a. memmi, 'the negro and the jew', p. 0026-0123

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The Negro and the Jew / Ngritude et JuditAuthor(s): Albert MemmiSource: African Arts, Vol. 1, No. 4 (Summer, 1968), pp. 26-29+96-101+122-123Published by: UCLA James S. Coleman African Studies Center

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MASQUEA DEUXVISAGES.PEAUETBOISSCULPTL.6 CM.EKOI,NIGERIAMERIDIONAL. ELLCOMEOLLECTION,MUStEETHNOGRAPHIQUE,NIVERSITt ECALIFORNIE,OSANGELES.

Negritudee tJud e i t eALBERTMEMMI

a Le~opoldSe'darSenghor

"On ne sert pas la culture africaine quand on s'accroche,comme une hultre, a des notions d6passees par l'histoire.Le concept de n6gritude, r6volutionnaire dans les annees1940-50, est aujourd'hui bon pour le musbe de la littira-ture."lC'est 1l une sev"rit6 bien excessive pour un concepttoujours commode. Mais une pr6cision et un rajeunisse-ment salvateurs pourraient tre obtenus, je crois, par unerefonte et un eclatement de ce concept en trois autres,comme j'ai ete contraint de le faire pour le terme dejudaisme."Le terme de jud,it-6 invent6 et employ6 par AlbertMemmi semble vouloir indiquer l'6quivalent juif de lanegritude."Dans son livre, Les voies du Hassidisme, Y'6crivainetessayiste Arnold Mandel suggere que je me serais inspirede la notion de nigritude pour forger le terme de judeit4.-Il n'est pas impossible que l'effort des Noirs pour sed&finir, t la cristallisation de leurs inquietudes et de leursespoirs dans ce concept de n6gritude, m'aient encouragdans ma propre recherche. Et bien que la r6flexion sur1'identit6 juive ait historiquement precodd ces tentatives,et qu'elle reste un souci lancinant de tout intellectueljuif, j'ai trop 6thprioccup6 par cet 6veil contemporain des

peuples dominos, pour qu'il soit exclu que j'aie pu treinfluence par telle ou telle de leurs dcouvertes sur eux-memes.Je voudrais seulement ajouter ici que mon itinerairepourrait, en retour, contribuer a preciser et a rajeunir unoutil methodologique qui, apres avoir 6t6 tant lou6 poursa f6conde commodite, est quelquefois d6cri6 par lesnouvelles generations noires.Il n'est pas davantage dans mon propos de m'6tendre surces trois notions de jud6ite, judaicite et judaisme, que j'ai6ti amene a proposer et a d6finir. Qu'on me permette derappeler tr&sbrinvement qu'ayant d6cid6 de faire l'inven-taire de moi-meme comme juif, j'eus rapidement besoind'un mot qui exprimat, a l'exclusion d'autres acceptions,le fait d'dtre juif. Je me suis aperqu avec 6tonnement etembarras qu'il n'existait pas; ou plus exactement que si jedisposais de judaisme, celui-ci possedait trop de significa-tions diverses pour pouvoir 6tre utilise avec une precisionsans equivoque. Il me fallait donc adopter, et au besoinforger, un terme specifique: je proposai celui de juddite.3II me parait necessaire d'y insister: ce fut donc d'abordsans prj~ugerdu contenu de ce fait d'etre juif; il s'agissait,au contraire, d'un besoin methodologique, d'aborder avec

de meilleures armes, une realit6 complexe et qui m'6chap-Suitepage2826


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JANUS-FACEDMASK. CARVEDWOOD, SKIN COVERED. 8".EKOI,SOUTHERN IGERIA.WELLCOMEOLLECTION,USEUMOF ETHNIC RTS,UNIVERSITYF CALIFORNIA,OSANGELES.

The Negroand

t h e JewALBERTMEMM

To Le"opoldSe"dar enghor

"We do an injustice to African culture when we cling,like an oyster to its shell, to concepts which history hasrendered obsolete. The concept of Negritude, a revolu-tionary one during the 1940-50's, today belongs in a mu-seum of literary works."'This judgment is rather severe for a concept whichremains useful. I believe it could, however, benefit froma youth-giving and salutary precision by being remoldedand broken down into three categories as I have donewith the expression "Judaism.""The word Judditdinvented and used by Albert Memmiseems to be the Jewish equivalent of 'Negritude'." In hisbook, Les Voies du Hassidisme, the author and essayist,Arnold Mandel, suggests that the word "Negritude" in-spired me to coin the term Judeitte.2It is possible that I may have been influenced in myown research on Judaism by the Blacks' search for theiridentity which resulted in the creation of the term Negri-tude, the crystallization of their hopes and concerns. TheJew's concern about or meditation on his own identityhas historically preceded that of the black man and itremains the most important preoccupation of any Jewishintellectual. I have, however, been too engrossed by theawakening of subjugated peoples not to have been influ-

enced by one or another of their discoveries about themselves.I would only like to submit here that the results of mown intellectual discoveries could perhaps serve to modernize and more accurately define a methodological towhich is sometimes criticized by the new generationblacks-after having received such profuse praise for igreat usefulness.I do not wish to dwell at length on the three concepI have proposed and defined-Judditd, Judaicitd anJudaism. When I decided to take inventory of myself asJew, I soon required a word which would express (to thexclusion of all other uses) the fact of being a Jew. I waboth surprised and perplexed to find that such a word dinot exist. To be more exact, there was the word "Judaismbut it had too many different meanings to be used in anone specific and unequivocal way. I needed, therefore, tadopt or coin a specific word, so I invented the worJudeitd.3I must state that, without lessening the importance othe meaning of this term, my first aim was to satisfymethodological need. Better tools were necessary beforI could grasp the complex reality which still escaped mIt was only in trying to explain the reality of the phenomContinued on page 22


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pait encore. Et, de meme, c'est seulement en essayant d'ex-pliciter la realit6 de l'existence juive, d'en parcourirsepar&-ment toutes les dimensions, que je fus amend: (a) 'arechercher une definition de la juddite aussi exclusive etadequate que possible; et (b) par suite, a la distinguerdes autres dimensions; enfin (c) a distinguer entre ellesces diffbrentesdimensions et 'a es definir chacune separe-ment.De sorte que les divergences d'interpretation sur leschamps recouverts par ces definitions, inevitables dans undomaine off un vecu toujours inquietant suscite les pas-sions les plus intenses et les reflexions les plus variees, nedevraient pas cependant contredire au principe meme deces distinctions. Au contraire, nous avions d'autant plusbesoin d'une grille a apposer sur une matiere tumultueuse-ment confuse. Aujourd'huiencore, je ne suis pas stir d'avoir6puise par ces trois definitions les trois dimensions de larealit6 juive, et j'admets fort bien qu'on me les conteste;mais je me suis davantage convaincu qu'il fallait les dis-tinguer et en tenter des approximationsaussi differentiellesque possible.

I1 n'etait pas besoin de refl.chir longtemps, en effet,pour v6rifier combien ce terme de judaisme, qui faisaittous les usages, ltait a la fois trop riche et trop vague,contraignant et inefficace, pour une recherche simplementsoucieuse d'exactitude et d'objectivit&4Il signifiait tant6tl'ensemble des valeurs traditionnelles, religieuses et mo-rales, qui regissent la vie collective des Juifs; tantot lacommunaut6 (on parlait du "judaisme frangais") tant6tl'appartenance d'un individu juif a son groupe; tant6t lamesure de son attachement aux croyances traditionnelleset meme, depuis le sionisme, sa fiddlit' ' des valeurs juivesqui ne seraient pas strictement religieuses. (On disait, "lejudaisme d'un tel"). N'est-il pas 6vident qu'il valait mieuxlui assigner un seul de ces sens, quitte a proposer d'autrestermes pour les autres? Un peu d'ordre, meme au prixd'un appauvrissementapparent du vocabulaire, ne pouvaitAtre que salutaire. Il m'a sembl6, en tout cas, que le sensle plus adequat, pour judaisme, devait tre celui del'ensemble estraditions ulturelles t religieuses.C'est un probleme gravede savoir quel est le domaine exactde l'hdritage juif.

