pan-African
Pan-Africanism is a worldwide movement that aims to encourage and strengthen bonds of solidarity between all Indigenous and diaspora peoples of African ancestry. Based on a common goal dating back to the Atlantic slave trade, the movement exte ...
quarterly cultural, political, and literary magazine, published in
Paris, France
Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. Si ...
, and founded by
Alioune Diop
Alioune Diop (10 January 1910 – 2 May 1980) was a Senegalese writer and editor, founder of the intellectual journal ''Présence africaine'', and a central figure in the ''Négritude'' movement.Latin Quarter of Paris. The journal was highly influential in the
Pan-Africanist
Pan-Africanism is a worldwide movement that aims to encourage and strengthen bonds of solidarity between all Indigenous and diaspora peoples of African ancestry. Based on a common goal dating back to the Atlantic slave trade, the movement exte ...
movement, the
decolonisation
Decolonization or decolonisation is the undoing of colonialism, the latter being the process whereby imperial nations establish and dominate foreign territories, often overseas. Some scholars of decolonization focus especially on independence ...
The magazine published its first issue in November 1947, founded by
Alioune Diop
Alioune Diop (10 January 1910 – 2 May 1980) was a Senegalese writer and editor, founder of the intellectual journal ''Présence africaine'', and a central figure in the ''Négritude'' movement.Senegal
Senegal,; Wolof: ''Senegaal''; Pulaar: 𞤅𞤫𞤲𞤫𞤺𞤢𞥄𞤤𞤭 (Senegaali); Arabic: السنغال ''As-Sinighal'') officially the Republic of Senegal,; Wolof: ''Réewum Senegaal''; Pulaar : 𞤈𞤫𞤲𞤣𞤢𞥄𞤲𞤣𞤭 ...
-born professor of philosophy, along with a cast of African, European, and American intellectuals, writers, and social scientists, including
Aimé Césaire
Aimé Fernand David Césaire (; ; 26 June 1913 – 17 April 2008) was a French poet, author, and politician. He was "one of the founders of the Négritude movement in Francophone literature" and coined the word in French. He founded the P ...
Richard Wright Richard Wright may refer to:
Arts
* Richard Wright (author) (1908–1960), African-American novelist
* Richard B. Wright (1937–2017), Canadian novelist
* Richard Wright (painter) (1735–1775), marine painter
* Richard Wright (artist) (born 19 ...
,
Albert Camus
Albert Camus ( , ; ; 7 November 1913 – 4 January 1960) was a French philosopher, author, dramatist, and journalist. He was awarded the 1957 Nobel Prize in Literature at the age of 44, the second-youngest recipient in history. His work ...
Jean-Paul Sartre
Jean-Paul Charles Aymard Sartre (, ; ; 21 June 1905 – 15 April 1980) was one of the key figures in the philosophy of existentialism (and phenomenology), a French playwright, novelist, screenwriter, political activist, biographer, and lite ...
,
Théodore Monod
Théodore André Monod (9 April 1902 – 22 November 2000) was a French naturalist, humanist, scholar and explorer.
Exploration
Early in his career, Monod was made professor at the '' Muséum national d'histoire naturelle'' and founded the '' Ins ...
Michel Leiris
Julien Michel Leiris (; 20 April 1901 in Paris – 30 September 1990 in Saint-Hilaire, Essonne) was a French surrealist writer and ethnographer. Part of the Surrealist group in Paris, Leiris became a key member of the College of Sociology with ...
. While not all authors published in the magazine were from the African diaspora, its subtitle (''Revue Culturelle du Monde Noir''/''Cultural Review of the Negro World'') makes clear that the editors saw themselves engaged in the cultural and political struggles of panafricanism. With the move by
Aimé Césaire
Aimé Fernand David Césaire (; ; 26 June 1913 – 17 April 2008) was a French poet, author, and politician. He was "one of the founders of the Négritude movement in Francophone literature" and coined the word in French. He founded the P ...
and Léopold Sédar Senghor to ''PA'' (from Césaire's own journal '' L'Étudiant noir''), the magazine became the pre-eminent voice of the Négritude movement.
In 1956, Alioune Diop and ''Présence Africaine'' organised the 1st International
Congress of Black Writers and Artists
The Congress of Black Writers and Artists (French: ''Congrès des écrivains et artistes noirs''; originally called the Congress of Negro Writers and Artists) was a meeting of leading black intellectuals for the purpose of addressing the issues of ...
(''1er Congrès international des écrivains et artistes noirs'') in Paris, which included Aimé Césaire, Léopold Sédar Senghor,
Jacques Rabemananjara
Jacques Rabemananjara (23 June 1913 – 1 April 2005) was a Malagasy politician, playwright and poet. He served as a government minister, rising to Vice President of Madagascar. Rabemananjara was said to be the most prolific writer of his negr ...
Jean Price-Mars
Jean Price-Mars (15 October 1876 – 1 March 1969) was a Haitian doctor, teacher, politician, diplomat, writer, and ethnographer.Pablo Picasso
Pablo Ruiz Picasso (25 October 1881 – 8 April 1973) was a Spanish painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist and Scenic design, theatre designer who spent most of his adult life in France. One of the most influential artists of the 20th ce ...
designed a poster.
While there have always been English-language abstracts and occasional English-language articles in the magazine, the primary language has been French since its inception. Between 1955 and January 1961, the magazine also published an English edition (also entitled ''Présence Africaine''), which ran to 60 issues.
Through the leadership of Aimé Césaire, Présence Africaine was an anti-colonialist magazine as well. Their articles were a direct involvement with the anti-colonialist struggle and together, the writers and thinkers strived to denounce colonial racism through their foundational texts.
