The Negro and the Jew / Ngritude et Judit Author(s): Albert Memmi Source: African Arts, Vol. 1, No.

4 (Summer, 1968), pp. 26-29+96-101+122-123 Published by: UCLA James S. Coleman African Studies Center Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3334273 . Accessed: 05/09/2011 19:03
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A DEUXVISAGES. PEAUETBOIS SCULPTL. MASQUE 46 CM. MERIDIONAL. WELLCOME EKOI,NIGERIA COLLECTION, MUStE UNIVERSITt DE CALIFORNIE, LOSANGELES. ETHNOGRAPHIQUE,

Negritude
et

Jud

eit

ALBERTMEMMI
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 annees 1940-50, est aujourd'hui bon pour le musbe de la littirature."l C'est 1l une sev"rit6 bien excessive pour un concept toujours commode. Mais une pr6cision et un rajeunissement salvateurs pourraient tre obtenus, je crois, par une refonte et un eclatement de ce concept en trois autres, comme j'ai ete contraint de le faire pour le terme de judaisme. "Le terme de jud,it-6 invent6 et employ6 par Albert Memmi semble vouloir indiquer l'6quivalent juif de la negritude." Dans son livre, Les voies du Hassidisme, Y'6crivainet essayiste Arnold Mandel suggere que je me serais inspire de la notion de nigritude pour forger le terme de Il n'est pas impossible que l'effort des Noirs judeit4.pour se d&finir,et la cristallisation de leurs inquietudes et de leurs espoirs dans ce concept de n6gritude, m'aient encourag dans ma propre recherche. Et bien que la r6flexion sur 1'identit6 juive ait historiquement precodd ces tentatives, et qu'elle reste un souci lancinant de tout intellectuel juif, j'ai trop 6th prioccup6 par cet 6veil contemporain des 26

peuples dominos, pour qu'il soit exclu que j'aie pu tre influence par telle ou telle de leurs dcouvertes sur euxmemes. Je voudrais seulement ajouter ici que mon itineraire pourrait, en retour, contribuer a preciser et a rajeunir un outil methodologique qui, apres avoir 6t6 tant lou6 pour sa f6conde commodite, est quelquefois d6cri6 par les nouvelles generations noires. Il n'est pas davantage dans mon propos de m'6tendre sur ces trois notions de jud6ite, judaicite et judaisme, que j'ai 6ti amene a proposer et a d6finir. Qu'on me permette de rappeler tr&sbrinvement qu'ayant d6cid6 de faire l'inventaire de moi-meme comme juif, j'eus rapidement besoin d'un mot qui exprimat, a l'exclusion d'autres acceptions, le fait d'dtre juif. Je me suis aperqu avec 6tonnement et embarras qu'il n'existait pas; ou plus exactement que si je disposais de judaisme, celui-ci possedait trop de significations diverses pour pouvoir 6tre utilise avec une precision sans equivoque. Il me fallait donc adopter, et au besoin forger, un terme specifique: je proposai celui de juddite.3 II me parait necessaire d'y insister: ce fut donc d'abord sans prj~uger du 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-

Suitepage 28

JANUS-FACED 18". MASK. CARVED WOOD, SKIN COVERED. MUSEUM NIGERIA. WELLCOME EKOI,SOUTHERN COLLECTION, OF ETHNIC OF CALIFORNIA, LOSANGELES. ARTS,UNIVERSITY

