Abstract
This article explores the intertwined poetics and politics of Léopold Sédar Senghor in the Luso-Afro-Atlantic worlds. The main purpose is to unveil a pivotal dimension of his cosmopolitanism that has been ignored by a literature centered on the Anglophone and Francophone languages and cultures. A poem published in the book Nocturnes and speeches delivered during travels to Brazil and Portugal as head of state make evident the important relation between Senghor’s poetics, his politics of a third world alliance, and ideas such as “Racial Democracy” and “Lusotropicalism.” My analysis sheds light on the poetic principles guiding Léopold Senghor’s imagination of the Lusophone worlds, his readings of Gilberto Freyre’s ideas, as well as his speeches in Brazil. The conclusion considers the complex connections between racial exceptionalism and Afro-Atlantic cosmopolitanism, emphasizing the multiplicity of aesthetics and political entanglements.
O artigo explora os entrelaçamentos poéticos e políticos de Léopold Sédar Senghor com os mundos luso-afro-atlânticos. O propósito é revelar uma dimensão importante do cosmopolitismo de Senghor ignorada pela literatura centrada nos mundos anglófonos e francófonos. Um poema publicado no livro Nocturnes e discursos realizados durante viagens ao Brasil e a Portugal evidenciam os nexos entre a poética de Senghor, as políticas de uma aliança terceiro-mundista e as noções de “Democracia Racial” e “Lusotropicalismo.” Minha análise enfatiza os princípios poéticos que orientam a imaginação de Léopold Senghor sobre os mundos lusófonos, sua interpretação das ideias de Gilberto Freyre, assim como os seus discursos no Brasil. A conclusão pondera sobre a complexidade das conexões entre excepcionalismo racial e cosmopolitismo afro-atlântico, sublinhando a multiplicidade de estéticas e de entrelaçamentos políticos.
Resumo
Abstract
This article explores the intertwined poetics and politics of Léopold Sédar Senghor in the Luso-Afro-Atlantic worlds. The main purpose is to unveil a pivotal dimension of his cosmopolitanism that has been ignored by a literature centered on the Anglophone and Francophone languages and cultures. A poem published in the book Nocturnes and speeches delivered during travels to Brazil and Portugal as head of state make evident the important relation between Senghor’s poetics, his politics of a third world alliance, and ideas such as “Racial Democracy” and “Lusotropicalism.” My analysis sheds light on the poetic principles guiding Léopold Senghor’s imagination of the Lusophone worlds, his readings of Gilberto Freyre’s ideas, as well as his speeches in Brazil. The conclusion considers the complex connections between racial exceptionalism and Afro-Atlantic cosmopolitanism, emphasizing the multiplicity of aesthetics and political entanglements.
O artigo explora os entrelaçamentos poéticos e políticos de Léopold Sédar Senghor com os mundos luso-afro-atlânticos. O propósito é revelar uma dimensão importante do cosmopolitismo de Senghor ignorada pela literatura centrada nos mundos anglófonos e francófonos. Um poema publicado no livro Nocturnes e discursos realizados durante viagens ao Brasil e a Portugal evidenciam os nexos entre a poética de Senghor, as políticas de uma aliança terceiro-mundista e as noções de “Democracia Racial” e “Lusotropicalismo.” Minha análise enfatiza os princípios poéticos que orientam a imaginação de Léopold Senghor sobre os mundos lusófonos, sua interpretação das ideias de Gilberto Freyre, assim como os seus discursos no Brasil. A conclusão pondera sobre a complexidade das conexões entre excepcionalismo racial e cosmopolitismo afro-atlântico, sublinhando a multiplicidade de estéticas e de entrelaçamentos políticos.
- © 2023 by the Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System
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In this issue
Jump to section
- Article
- Abstract
- Departure Harbors in the South Atlantic
- Solidarities on the High Seas
- Approaching Senghor’s Poetry
- In the Sea of Negritude
- Poetry as Method: Gilberto Freyre’s Work in Paris
- Léopold Senghor’s Travels to Brazil
- A Rhetoric of Deviation
- Anti-Lusotropicalism
- Saudade in the Margins of the Third World
- Conclusion
- Footnotes
- Works Cited
- Info & Metrics
- References
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