Colonialism in the West: Queer Nationalism

Fanon’s article ‘The Wretched of the Earth’ depicts the relationship between culture, national consciousness, and colonisation, as he explains the process by which a new culture is born during the “fight for freedom” (Fanon 1440) of colonised peoples. As Fanon relates, at the outset of colonial domination, “every effort is made to bring the colonised person to admit the inferiority of his culture…and to recognise the unreality of his own ‘nation’” (1440). This, unsurprisingly, creates a hostile environment in which “the poverty of the people, national oppression, and the inhibition of culture” (1441) become one in the same, leading feelings of tension, hostility, and social revolution to develop, “simultaneously at the personal and national level.” (Wright 428). Fanon explains how the destruction of the old culture allows for a new national consciousness to arise, and with it a far more powerful and dynamic culture intrinsically linked to the aims, attitudes, and identity of the oppressed nation, for as Fanon expresses, “culture is first the expression of a nation, the expression of its preferences, of its taboos, of its patterns.” (1444). Fanon also relates the role of literature and art in the development of this new culture, whereby story-tellers shed the traditions of the past, modernising their stories to reflect the struggles experienced by their audience, creating a literature of combat, that “calls on the whole people to fight for their existence as a nation” (1442). Wright acknowledges that “Fanon sees this process as the only path to freedom for colonised humanity” (428) and notes that, once a colonised people have achieved liberation “a change in consciousness is necessary for the liberated colonial person to be a free and contributing member of a nation. The elimination of the colonial paradigm is a vital part of the construction of the new social reality.” (428). Fanon concludes that “Everything works together to awaken the native’s sensibility and to make unreal and unacceptable the contemplative attitude, or the acceptance of defeat.” (1444) conveying the critical connection between the rise of the national consciousness of a liberated nation, and the radical culture that has been forged alongside it. 

These ideas of a national consciousness created during the fight for freedom expressed in Fanon’s article can be linked in terms of current affairs with the continuous struggles faced by the LGBTIQ community. Despite the recent breakthroughs for queer people, what with the legalisation of same-sex marriage in 26 countries and the growing support for huge movements such as Pride, the LGBTIQ community are still a colonised people, ruled by a hostile heterosexual majority. However, in the midst of the increasingly intentional climate of 2018, the notion of national identity, and with it much of our cultural and social norms, is becoming increasingly unpopular and outdated as people are beginning more and more to break down barriers between race, ethnicity, and sexuality, allowing for entirely new cultures to arise, such as can be seen with the birth of queer nationalism. Queer nationalism was established in 1990 by the radical organisation Queer Nation, best known for its slogan “We’re here. We’re queer. Get used to it.” epitomising the national consciousness of the LGBTIQ community. It is primarily a liberation movement, spurred by the homophobic nature of many cultures in response to the development of the unique culture and customs of the LGBTIQ community. However, as Balogh recounts “Despite empowering legislative changes and the monitoring of the the violations of equality rights and equal opportunities preceding or accompanying the processes of EU-enlargement, in post-socialist Europe, LGBTIQ people continue to face rampant discrimination and violence.” (5) and so the birth of their distinct and powerful culture is intrinsically linked to the development of their national consciousness during the years of oppression and ostracisation they have suffered through, and continue to suffer through. Therefore, just as Fanon “articulates the complex entrappings of the colonizer/colonized dialectics” (Shohat 254) with regard to the notion that “The Black is obliged not only to be Black, but ‘he must be Black in relation to the White man’” (255) he explains much of the attitudes that the LGBTIQ community too have suffered; they are both homosexual in their nature, yet also entirely homosexual in relation to the heterosexual majority of the dominant culture of many nations. This goes some length to explaining the birth of queer nationalism therefore, as the LGBTIQ community, entirely a colonised and marginalised people within their own countries and its culture, sought to obtain liberation from the distinctly heterosexual cultures they suffer under and instead establish a new nation, and with it a new culture, intrinsically linked to the aims, principles, and ideas of the people it represents. 

Works Cited

Fanon, Frantz, et al. The Wretched of the Earth. Grove Press, Inc., 1965

Fejes Nárcisz, and Andrea P Balogh. Queer Visibility in Post-Socialist Cultures. Intellect, 2013. 

Shohat, Ella. Taboo memories, diasporic voices. Duke University Press, 2006.

Wright, Claudia. “National Liberation, Consciousness, Freedom and Frantz Fanon.” History of            European Ideas, vol. 15, no. 1, 1992, pp. 427–434.,                                                         doi:10.1016/0191-6599(92)90161-5.