Présence Africaine

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Présence Africaine
Discipline literature, philosophy, African studies
Language French (English Abstracts)
Publication details
Publisher Présence africaine (France)
Publication history 1947 to present
Frequency Quarterly
Indexing
ISSN 0032-7638
Links

Présence africaine is a panafrican quarterly cultural, political, and literary revue, published in Paris and founded by Alioune Diop in 1947. In 1949, Présence africaine expanded to include a publishing house and a bookstore on the rue des Écoles in the Latin Quarter of Paris. As a journal, it was highly influential in the Panafricanist movement, the decolonisation struggle of former French colonies, and the birth of the Négritude movement.

Contents

[edit] Revue

The revue published its first issue in November 1947, founded by Alioune Diop a Senegalese born professor of Philosophy, along with a cast of African, European, and American intellectuals, writers, and social scientists, including Aimé Césaire, Léopold Sédar Senghor, Richard Wright, Albert Camus, André Gide, Jean-Paul Sartre, Théodore Monod, Georges Balandier and Michel Leiris. While not all authors published in the revue were from the African diaspora, its subtitle ( Revue Culturelle du Monde Noir/Cultural Review of the Negro World) makes clear that the editors saw themselves engaged it the the cultural and political struggles of panafricanism. With the move by Aimé Césaire and Léopold Sédar Senghor to PA (from Césaire's own journal "l'etudiant noir"), the revue became the pre-eminent voice of the Négritude movement.

In 1956, Alioune Diop and Présence Africaine organised the 1st International Congress of Black Writers and Artists (1er Congrès international des écrivains et artistes noirs) in Paris, which included Aimé Césaire, Léopold Sédar Senghor, Jacques Rabémananjara, Cheikh Anta Diop, Richard Wright, Franz Fanon, and Jean Price-Mars, and for which Pablo Picasso designed a poster. [1]

While there have always been English language abstracts and occasional English language articles in the Revue, the primary language has been French since its inception. Between 1955 and January 1961, the Revue also published an English edition (also titled Présence africaine), which ran to 60 issues. [2]

[edit] Publishing house

Editions Présence Africaine was the first to publish most of the best known Francophone African writers of the 20th century, including the literature of Mongo Beti, Ken Bugul, Diop Birago, Djibril Tamsir Niane, Williams Sassine, Ousmane Sembene, Léopold Sédar Senghor; as well as the philosophical works of Cheikh Anta Diop amongst others. Editions Présence Africaine was also the first imprint to publish French translations of Anglophone writers such as Chinua Achebe, Wole Soyinka, Ngugi wa Thiong’o, and the panafricanist leaders Kwame Nkrumah and Julius Nyerere.[3]

[edit] Recent history

Alioune Diop remained publisher until his death in 1980, when his wife Christiane Mame Yandé Diop took over. The 50th anniversary of Présence africaine was celebrated at UNESCO in Paris in 1997, and attended by Daniel Maximin and Wole Soyinka amongst others.

As of the end of 2007 Présence africaine has run to 173 issues, with its "Editions Présence Africaine" publishing over 400 works, 322 of which are still in print. Discourse on Colonialism by Aimé Césaire, published first in 1955, remains its best-selling work. As well, new African works are published, by novelists like Hamidou Dia or Dieudonné Gnammankou and historians like Aboucrary Moussa Lam.[4]

Présence africaine's current publications director is Romuald Fonkoua, professor of comparative French literature at Université Marc Bloch in Strasbourg.

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ 50th Anniversary of the 1st International Congress of Black Writers and Artists, Paris, France, 19-22 September 2006, UNESCO.
  2. ^ Catalog record of Présence africaine. English, New York Public Library.
  3. ^ TSHITENGE LUBABU M.K., Jeune Afrique, 2007.
  4. ^ TIDIANE DIOH. Un demi-siècle de Présence africaine, Jeune Afrique, 12 September 2000.


[edit] Bibliography

  • Bennetta Jules-Rosette, Black Paris: The African Writer’s Landscape, Chicago, University of Illinois Press, 1998
  • Marga Graf, Roots of Identity: The National and Cultural Self in "Présence Africaine", Comparative Literature and Culture, June 2001, 3(2)
  • Salah D. Hassan, Inaugural Issues: the cultural politics of the early "Présence Africaine", Research in African Literatures, 30:2, Summer 1999, p. 194-221
  • Valentin Y. Mudimbe (ed), The Surreptitious Speech: "Présence Africaine" and the Politics of Otherness, 1947-1987, Chicago, University of Chicago Press, 1992
  • (French) Léopold Sédar Senghor et la revue "Présence Africaine", Paris, Présence africaine, 1996, 250 p. ISBN 2708706217 (Anthology of Senghor's writings in PA)
  • (French) Jacques Howlett, Index alphabétique des auteurs et index des matières de la revue "Présence Africaine", Paris, Présence africaine, 1977, 381 p. ISBN 2708703439
  • (French) Micaela Fenoglio, "Présence africaine" entre critique et littérature : l'esprit du dialogue, Rome, Bulzoni, 1998
  • (French) Marcella Glisenti (ed.), Hommage à Alioune Diop , fondateur de Présence Africaine, Rome, Éditions des amis italiens de Présence Africaine, 1977
  • (French) Lilyan Kesteloot, Les Écrivains noirs de langue française : naissance d'une littérature, Bruxelles, Université libre de Bruxelles, 1965
  • (French) Diane T. Simard, Théorie et critique littéraires dans la revue "Présence africaine", Montréal, Université McGill, 1972 (Thèse M.A.)
  • (French) 20e Anniversaire : Mélanges: réflexions d’hommes de culture, Présence Africaine 1947-1967, Paris, Présence Africaine, 1969
  • (French) 30e Anniversaire de Présence Africaine. Hommage à Alioune Diop, Paris, Présence Africaine, 1977
  • (French) 50e anniversaire de Présence africaine, 1947-1997 : colloque de Dakar, 25-27 novembre 1997, Paris, Présence africaine (numéro spécial) , 1999, 385 p. ISBN 2708706748

[edit] External Links