African Political Thought · Unit 3
Negritude in Full
Three founders, one journal, and a philosophical claim that drew both global acclaim and sharp internal African critique
This unit examines Negritude as a complete body of thought, not merely the biographical events already traced in this course's companion Afro-Caribbean curriculum. It covers Leopold Sedar Senghor's specific philosophical architecture, including his theory of 'the civilization of the universal' and his controversial claims about emotion and reason; Leon Damas, the movement's least-remembered co-founder, whose 1937 collection Pigments is considered Negritude's actual literary manifesto; and the sharp internal African critique the movement drew from thinkers including Wole Soyinka and Marcien Towa, who argued Negritude risked trapping Black identity in exactly the racial categories it meant to escape.
Learning Objectives
- •Students will be able to explain Leopold Sedar Senghor's specific philosophical claims, including his theory of 'the civilization of the universal' and his emotion-reason framework, and evaluate the criticism these claims drew from other African philosophers.
- •Students will analyze Leon Damas's 1937 collection Pigments as Negritude's first published literary manifesto, and explain why scholars consider his direct, unadorned protest style distinct from Senghor's and Cesaire's approaches.
- •Students will evaluate Wole Soyinka's and Marcien Towa's critiques of Negritude, distinguishing their specific objections from a simple rejection of Black cultural pride.
- •Students will assess Negritude as a body of thought containing genuine internal diversity among its three founders, rather than a single unified philosophical position.