Fanon's Philosophical Legacy: Fanon at 100

Fanon's Philosophical Legacy: Fanon at 100
Friday 27th and Saturday 28th June 2025
Call for Registration

Book Your Place via the listing here: https://www.bbk.ac.uk/events/event/50372/fanon-100

Host Institution: Birkbeck, University of London (Bloomsbury campus)  

2025 marks the centenary year of the birth of Frantz Fanon. Despite Fanon’s enormous influence in postcolonial studies, political thought, the history of Marxism and the humanities more widely, the specifically philosophical significance of his works is less commonly recognized.

This significance can be borne out in two broad forms. First, his contributions bear upon the traditions of European thought to which he belongs, and the concepts from which he adapts within his own works. For instance, he offers modifications to important concepts found in the works of Hegel and Nietzsche predominantly, but also engages with Merleau-Ponty, Bergson, Césaire, Freud, Adler, Beauvoir, and Sartre.
Second, and less addressed in the scholarship, his works can be taken to offer important contributions in their own right to phenomenology, metaethics, moral psychology, theories of recognition and intersubjectivity, and the philosophy of history, as well as (more obviously) the philosophy of race and political philosophy.

It is the strong expectation of the program committee that a great deal of philosophical attention will be paid to Fanon in the coming years. Thus, it is the ambition of this two-day conference to break ground ahead of this expected increase in attention. The conference will bring into dialogue both senior international scholars whose works on Fanon spans decades, and rising stars engaging in fruitful early career research.

All are welcome and attendance is free, but registration is essential.

Book Your Place via the listing here: https://www.bbk.ac.uk/events/event/50372/fanon-100

Questions can be directed to the Chair of the Program Committee, Richard Elliott: [email protected]

This event is organized under the auspices of the Birkbeck Centre for Philosophical Research in the School of Historical Studies, and the Birkbeck Faculty of Business and Law. The event receives generous external funding from the Mind Association, the British Society for the History of Philosophy, and The Aristotelian Society. The event is supported by the Institute of Philosophy, as part of the School of Advanced Studies.

Speakers: 
Robert Bernasconi (Pennsylvania State University)
Richard Elliott (University of Reading/Birkbeck, University of London)
Kylie Erfani (George Mason University)
Lewis R. Gordon (University of Connecticut)
Oscar Guardiola-Rivera (Birkbeck, University of London)
Kojo Koram (Birkbeck, University of London)
Daniele Lorenzini (University of Pennsylvania)
Lucie K. Mercier (University of Geneva)
Komarine Romdenh-Romluc (University of Sheffield)
Marie Wuth (University of Hamburg)

Provisional Conference Schedule
(Schedule may be subject to change)

Friday 27th June
Room B20, Malet Street Main Building, Birkbeck, University of London

09:40 – 09:45 – Opening Remarks

09:45 – 10:55 – Daniele Lorenzini (University of Pennsylvania)
Paper Title: ‘The Aptness of Violence’

10:55 – 11:05 – Coffee Break

11:05 – 12:15 – Komarine Romdenh-Romluc (University of Sheffield)
Paper Title: ‘Race, Rape and the Unconscious in Black Skin White Masks’

12:15 – 13:40 – Break for Lunch

13:40 – 14:50 – Kylie Erfani (George Mason University)
Paper Title: ‘Demystifying Violence in Fanon’s Wretched of the Earth’

14:50 – 15:00 – Coffee Break

15:00 – 16:10 – Marie Wuth (University of Hamburg)
Paper Title: ‘Skincare: Racialized Identities, Decolonial Refusal, and the Politics of Touch’

16:10 – 16:20 – Coffee Break

16:20 – 17:35 – Robert Bernasconi (Pennsylvania State University)
Paper Title: "Fanon's New Humanity and Sartre's 'The Roots of Ethics’"


Saturday 28th June
Room B20, Malet Street Main Building, Birkbeck, University of London

09:45 – 10:55 – Oscar Guardiola-Rivera (Birkbeck, University of London)
and Kojo Koram (Birkbeck, University of London)
Paper Title: ‘Fanon and the Law’

10:55 – 11:05 – Coffee Break

11:05 – 12:15 – Richard Elliott (University of Reading/Birkbeck, University of London)
Paper Title: ‘Fanon on Ressentiment and Recognition’

12:15 – 13:40 – Break for Lunch

13:40 – 14:50 – Lucie K. Mercier (University of Geneva)
Paper Title: ‘Fanon’s Theatrum Philosophicum’

14:50 – 15:00 –Coffee Break

15:00 – 16:15 – Lewis R. Gordon (University of Connecticut)
Paper Title: ‘Dear Frantz Maguerite Victor Fanon’

16:25 – 17:30 Informal Drinks