Nul doute qu'il ne faille mime pousser plus avant dansla pr~cision, et je m'en suis aperqu dbs que j'ai essayd'inventorier plus compl~tement la condition juive. Ainsine faudrait-il pas distinguer, dans cet ensemble culturel,entre l'hdritage proprement religieux et les prescriptions6thiques qui forment la philosophie morale des Juifs?Faut-il toujours nommer du mime mot de judaisme lesrenouvellements, les inventions des penseurs et essayistesjuifs contemporains qui, se situant d'une certaine manibredans le prolongement de cette tradition cuturelle lui don-nent cependant une physionomie presque in6dite? C'estun problkme grave, au moins pour le sp~cialiste, de savoirquel est le domaine exact de l'hdritagejuif, s'il posshde uneunit6 d~finitive, et en quelque sorte jalouse, qui exclueraitles novateurs excessifs, ou s'il doit comprendre un dyna-misme 6volutif qui l'enrichit mais le transforme au coursde l'histoire. De m~me, pour ne pas multiplier les con-cepts de travail, j'ai cru bon, pour le moment, de corn-

prendre sous la meme rubrique, les institutions quiorganisent la vie collective des Juifs et qui d6coulentd'ailleurs en partie de ces valeurs mais qui, a mon sens,les inspirent en retour. Le plus urgent, en tout cas, et leplus immediatement evident, etait qu'il fallait pouvoirconsiderer separement, pour mieux en parler et mieux les/tudier, l'id6ologie juive et ses oeuvres d'une part et,d'autre part, les individus et les groupes juifs, qui partici-paient plus ou moins a cette ideologie, la vivaient et l'ac-tualisaient plus ou moins.Pour designer expressement le groupe juif, je proposaidonc le terme de judaicitd.Je devais a ce propos faire uineautre petite dcouverte: je croyais vaguement d'abordquele mot existait dbja, sinon la precision de terme, et quej'avais surtout a lui affecter un sens univoque. Or, en fait,il ne se trouve dans aucun dictionnaire. Il fallait en outrelui donner un statut 1Mgal ce que je propose en memetemps d'ailleurs).De ce concept, designe par ce mot de judaicit&, jepropose une acception, dont 1l encore, je laisse la dis-cussion ouverte. Tenant compte de la physionomie d6mo-graphique particuli're du peuple juif il fallait en toutcas y distinguer au moins un sens large et un sens 6troit.Judaicite designerait ainsi soit, la totalit6 demographiquejuive, en somme la judaicite mondiale; soit, pour tenircompte de la dispersion de cette judaicith en multiplescommunautesa traversle monde, chacune de ces judaiciteslocales (ex: la judaicite frangaise ou la judaicite am6ri-caine). Mais l'essentiel est que l'on s'en tienne a ce sensd6mographique: la judaicit designe un ensemble de per-sonnes juives.La juddite, enfin, serait exclusivement la maniere pourun Juif de l'tre, subjectivement et objectivement. Lamaniere dont il se sent juif et dont il r6agit a la conditionjuive. J'ai dit qu'il m'a fallu forger ici un mot totalementnouveau pour exprimer un fait indiscutablement original.Bien entendu, ce n'est pas dans une perspective sociolo-gique, et dans un ensemble consacre plus particulierementa la sociologie de la connaissance, que je pourrais pre-tendre a quelque existence rdellement separee de lajudeite. Comme il me paraitrait absurde de considerertout 't fait s6parement les valeurs juives qui n'existent6videmment pas sans aucune liaison avec le groupe juif, etplus precisement encore avec l'volution des conjoncturessocio-historiques qui ont constitu6 son destin particulier. Acet egard, je dirai volontiers que le judaisme est l'ideologieet l'ensemble institutionnel de la judaicit . Et, presquetoujours, la juddit6 contient une r~f6rence plus ou moinsaffirm6e,plus ou moins consciente, plus ou moins 4tendue,aux valeurs traditionnelles juives. Par rapport i la judaicit6,elle est un degrd d'appartenance,objective et subjective,plus ou moins dlev& Et pour achever le triangle, il estclair que l'appartenance Aun groupe se r~duit rarementune simple solidarit6 micanique et purement n~gativedevant le danger; 1'appartenance t un groupe est toujoursaussi, bt quelque degr#, la reconnaissance de ses valeurs.5Il s'ensuit, en tous cas, et c'est ce que je veux diresurtout, que la juddit6 est variable d'un individu &unautre, dans son intensit6 et m~me dans ses 16lments,quipeuvent Atreplus ou moins pr6sents suivant la constella-tion particuli6rede chaque sujet. C'est pouquoi nous avonspu parler, avec mes collaborateurs, de coefficient defudditd.6Avec les pricautions que l'on doit garder devantune telle expression math6matique d'une r6alit6 v~cue siSuite page 96

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enon of the Jew, in studying all dimensions of the problemseparately, that I was led to do the following: (a) seek adefinition for Judeite which would be as specific and asadequate as possible; (b) distinguish it from all otherdimensions; and (c) distinguish and define each dimen-sion separately.The existence of various interpretations of the subjectscovered by these definitions, inevitable for a grave histori-cal phenomenon which has always provoked strong emo-tional reactions and divergent opinions, should be no rea-son for opposing the construction of such distinctions. Onthe contrary, one must structure such a disturbing andconfusing subject matter. I am still not sure today that Ihave exhausted the three dimensions of the Jewish realitywith these definitions. I readily accept criticism, but Iam more convinced than ever that they had to be sepa-rated, in order to secure some idea of their specific natures.It did not take me long to realize that the expression,Judaism, which embraced multiple meanings, was not onlytoo complex and vague, but also too restricting and inef-ficient for objective and exacting research.4 The term re-ferred at once to the traditional, religious and moral valueswhich govern the collective life of the Jews, to any Jewishcommunity (we speak of "French Judaism,"for example),to the membership of an individual Jew in his group, andto the Jew's degree of attachment to traditional beliefs.Since the Zionist movement, it has even come to mean aJew's loyalty to Jewish values which may not be strictly re-ligious. (The saying went: "The Judaism of Mr. So-and-So".) Is it not evident, then, that it would be better to as-sign only one of these meanings to Judaism and find differ-ent terms for the others? A little order, even at the expenseof a seeming loss of vocabulary, could not help but be salu-tory. It seemed to me, therefore, that the most adequatemeaning for Judaism would be "the body of cultural andreligious traditions."It is a grave problemto know the proper domainof the Jewish heritage.

I immediately felt that we should seek greater precisionin meaning when I tried to take a more complete inven-tory of the Jewish situation. Out of this body of culturalvalues should we not distinguish the religious heritageper se from the ethical prescriptions which form themoral philosophy of the Jews? Must all the new worksof contemporary Jewish philosophers and essayists comeunder the heading of "Judaism?"Though these men maybe said to cling to the cultural tradition, their findingsare quite novel. It is a grave problem, at least for thespecialist, to know the proper domain of the Jewish heri-tage. Does it have a clear-cut scope which makes it hostileto innovation? Should it embrace a dynamic and evolu-tionary course which, although enriching it, would alsotransform it over time?To keep from unduly multiplying my initial workingconcept, I have included under the same heading all insti-tutions which organize Jewish collective life and whichstem from and influence its values. One must realize, how-ever, that to speak and write more accurately about Jew-ish ideology and its works, and about the Jews-as indi-viduals and as a group-who share this ideology and invarious degrees live up to it, it is most important andurgent to consider the two facets separately.

In order to designate specifically the Jewish group, Iselected the word, Judaicitd. In making this selection, Ialso made a small discovery. I had a vague idea that thisword already existed and that I need only attribute a singlemeaning to it. But the word was not to be found in anydictionary. I propose, therefore, that its status be "legal-ized."I suggest we retain this concept which I designate bythe term, Judaicite, but leave it open for discussion. Bear-ing in mind the particular demographic physiognomy ofthe Jewish people, it is necessary to define the term both ina broad and a narrow sense. Judaicith would thus embracethe following: (a) total Jewish population-the world-wide Judaicitd; and (b) each local Jewish community, inorder to take into account the fragmenting of this Judaicitdinto multiple communities through the world (for exam-ple, the French Judaicitd, the American Judaicitd, etc.).It is, however, essential that the demographic sense bepreserved: Judaicite designates a group of Jews.Judditd, then, would exclusively describe the manner inwhich a Jew is a Jew, subjectively and objectively-theway in which he feels Jewish and reacts to the condition ofthe Jew. As I previously stated, I had to invent an entirelynew word to express an indisputably original fact.Of course, if one pretends to adopt a sociological per-spective, and more particularly, the perspective of thesociology of knowledge, the concept of Juddit6 cannothave an isolated existence. It would appear just as absurdfor me to consider altogether separately Jewish values,which, of course, do not exist in a vacuum. They must beseen in light of Jews as a group, and more specifically, inlight of the evolution of the socio-historical events whichhave shaped the particular destiny of the Jewish group.I would, therefore, state that Judaism comprises the ide-ology and the institutional framework of the Judaicitd.Juddite nearly always refers to-though perhaps not incompletely explicit and conscious terms-the traditionalJewish values. Contrary to the word Judaicitd, Juddit6measures both objectively and subjectively the degree towhich the individual belongs to the group. As the finalelement of the triangle, it is clear that membership in agroup is rarely defined negatively by the act of mechanicalsolidarity in the face of danger. In belonging to a group,one always expresses recognition of its values to a certaindegree.5Above all, I would like to state that Judditd varies inintensity and in composition from one individual to an-other. This is why my collaborators and I were able totalk about a "coefficient of Judditd."'6We have evenattempted to state the factors which enter into such acalculation, though realizing that in using a mathematical

expression for a complex, hard-to-grasp reality we weretreading on dangerous ground. Nevertheless, it is necessaryto consider the Jud~it6 of each subject separately.7In summing up, it appeared necessary to clearly separatethe following distinct elements: (a) the Jewish group, orJudaicit& (b) the values of the group, or Judaism; (c)the degree to which the Jew participates in his group andshares its values, or Judditd.I have already given a detailed account of these threeconcepts and the definitions below will serve as a matterof record:"ludaiciteconsists of the body of Jews, i.e., in a broadsense, the total number of Jews throughout the world; ina narrow sense, a given group of Jews geographically sit-Continuedon page 9829


