Léopold Sédar Senghor Senegalese poet and statesman, founder of the Senegalese Democratic Bloc. Senghor was elected president of Senegal in the 1960s. He retired from office in 1980. He was one of the originators of the concept of Négritude, defined as the literary and artistic expression of the black African experience. In historical context the term has been seen as a reaction against French colonialism and a defence of African culture. It has deeply influnced the strengthening of African identity
While in exile in France Léopold Sédar Senghor wrote a beautiful poem called Black Woman. This poem revolves around Senghor love, definition and praise of a natural black woman. In Senghor’s life and poetry women are viewed in a higher status, are held in high esteem and regard. Senghor poem is more than an individual black African woman, she is an antecedent of his race and thus a symbol of the African race. He takes pride in his race and in this poem especially Senghor completely showed his love
Contesting Modernities Western Modernity contains philosophical views which are carried with characteristics of humanism, freedom, dignity and such but is still criticised and contested by thinkers such as Jean-Paul Sartre, Aimé Césaire, and Léopold Sédar Senghor. Its characteristics are seen as flawed because of its roots of colonization, hypocrisy and racism. Jean-Paul Sartre is an existentialist thinker who contests Western Modernity as hypocritical. Humanism is often talked about and seen as an
becoming slaves” (658). This statement is stereotypical of Europeans because it is grouping all of them as materialistic and selfish beings. In addition, Leopold Sedar Senghor, a Senegalese poet and political leader, champions people from his own civilization by criticizing the white people. In what seems to be a message addressing God, Senghor reflects on “white hands that fired the shots which brought the empires crumbling” (658). He goes on to say that “hands that flogged the slaves… Chalk-white
Aime Cesaire one of the most important twentieth-century Martiniquean writers, anti-colonial critics and a towering voice of freedom and self-determination, who dedicated his life to fighting against the inequities of colonialism. He was a major voice of surrealism, and one of the great French poets, and is highly valued for his role in modern Anti-colonial and Pan-African movements. His canon of works illuminates a perception of human dignity and cultural equality and his political, cultural, and
Learning history has given me a new perspective on the World today. I have learned how WWI and WWII shaped how the world is today – from the visions of the modern to the three-world order to globalization. The Great War – World War I – lasted from August 1914 to November 1918 that involved the Allies and the Central Powers. The end of WWI generated mass culture, mass production, and mass consumption on this industrial scale. However, these were soon challenged by the Great Depression, which followed
Modern Architecture) Léopold Sédar Senghor, Senegal’s first president influenced architecture in Senegal by pushing for asymmetric parallelism. One building that achieves the imposed standards of architecture is the ATEPA Group Headquarters building. It’s pyramid-like form is an example of Senegalese modern architecture. The building stands out as a building that is more about how a building is suppose to be a machine. Architects directed to fulfill the preferences of Senghor by showing that a building
James Baldwin’s “Sonny’s Blues,” written in the 1950s is an examination of the relationship between two brothers that are on divergent paths in life. The older brother, the unnamed narrator, is a math teacher and his younger brother, Sonny, is a drug addict and a musician. Prior to the death of the narrator’s daughter, the brother, our narrator, had lost contact with Sonny, while Sonny spent time in jail for his drug addiction and the selling of drugs. The narrator is understandably upset with his
James Langston Hughes was born February 1, 1902, in Joplin , Missouri . His parents divorced when he was a small child, and his father moved to Mexico . He was raised by his grandmother until he was thirteen, when he moved to Lincoln , Illinois , to live with his mother and her husband, before the family eventually settled in Cleveland , Ohio . It was in Lincoln , Illinois , that Hughes began writing poetry. Following graduation, he spent a year in Mexico and a year at Columbia University . During
The European Invasion of the Aztec Civilization Thunder on their Ships They are landing with rulers, squares, compasses Sextants White skin fair eyes, naked word Thunder on their ships. Leopold Sedar Senghor, “Ethiopiques” (Adas) “Thunder on their ships” can be used to describe Herman Cortes when he landed at what is now Veracruz, Mexico in 1519 A.D. The light skinned and bearded Spaniard led his men into territory occupied by the Aztec civilization. Little did Cortes know, but that
“People who are powerless make an open theater of violence” says the American essayist, Don DeLillo. Colonialism had been a devastating phenomenon that almost the entire African continent underwent during the nineteenth century. It was a social, political and economic debasing process for the African societies. The colonial system was well-structured and hardly defeated. Therefore, a tremendous means was demanded in order to decline the colonial power and its impacts; violence, either psychological
Bate Besong’s Beasts of no Nations Drama is one genre in Literature whose functionality in society cannot be under estimated. It is an active and practical genre because; there is harmony and a practical relationship between the audience and the dramatis personae. It thus imitates its society at best. From this, it is difficult to separate drama from politics; politics being a science that deals with the state and the condition of the human society. Bate Besong is one of the most renown Cameroonian