dominated Algeria in the linguistic, economic, and cultural spheres of the Algerians from 1830 – 1962 till Algerian independence. French language was imposed in all the domains replacing Algeria's native languages Berber and Arabic. Maamri (2009) claims that French colonization was a comprehensive annexation that aimed at eliminating its culture enacted through French control over Algeria’s educational systems, government, business, and the intellectual life for one hundred thirty-two years. France's colonial system imposed acculturation which positioned French as the dominant language on its colonies, removing local languages, Arabic and Berber, from the public sphere. Profoundly de-structured by the colonial settlement, Algeria had to face a series of cultural problems relating to its national identity and the dislocation of language was the major effect of colonization in Algeria and French imposition not only meant segregation, illiteracy, and religious intolerance, but also the subordination of Algerian identity and Algerian's native tongues (Maamri, 2009).

This is only the beginning part of the article. PLEASE CLICK HERE TO READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE IN PRINTER-FRIENDLY VERSION.

Dr. Asha Sundaram
Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi
asundaramncte@gmail.com
Custom Search
  • Click Here to Go to Creative Writing Section

  • Send your articles
    as an attachment
    to your e-mail to
    languageinindiaUSA@gmail.com.
  • Please ensure that your name, academic degrees, institutional affiliation and institutional address, and your e-mail address are all given in the first page of your article. Also include a declaration that your article or work submitted for publication in LANGUAGE IN INDIA is an original work by you and that you have duly acknowledged the work or works of others you used in writing your articles, etc. Remember that by maintaining academic integrity we not only do the right thing but also help the growth, development and recognition of Indian/South Asian scholarship.