wretched-of-the-earth-frantz-fanon

224THE WRETCHED OF THE EARTHCOLONIAL WAR AND MENTAL DISORDERS225to fear suicidal tendencies in a patient suffering from melancholia.The melancholic Algerian, however, kills. This disorder ofthe moral conscience, which is always accompanied by selfaccusationand suicidal tendencies, in the Algerian takes theshape of homicidal instincts. The Algerian suffering from melancholiadoes not commit suicide. He kills. This is the homicidalmelancholia elaborated by Professor Po rot in the thesis ofhis pupil Monserrat.How does the Algerian school account for this anomaly?Firstly, according to the school of Algiers, killing oneself istantamount to examining one's own feelings, looking at oneselfand practicing introspection. The Algerian, however, rebelsagainst his inner feelings. There is no inner life in the NorthMrican. On the contrary, the North African rids himself oftroubles by attacking the people around him. He has no senseof analysis. Since by definition melancholia is a disorder of themoral conscience it is obvious the Algerian can only developpseudo-melancholias given the unreliability of his conscienccand the ficklcness of his moral sense. This incapacity of thcAlgerian to analyze a situation, to organize a mental panorama,makes perfect sense if we refer to the two types of causalityproposed by the French psychiatrists.First of all, his mental capacity. The Algerian is mentally retarded.If we want to fully understand this basic point of departure,we must recall the semiology elaborated by the school ofAlgiers. The "native," it says, presents the following characteristics:• complete or almost complete lack of emotivity• highly credulous and suggestible• doggedly stubborn• childlike mentality minus the curiosity of the Europeanchild• prone to accidents and pithiatic reactions 3939 Professor A. Porot, Annales Medico-Psychologiques, 1918.The Algerian is unable to grasp an overall picture. The questionshe asks himself are always concerned with details and ruleout any synthesis. Pointillistic, attracted to objects, lost in details,insensitive to ideas, and closed to concepts. Verbal expression isreduced to a minimum. His movements are always impulsiveaggressive. Incapable of interpreting details on the basis ofthe overall picture, the Algerian absolutizes the component andtakes one part for the whole. As a consequence his reactions aregeneralizing when confronted with minor provocations or trivialitiessuch as a fig tree, a gesture, or a sheep on his land. Thecongenital aggressiveness looks for outlets and is content withthe slightest pretext. It is aggressiveness in a pure state. 40The school of Algiers abandoned the phase of description fornext stage of clarification. It was in 1935 at the Congress ofFrench-Speaking Psyehiatrists and Neurologists in Brussels thatProfessor Po rot was to define the scientific bases for his theory.Discussing Baruk's report on hysteria he indicated that "theNorth African native whose cortex and reflexes are poorly developed,is a primitive being whose essentially vegetative and instinctivelife is primarily governed by his diencephalon."order to gauge the importance of this discovery by ProfessorPo rot we should recall that the characteristic which differentiatesthe human species from other vertebrates is the eortex.The diencephalon is one of the most primitivc parts ofthe brainand man is above all the vertebrate governed by the cortex.For Professor Porot the life of the North African is governedby the diencephalic agents. This is tantamount to saying thatNorth African in a certain way is deprived of a cortex. Professor40 In the words of a senior magistrate at a court in Algiers this aggressivenessof the Algerian is expressed in his love for "fantasia." "All this unrest," hesaid in 195 5, "we'd be wrong to think it was political. From time to time thislove they have for knocking themselves about has to come out!" For the anthropologistthe elaboration of a series of projective tests and games capableof channeling the overall aggressive instincts of the colonized would havestopped the revolution in the Aures in 1955-56.