In this article, the contemporary debate over the tension between “nativist” (nationalist, anti-colonial) and “humanist” (transnational) representations of identity in Fanon’s works is examined. The author argues that such tension, as it appears in the form of contradictory statements and ambivalent enunciations in Fanon’s writings, provide not only a key to our understanding of Fanon, but is also useful in assessing contemporary critiques of nativism. The article concludes that if Fanon is still relevant today, it is because he forces us to ask whether nativist discourses can still be used “not as descriptions of how things are,” but instead as “instrumental” and “strategic” discourses that can serve to oppose neo-colonial relations in the contemporary world.