Some sound, some fury, signifying very little: Frantz Fanon and psychological scholarship in South Africa

Abstract

Frantz Fanon has been an inspirational staple to a political, social, and economic understanding of South Africa for nearly 50 years. How, though, has South African psychology wrestled with, and appropriated, Fanon over the course of this time span? A review and analysis of all published references to Fanon in the South African Journal of Psychology, over a period of 40+ years, reveal a disappointingly superficial engagement with Fanonian theory, and a glaring neglect of clinical, research, and educational implications of Fanon’s praxis. Recommendations for a recommitted engagement with Fanon’s writings are provided.