Start Date
5-3-2024 12:30 PM
End Date
5-3-2024 1:45 AM
Disciplines
History
Subjects
Colonialism, Decolonization, Présence africaine -- Paris -- France
Abstract
The Présence Africaine journal was unlike any of the time. Founded in Paris in 1947, its mission centered the expression of African cultures that had been suppressed under French colonial rule. The writers did not share a race or nationality but were united by a shared purpose of creating literary discourse around the colonization of Africa and the struggles of the pan-African movement. The founder, Alioune Diop, was a Senegalese professor who promoted a unique approach to political change. He was aware of the stark cultural losses that the French colonization of Africa was causing and saw the colonial suppression of African culture and its exclusion from the idea of “modernity” as a means of control by France. This paper explores the journal’s unique approach to African decolonization through cultural expression.
Keywords: Colonialism, culture, Africa, journalism, art, Alioune Diop, Frantz Fanon, France, Présence Africaine, decolonization, dialogue
Part of the panel: Exploring Global Cultural Identities
Moderator: Professor Bright Alozie
Creative Commons License or Rights Statement
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Persistent Identifier
https://archives.pdx.edu/ds/psu/41803
Included in
Political Movement Through Cultural Identity: Lessons from the Présence Africaine
The Présence Africaine journal was unlike any of the time. Founded in Paris in 1947, its mission centered the expression of African cultures that had been suppressed under French colonial rule. The writers did not share a race or nationality but were united by a shared purpose of creating literary discourse around the colonization of Africa and the struggles of the pan-African movement. The founder, Alioune Diop, was a Senegalese professor who promoted a unique approach to political change. He was aware of the stark cultural losses that the French colonization of Africa was causing and saw the colonial suppression of African culture and its exclusion from the idea of “modernity” as a means of control by France. This paper explores the journal’s unique approach to African decolonization through cultural expression.
Keywords: Colonialism, culture, Africa, journalism, art, Alioune Diop, Frantz Fanon, France, Présence Africaine, decolonization, dialogue
Part of the panel: Exploring Global Cultural Identities
Moderator: Professor Bright Alozie