Date of Award

Summer 8-15-2021

Author's School

Graduate School of Arts and Sciences

Author's Department

Comparative Literature

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,

Available for download on Wednesday, July 29, 2026

Share

COinS