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N gritude et Judeitesuite de la page 28riche et si fluente,nous avons meme essay6de priciserdes criteresde calcul de ce coefficient.Quoi qu'ilen soit,il est n6cessairede pouvoirau moins consid6rersepar6-ment ajudeitede chaquesujet.7En resume, l m'apparut ecessairede distinguerclaire-ment, ce qui 6tait confusementdistinct: (a) le groupejuif, ou judaicit6;(b) ses valeurs,ou judaisme;et (c)le degr6de participation u Juif' son groupe,d'unepart,asesvaleursd'autrepart,oujuddeitd.J'aidonn6ailleursun commentaire ctaill6de ces troisnotions.En voici seulement,pourmemoire, es definitions:"Lajudaiciteest l'ensembledes personnes uives:soit,au senslarge, a totalitedes Juifs'a ravers e monde;soit,au sens 6troit,un groupement uif donn6,geographique-ment localise. (Par exemple:la judaicitefrangaiseou lajudaicit6de New York.)""Lejudaismeest l'ensembledes doctrines,croyancesetinstitutionsdes Juifs, fixees ou non,ecrites ou orales;ensomme, les valeurs et l'organisationqui constituentetreglentla vie d'ungroupe uif;ou encore, a culturejuiveau sens large:habitudescollectives,religion, philosophie,juridiction t arts.""Lajudeiteest le faitet la maniered'etreJuif; 'ensembledes caracteristiques, ecues et objectives,sociologiques,psychologiques t biologiquesquifontun Juif; a manieredont un Juifvit, "ta fois, son appartenance la judaicitet son insertiondans le mondenon-juif."IIVenonsen maintenanta ce parallle avec la negritude.II est interessant e noterdejat ue la situation e pr6sentaita moi de la meme maniereque pourun Noir.II s'agissaitde d&~crire,e delimiteret de d6finirmapersonnalite om-me Juif:c'est-a-dire ntreautresparrapporta la personna-lit6collectivedugroupedontjefaisaispartie.Or, e groupejuif vivait une conditionparticuliereet deformante,uneconditionde dominance:d'oiides difficultesparticulieresa se saisir objectivement-des illusionssur soi, nees de1'accusation es autres,mais 6galementdu refus de soi-meme,ainsiquedes contre-mythes pposes l'accusation;nees aussi, plus gravement encore, de cette conditionobjectiveanormale,noncomparable vidementa celle despeuples maitresde leur destin,chez lesquelsles rapportsentre la religion et la culture, par exemple, avaient un toutautre style.8 La notion de nigritude rdpondait en sommeau m~me besoin: elle prenait acte de la sdparationduNoir, la r~summaitcommodiment d'unmot, et se proposaitcomme un drapeau, pour une libdrationt une reconquetede soi.

Mais alors, il aurait ,te dtonnantqu'une telle notion, quipr~tendait exprimer et illustrer la condition du Noir, h lafois ses richesseset ses carences, es rdvoltes t ses aspira-tions, n'en recle pas en mime temps tout le trouble ettoutes les difficultis. Et il suffit de parcourir quelquestextes indiscutables, puisque signis par les inventeursm~mes, et les d6fenseurs encore actuels, de la n6gritude,pour y d~couvrir la mbmedensit6 passionnelle mais aussila mime confusion par exchs de significations.Aim6 C6saire, qui fut, t ma connaissance, 1'inventeurduterme, en avait surtout donn6 des approximations, dansun langage magnifique, mais essentiellement po~tique. I1appartenait 5 L. S. Senghor de tenter d'en formuler des

definitions.LorsqueSenghord6finit a n6gritudecomme:1'ensemble es valeursculturellesdu monde noir, tellesqu'elles s'exprimentdans la vie, les institutionset lesoeuvresdes Noirs,'V9llecorrespond nsommeace que j'aipropos6d'appeler trictementjudaisme.I1s'agitbien destraditions ulturelleset religieuses,et telles qu'ellesconti-nuent 'a4treactualis6espar les hommesvivantsaujourd'-hui, maisnon des hommesen tant que tels, individusougroupes structures ommetels.Or, orsqu'ilajoute,"Notreuniquesouci a et6 de 1'assumer,ette nigritude,et l'ayantv6cue, d'en approfondire sens", l s'agitalorsplut6t del'quivalent de la judeit6,c'est-a-dired'une maniere devivreet de traiter es valeurs.Lorsque es organisateurs e la Rencontrede Dakar apresententcommeles "Etats Generauxde la Negritude"(AliouneDiop), ils veulentdire apparemment u'ils'agitcette fois d'un rassemblementd'hommes,et meme d'unrassemblementxhaustif,au moinsparsa representativit6.La preuve en est que la discussiona precis-mentport6surce point.Il s'agissait lorsplut6tde la judaicit6.Lorsqu'unautre organisateurdeclare qu'il faut "de-fendre et illustrer a negritude", n ne sait s'il s'agit deshommesou des valeurs;probablementdes valeurs,cettefois; h quoi correspondmieuxd'ailleurs e titreofficielde"Festivaldes ArtsNegres", ienque cette appellation lle-meme soit bien restrictive, i l'onadmetqu'uneculturenese resumepas dans les arts.D'autantqu'onparle 6gale-ment"d'humanismenegre" t de contributionAa "civilisa-tion de l'universel"(Senghor). Admettonsau moinsqu'ily a ici oscillationentreles hommeset la culture.Bienentendu,ne forgonspas exag6rement otrenaivet6m'thodologique:en fait, plus ou moinsconfusement, an6gritudeveut signifiera la fois 1'ensemble es hommesnoirs, les valeursdu monde noir, et la participationdechaquehomme et de chaquegroupenoir"ae monde eta ces valeurs.Et-je l'ai assez dit a proposde la trilogieconceptuelle oncernantes Juifs-nous n'avonspasaffaire,dansla r6alit6,a troistiroirsbien clos,dontchacunrec&Alun contenubien d6limite.Mais n'est-ilpas d'autantplusn6cessairede disposerd'outilsadequats"achaqueperspec-tive? A chaque manipulationde l'existencede l'hommenoir?On le voit clairement, n tout cas,a travers es malaiseset les colkresdes jeunes generationsdont je parlaisplushaut:a tant bavarderde n6gritudeet d'humanisme oir,disent-elles avec indignation, es hommescommencentatAtreoubli"s au profit des valeurs! Or, tous les Noirs sontloin d'etre nationalement libres et, dans les nouvellesnations noires, tous les Noirs sont loin d'8tre socialementlibres. Apr~s le colonisateur, ou parallklement i lui, oumameavec sa complicitY: "Aujourd'hui,des N~gres ex-ploitent des Negres!", aujourd'hui,"nous vivons l'AredesTschomb6!"II est ind.niable que la constitution en nations de largessecteurs du monde noir a fait reculer la n6gativith noire,comme la fondation de l'Etat d'Israel a si heureusementestomp6 la n6gativit6 juive, que certains Juifs, trop facile-ment oublieux, doutent qu'elle ait jamais exist6. Et l'oncomprend que les Sin.galais ou les Ivoiriens, dorinaventmaitres de leur destin, politique pour le moins, veulentinsister sur la seule positivit6 des valeurs et des arts noirs.On ne veut retenir d6sormais de la n6gritude que sonaspect affimatif et mime glorieux. II est vrai aussi que sil'oppression du monde noir a recul6, elle n'a pas disparu.Et qu'une telle euphorie peut sembler pr.matur6e et

