Léopold Sédar Senghor

(redirected from Leopold Sedar Senghor)

The following article is from The Great Soviet Encyclopedia (1979). It might be outdated or ideologically biased.

Senghor, Léopold Sédar

Born Oct. 9, 1906, in Joal, Senegal. Senegalese state figure, philosopher, and poet.

Senghor graduated from the faculty of letters of the Sorbonne in 1933, and between 1935 and 1958 he taught at various educational institutions in France, except during the period 1939 to 1942. From 1939 to 1940 he served in the French Army, and from 1940 to 1942 he was a prisoner of the Germans; he subsequently took part in the French Resistance movement.

From 1936 to 1948, Senghor was a member of the French Socialist Party. In 1948 he founded the party known as the Senegalese Democratic Bloc; in 1959 the party was reorganized as the Senegalese Progressive Union and in 1976 as the Socialist Party of Senegal. Senghor became its secretary-general in 1959. Between 1945 and 1960 he held a number of ministerial posts in France. From Apr. 4, 1959, through Aug. 20, 1960, he served as president of the Federal Assembly of the Mali Federation. In September 1960, he was elected president of the Republic of Senegal, and from December 1962 to February 1970 he was both president of the country and head of the government. Senghor is one of the originators of the concept of negritude, which asserts the uniqueness of Africa’s historical destiny and the uniqueness of the psychological makeup of the African personality.

Senghor’s participation in the Resistance movement is reflected in his poetic cycle Hosties Noires (1948). Senghor is also the author of the verse collections Chants d’ombre (1945) and Chants pour Naett (1949), the dramatic poem Chaka (1949), which deals with the heroic past of the African peoples, and other works.

Senghor holds honorary doctorates from a number of univer sities, including those of Paris and Strasbourg. He is a foreign member of the French Academy of Moral and Political Sciences (1969).

WORKS

Nation et voie africaine du socialisme. Paris, 1961.
On African Socialism. New York-London [1964].
La Négritude est un humanisme du XX siècle. Dakar, 1971.
Poèmes. Paris, 1974.
In Russian translation:
Pesn’nochi i solntsa. [Afterword by M. Malyshev.] Moscow, 1965.
Izbrannaia lirika. [Foreword by M. Vaksmakher.] Moscow, 1969.

REFERENCES

Potekhina, G. I. Ocherki sovremennoi literatury Zapadnoi Afriki. Moscow, 1968.
Sovremennye literatury Afriki. Moscow, 1973–74.
Guibert, A. L. S. Senghor. (Poétes d’aujourd’hui.) Paris, 1962.
Leusse, H. de. L. S. Senghor, I’Africain. [Paris, 1967.]
Mezu, S. O. L. S. Senghor. Paris [1968]. (Contains a bibliography on pp. 207–29).

References in periodicals archive ?

IL a exerce en qualite de secretaire d'Etat a la recherche scientifique sous Leopold Sedar Senghor et n'a pas hesite a quitter son pays pour embrasser une carriere internationale.

Afrique : Mort de Jacques Diouf

At the event held at Babcock University, Ilisan Remo, Ogun State, Okei-Odumakin got the Funmilayo Ransome Kuti prize for distinguished public activism and service towards the welfare of the voiceless and women in society, while Kelani took home the Leopold Sedar Senghor prize for African cultural creativity and impact through his numerous artworks.

Awolowo Dosumu, Awe, Okei-Odumakin, Kelani, Others Bag Awards Of Excellence

Car alors, ou serait l''espoir du Monde'' Leopold Sedar Senghor.

[beaucoup moins que]Les Chants de la Tassaout[beaucoup plus grand que]: Un periple poetique dans le temps et l'espace - ALBAYANE

Accueilli au Theatre national Mahieddine-Bachtarzi (TNA ), le spectacle a ete mis en scene par Afifa Bererhi et Lionel Longubardo sur un texte tire de "La tempete", oeuvre originale de William Shakespeare, reecrite et readaptee en 1969 a la periode "post-coloniale et anticolonialiste" par Aime Cesaire (1913-2008), "fondateur et representant majeur", des les annees 1930, du mouvement litteraire et politique de la "Negritude" avec Leon-Gontran Damas et Leopold Sedar Senghor, entre autres.

"Une Tempete", piece de theatre d'Aime Cesaire, presentee a Alger : Combat pour la liberte

The project was originally conceived by Senegal's first President Leopold Sedar Senghor in 1966, and now comes at a time when former imperial powers are beginning to return manv stolen artefacts to Africa.

Senegal's Museum of Black Civilisations

Review of Liberte 1: Negritude et Humanisme by Leopold Sedar Senghor; On African Socialism by Leopold Sedar Senghor; Mercer Cook.

Negritude in Anti-colonial African Literature Discourse

Earlier on arrival at Leopold Sedar Senghor Airbase, HH the Emir was welcomed by President Sall, PM Dionne, a number of Senegalese ministers, Qatar's Ambassador to Senegal HE Saree bin Ali al Qahtani, Ambassador of Senegal to Qatar HE Mamadou Mamdo Sall and officials of the Qatari Embassy.

Emir, Senegal's president witness agreement signing

The concept of Negritude developed by the Martinican Aime Cesaire 1945 and the Senegalese poet and Politician Leopold Sedar Senghor (Senghor 1977) was the most pronounced assertion of the distinctive qualities of Black culture and identity.