The the

Negro
and Jew
ALBERTMEMMI

To Le"opoldSe"dar Senghor

"We do an injustice to African culture when we cling, like an oyster to its shell, to concepts which history has rendered obsolete. The concept of Negritude, a revolutionary one during the 1940-50's, today belongs in a museum of literary works."' This judgment is rather severe for a concept which remains useful. I believe it could, however, benefit from a youth-giving and salutary precision by being remolded and broken down into three categories as I have done with the expression "Judaism." "The word Judditd invented and used by Albert Memmi seems to be the Jewish equivalent of 'Negritude'." In his book, Les Voies du Hassidisme, the author and essayist, Arnold Mandel, suggests that the word "Negritude" inspired me to coin the term Judeitte.2 It is possible that I may have been influenced in my own research on Judaism by the Blacks' search for their identity which resulted in the creation of the term Negritude, the crystallization of their hopes and concerns. The Jew's concern about or meditation on his own identity has historically preceded that of the black man and it remains the most important preoccupation of any Jewish intellectual. I have, however, been too engrossed by the awakening 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 my own intellectual discoveries could perhaps serve to modernize and more accurately define a methodological tool which is sometimes criticized by the new generation of blacks-after having received such profuse praise for its great usefulness. I do not wish to dwell at length on the three concepts I have proposed and defined-Judditd, Judaicitd and Judaism. When I decided to take inventory of myself as a Jew, I soon required a word which would express (to the exclusion of all other uses) the fact of being a Jew. I was both surprised and perplexed to find that such a word did not exist. To be more exact, there was the word "Judaism," but it had too many different meanings to be used in any one specific and unequivocal way. I needed, therefore, to adopt or coin a specific word, so I invented the word, Judeitd.3 I must state that, without lessening the importance of the meaning of this term, my first aim was to satisfy a methodological need. Better tools were necessary before I could grasp the complex reality which still escaped me. It was only in trying to explain the reality of the phenomContinued on page 29
27

pait encore. Et, de meme, c'est seulement en essayant d'expliciter la realit6 de l'existence juive, d'en parcourir separ&ment toutes les dimensions, que je fus amend: (a) 'a rechercher une definition de la juddite aussi exclusive et adequate que possible; et (b) par suite, a la distinguer des autres dimensions; enfin (c) a distinguer entre elles ces diffbrentes dimensions et 'ales definir chacune separement. De sorte que les divergences d'interpretation sur les champs recouverts par ces definitions, inevitables dans un domaine off un vecu toujours inquietant suscite les passions les plus intenses et les reflexions les plus variees, ne devraient pas cependant contredire au principe meme de ces distinctions. Au contraire, nous avions d'autant plus besoin d'une grille a apposer sur une matiere tumultueusement confuse. Aujourd'huiencore, je ne suis pas stir d'avoir 6puise par ces trois definitions les trois dimensions de la realit6 juive, et j'admets fort bien qu'on me les conteste; mais je me suis davantage convaincu qu'il fallait les distinguer et en tenter des approximations aussi differentielles que possible. longtemps, en effet, I1 n'etait pas besoin de refl.chir v6rifier terme combien ce de pour judaisme, qui faisait tous les usages, ltait a la fois trop riche et trop vague, contraignant et inefficace, pour une recherche simplement soucieuse d'exactitude et d'objectivit&4Il signifiait tant6t l'ensemble des valeurs traditionnelles, religieuses et morales, qui regissent la vie collective des Juifs; tantot la communaut6 (on parlait du "judaisme frangais") tant6t l'appartenance d'un individu juif a son groupe; tant6t la mesure de son attachement aux croyances traditionnelles ' et meme, depuis le sionisme, sa fiddlit' des valeurs juives qui ne seraient pas strictement religieuses. (On disait, "le judaisme d'un tel"). N'est-il pas 6vident qu'il valait mieux lui assigner un seul de ces sens, quitte a proposer d'autres termes pour les autres? Un peu d'ordre, meme au prix d'un appauvrissement apparent du vocabulaire, ne pouvait Atre que salutaire. Il m'a sembl6, en tout cas, que le sens le plus adequat, pour judaisme, devait tre celui de

culturelles l'ensemble et religieuses. des traditions

C'est un probleme grave de savoir quel est le domaine exact de l'hdritage juif.
Nul doute qu'il ne faille mime pousser plus avant dans la pr~cision, et je m'en suis aperqu dbs que j'ai essay d'inventorier plus compl~tement la condition juive. Ainsi ne faudrait-il pas distinguer, dans cet ensemble culturel, entre l'hdritage proprement religieux et les prescriptions 6thiques qui forment la philosophie morale des Juifs? Faut-il toujours nommer du mime mot de judaisme les renouvellements, les inventions des penseurs et essayistes juifs contemporains qui, se situant d'une certaine manibre dans le prolongement de cette tradition cuturelle lui donnent cependant une physionomie presque in6dite? C'est un problkme grave, au moins pour le sp~cialiste, de savoir quel est le domaine exact de l'hdritage juif, s'il posshde une unit6 d~finitive, et en quelque sorte jalouse, qui excluerait les novateurs excessifs, ou s'il doit comprendre un dynamisme 6volutif qui l'enrichit mais le transforme au cours de l'histoire. De m~me, pour ne pas multiplier les concepts de travail, j'ai cru bon, pour le moment, de corn28

