A persistent theme throughout The Wretched of the Earth is the different forms of consciousness, or self-awareness, that liberation and independence can bring. Related to the connection between politics and psychology, Fanon argues that decolonization will not only liberate the colonized from exploitation, but will also free his mind. Colonialism creates the very identities of colonized and colonist, which makes it not only a political regime, but also a psychological one. When the colonized experience neuroses, depression, and other disorders, the cure is as much political as it is personal. As a result, political problems and psychological health are deeply connected. The colonized also experience psychological problems due to the trauma of violence at the hands of the colonist. In his understanding, the colonist subjugates the colonized not only economically and politically, but also psychologically, by imposing an inferiority complex on those they subjugate. Fanon, a psychiatrist, was especially interested in how colonialism affects the psychological makeup of the colonized.
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