Although Césaire's most famous text Discours sur le Colonialisme is constantly being republished and translated (and scholars such as Robin D.G. Kelley have added their contributions including “A Poetics of Anticolonialism,”) Césaire's original text was published as Discours sur le Colonialisme by the Présence Africaine in 1955. The essay had previously been published in 1950 by Editions Redame, and a revised version was published in Présance Africane in 1955.
The works from Présence Africaine were also used in other anti-colonialist literature. For example, Frantz Fanon used excerpts from Présence Africaine in his anti-colonialist text ''Black Skin, White Masks''. He cites the work of Aimé Césaire, Michel Salomon, Abdoulaye Sadji, George Moulin, and countless other essential thinkers in order to strengthen his claims about denouncing colonial racism.
Publishing house
Editions Présence Africaine was the first imprint to publish most of the best known Francophone African writers of the 20th century, including the literature of Mongo Beti, Ken Bugul,
Birago Diop
Birago Diop (11 December 1906 – 25 November 1989) was a Senegalese poet and storyteller whose work restored general interest in African folktales and promoted him to one of the most outstanding African francophone writers.Djibril Tamsir Niane, Williams Sassine, Ousmane Sembène, Léopold Sédar Senghor, as well as the philosophical works of Cheikh Anta Diop among others. Editions Présence Africaine was also the first to publish French translations of Anglophone writers such as Chinua Achebe, Wole Soyinka,
Ngugi wa Thiong’o Ngugi or Ngũgĩ is a name of Kikuyu origin that may refer to:
*Ngugi wa Mirii (1951–2008), Kenyan playwright
*Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o (born 1938), Kenyan writer
*David Mwaniki Ngugi, Kenyan politician and member of the National Assembly of Kenya
*Jo ...
Alioune Diop remained publisher until his death in 1980, when his wife Christiane Yandé Diop took over. The 50th anniversary of ''Présence Africaine'' was celebrated at
UNESCO
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international coope ...
in Paris in 1997, and attended by Daniel Maximin and Wole Soyinka among others.
As of the end of 2007 ''Présence Africaine'' had run to 173 issues, with its Editions Présence Africaine publishing over 400 works, 322 of which are still in print. '' Discourse on Colonialism'' by
Aimé Césaire
Aimé Fernand David Césaire (; ; 26 June 1913 – 17 April 2008) was a French poet, author, and politician. He was "one of the founders of the Négritude movement in Francophone literature" and coined the word in French. He founded the P ...
Université Marc Bloch The University Marc Bloch, also known as Strasbourg II or UMB was a university in Strasbourg, Alsace, France. As of 2006, it had around 13,000 students. Its name used to be ''Université des Sciences Humaines'' (University of Social Sciences), but ...
in
Strasbourg
Strasbourg (, , ; german: Straßburg ; gsw, label= Bas Rhin Alsatian, Strossburi , gsw, label= Haut Rhin Alsatian, Strossburig ) is the prefecture and largest city of the Grand Est region of eastern France and the official seat of the ...
.
See also
*
Decolonisation of Africa
The decolonisation of Africa was a process that took place in the Scramble for Africa, mid-to-late 1950s to 1975 during the Cold War, with radical government changes on the continent as Colonialism, colonial governments made the transition to So ...
* Tshitenge Lubaru M. K. "Soixante ans de Présence" ''Jeune Afrique'', n° 2448, 9 December 2007, p. 108.
* Much of this article was translated from the French-language Wikipedia article :fr:Présence africaine (2008-05-23).
Bibliography
* Bennetta Jules-Rosette, ''Black Paris: The African Writer's Landscape'', Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 1998.
* Sarah C Dunstan, ''Race, Rights and Reform: Black Activism in the French Empire and the United States from World War I to Cold War'', New York: Cambridge University Press, 2021, pp. 207-236.
* Marga Graf, "Roots of Identity: The National and Cultural Self in 'Présence Africaine'", ''Comparative Literature and Culture'', June 2001, 3(2).
* Salah D. Hassan, "Inaugural Issues: the cultural politics of the early 'Présence Africaine'", ''Research in African Literatures'', 30:2, Summer 1999, pp. 194–221.
* Valentin Y. Mudimbe (ed.), ''The Surreptitious Speech: "Présence Africaine" and the Politics of Otherness, 1947-1987'', Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1992.
* ''Léopold Sédar Senghor et la revue "Présence Africaine"'', Paris: Présence Africaine, 1996, 250 pp. (Anthology of Senghor's writings in ''PA'').
* Jacques Howlett, ''Index alphabétique des auteurs et index des matières de la revue "Présence Africaine"'', Paris: Présence Africaine, 1977, 381 pp.
* Micaela Fenoglio, ''"Présence africaine" entre critique et littérature: l'esprit du dialogue'', Rome: Bulzoni, 1998.
* Marcella Glisenti (ed.), ''Hommage à Alioune Diop, fondateur de Présence Africaine'', Rome: Éditions des amis italiens de Présence Africaine, 1977.
* Lilyan Kesteloot, ''Les Écrivains noirs de langue française: naissance d'une littérature'', Bruxelles: Université Libre de Bruxelles, 1965.
* Diane T. Simard, ''Théorie et critique littéraires dans la revue "Présence africaine"'', Montréal: Université McGill, 1972 (Thèse M.A.).
* 20e Anniversaire: ''Mélanges: réflexions d'hommes de culture, Présence Africaine 1947-1967'', Paris: Présence Africaine, 1969.
* ''30e Anniversaire de Présence Africaine. Hommage à Alioune Diop'', Paris: Présence Africaine, 1977.
* ''50e Anniversaire de Présence Africaine, 1947-1997: Colloque de Dakar, 25-27 novembre 1997'', Paris: Présence Africaine (special edition), 1999, 385 pp.