prendre sous la meme rubrique, les institutions qui organisent la vie collective des Juifs et qui d6coulent d'ailleurs en partie de ces valeurs mais qui, a mon sens, les inspirent en retour. Le plus urgent, en tout cas, et le plus immediatement evident, etait qu'il fallait pouvoir considerer 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 participaient plus ou moins a cette ideologie, la vivaient et l'actualisaient plus ou moins. Pour designer expressement le groupe juif, je proposai donc le terme de judaicitd. Je devais a ce propos faire uine autre petite dcouverte: je croyais vaguement d'abord que le mot existait dbja, sinon la precision de terme, et que j'avais surtout a lui affecter un sens univoque. Or, en fait, il ne se trouve dans aucun dictionnaire. Il fallait en outre lui donner un statut 1Mgal(ce que je propose en meme temps d'ailleurs). De ce concept, designe par ce mot de judaicit&, je propose une acception, dont 1l encore, je laisse la discussion ouverte. Tenant compte de la physionomie d6mographique particuli're du peuple juif il fallait en tout cas y distinguer au moins un sens large et un sens 6troit. Judaicite designerait ainsi soit, la totalit6 demographique juive, en somme la judaicite mondiale; soit, pour tenir compte de la dispersion de cette judaicith en multiples communautes a travers le monde, chacune de ces judaicites locales (ex: la judaicite frangaise ou la judaicite am6ricaine). Mais l'essentiel est que l'on s'en tienne a ce sens d6mographique: la judaicit designe un ensemble de personnes juives. La juddite, enfin, serait exclusivement la maniere pour un Juif de l'tre, subjectivement et objectivement. La maniere dont il se sent juif et dont il r6agit a la condition juive. J'ai dit qu'il m'a fallu forger ici un mot totalement nouveau pour exprimer un fait indiscutablement original. Bien entendu, ce n'est pas dans une perspective sociologique, et dans un ensemble consacre plus particulierement a la sociologie de la connaissance, que je pourrais pretendre a quelque existence rdellement separee de la judeite. Comme il me paraitrait absurde de considerer tout 't fait s6parement les valeurs juives qui n'existent 6videmment pas sans aucune liaison avec le groupe juif, et plus precisement encore avec l'volution des conjonctures socio-historiques qui ont constitu6 son destin particulier. A cet egard, je dirai volontiers que le judaisme est l'ideologie et l'ensemble institutionnel de la judaicit . Et, presque toujours, la juddit6 contient une r~f6rence plus ou moins affirm6e,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 est clair que l'appartenance Aun groupe se r~duit rarement une simple solidarit6 micanique et purement n~gative devant le danger; 1'appartenance t un groupe est toujours aussi, bt quelque degr#, la reconnaissance de ses valeurs.5 Il s'ensuit, en tous cas, et c'est ce que je veux dire surtout, que la juddit6 est variable d'un individu &un autre, dans son intensit6 et m~me dans ses 16lments,qui peuvent Atre plus ou moins pr6sents suivant la constellation particuli6re de chaque sujet. C'est pouquoi nous avons pu parler, avec mes collaborateurs, de coefficient de fudditd.6Avec les pricautions que l'on doit garder devant une telle expression math6matique d'une r6alit6 v~cue si
Suite page 96

