Senghor: Writings on Politics brings Léopold Sédar Senghor’s most vital essays, speeches, and political writings to English-language readers for the first time. Spanning the colonial and postcolonial years between 1937 and 1971, this volume captures Senghor’s evolution from a pioneering poet and cofounder of Négritude to the president of Senegal as he grappled with the complexities of postcolonial identity, governance, and cultural hybridity. Senghor’s reflections on topics ranging from federalism and decolonization to Francophonie reveal his commitment to weaving African and European cultural threads into a vision of global solidarity in ways that resonate with contemporary debates on race, culture, and politics. Inviting readers to engage with a seminal figure whose legacy continues to inspire new ways of thinking about freedom, independence, and coexistence, this landmark book furthers our understanding of one of the twentieth century’s most influential cultural thinkers.

Léopold Sédar Senghor (1906–2001) was a poet, philosopher, and the first president of Senegal.

Yohann C. Ripert is Associate Professor of French and Francophone Studies at Stetson University.

Translator's Introduction / Yohann C. Ripert  ix
1. The Problem of Culture in French West Africa  1
2. What the Black Man Brings  13
3. Marxism and Humanism  31
4. Negro-American Poetry  47
5. For a Federalist Solution  65
6. Like the Manatees Go Drink at the Source  77
7. Balkanization or Federation  87
8. The Fodéba Keita African Ballet  91
9. From Federation to the Civilization of the Universal  97
10. Negritude Is a Humanism of the Twentieth Century  105
11. Francophonie as Culture  115
12. For a Senegalese Tapestry  127
13. The Problematic of Negritude  131
Acknowledgments  151
Bibliography  153
Index  167