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quelque peu d6sinvolte,sinon insultante,pour tous ceuxdont la n6gritudedemeureplus un fardeauqu'unesourcede fPlicites.Voilk l'originede l'insatisfactionroublequeressentirentde nombreuxparticipants ala rencontredeDakar: il y avait lia 'esquisse d'une autre version duconflit entre peuples nantis et peuples dmunis, tous lesdeux noirs cette fois. Et l'on comprend alors que lesorganisateursaient pr6fer6 ne pas inviter certains: lesAfricainsdu Sud, parexemple,ou meme les Guin6ensoules Cubains: ce sont1l des gens qui se seraientprobable-ment obstines ' rappeler a n6gativit6encore actuelle dela conditionnoire.D'oii la r6volte des jeunes gens contrecette totalisationeuphorique, et leur tentation d'une condamnationaussiglobale. Si l'affirmation e la positivit6des valeursnoiresdoit voiler la negativit6des miseresde l'hommenoir,alorsil faut denoncer ces pseudo-valeurs:"Culture tourn6evers le passe6", un pass6 petrifi6","les tam-tams de lan6gritudeeosaire-senghoriennent des rumeursde chaud-rons fe1es".Le haut-commissaire ahomeenne dit finale-ment pas autrechose: "lanegritudeseraliberatriceou neserapas".Dans son Aprerevolte contretoute la conditionnoire, l'crivain noir am6ricainLeroi Jones en arrive 'acontester l'existenced'une quelconqueculture noire: "Laculturenoire n'existepas".I1est difficile't un non-Noirde s'immiscerdans l'undesconflits nternes es plus gravesqui puissentagiterun Noiractuel. Et si je me permets d'ouvrir a bouche dans unetelle discussion,ce n'estpas seulementparce que je croisa la vertud'unecertainerationalit6,m me dansles d6batsles plus passionnels;c'est simplement,je le r6pete,parcequ'il ne m'a pas semble sans intlret de comparer,sur cepoint, la condition noire et la condition juive. Et, avecl'espoir qu'une proposition m6thodologique, qui m'abeaucoup aid6 dans un cas, puisse en inspirerune simi-laire: il faudraitpeut-etre&clatere conceptde negritude,commej'aidtdobliggde faire dclatercelui de judaisme.La n6gritude,donc, est largementn6gative encore, etdoit tre bien aperque comme telle, sinon elle devientmystificatrice.La fin du refus de soi est certainementpr6matur6e ourun Noirencoreaujourd'hui.Maisinverse-ment ne serait-ilpas aussicatastrophiquede refuserd'unseul couptoutes les valeursnoires,si elles existent,pass6esou en trainde s'6difier,parce que la conditionnoire restemis6rable?10On en apergoittout le danger lorsqu'on itdansla d6clarationdu memeHaut-Commissairedahom6enque l'Afriqueauraitbesoin "dumarteaude 1'ouvriervantle ciseau du sculpteur . . . L'Afrique ne chantera sonchant le plus beau que lorsqu'elle sera libre!" En quoiil n'a probablement pas tout A ait tort. Mais, qui ne voitqu'il s'agit 1i de deux plans diff~rents, trbs i~s certes, maisqu'il faut bien se garder de confondre? Qu'il est n6cessairede distinguer, d~s maintenant, entre ces valeurs culturelles,pass6es, pr6sentes ou A enir, des diff6rentes communaut6snoires, avec leurs diff6rents problkmes socio-politiques, etenfin, la manibre dont chaque individu noir aborde cesvaleurs, les vit et les conteste, la manibre dont il se situedans sa communauth, s'y conforme ou s'y r6volte? N'est-ilpas indispensable de nommer, et de d6finir s6par~ment,ce que je propose d'appeler: la nrgritd; le nigrisme; landgritude.La nigritd serait l'ensemble des personnes, groupes etpeuples, noirs.Le nugrisme serait l'ensemble des valeurs traditionnelleset culturelles des peuples noirs.

La n6gritude,enfin, seraitr6serv6ea la manierede sesentiret d'etrenoir,par appartenancea un grouped'hom-meset parfid61it6 ses valeurs.IIIJe n'ai 6videmmentpas l'ambition,dans ces quelquespages, de vouloir combler des besoins m6thodologiquecomplexes,qui relkventautantde l'6pist6mologieque dela sociologiede la connaissance.I1me suffiraitd'avoirpuindiquerune directionde rechercheset, accessoirementd'avoirajoute un argument"a ette hypoth6sed'une cer-taine similitudeentre la plupartdes conditionsde domi-nance. Et puis-jesignaler,en passant,que l'onretrouveememe besoin,n6 de la meme confusion,dans le domaineislamique,puisque le meme terme d'Islamsignifietant6tl'ensemble des croyants en la religion propos.e parMahomet,tant6t cette religion elle-m me et les valeurs6thiques qui l'accompagnentordinairement?Et qu'il estpeut-8tre emps d'yoprer 6galementquelque distinction?Bien entendu, ces parallklesne supprimentnullementla sp6cificit6de chaque terminologie,et de chaque con-tenu, pour la raisonmajeureque, par delt les similitudesles diff6rencesentre les conditionset les traditionssontd'une extremeimportance.L'oppressiondu Juif ne coin-cide ni avec celle du Noir, ni avec celle des colonis6s.Nid'ailleurs elle de chaqueNoir avec celle de tous les Noirs.Et, armesde ces sch6maset de ces outils communs,c'estauxNoirsa faire leurspropres nventaires.On ne peut quesugg6rerles questions:commentcaracteriserdorenavantle contenude la n6gritude,ou plus exactement,de chaquen6gritude.S'il 6tait entendu,commeje le propose, que lanegrituden'est que le degr6 de participationde chaqueNoirhla personnalit6 ollectivedu groupe,on congoitquece sera une notion essentiellementdynamique,et 'aplu-sieurs variables.Quelle sera a chaque fois la part de lan6gativit6 et celle de la positivit6? Peut-on arriver ad6crire,et 'a a limite,a cernerun coefficientde negritude,a l'instardu coefficientde jud6ite?On verrapeut-etre,6galement,que si la dialectiquedun6gatif-positif st d'une6norme mportancea l'interieurdechaquen6gritude,elle devientmoinspr6occupantea pro-pos du n6grisme,c'est-h-dire es valeursculturellesnoires.A strictementparler, en effet, une culture ne sauraitetre n6gative; elle peut etre insuffisante,caduque, maladapt6e aux besoins nouveaux, contradictoirememe, etdispers6e uivant a g6ographie t les diff6rentesnfluencessubies, elle ne sauraitetre affect6edu signe moins. C'estpourquoi j'ai propos4 non de parler de la n~gativit6 dujudaisme, ou maintenant du n6grisme, ou de l'Islam, cequi serait absurde, mais de distinguer entre la traditionet la culture. De sorte qu'il soit possible de se placer dansune perspective de fid6lit6 plus ou moins int6grale aupass6, ou dans une attitude fonctionnaliste Al'6gard desvaleurs; de se r6f6rer ~ des normes religieuses, 6thiquesou esth6tiques, relativement fix6es, ou de les refuser, oupour le moins de vouloir les d6passer au nom d'une re-cr~a-tion permanente de rbgles et d'oeuvres plus r6solumentadaptbes aux besoins de l'homme contemporain. Une tellevariabilith dans la r6f6rence permet de d6passer ce faux-problbme du tout ou rien, de l'acceptation intigrale oudu refus absolu.

Quoi qu'il en soit de ces problhmes, certes passionnants,le plus important Amon sens est ce mouvement de dis-tinction, qui seul permettra de faire 4clater une unit6fallacieuse et 6touffante, entre plusieurs plans de la r6alitdnoire. (Ce ne fut pas un hasard de 1'histoireculturelle et97


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sociale des Chr6tiens, s'ils ont dispos6 assez t6t du conceptde chr6tient6 &c6t6 de celui de christianisme. En tout cas,cela leur fut assurement b6n6fique.)II faut que le Noir garde le droit de contester sa tradi-tion; et il faut qu'il ait le droit de garder ses distancesvis-h-vis de son groupe. Pour cela, il faut qu'il puisse dis-tinguer entre cette tradition et la manibre de la vivre,c'est-a-dire d'y consentir ou de s'y refuser, ou plus exacte-ment d'y consentir ou de s'y refuser d'une maniere variable.II faut qu'il puisse s'affirmersuffisamment,sans tre 6touffepar sa tradition ou son groupe, ou gene dans sa revolte;contraint de se nier totalement. Et pour tout cela, il fautlui foumrnires outils ad6quats.Je n'exclus pas, enfin, que les termes que je proposeici soient jug6s peu 616gants, et qu'on en choisisse d'autres.Ce sont les concepts qui me paraissent indispensables, dequelque fagon qu'on les exprime.1 Je n'exclus meme pasque ces concepts n'aient qu'une utilisation temporaire.Par exemple, exclusivement jusqu'a' a constitution de tousles Noirs en nations ind6pendantes, ce qui ambnera peut-etre Y6clatementd6finitff de la negrit6, qui se fondra peut-etre alors dans l'humanit6. Et parce que la negrit6, fonda-mentalement et malgr6 les apparences, correspond nontellement h une communautd de race, mais 'aune com-munaute de condition, qui est une condition d'oppression,sous le pretexte mythique de la race.12 La n6grit6 n'estque la r6ponse ethnique des Noirs a l'accusation ethniquedes Blancs. On trouve la meme reponse globale, et proba-blement provisoire, chez la plupart des colonists, qui fontsouvent aussi un racisme r6actionnel, avec solidarit6pseudo-ethnique, surenchbre de soi et refus ethnique decolonisateur.Peut- tre enfin que le concept meme de negrisme sera-t-il jug6 tout a fait hasardeux, sinon inutile. Peut-on parlerd'une communaute culturelle des Noirs du monde entier?Aujourd'hui que les Noirs sont partag6s entre Musulmans,Chretiens, Catholiques et Protestants, Fetichistes, et meme

