Discourse on ColonialismThis classic work, first published in France in 1955, profoundly influenced the generation of scholars and activists at the forefront of liberation struggles in Africa, Latin America, and the Caribbean. Nearly twenty years later, when published for the first time in English, Discourse on Colonialism inspired a new generation engaged in the Civil Rights, Black Power, and anti-war movements and has sold more than 75,000 copies to date. Aimé Césaire eloquently describes the brutal impact of capitalism and colonialism on both the colonizer and colonized, exposing the contradictions and hypocrisy implicit in western notions of "progress" and "civilization" upon encountering the "savage," "uncultured," or "primitive." Here, Césaire reaffirms African values, identity, and culture, and their relevance, reminding us that "the relationship between consciousness and reality are extremely complex. . . . It is equally necessary to decolonize our minds, our inner life, at the same time that we decolonize society." An interview with Césaire by the poet René Depestre is also included. -- Amazon.com. |
Common terms and phrases
Africa Aimé Césaire American Negroes Antilleans Antilles assimilation Bantu philosophy barbarian barbarism Belgian blood bourgeois bourgeoisie Caillois century Claude McKay Claudel colo colonialist Europe colonization Communists Comte de Lautréamont concept of Negritude conscience countries culture destroyed disalienation DISCHARGE/BLAC Discourse on Colonialism economic Egypt Egyptians ethnography European civilization everything fact France French French National Assembly gentlemen Gourou gritude Haiti Haitian history of Haiti Hitler human imaginary Indochina inferior influence Jules Romains L'Etudiant Lautréamont Lévy-Bruhl Madagascan Maldoror Mannoni Martinican Martinique movement nation Native Land never noir non-European ontological Paris poems poetry poets political Price-Mars psychology question race racism remember René Depestre respect Return Revue Roger Caillois sadistic Senghor society speaking superior surrealism surrealist talk Tempels thing thought tion torture Trans tropical truth ture values Vautrin West Western word nègre workers Yves Florenne