City Lights and Duke University Press present
(Re)Reading Senghor: Poet-Politician at the Crossroads
with Doyle D. Calhoun, Alioune B. Fall, Johann C. Ripert, and Cheikh Thiam
A celebration and critical appraisal of the life and work of Senegalese poet, philosopher, and politician Leopold Sédar Senghor. He was influential in the development of the negritude movement—a Black artistic, philosophical, and political expression of Black presence in the modern colonial world.
Duke University Press celebrates the publication of two new books:
The Essential Senghor: African Philosophy and Black Aesthetics
by Léopold Sédar Senghor (Edited and translated by Doyle D. Calhoun, Alioune B. Fall, and Cheikh Thiam)
published by Duke University Press
and
Senghor: Writings On Politics
by Léopold Sédar Senghor (Edited and translated by Yohann C. Ripert)
published by Duke University Press
Purchase Here
These new volumes provide a new opportunity for English-language readers to engage with Léopold Sédar Senghor’s critical and philosophical writings. The Essential Senghor includes Senghor’s key philosophical interventions in discourses on freedom, Blackness and being, humanism, history, and more. It portrays Senghor as a pivotal intellectual in the fields of African and Black studies whose work engages a wide range of disciplines, including literature, linguistics, anthropology, religion, and art history. The Essential Senghor invites readers not only to reflect on negritude and its importance for our political present, but also to reconsider intellectual genealogies of decolonial thought, Black liberation, and African philosophy.
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.
Join four scholars who have immersed themselves in Senghor’s thinking as they offer an introduction to his life and consideration of his work and legacy. The event is made up of three parts.
11:00-11:30 am – Session One: Léopold Sédar Senghor: An Introduction
Speakers: Doyle D. Calhoun, Alioune B. Fall, and Cheikh Thiam
11:30 am – 12:30 pm – Session Two: The African Philosophy And Black Aesthetics of Senghor
Moderated by Yohann C. Ripert with Doyle D. Calhoun, Alioune B. Fall, and Cheikh Thiam
Break – 12:30 – 12:45 pm
12:45 – 1:45 pm – Session Three: Senghor and Politics
Moderated by Alioune B. Fall with Yohann C. Ripert and Cheikh Thiam
About the speakers:
Doyle D. Calhoun is University Assistant Professor of Francophone Postcolonial Studies at the University of Cambridge.
Alioune B. Fall is Assistant Professor of Black Studies and French at Providence College.
Yohann C. Ripert is Associate Professor of French and Francophone Studies at Stetson University.
Cheikh Thiam is Department Chair of English and Professor of Black Studies at Amherst College.
This event is made possible by support from the City Lights Foundation.