quelques Juifs, que serait cet "humanismenoir,"dont parleSenghor? Sinon principalement, et toujours, refdrence 'a acouleur de la peau? Depuis quelques annees, pour d6-passer ou enrichir cette rdf~rence ethnique trop precise ettrop 'troite, la plupart des leaders noirs insistent sur lacommunautd gdographique originelle de tous les Noirs,l'Afrique, dont on ne sait trop si elle doit rester un mythepass'iste et po6tique, ou devenir un projet politique. Ala veille de sa mort, Malcolm X, le chef dissident des BlackMuslims americains songeait, semble-t-il, 'aune veritableconvergence de toute la nigrit, mondiale vers le foyerafricain. Chez Aim6 C6saire, poete et antillais, 1'Afriquemere fournit une extraordinairematrice de roves communs.Mais, je le ripete, c'est encore l'affairedes Noirs de cerneret de pr6ciser leurs relations avec 1'Afrique r6elle oumythique et le contenu exact de d6bat. Pour nous, dumoment qu'ils parlent de cette communaut6 culturelle,imagin6e ou r6ellement vecue, il faut qu'ils disposent d'unconcept, et pour le moins d'un mot sans &quivoque pourla d6signer.Et si, un jour, un reclassement de cette terminologies'av6rerait encore n6cessaire, ce n'est pas moi qui m'en6tonnerais ou la regretterais, qui crois 'aun dynamisme detous les groupes humains et, heureusement, de toutes lesconditions. Et donc, corrdlativement, a un dynamismeineluctable de tous les concepts, et meme peut-etre a leurmort periodique et a leur necessaire remplacement. N

Ce texte a dtd dcritpendantrl'dt6966,pourfaire partied'une publicationcollective,sur la Sociologiede la Con-naissance,a paraitreaux Editions Anthropos,Paris. Aumomentol je remettaisce livre a l'dditeur, e PresidentLeopold Sedar Senghor a bien voulu me faire savoirl'intiretqu'ilprenaita mes suggestionsdu renouvellementde la notion de n6gritudepar son dventual dclatement,ainsi que sa ddcision de les soumettre au Congres desAfricanistes II'm session, Dakar, dicembre 1967).Notes,voirpage123

The Negro and The Jewcontinued rompage 29uated (for example, the Judaicitd of France or of NewYork).""Judaism is the group of Jewish doctrines, beliefs andinstitutions-standardized or not, written or oral. It is theset values and the organization which constitute and reg-ulate the life of a Jewish group. Judaism also comprisesJewish culture in a broad sense-common customs, reli-gion, philosophy, laws and art.""Juddit4 is the fact and manner of being a Jew-theobjective sociological, psychological and biological charac-teristics which make a person a Jew; the way in which aJew lives, his membership in the Judaicitd and his placein the non-Jewish world."

IINow let us construct the parallel between Negritudeand Judditd. It is interesting to note that my situation as a

Jew strikes me as being similar to that of the Blacks. Myproblem was to describe, delineate and define my per-sonality as a Jew, i.e., my relationship to the collectivepersonality of the group to which I belong. The Jewishgroup was subjected to a particular condition-a condi-tion of oppression. From such a situation arise difficultieswhich must be objectively analyzed. Illusions exist, in partthe product of the accusations of others but also of therejection of self and the invention of other myths to coun-teract the accusations. These illusions are also born in part-and this is a more serious problem-of an objective andatypical condition which far differs from that of a peoplewho are masters of their own destiny and for whom therelationship between religion and culture, for example, isof an altogether different style.8 The concept of Negritude,on the whole, responded to the same need for definition,delineation and description: the term provided a recog-nition of the black man's uniqueness, summing it up inone convenient word. It was a concept which proposed tobe the standard bearer for a movement of self-liberationand self-realization.

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It is not surprising hat a conceptwhich endeavored oexpressand illustrate the situation of the black man-hisriches, his deficiencies,his revolts and his aspirations-should reflect at the same time the complexproblemsofdefinition.A brief perusalof authoritative exts signed bythe inventorsand actual defendersof the term Negritudeuncovers he same intenseemotionalism ndconfusion, heresultof a vocabularycoveringa myriadof meanings.Aim6Cesaire,who, to my knowledge,was the inventorof the word Negritude, sought above all to suggest anapproximate efinitionn a magnificent, oeticlanguage.Itwas L. S. Senghorwho attemptedto definethe termmorevigorously.He defined Negritude as: "Thebody of cul-tural values of the Blacks as they find expression n theirlives, institutionsand achievements."9This parallels mystrict definitionof Judaism:a word which expressesthecultural and religious traditionswhich men continue toespouse today-and not the men themselvesor the groupsto which they belong. Furthermore,when Senghorstates,"Ourone thoughthas been to accept this Negritudeandhaving lived it to make it meaningful,"he furnishes theequivalentof Judditd, .e., the way of living and copingwith one'svalues.However,when the organizersof the Dakarconferencespokeof themselves as "TheGeneralStatesof Negritude"(AliouneDiop) they apparentlyused the word Negritudeto mean "an assemblyof men,"and a completely repre-sentativeone at that. The proof is that discussiondid in-deed centeraroundthis usage of Negritude,which wouldbe the equivalentof the word Judaicitd.When anotherof the organizersdeclared that one must"defend Negritude and render it illustrious,"t was notunderstoodwhether he meant men or values-probablyvalues this time.What corresponds etter to this idea thanthe officialtitle of the gathering,"The Festival of NegroArts?"This appellation s itself quite limited, however, ifwe agree that culture is not exclusivelysummedup in thearts. This would be especially true of the Negro culture,for the organizersspoke of "Negro humanism"and itscontribution o the "civilizationof the universal"(Seng-hor). Let us at least admit that there is here an ambiguitybetween men and culture.Let us not constructourmethodology oo naively. Negri-tude, in a more or less confused fashion, does mean allthese things-the group of black men as a whole, theirvalues,and the participationof each man and each blackgroup in his world and in its values.We are not dealingwith three tightly closed drawers whose contents mustnot be mingled:I madethispointforcefullyenoughwhenI spoke of the conceptualtrilogy concerningthe Jew. Isit not all the more necessary,therefore,to possess ade-quate tools to uncover each perspective-to uncover eachoperationof the black man'sexistence?We can, however,clearlysee why the younger genera-tion of whom I spoke above experiences such anxietyand anger. "There s so much talk about Negritude andblack humanism," hey exclaim with indignation,"thatvalues aremakingpeople forgetaboutmen."All blacksdonot live in free nations,and in the new black nationsallblacks are far frombeing sociallyfree. This situationma-terializedin some cases with the complicityof the colo-nizers and in others after they had left. But the fact re-mainsthattoday"NegroesareexploitingNegroes.""Todaywe live in the era of the Tshombes."The appearanceof nationsin large sectors of the black

world has undeniably diminished the negative feelingstowardsthe black man, just as the foundingof the Stateof Israel has fortunately reduced the negative feelingstowardsthe Jew-so much so that certainvery forgetfulJews doubt that they ever existed. The inhabitantsofSenegal and the Ivory Coast,who are now masters of atleast their political destinies, insist only on the positiveaspectsof black art and values.We can easilyunderstandwhy. They wish to retainonly the affirmative nd gloriousside of Negritude.But if it is true that oppressionof theblacks has diminished, t has not altogetherdisappeared.Such a euphoricattitudemay showa lack of concern,andseem prematureand somewhat offensiveto all those forwhom Negrituderemainsmoreof a burden than a sourceof happiness.The dissatisfactionwhich numerousparti-cipants experiencedat the Dakar festival stemmed fromthis kind of attitude.The Festival displayedanotherver-sion of the conflictbetween rich and poor peoples, butthis time both were black.Thus,one understandswhy theorganizerspreferredsimply not to invite certain blacks:the SouthAfricans, or example,or even the Guineansorthe Cubans. These peoples would probably have obsti-nately insistedon the negative aspectsof the black man'sconditiontoday.The young people who revoltedagainstthis wholesaleeuphoriatried to condemn t as totallyas those they con-demned tried to praise it. If to affirm he positivenessofblack values veils the negative counterpart,the blackman's misery, then these pseudo-values must be de-nounced:"aculturelookingto the past;""apetrifiedpast.""The tom-tomsof the Cesaire-Senghor ariety of Negri-tude rumble like crackedcauldrons."The High Commis-sioner from Dahomey makes his final statement,"Negri-tude will either be a liberating orce or it will be nothing."In his bitterrevoltagainstthe black condition,the Amer-ican Negro writer, Leroi Jones, contests the existenceofany black culture:"There s no black culture."It is a seriousstep for a non-blackto interfere in oneof the most stirringand grave internalconflicts that facea black man today.If I allow myself to speakup it is notonly becauseI believe in the virtuesof rationalism ven inthe most heated debates. It is simply because, let merepeat, it seems interestingto comparethe conditions ofthe Blacks with that of the Jews.The use of methodology,which greatlyhelpedme to clarifythe conceptof Judaism,may be able to provide similarhelp for the concept ofNegritude,althoughit might be necessaryto shattertheconcept of Negritudeas I had to do for Judaism.Negritude,therefore, s still largelya negative concept,and it mustbe recognizedas such or it will create ratherthan clarifymysteries.It would be premature, oday, fora black man to end his self-rejection.But would it notalso be catastrophic o rejectin one clean sweep all blackvalues, whether they belong to the past or are in theprocess of creation,simply because the condition of theblack manremainsmiserable?o We realize the impendingdangerwhen we read the declarationof the High Com-missioner from Dahomey who states that Africa willneed "thehammerof the laborersbefore the chisel of thesculptor . . Africawill sing her mostbeautifulsong onlywhen she will be free!" He may not be entirely wrong,but it is a questionof two completelydifferent, f inter-related, levels which must not be confused.It is vital tobegin differentiating mmediatelyamong: culturalvaluesof the differentblackcommunities, e they past,presentor

