Ce que je crois (1988) – Essai de Léopold Sédar Senghor

Authors : Leopold Sedar Senghor

Genres : essai philosophique

Original language : français

Editions

  • Grasset, 1988 fr

What I Believe

What I Believe: Négritude, Francité and the Universal Civilization, published by Grasset in 1988, is the intellectual testament of Léopold Sédar Senghor. The poet, former president of Senegal and academician, revisits the thread of his entire thought here: what is Négritude, and what legacy can Africa offer to the world?

His answer boils down to a formula: Black people are “animal of rhythm and sentiment,” whereas the West has privileged concept and analysis; hence a civilization of “touching” and participation, not of distance. Francité is not a colonial remnant but a “world-sized civilization.” And Négritude, far from being an identity withdrawal, only makes sense when turned toward métissage — a condition, according to him, for finally building the “universal civilization,” where each culture would donate its values.

A concept book, extension of the five volumes of Liberté, to understand Senghor’s philosophy in a single work.

Sources