Léopold Sédar Senghor: L'art africain comme philosophie

by Souleymane Bachir Diagne

Souleymane Bachir Diagne
« L. S. Senghor a cherché à exprimer quelle philosophie se lit dans les arts plastiques, les chants et danses africains. C’est cette attitude, d’abord herméneutique, de déchiffrage, qui est la vérité de sa philosophie. Afin de relire Senghor, aujourd’hui, il ne faut pas se donner la Négritude trop vite, affronter tout de suite les formules trop bien connues à quoi on résume sa pensée. Il faut savoir d’abord retrouver l’attitude première, la posture herméneutique que Senghor a adoptée dès ses premiers écrits pour répondre à la question qui fut aussi celle de Picasso : que veulent dire les masques africains ? Que disent ces objets que l’on a appelés des fétiches lorsque les dieux en sont partis ? Partant de cette question, Senghor, avec beaucoup de bonheur, a mis à jour une ontologie dans laquelle l’être est rythme et qui se trouve au fondement des religions africaines anciennes. De cette ontologie il a montré que les arts africains constituaient le langage privilégié. »

Souleymane Bachir Diagne, l’auteur de cet ouvrage, a enseigné pendant vingt ans la philosophie à l’Université Cheikh Anta Diop de Dakar. Après avoir été professeur de philosophie et de religion pendant cinq ans à Northwestern University, près de Chicago, il vit aujourd’hui à New York où il est professeur aux départements d’études francophones et de philosophie de Columbia.

Genres: Philosophy, Art, Africa, Religion

160 pages, Hardcover

First published August 15, 2011

About the author

Souleymane Bachir Diagne (1955) is a Senegalese philosopher. His work is focused on the history of logic and mathematics, epistemology, the tradition of philosophy in the Islamic world, identity formation, and African literatures and philosophies.

Reviews

[Kamakana · Rating 4 out of 5]

if you like this review i now have website: www.michaelkamakana.com

040715:
difficulties: i have not read many texts on negritude, this or any poetry, i know of it primarily as a political movement of midcentury africa, i am neither african or french, wary of thought, politics, arts, in terms of cultural essentialism

possibilities: i am pleased to read bergson's concepts applied on social rather than just personal level, pleased to find arguments valourizing art as way of knowledge, as valuable, positive values of other aesthetic values, of art production and purpose, an entire range of human possibility neglected in hellenic-inspired history. and to be human is not necessarily to be european...

[Romeo Mfumu · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book at such a perfect time! I have been questioning my creativity & my direction for a while, and this book has really put many things into perspective for me. As an African man, I sometimes forget that my ancestors used art not only as an expression but also used art as a way to honour their dead and invite or rebuke spirits. My ancestors' art forms don’t fit the Western style and techniques. It has its own style, which is rugged, boxy, ambiguous, and intimidating, but that’s our art! One of my favourite quotes from the book is “when [the poet] writes a poem, he does not calculate, he does not measure, he does not count. He does not look either for ideas or for images. He is, in front of his vision, like the black Great Priestess of Tanit, in Carthage. He speaks his vision, in a rhythmical movement, because he is impassioned with a sacred passion. And even his song, the melody and rhythm of his song are dictated to him”. Africans have always drawn inspiration from their surroundings. You can call this divine intervention, if you may. We have never looked at others to draw inspiration from, only ourselves; it shows in our history. This book made me very proud to be an African, an African artist, to be exact. The foundations of Negritude have indirectly inspired my art. Now that I know more about it, it will continue encouraging me to look to my ancestors for inspiration and to see my beautiful heritage as a blessing. Not as a demonic and chaotic art form.