civilisation

Submitted by (inactive) on Friday, 10/21/2011, at 12:54 AM

CIVILISATION according to Aimé Césaire

 

Civilisation is a family different cultures, understood as smaller units. It is the thread between an African-American, aCaribbeanand a Senegalese. For Aimé Césaire there is an African civilisation as there is a European civilisation.

 

CIVILISATION according to Léopold Senghor

 

Civilisation is a harder concept to grasp in Senghor's writings. He understands it threw the term of culture: culture is “the spirit of civilisation”.

Senghor is calling for a Negro Renaissance as the European movement of Renaissance. This Renaissance must be made by artists and writers more by Politicians in the sense that cultural liberation is an essential condition of political liberation and because art for art’s sake does not exist inAfrica, art is always connected to the social. Africans artists must cultivate, nourish their work from their own soil.

 

Quotes :

 

L. Senghor « The spirit of civilisation, or the la of African negro culture », 1962

 

“There is no question of making a survey of African Negro civilisation, but rather of culture, which is the spirit of civilisation.”

 

“The spirit of African Negro civilisation consciously or not, animates the best Negro artists and writers of today, whether they come from Africa orAmerica. So far as they are conscious of African Negro culture and are inspired by it they are elevated in the international scale: so far they turn their backs onAfricathe mother they degenerate and become feeble.”