Black identity is overdetermined from outside by appearance, unlike Jewish identity which allows concealment.

Evidence

All the same, the Jew can be unknown in his Jewishness. He is not wholly what he is. One hopes, one waits. His actions, his behavior are the final determinant. He is a white man, and, apart from some rather debatable characteristics, he can sometimes go unnoticed. He belongs to the race of those who since the beginning of time have never known cannibalism. What an idea, to eat one’s father! Simple enough, one has only not to be a nigger. Granted, the Jews are harassed–what am I thinking of? They are hunted down, exterminated, cremated. But these are little family quarrels. The Jew is disliked from the moment he is tracked down. But in my case everything takes on a new guise. I am given no chance. I am overdetermined from without. I am the slave not of the “idea” that others have of me but of my own appearance. — Frantz Fanon, Constance Farrington, Black skin, white masks, 416

Categorization

• DEFINE: Defines ‘overdetermined from without’ — the key contrast between Black and Jewish overdetermination that anchors the chapter.
• XREF: Directly extends Sartre’s notion of overdetermination from within (Anti-Semite and Jew) which Fanon quotes just before. — connects to: The Black man is overdetermined from without, enslaved by appearance; Black identity is reduced to a catalog of stereotyping colonial caricatures; When recognition is denied, the Black subject resolves to assert blackness forcibly. — Frantz Fanon, Constance Farrington, Black skin, white masks, 414 (+2 more)

Broader Connections

• Black identity is reduced to a catalog of stereotyping colonial caricatures #corroborates (0.60)
• When recognition is denied, the Black subject resolves to assert blackness forcibly. #expands (0.50) — Frantz Fanon, Constance Farrington, Black skin, white masks, 414
• The category of the Negro was fabricated in the West, not Africa #corroborates (0.40)