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future;their differentsocio-political roblems; he way inwhich each black approaches hese values; the way helives up to them and conteststhem; and finallyhow hereacts to his community-conforms o it orrejects t. Is itnot urgentto name and defineseparately he Negritd, heNdgrisme,and the Negritude?(a) Nigritdewould com-prisethe bodyof blackgroupsandpeoples.(b) Ndgrismewould consistof all the traditional nd culturalvaluesofthe blackpeople. (c) Negritudewouldbe strictlyused todefinethe way in which a personwho is blackfeels he isblack: his sense of belongingto a groupof men, and hisloyaltyto the group'svalues.III

I do not pretend to satisfy complex methodologicalneeds withinthese few pages;they belongas muchto therealmof epistomologyas they do to that of the sociologyof knowledge.It is sufficiento have indicateda directionfor future research,and at the same time, to have con-tributed an argumentto the hypothesisthat there is acertainsimilaritybetween most conditionsof oppression.

AFRICANLITERATURETODAY

AJournal f ExplanatoryriticismEditor:ELDRED.JONES

Issueno. 1 containsarticlesonCHINUACHEBE

'Thepalmoil with whichAchebe's words are eaten.'by BERNTHLINDFORS

J. P. CLARK'Twohands a man has': The poetryof J. P. Clarkby JOHN POVEY

CHRISTOPHERKIGBO'OkigboUnderstood':A Study of two poemsby 0. R. DATHORNE

And hereare reviewsonbooksbyCESAIRE,GUGI,MADI,WAPA,ndEQUIANOE. N.OBIECHINArites n

Culturalnationalismin modern creative literatureSubscriptionsnAfrica:h24, 24s,$3.30, K.2.40.to your universitybookshop or Times Bookshop,Blantyre27s, Sudan Bookshop,Khartoum 1.200 GiannopoulousAddisAbaba$7,20. SubscriptionsoutsideAfrica27s to Blackwells,Oxford r DillonsUniversityBook-shop,1 MaletStreet,London,WC1,or yourbookseller

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I add in passing that the same need, born of a similarconfusion, exists in the Islamic world. The same term,Islam, refers variously to those who believe in the religionof Mohammed, to the religion itself and the ethical valueswhich generally accompany it. Would it not also be timelyto differentiate between these meanings?The parallels I have drawn between the conditions ofNegritude and Judaite do not, of course, lessen the speci-ficity of each term and of its contents, primarily becausethe differences between the conditions and the traditionsof the two situations are extremely important. The oppres-sion of the Jew is not the same as that of the black manor of that of the colonized. The oppression of the indi-vidual black is not the same as that of the group of blacks.Armed with these common tools and schemes, the blacksmust conduct their own inventories. I can only suggesthow to differentiate the contents of the word Negritude,or more exactly, of each sense of Negritude. If my proposalis accepted, and Negritude is defined only as the degreeof participation of each black in the collective personalityof the group, the concept would be an essentially dynamicone, subject to several variables. What would be the roleeach time of the positive and negative aspects? Can onedescribe and at the same time calculate a coefficient ofNegritude patterned after the coefficient of Judeit?We will also see that the negative-positive dialecticwhich was so important to each type of Negritude be-comes a subject of lesser concern when we speak ofNegrisme, i.e., black cultural values.Strictly speaking, a given culture cannot be negative;it can be insufficient, obsolete, ill adapted to new needs,even contradictory and dispersed geographically, anddiluted by the different influences it has been subject to,but it can never carry a minus sign. This is what kept mefrom speaking of the negativity of Judaism, Negritude orIslam: an absurdity. I have distinguished instead betweentradition and culture. Such a distinction makes it possibleto see oneself in the perspective of one's fidelity to thepast or to adopt a functionalist attitude with respect tovalues. It also becomes possible to adopt or reject rela-tively religious, ethical or aesthetic norms, just as it be-comes possible to want to go beyond them out of a desireto re-create rules and achievements to better adapt themto modern man. The existence of variation in the point ofreference makes it possible to overcome the "problem"ofall or nothing, of total acceptance or absolute rejection.In my opinion, the most important step towards resolv-ing these heady problems is a task of clarification, ofconstructing distinctions. Only this approach will providefor the splitting up of a single erroneous and stifling terminto the several component parts of the black man's con-dition. (Christians did not accidentally replace the con-cept of Christianism early in their history with the termChristianity; and the decision proved to be a beneficialone to them.)The black man must retain the right to question histraditionjust as he must have the right to keep his distancewith respect to his group. To do so, he needs to be ableto isolate the tradition itself from the way of life organizedaround it, which is the same thing as saying that he needsto be free to accept or reject it, or take whatever part hewants of it. He needs to be able to affirmhimself withoutbeing smothered either by tradition or by his group. Normust his spirit of rebelliousness be quelled. He needs tobe able to reject parts of himself without being obliged

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to totally deny his heritage. To do all this we must furnishhim with adequate tools.Critics may find my terms awkward and propose othersthemselves. I do not exclude the possibility at all. Theconcepts, on the other hand, strike me as being indis-putable, however they be named.1' I will not deny thatthese concepts may be but temporarily useful. When allblack peoples succeed, for example, in constituting theirown independent nations, the word Negrit6ebecause ofits specific nature may disappear, melting unidentifiablyinto the more general word "humanity." Despite the ap-pearances, the concept of N6gritd identifies fundamen-tally not a racial group but a group which suffers thesame conditions, conditions of oppression, hidden by themythical question of race.12 Negritd is nothing more thanthe ethnic response of the Blacks to the ethnic accusa-tions of the White. We can find the same global response-probably a temporary one also-among most colonizedpeoples who become, themselves, racist by reaction, main-taining a pseudo-ethnic solidarity among themselves bycontinually feeding their self-esteem and by rejecting thecolonizer on racist grounds.The concept even of Ndgrisme may finally be rejecteditself as arbitrary and useless. It is possible to speak of aworldwide community of black culture. What has becometoday of Senghor's "black humanism" in a world whereBlacks number among the Moslems, Christians, Protestants,Animists, and Jews? Does this term do more than refer toa skin color? For the last few years most black leadershave emphasized the unique geographical grouping of allblack peoples, Africa, to try to go beyond or enrich anethnic reference which had become too specific and toorestricting. They seemed not to know whether Africashould remain a poetic myth linked to the past or becomea political program. Malcolm X, the dissenting leader ofthe Black Muslims in the United States, seemed to beenvisaging, just a short time before his death, a veritableconverging of the worldwide Negrite upon the Africanhomeland.And Africa, the Mother, is an extraordinarily fertilesubject of inspiration for the similar dreams of Aim6Cesaire, French West Indian poet. But, I repeat, it is stillup to the Blacks themselves to specify what their relation-ship is to the real or mythical Africa, as well as to specifythe factors which influence their condition. The momentthey begin speaking of a common community of culture,whether it be real or imaginary, they need a precise wordto designate the concept.If one day it becomes necessary to reclassify the ter-minology I will not be astonished, nor will I regret themove: I believe in the dynamism of all human groups andof all human conditions. This means that I also believe inthe dynamic nature of concepts, even to their periodicdeath and replacement. U

This text was written during the summer of 1966 to beprinted in a series on the Sociology of Knowledge pub-lished by the Editions Anthropos, Paris. Just before Isubmitted the manuscript to the Editors, President Lio-pold Sedar Senghor kindly expressed an interest in mysuggestion that the term negritude be redefined and even-tually split into several terms. This was to have beensubmitted to the Congress of Africanists (Second Session)in Dakar, in December 1967. Notes, see page 123

