Question: Fanon argues that colonization has social impacts as well, and that part of colonization is the denial of culture.

Fanon argues that colonization has social impacts as well, and that part of colonization is the denial of culture. He argues that national culture – emphasizing the local identity and pre-colonial history – is a way to counter this. National culture is a path to liberation because it emphasizes the dignity of the colonized people. It is also a path to internationalism, because it is through responding to the local reality that nations can come together in solidarity. Fanon was influential not just in Algeria, but across the colonized world.



Many modern artists in the Arab world were interested in encouraging a national art along these lines, looking to the history of pre-colonial visual culture as a way of rooting modern aesthetics in their local culture. For your paper, you will select one artwork from before 1990 that is currently on view in Mathaf. Your paper should explore how and in what ways we might apply the essay “On National Culture” by Frantz Fanon to this artwork, or read the artwork in relation the essay. You are required to cite the reading by Fanon (specific page number) and to summarize this article in your own words (not just cherry pick a phrase). You are also required to cite Nada Shabout’s book Modern Arab Art.



You are allowed to do outside research. All research should be cited and use reputable academic sources (no Wikipedia, no personal blogs, nothing focused on the art market). If you are not clear if you have a good source, please see Dr. Jacqulyn Williams in the library.



Unless they are in quotation marks, you are not allowed to use any words that are not your own. This means no bots for writing or paraphrasing and no websites to change your grammar and vocabulary.

Paper should be 3-5 pages double spaced.