Spatial reorganisation, decentralisation and dignity: Applying a Fanonian lens to a Grahamstown shack settlement

Spatial reorganisation, decentralisation and dignity: Applying a Fanonian lens to a Grahamstown shack settlement

This paper intends to show how the experiences of residents in eThembeni, a shack settlement in Grahamstown, resonate with Fanon’s discussion of a failing post-colony. Further, this paper discusses how attempts by eThembeni’s residents, and other shackdwellers across the country, to reorganise their space are underscored by calls for dignity. Those whose humanness has been denied are appealing to a humanist consciousness that the post-colonial nationalist party failed to develop. For Fanon, practises and ideas of becoming human are essential to any successful decolonisation (Gibson, 2011). Considering this, the calls and demands of the spatially damned of South Africa could represent a move towards a true decolonisation.

Click here to read this essay at the Fanon Blog.