COMICPLAYIN GHANAcontinued from page 34

had sustained injuries in a lorry accident; she had band-ages all over her body and was unable to walk. She hadto crawl on her knees towards her husband. He starteddriving the injured wife away, telling another womanwho was with him that he did not know the mad womancrawling towards him. As the injured wife began weep-ing, singing, and bemoaning her fate, many members ofthe audience literally queued up to present her withmoney. The writer was sitting on a seat between twowomen. The woman sitting on the left of the writer wasweeping bitterly and the one on the right turned to herand said, "Compare this with your case and console your-self." The remark from her friend made her weep allthe more!The plays obviously provide their audiences with en-tertainment and recreation; but they have other socialfunctions. The emotional involvement of the audience inthe Comic Plays throws light on one of these. The playshave an emotional effect on their audience similar to thetheory of catharsis discussed by Aristotle in his Poetics.Aristotle contends that tragedy enables members of theaudience to release repressed emotions and the excess ofpassions. Similarly, the Comic Plays give the audience achance to release their emotions and accumulated ten-sions. Members of the audience are presented with echoesof their own bitter or happy relationships and experiencesor of those of their friends. They get the opportunity topurge themselves of the grief which their sad experiencescaused them or to relive their happy experiences. Theyfeed into the plays the particular emotions and feelingsthey are experiencing. They attend to find some sort ofinternal tranquilizer which the Comic Plays provide. Someaspects of everyday life are mirrored on the stage so thatthe audience can be outside observers and at the sametime mental participants in the unfolding drama. Awoman who witnesses an incident in a play similar toher own agonizing experience bursts into tears and re-leases the painful feelings accumulated as a result of thatexperience. She is emboldened in her emotional responseto the play by the pity which the echo of her experiencerouses from the audience.The plays serve as an effective instrument of "sell-criticism." They seem to provide the only means of self-criticism whose message is easily understood by all sec-tions of Ghanaian population, from a villager in theremotest corner of the country to the undergraduate andprofessor at the university. The comedians dramatize andexaggerate on the stage indigenous or acquired ideas,manners, and habits of Ghanaians, and ridicule them withthe intent of suggesting their re-examination and possiblemodification. It is "self-criticism" in that the comediansare themselves Ghanaians who criticise in the plays someaspects of Ghanaian life.Finally, the plays portray aspects of Ghanaian culture.The ear-catching Ghanaian songs which the comedianssing, the rich Kente cloth which they wear, the Ghanaiandances they perform and the customs about marriageand family relations which they dramatize are all truefacets of Ghanaian culture. U

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orists MustGo. MontyMorgan,ts editorand lead writer,put forwardthe well-worntheorythat the economicfu-ture of the country ay in Africanparticipationn businessand industry."Only those companieswhich were pre-pared to have Africanson their boards;only those com-panieswhich wereprepared o inviteAfricancapital;onlythose companieswhich were preparedto train Africansfor responsiblepostswere to be tolerated n the country.All othersmustpack up and go."So far this was a tedi-ouslyfamiliar heme in the Echo'spages.But todaytherewas a new twist.There were such companies:companieswhich were preparedto have Africanson their boards;companieswhich were prepared o trainAfricans or re-sponsible posts. Why were they not being allowed tobringthe blessingsof development o the country?Therewas a conspiracyof so-called academics and so-calledtop civil servants.They wished to run the country onhopelessly mpracticalheoreticaldeas whichwouldkeepthis countrytied to the apronstringsof the imperialistpowersfor ever. "Who knows how much they are paidto keep this countrybackwardwhile they line their pri-vate pockets?Why don'tthey take their ill-gottengainsaway with them and allow the countryto take the pathto economicsalvation,hand in hand with those who arepreparedto help us?"Morganended with his favouritesnippets of Shakespeare, hreatened further disclosures,and ended "Theseobstructive heoristsmust go." 0

The Lowie Museum of Anthropology, UniversityofCalifornia, Berkeley, is offering the first two sets of2 X 2" color slides based on its recent exhibition,African Arts. Each set consists of 25 slides and sellsfor $16.00 postage prepaid, California residents add$.75 sales tax per set; payment should be made toThe Regents of the Universityof California.The first two sets have been selling so well thatwe are already preparing two more sets, and itis hoped that additional sets can be made avail-able in the future.Listsof the pieces included can be had free ofcharge from the Museum. Forthose who have accessto the exhibit catalogue, African Arts, the first setincludes items 1, 9, 17, 23, 31, 40, 45, 59, a betterexample of 75, 76, 88, 100, 103, 117, 122, 127, 129,135, 140, 148, 155, 163, 169, 178, and 183/184.The second set includes items 3, 21, 27, 28, 42, 43,44, 52, 54, 55, 72, 74, 87, 111, 124, 126, 128, 133/134, 144, 151, 166, 172, 181, 186, and 189.

We regret that the article on the work of Okechukwu Oditadid not appear as promised. Most of his paintings have beenlost during the recent violent events in Nigeria. We hope tofeature this able young artist in a future number of our journal.Nous regrettons qu'en dcpit de nos promesses roeuvred'Okechukwu Odita n'a pas pu tre publide ici. La plupartde ses tableaux ont etd ditruits lors des perturbations recentesau Nigeria. Nous esperons pouvoir vous montrer l'oeuvre dece jeune artiste dans un prochain numdro de notre revue.122

Onugbo MlOko7,notesLine1. Eleelele, exclamationof pain and dismay,sorrow,or astonish-ment. Has many musicalforms,e.g. lines 12, 40, 82, 120. Ene,"mother," s probablyunderstood,and an expanded form ofthe first line might be: Eleelele! Ene nee mum oo.3. Ajeega, title of Oko (see line 5); Onugbo, the name of a birdwhich appearsin the evening and whose characteristic all is"okoe!"Oko, also a bird, is the name of one of the ancestorsof Oturkpo,of whom it is said in the formalgenealogythat hekilled fourteen lions and fifteen leopardsand when he heardnews of warhe would not sleepin a house.4. tela fromtu, "cause"; la, "trouble."5. Traditional itles of Oko.14. cinem for cinanoo, the usual form in reported speech.20-21. The traditionalpraiseof Oko.21. igweelo, archaic at Oturkpo,currentin SouthernIdoma; forigweeho.25. ogwu, the acclamationof a brave deed, such as the killing ofa fierce animal or an enemy, accompaniedby the ceremonialcleansing (eogwoona) of the spiritof the dead animalor manfrom the face of the hunterorvictor.26. nyee, go away, change place, condition, psychological state,direction of an activity.32. Oli, Igala word, "tree, stick, gun." Kola (Igala) is kela(Idoma); Kpitii is kputuu, Igala ideophonicadverb.33. Inyi, "elephant,"archaic for adagba. Kpa (Igala) is nmo(Idoma), "kill."34. Surelyone would not kill an elephant and go off and leave itwithout furtherado. Thereis a strong suggestionhere of exces-sive ambition.50. Agabi Idoma, the traditionalancient home of the Idoma peo-ple. The name is used as an exclamation.86. A psychologicalchangeis impliedhere.105. Igala proverb, not yet satisfactorilytranslated.

Symbolism in African Verbal Art, notes1. See also his article in African Arts/Arts d'Afrique, Autumn1967, p. 54.2. Melville J. and Frances S. Herskovits,Dahomean Narrative,A Cross-CulturalAnalysis, Evanston, NorthwesternUniversityPress, 1958.3. AurelioM. Espinosa,"A New Classification f the FundamentalElements of the Tar-BabyStoryon the Basis of 267 Versions,"Journalof AmericanFolklore, LVI, 1943, pp. 31-37.4. Heli Chatelain,"Folk-Talesof Angola,"Memoirsof the Amer-ican FolkloreSociety, Bostonand New York,HoughtonMifflin,1894. Vol. 1; MerlinEnnis, Umbundu,Folk Tales fromAngola,Boston,BeaconPress,1962.5. Edmund Wilson, Alex's Castle, New York, Scribner's, 1950,p. 21.6. "Myth and Metaphysics,"in Modern Poetry, American andBritish,eds. KimonFriar and JohnMalcolmBrinnin,New York,Appleton-Century-Crofts, 951, pp. 422-423. Thanks are dueto my former colleague, ProfessorHugh Staples, for his en-lighteningsummaryof currentliteraryapproaches o symbolism.7. Herskovits and Herskovits,op. cit.; all subsequent referencesto Dahomeyare takenfrom DahomeanNarrative.8. Alan P. Merriam, The Anthropology of Music, Evanston,Northwestern,1964, pp. 232-5.9. Herskovitsand Herskovits,op. cit., p. 23, quoting Suzanne K.Langer.10. Daniel J. Crowley, I Could Talk Old-Story Good; Creativityin BahamianFolklore,Berkeleyand Los Angeles, UniversityofCaliforniaPress, FolkloreSeries, No. 17, 1966, p. 30.11. H. Abrahamsson,The Origin of Death: Studies in AfricanMythology, Stud. ethnog. Upsal. 3, Uppsala, Almquist andWiksells, 1951; Denise Paulme,"Two Themes on the OriginofDeath in West Africa,"Man, II, No. 1, March 1967, p. 48-61.

