Leiden University Student Repository

Dongen, Samuel van (2025)

Dehumanization as Existential Dislocation: Merleau-Ponty, Fanon, and the phenomenological experience of the dehumanized

Bachelor thesis | Filosofie (BA)

This thesis argues for the replacement of the extant concept of dehumanization. It offers arguments for the concept not being sufficient, since it only concerns the phenomenology of the dehumanizer. By using Merleau-Ponty, we talk about individual events of dehumanization in a more sufficient manner, i.e., one which involves the phenomenology of the dehumanized in terms of spatiality in a metaphorical and physical sense. We reach this with the help of a reading of Frantz Fanon’s ‘Lived Experience of the Black Man’. In this framework, I argue that dehumanization is essentially existential dislocation. To a certain extent, one is dislocated from the cultural framework of humanity by not being recognised in their humanity. We see this eventually aligning with first-hand observations of homeless refugee children in Djibouti.

Author

Dongen, Samuel van

Faculty

Faculty of Humanities

Specialisation

Global and Comparative Perspectives

Supervisors

Chouraqui, F.

ECTS Credits

10

Language

en