Colonial Ressentiment, Enlightenment Thought, and the Impasses of Decolonization

This article traces the notion of ressentiment beginning with several key uses by Denis Diderot and Edmund Burke from the 1770s and 1780s, but shifts from there to consider Friedrich Nietzsche’s impactful and distinct use in On the Genealogy of Morality (1887), emphasizing linkages between ressentiment and temporality. It juxtaposes these two moments with the colonial context, turning to Frantz Fanon and Ranajit Guha to explore how the sentiments of conquest are reflected in a conception of the past inextricably marked by colonialism. The conclusion notes Fanon’s struggle with Nietzsche’s formulation and suggests he is closer to the understanding of ressentiment visible in Diderot.