Liberian Literary Magazine
Whether they come from
Martinique,
Jamaica,
or
Cuba, Africa is one unifying
element that is central to the
literary
and
artistic
expression of the region. The
root
of
this
African
consciousness can be traced
to the Trans-Atlantic Slave
Trade and the colonial system
imposed when slavery came
to an en d.
When Europe came into
contact
with
Africa,
beginning
with
the
Portuguese and Spanish, it did
not engage in any dialogue to
understand Africa. Europe
imposed its own definition on
Africa based on ignorance and
prejudice. Africa to the
Europeans was a “Dark
Continent.” In the thinking of
an American geneticist and
biblical scholar,
G. C.
Hasskarl, “the African breed
represents the scientist’s
song sought after missing link
between animal and man,
(19). Count de Gobineau and
Lucien Levy-Bruh proposed
something similar to what is
quoted above. The basis of
their theory is that of natural
supremacy of the white race
and inferiority of the black
man. Even to this date, this
kind of negative thinking of
Africa still exists. If such
thinking about Africa and
Africans are still present even
today, what can one say
about the time when Africans
and
people
of
African
descents were under the yoke
of slavery and colonialism?
There
were
two-headed
strategies
developed
by
African people to fight back
against
the
negative
stereotype and reclaim their
Promoting Liberian literature, Arts and Culture
African heritage. This was the
driving force behind the
Harlem
Renaissance
and
Negritude. Whether Harlem
Renaissance or Negritude, it
was both a celebration of
Africa and protest against
Europe.
Even though the concept of
negritude has been identified
with
Cesaire
and
his
colleagues such as Leopold
Senghor, but similar ideas can
be found in the poetry and
other creative works of the
Cuban poet, Nicolas Guillen.
Between Guillen and Cesaire,
the concept is the same with
the difference being the
language as a medium of
expression. What came to be
known as negritude in French
was known as negrismo. Both
describes
the
same
phenomenon.
For Guillen, Cesaire, and
other proponents of negritude
or negrismo, the idea was to
“liberate from disrepute” the
image of Africa and people of
African descents. For the
proponents of this concept,
Africa
and
its
people,
whether
in
Africa
or
Caribbean, were the “most
humiliated people in history,”
12). Similar observation was
made by Pila E. Barrios in
1947 and accordingly, the
black race has “surpassed all
other races in experiencing
humiliation,” (12). In a recent
newspaper article, Marian
Wright Elderman, president,
Children Defend Fund said
while paying tribute to Asa
Hilliard, a black psychologist
and historian, “Many of us can
remember when the worst
thing we could call somebody
19
we didn’t like was black,
(Oped, Tribune, 10/17/07).
The idea of redeeming African
identity from the debasement
it has suffered has been a
recurring theme for black
people around the world. Call
it black self-renewal, black
pride, or simply black people
loving themselves and trying
to take control of the
definition of their own image.
Even if one goes beyond
literary discourse, and extend
the discussion to politic, one
can see the same sense of
cultural pride as in the words
of Marcus Garvey in the
1920s.
About the author: Nvasekie
Konneh is a poet, writer who has
written extensively in Liberian
media on art, culture and social
political development of Liberia.
He's the author of The Land of My
Father's Birth, Going to War for
America and currently working
on a documentary project on
ethnic and cultural diversity in
Liberia. Nvasekie Konneh has a
Ba in Comparative Literature
from the Union Institute &
University.