“Psychoanalysis, Colonialism, Racism” by Stephen Frosh: Summary and Critique

1. Postcolonial Ambivalence Toward Psychoanalysis

• Postcolonial theory has had an uneasy relationship with psychoanalysis due to its individualistic focus and its neglect of sociohistorical concerns (Frosh, 2013, p. 141).
• Despite its critical tools, psychoanalysis has historically drawn from colonialist ideology, particularly in Freud’s notion of the “primitive mind” (Frosh, 2013, p. 141).
• However, psychoanalysis challenges linear developmental assumptions, acknowledging that all subjects harbor elements of primitivity, disrupting the civilized/primitive binary (Frosh, 2013, p. 141).

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2. The Colonial Foundations of Psychoanalysis

• Freud’s work reinforced colonialist ideas by categorizing “savage” and “civilized” mentalities (Frosh, 2013, p. 143).
• In Totem and Taboo, Freud equates the mental lives of “savages” with neurotics, implying a developmental hierarchy (Frosh, 2013, p. 143).
• Freud writes, “There are men still living who, as we believe, stand very near to primitive man, far nearer than we do” (Freud, 1913, p. 1, as cited in Frosh, 2013, p. 143).
• Freud linked “savages” to children, portraying them as emotionally underdeveloped (Frosh, 2013, p. 144).
• The savage/civilized distinction is not just developmental—it racializes inferiority, making it a tool of colonial justification (Frosh, 2013, p. 144).

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3. The Racist Gaze and the Colonized Subject

• Drawing from Fanon’s Black Skin, White Masks, Frosh discusses the alienating impact of the white gaze on Black subjects (Frosh, 2013, p. 146).
• Fanon describes his experience of being reduced to an object:

“I found that I was an object in the midst of other objects” (Fanon, 1952, p. 109, as cited in Frosh, 2013, p. 146).

• The white child’s reaction—fear and fascination—reinforces the racialized alienation of the Black subject (Frosh, 2013, p. 146).
• Fanon employs Lacan’s mirror stage to show that the Black subject’s reflection is distorted by colonial stereotypes, creating double alienation (Frosh, 2013, p. 147).

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4. Psychoanalysis as a Colonial Discipline

• Psychoanalysis carries embedded colonial biases, even when used in progressive critical theory (Frosh, 2013, p. 144).
• Celia Brickman (2003) argues that Freud’s “universalizing reconfigurations” displaced European antisemitism onto “primitives,” women, and homosexuals (Frosh, 2013, p. 145).
• Freud’s binary of rational/civilized vs. irrational/primitive mirrors the colonial justification of dominance (Frosh, 2013, p. 145).
• Even in modern psychoanalysis, terms like “primitive fantasies” unconsciously reproduce colonial assumptions (Frosh, 2013, p. 146).

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5. The Racist Imaginary: Projection and Fantasy

• Psychoanalysis helps explain the excessive nature of racist ideology—its passionate hatred beyond rational justification (Frosh, 2013, p. 148).
• Adorno et al. (1950) theorized that racism stems from authoritarian family structures, creating personalities that externalize fear onto scapegoats (Frosh, 2013, p. 148).
• Racism is not just mistaken belief—it is a psychically charged structure, maintained by projection and paranoia (Frosh, 2013, p. 148).
• Fanon (1952) showed how colonialism constructs Blackness as hypersexual, aggressive, and inferior, making Black bodies the repository for White anxieties (Frosh, 2013, p. 149).
• “The White man projects his repressed sexuality onto the Black, constructing him in fantasy as a sexual paragon and an object for his homosexual desire” (Fanon, 1952, p. 170, as cited in Frosh, 2013, p. 149).

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6. Psychoanalysis, Colonial Enjoyment, and Excess

• Žižek (1993) describes the racist fantasy of the “stolen enjoyment”—the idea that the Other possesses what the White subject lacks (Frosh, 2013, p. 151).
• Racism is fueled by the obsession with the “excessive” enjoyment of others—whether in music, food, or sexuality (Frosh, 2013, p. 151).
• “The White subject needs the Black to define itself; and it desires the Black as the repository of those necessary things—above all, sexuality—which it has repudiated” (Frosh, 2013, p. 150).
• The racist subject, believing they have lost something (power, morality, racial purity), projects their perceived lack onto the Other (Frosh, 2013, p. 151).

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7. Psychoanalysis as a Tool for Postcolonial Theory

• Despite its colonial legacy, psychoanalysis offers critical tools for postcolonial analysis (Frosh, 2013, p. 152).
• It reveals how colonialism psychologically conditions both colonizer and colonized, embedding racism within the unconscious (Frosh, 2013, p. 152).
• Said (2003) used Freud’s Moses and Monotheism to argue that identity is always fractured, and European identity is haunted by its colonial other (Frosh, 2013, p. 150).
• Psychoanalysis helps explain why racism persists—not just as a political structure but as a psychic investment in domination (Frosh, 2013, p. 153).
• Frosh warns that psychoanalysis itself must be decolonized before it can fully contribute to anti-racist discourse (Frosh, 2013, p. 153).

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Conclusion

• Psychoanalysis has a problematic colonial legacy, reinforcing hierarchies of race and civilization (Frosh, 2013, p. 154).
• However, it also offers powerful insights into the psychological mechanisms of racism, such as projection, alienation, and fantasy (Frosh, 2013, p. 154).
• Postcolonial thinkers like Fanon, Said, and Žižek have used psychoanalysis to unmask the racist imaginary and colonial trauma (Frosh, 2013, p. 154).
• The challenge remains to use psychoanalysis as a critical tool without reproducing its colonial assumptions (Frosh, 2013, p. 154).

