Antoine Porot

Antoine Porot (1876 in Chalon-sur-Saône – 1965) was a French psychiatrist. He founded what was known as the Algiers School of psychiatry, which attempted to justify the inherent racism in the French colonial mission in Algiers on the basis that Algerians, i.e. the Muslim non-ethnically French inhabitants, were biologically inferior. Frantz Fanon discusses his theories and the impact on Algerian colonial society in his book, The Wretched of the Earth, but does not reference Porot by name in any of his published writings (except for an unsigned piece in anti-colonial magazine Consciences maghrébines).

Porot had a son, Maurice Porot (born 1912), who followed in his father's footsteps, becoming a psychiatrist, teaching at Alger (1958-1962) then at Clermont-Ferrand (1965-1982).

Psychiatric Philosophy Porot portrayed himself as interested in understanding Algerian society. His assessment of it was that Algerian Muslims were hysterical, unintelligent, and innately more likely to be criminals.