Date of Award
Summer 8-15-2021
Degree Name
Doctor of Liberal Arts (DLA)
Degree Type
Dissertation
Abstract
The Narrative History of Négritude: Black Poetic Imagination in Anglophone and Francophone Cultures addresses the debate over the concept of Négritude among previous scholars. Unlike the Négritude founders’ ways of framing Africa as one unifying place, this dissertation pursues a new understanding of Négritude that allows for a recognizing of the differences of people, cultures, and the systems of colonization within Africa. Using these differences, the urgent task of the dissertation is to assume a position that explains, traces, and contextualizes the concept of Négritude so that it appears as relevant in today’s thoughts of postcolonial literatures for the black diaspora transnationally. This dissertation returns to the critical archives, arguing that a black poetic imagination comprises European, African, and American traditions of writing poetry that can still communicate usefully in today’s world. Although this dissertation takes seriously the fact that Négritude’s creative ideologies are rooted in Africa, it is more interested in emphasizing Africa as a motivating hypothesis for a shared resistance in the New World. In showing how Négritude from its inception was multisided and dynamic, this dissertation explains that we should not disregard the commitments of Négritude as a concept of freedom that still holds for the Black diaspora today for justice.
Language
English (en)
Chair and Committee
J Dillon Brown
Committee Members
Vincent Sherry, Rafia Zafar, Ayo A. Coly, Tabea Linhard,
Recommended Citation
Badji, Baba, "The Narrative History of Négritude: Black Poetic Imagination in Anglophone and Francophone Cultures" (2021). Arts & Sciences Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 2480.
https://openscholarship.wustl.edu/art_sci_etds/2480
Included in
African American Studies Commons, African Languages and Societies Commons, French and Francophone Language and Literature Commons