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References (as cited in Frosh, 2013)

• Fanon, F. (1952). Black Skin, White Masks.
• Freud, S. (1913). Totem and Taboo.
• Freud, S. (1927). The Future of an Illusion.
• Freud, S. (1939). Moses and Monotheism.
• Said, E. (2003). Freud and the Non-European.
• Žižek, S. (1993). Tarrying with the Negative.

1. Postcolonial Theory

• Critique of the “Colonizing Gaze”:
  • Frosh builds on Frantz Fanon’s analysis of colonial alienation, explaining how psychoanalysis can uncover the deep psychological damage caused by colonialism.
  • Example: Fanon’s description of being objectified by the white gaze (Fanon, 1952) is re-examined through Lacanian psychoanalysis.
  • “The Black subject, subjected to the racist gaze, sees itself in the White mirror that removes the possibility of self-assertion and mastery and instead creates further fragmentation.” (p. 146)
• Epidermalization and the Inscription of Race on the Body:
  • Frosh applies Fanon’s notion that race is not just a social construct but a felt bodily experience ingrained in psychoanalysis.
  • “Colonial power is built on this capacity of the colonizer to remove the source of subjecthood from the colonized; and this power is reflected and institutionalized continuously by the gaze.” (p. 149)
• Psychoanalysis as a Tool for Decolonization:
  • Despite its colonial entanglements, psychoanalysis can deconstruct colonial narratives in literature by exposing unconscious racial biases.
  • “Psychoanalysis also influences contemporary postcolonial theory… offering a vocabulary and set of conceptual tools for articulating the subtle manner in which sociocultural processes construct, and are in turn supported by, psychic configurations.” (p. 150)

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2. Psychoanalytic Criticism

• Reevaluation of Freud’s “Primitive Mind” in Literary Analysis:
  • Frosh critiques Freud’s developmental model, which equates non-European cultures with childhood, reinforcing colonialist hierarchies.
  • “Freud’s postulation of the ‘primitive’ or ‘savage’ mind, which still infects psychoanalytic thinking, is a prime example here.” (p. 143)
• The Role of the Unconscious in Racialized Fantasies:
  • Psychoanalysis can help decode how literary texts encode racist fantasies and fears, as seen in colonial-era literature (e.g., Heart of Darkness).
  • “Racist persecution of the Black is therefore fuelled by sexual hatred, something evidenced by lynchings throughout history.” (p. 150)
• Projection and the Racial Other:
  • Freudian projection explains how racist characters in literature project their disavowed fears, desires, and anxieties onto racialized figures.
  • “The racist subject will both be drawn to and repelled by the object of hatred, and in spite of all evidence to the contrary, will hold a genuine conviction that its very existence is threatening.” (p. 148)

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3. Critical Race Theory (CRT)

• Racism as a Psychological Structure, Not Just a Social One:
  • Frosh aligns with CRT scholars (e.g., Derrick Bell) in asserting that racism is not just a structural issue but deeply embedded in psychic and cultural discourse.
  • “Racial categories are particularly useful repositories for such anti- or pseudo-thinking, not just because they are socially valorized for political purposes (such as colonialism and economic exploitation), but because they are fundamentally ’empty’ categories.” (p. 149)
• The “Racist Imaginary” and Stereotyping in Literature:
  • Literature perpetuates stereotypes of the Other by encoding unconscious racial fears (e.g., the savage, hypersexual Black man in colonial fiction).
  • “Psychoanalysis provides a vocabulary that facilitates discussion of what might be called the excessive dimension of racist discourse.” (p. 148)
• The Function of “Enjoyment” (Jouissance) in Racist Representations:
  • Žižek’s concept of enjoyment (jouissance) helps explain the contradictory portrayal of racialized figures as both feared and desired.
  • “Whiteness, supported by an ideology of ‘purity’ and a disavowal of sexuality, needs the Black ‘other’ as a repository of its own discontent.” (p. 151)

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4. Cultural Studies and Ideology Critique

• Colonialism and the Production of Knowledge:
  • Psychoanalysis has historically reinforced colonialist thought through its Eurocentric assumptions, which Cultural Studies scholars challenge.
  • “Freud deployed the idea that the thinking of what he called ‘savages’ was not only contrasted to ‘civilized’ mentality, but also revealed the origins of mental life both for the culture as a whole.” (p. 143)
• Psychoanalysis as a Counter-Ideological Tool:
  • By exposing how racial hierarchies are naturalized in psychoanalytic discourse, Frosh highlights how literary texts can be read critically against their own ideological assumptions.
  • “Even though psychoanalysis has frequently aligned itself with colonialist tendencies, it also offers tools to deconstruct the categories that support them.” (p. 152)
• Fanon’s “Double Alienation” and Identity Formation in Literature:
  • Frosh revisits Fanon’s double alienation to explain how colonial and postcolonial literature often depicts racialized subjects caught between two worlds (e.g., hybridity in postcolonial literature).
  • “The Lacanian subject looks in the mirror and sees its image reflected back to it… The Black subject, however, sees an image of the White’s gaze that fixes them in place.” (p. 147)

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Conclusion: Theoretical Legacy in Literary Studies

Frosh’s work enhances literary theory by:

1. Deepening Postcolonial Criticism through psychoanalysis, particularly Fanon’s theories.
2. Challenging Eurocentric Psychoanalysis by revealing its racial biases.
3. Applying Critical Race Theory to Literature, showing how race is a psychological and ideological construct.
4. Providing a framework for interpreting racial alienation in postcolonial fiction, film, and cultural narratives.