Césaire, Aimé. Notebook of a Return to My Native Land . Translated by Joan Pinkham, Monthly Review Press, 1983.
In the mid-20th century, European humanism was in crisis. Two World Wars, the Holocaust, and the brutal realities of colonial exploitation had shattered Europe’s claim to being the sole moral and rational compass of the world. Senghor argued that Western humanism was incomplete because it had excluded the contributions of non-Western peoples. It was a "humanism cut down to European dimensions." negritude a humanism of the twentieth century pdf
Damas defines Negritude as "the whole of the values of the black world" (Damas, 1935). He argues that Negritude is not just a racial or ethnic identity, but a cultural and spiritual one. It encompasses the history, traditions, and experiences of black people, and seeks to promote a sense of solidarity and unity among them. Damas sees Negritude as a way to challenge the dominant Western cultural norms, which he argues are based on a narrow and exclusive definition of humanity. Césaire, Aimé
: A famous (and controversial) tenet is the idea of merging "Western reason" with "African emotional depth". Senghor argues for a harmony between the heart and the mind . In the mid-20th century, European humanism was in crisis
Formulated primarily by francophone Black intellectuals, Négritude was more than a literary trend. It was a comprehensive philosophical framework. It directly challenged European cultural hegemony and colonialism.