Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

AIMÉ CÉSAIRE AND POSTCOLONIAL HUMANISM

2010; Modern Humanities Research Association; Volume: 105; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1353/mlr.2010.0203

2222-4319

Jane Hiddleston,

Race, History, and American Society

Commentators on Aimé Césaire have noted that he oscillates between affirming the Martinican's belonging to the specific category of negritude on the one hand, and seeking to transcend that specificity in a celebration of universal humanity on the other. This article looks beyond this apparent contradiction, and interrogates how Césaire adapts his humanism through his very evocations of black identity and experience. Césaire upholds the notion of 'humanity' as a result of an ongoing desire to conceive a form of relationality important also to negritude. The aim of Césaire's humanism, consistent with his expansive vision of negritude, is to herald a movement towards the other that will provide the basis for a powerful postcolonial ethics.