Question

What do you think Fanon means when he writes that speaking is to take on “the weight of a civilization,” and what does it mean when someone is forced to take on the language that is not his own?

Answer 1

Fanon was of the opinion that being colonized by a language has greater consequences for one’s consciousness:

He said “To speak … means above all to assume a culture, to support the weight of a civilization”. Which means, to speak that particular language, is to accept the culture.

Consider an example- Speaking French meant that one accepts, or is forced to accept the collective consciousness of the French, which classifies darkness of the skin as bad. To escape such associations, the black man, through the use of language, tries to participate in a society that advocates equality on the basis of appearances. Cultural values are internalized, creating a fundamental mismatch between the black man’s consciousness and the color of his skin. Under such circumstances, the black man is inevitably estranged from himself