NMgritudeet Judeite, notes1. D. Boukman,"Aproposdu Festival des ArtsNegres de Dakar,"Partisans,Paris,mai-juin,1966, p. 120.2. ArnoldMandel,Les voies du Hassidisme,Calmann-Levy,1965,p. 226. Arnold Mandel a la plume moins heureuse quand ilpoursuit:"[la judeit6semble] indiquerune teneurjuiveabstrac-tion faite de la spiritualit6et de la culture juive". Sur lesrelations entre jud6it6 et culture juive, je me permets de


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renvoyer aux derniers chapitres de mon Portrait d'un Juif(Gallimard 1962), ainsi qu'a la deuxieme partie de La Lib6ra-tion du Juif (Gallimard 1966). On y verrait que l'une des di-mensions de la judeit6 est assurement a determinationrelative,positive ou n6gative, par rapporta la culture et A a traditionjuives.3. Je voudrais exprimerici ma vive reconnaissance au ProfesseurMauricede Gandillacqui a bien voulu reassurermes pas danscette double d6marchelinguistiqueet conceptuelle.4. Pour tout dire, il y avait encore celui de juiverie. 11 avait unsens pdjoratif,qui le faisait l6gitimement 6viter par les publi-cistes juifs et par tout savant soucieux d'6carter de son voca-bulaire toute dimension normative, surtout n6gative. 1 &taitaussi ambigii que celui de judaisme,bien que d'une significationplus restreinte: il signifiaittant6t un groupejuif (ex: "lajuiveriede Marrakech"),tant6t une maniere d'etre de l'individu juif,tant6t une maniered'atre d'un groupe juif. Ses diff rents sens6taient dija contenus dans le terme de judaisme, auquel iln'ajoutaitrien, sinon l'aurapejorative,et qu'il ne precisait gubre.En somme, le terme de juiverie 6tait un doublet de celui dejudaisme, avec ses 6quivoques et ses insuffisantes,plus unedimensionnormativeet d6plaisante.5. J'ai dit qu'il n'6taitpas dans mon propos de m'tendre ici sur ceconcept de jud6it6. 11 aurait fallu egalement y considerer larnferenceaux non-juifs,qui est fort importantepuisqu'elle est ala source de son aspect negatif. C'est cette dimension qui aparticulibrement rapp6 J. P. Sartre dans ses Reflextionssur laquestion juive probablementparce qu'il 6tait entour6 d'amis etde collaborateurs juifs, qui croyaient n'avoir plus guered'attaches positives avec le groupe juif.6. Voir en particulier "Recherchessur la judeit6," Revue Fran-gaise de Sociologie, Paris, janvier-mars,1965.7. C'est pourquoi je ne puis que regretter que des auteurs fortestimables,par exemple G. Friedmann et R. Misrahi,continuentA confondre jud6it6 et judaicit6, qui signifient dans leurs 6critstant6t le groupe juif, tant6t la maniere d'etre juif. I1 est enfinpermis de se refuser absolument " une quelconque distinctiondans la r6alit6 juive et d'affirmerpar exemple qu'on ne sauraitmeme concevoir une judaicite qui n'adhdrepas totalement aujudaisme, lequel aurait toujours 6t6 identique A lui-m me, etqu'un juif "veritable"est celui qui est solidairea 100%de songroupe, positivement et negativement, et qui coincide exacte-ment avec les croyances et la pensee traditionnelleset qui enrespecte integralement les consequences pratiques. Mais c'estalorsparlerau nom juif ideal et d'unjudaisme deal et s'interdiretout examen concret du Juif vivant. Au surplus,puis-ie signalerque meme cette position extreme,et en fait normative et nonscientifique,peut cependantentrer dans les categoriesproposees:ce serait decider de se limiter a ne parler que des individusjuifs ayant un coefficient de judeit6 gal ' 1?8. Pour tout cela, voir mon Portraitdu Colonisd (re-edition, 1966,J. J. Pauvert, collection "Libert6s").9. Definition imprim&ea plus recente dans LibertdI. "Negritudeet Humanisme,"Editions du Seuil 1966. Les interventionsduFestival de Dakar n'y changent rien.10. D'ailleurs les Noirs sont parfaitement scandalises lorsqu'ilsrencontrent cette these chez des Blancs meme lorsqu'ils sontleurs siirs amis. C'est ce qui est arriv6 t Sartre. Dans l'un deses meilleurs essais, "Orph&eNoir," cet auteur, sans toutefoisomettre toute riference a une culture noire, insistait exag&r&ment t leur grbsur la n6gativithde la n6gritude. I1 indigna denombreux Noirs qui pourtant l'admiraient et lui 6taient re-connaissantsde les aider A e d6finir.Mais Sartre voulait sur-tout denouncer l'oppressiondont souffraient les Noirs. Il 6taitdone amend t insistersur la partie relationnelle de la n~gritudeavec les Non-Noirs. C'est 6galementainsi, je crois, qu'il faudraitlire ses Rdflexions ur la question juive. Il parlaitcomme Blancet comme non-Juif, et n'avait pas A e prboccuper ellement ducontenu positif de la judbit6ou de la n6gritude.11. Ainsi l'un de mes amis antillaisme dit que le terme de n~grisme,qui existeraitdbji dans le parlerantillais, sinon dans la langue&rite, y aurait une rbsonance lhgbrement pbjorative. I1 mesuggbre de le remplacer par nigbrisme. De m~me, j'avais lechoix entre negritd et nigritd, c'est-A-direentre la racine latinenigr. et la racinefrangaisnigr. S'il n'avait dbpenduque de moi,j'auraischoisi la racine latine et propose nigritb. Mais puisquen6gritude existait ddjt, et non nigritude, j'ai pr~f6r6m'y rap-porter.12. Autre paralldleencore avec la conditionjuive.

The Negro and The Jew, notes1. D. Boukman,"APropos du Festival des Arts Negres de Dakar,"in Partisans,Paris,mai-juin,1966, p. 120.2. Arnold Mandel, Les voies du Hassidisme,Calmann-Levy,1965,p. 226. Arnold Mandel is less penetrating when he says that[jud6it6 seems] to be a term which neglects the spiritual andcultural heritage of the Jews." See the final chapters of myPortrait d'un Juif (Gallimard 1962) as well as part two of LaLibdrationdu Juif (Gallimard 1966) for an exposition of therelationsbetween the juddite and Jewish culture.3. I would like to express my thanks to Professor Maurice deGandillacwho has encouragedme in this effort.4. The word, Jewry, it is true, still remained.But its sense wasvaguely pejorative. Jewish writers, and indeed any scholaranxiousto avoid any moraljudgment,tended to avoid using theterm. Its meaning was just as ambiguous as that of the wordJudaism. It meant variously, a group of Jews (the "JewryofMarrakech"),the way in which an individual Jew lived, andthe way a groupof Jews lived. All these meaningsare containedin the word judaism,which has the additionalmerit of eliminat-ing the pejorativesense.5. I have said that it was not my intention here to present anexhaustive study of the word jud6ite. Before doing so it wouldhave been necessary to consider the term in reference to non-Jews. It is this facet which is the sourceof the negative aspectsof the word. The question particularlypreoccupied J. P. Sartrein his Rdflexions ur la questionJuive.6. See "Recherchessur la jud6ite," in Revue Franpaise de So-ciologie, janvier-mars,1965.7. This is why I find it regrettablethat such distinguishedauthorsas G. Friedmann and R. Misrahi continue to confuse jud6ite'with judaicit6. In their writings, the terms refer at times to theJewish group and at times to the manner in which one isJewish. One may argue that a judaicite' s inconceivablewhichdoes not adhere to judaism-an unchanging phenomenon. A"real"Jew, therefore,would be someonewho supportshis groupone hundredper cent, someonewho adheres consistentlyto tra-ditionalbeliefs and tenets and who is willing to accept the prac-tical consequences of them. This kind of thing ignores theliving Jew and centerson the ideal Jew and an ideal judaism.8. See my Portrait du Colonise, re-6dition 1966, J. J. Pauvert,collections "Libertes."9. A definition which was recently published in Libertd 1:"Negritude et Humanisme,"Editions du Seuil, 1966. The de-bates at the Festivalof Dakaralterednothing.10. Blacks are quite shocked when they hear Whites, even theirfriends, expoundingthis thesis. This is what happened to Sartre.In one of his best essays, Orphie Noir, he exaggeratedin theiropinion the negative aspects of the word negritude. Sartrehadaimed mainly at denouncing the oppression from which theblacks suffered. He, therefore, wanted to emphasize the rela-tionshipbetween negritudeand non-blacks.11. One of my friends from the Antilles mentioned that the termnegrismewhich exists in the local dialect, at least orally, had aslightly pejorativeecho. He suggested I replace the word withnigdrism.Following the same reasoning I had the choice be-tween nigritc and nigritd, i.e., between the Latin root, nigr.,and the French root, ndgr.But since the word negritudeexistedalready,and not the word, nigritude, I preferredto follow suit.12. Anotherparallelwith the conditionof the Jew.

acknowledgementspage14-15, 26-7, 43 Photography:William Doherty46, 50 Photography:Rebecca Holmes62 Photography:John McGaughey75, 83, 85-86, 91-93, 98, 117 Photography:William DohertyerrataThe Incwala in Swaziland, Spring, 1968. We sincerely regretthat there is a misspelling in the name of King Sobhuza II ofSwaziland in the caption on page 56. In addition, the pictureof Royal Women shows two groups, the marriageable (andnot as printed, the married) and the unmarried girls.

a. memmi, 'the negro and the jew', p. 0026-0123

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