enon of the Jew, in studying all dimensions of the problem separately, that I was led to do the following: (a) seek a definition for which would be as specific and as Judeite as possible; (b) distinguish it from all other adequate dimensions; and (c) distinguish and define each dimension separately. The existence of various interpretations of the subjects covered by these definitions, inevitable for a grave historical phenomenon which has always provoked strong emotional reactions and divergent opinions, should be no reason for opposing the construction of such distinctions. On the contrary, one must structure such a disturbing and confusing subject matter. I am still not sure today that I have exhausted the three dimensions of the Jewish reality with these definitions. I readily accept criticism, but I am more convinced than ever that they had to be separated, 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 only too complex and vague, but also too restricting and inefficient for objective and exacting research.4 The term referred at once to the traditional, religious and moral values which govern the collective life of the Jews, to any Jewish community (we speak of "French Judaism," for example), to the membership of an individual Jew in his group, and to the Jew's degree of attachment to traditional beliefs. Since the Zionist movement, it has even come to mean a Jew's loyalty to Jewish values which may not be strictly religious. (The saying went: "The Judaism of Mr. So-andSo".) Is it not evident, then, that it would be better to assign only one of these meanings to Judaism and find different terms for the others? A little order, even at the expense of a seeming loss of vocabulary, could not help but be salutory. It seemed to me, therefore, that the most adequate meaning for Judaism would be "the body of cultural and religious traditions."

It is a grave problem to know the proper domain of the Jewish heritage.

I immediately felt that we should seek greater precision in meaning when I tried to take a more complete inventory of the Jewish situation. Out of this body of cultural values should we not distinguish the religious heritage per se from the ethical prescriptions which form the moral philosophy of the Jews? Must all the new works of contemporary Jewish philosophers and essayists come under the heading of "Judaism?"Though these men may be said to cling to the cultural tradition, their findings are quite novel. It is a grave problem, at least for the specialist, to know the proper domain of the Jewish heritage. Does it have a clear-cut scope which makes it hostile to innovation? Should it embrace a dynamic and evolutionary course which, although enriching it, would also transform it over time? To keep from unduly multiplying my initial working concept, I have included under the same heading all institutions which organize Jewish collective life and which stem from and influence its values. One must realize, however, that to speak and write more accurately about Jewish ideology and its works, and about the Jews-as individuals and as a group-who share this ideology and in various degrees live up to it, it is most important and urgent to consider the two facets separately.

In order to designate specifically the Jewish group, I selected the word, Judaicitd. In making this selection, I also made a small discovery. I had a vague idea that this word already existed and that I need only attribute a single meaning to it. But the word was not to be found in any dictionary. I propose, therefore, that its status be "legalized." I suggest we retain this concept which I designate by the term, Judaicite, but leave it open for discussion. Bearing in mind the particular demographic physiognomy of the Jewish people, it is necessary to define the term both in a broad and a narrow sense. Judaicith would thus embrace the following: (a) total Jewish population-the worldwide Judaicitd; and (b) each local Jewish community, in order to take into account the fragmenting of this Judaicitd into multiple communities through the world (for example, the French Judaicitd, the American Judaicitd, etc.). It is, however, essential that the demographic sense be preserved: Judaicite designates a group of Jews. Judditd, then, would exclusively describe the manner in which a Jew is a Jew, subjectively and objectively-the way in which he feels Jewish and reacts to the condition of the Jew. As I previously stated, I had to invent an entirely new word to express an indisputably original fact. Of course, if one pretends to adopt a sociological perspective, and more particularly, the perspective of the sociology of knowledge, the concept of Juddit6 cannot have an isolated existence. It would appear just as absurd for me to consider altogether separately Jewish values, which, of course, do not exist in a vacuum. They must be seen in light of Jews as a group, and more specifically, in light of the evolution of the socio-historical events which have shaped the particular destiny of the Jewish group. I would, therefore, state that Judaism comprises the ideology and the institutional framework of the Judaicitd. Juddite nearly always refers to-though perhaps not in completely explicit and conscious terms-the traditional Jewish values. Contrary to the word Judaicitd, Juddit6 measures both objectively and subjectively the degree to which the individual belongs to the group. As the final element of the triangle, it is clear that membership in a group is rarely defined negatively by the act of mechanical solidarity in the face of danger. In belonging to a group, one always expresses recognition of its values to a certain degree.5 Above all, I would like to state that Judditd varies in intensity and in composition from one individual to another. This is why my collaborators and I were able to talk about a "coefficient of Judditd."'6We have even attempted to state the factors which enter into such a calculation, though realizing that in using a mathematical expression for a complex, hard-to-grasp reality we were treading on dangerous ground. Nevertheless, it is necessary to consider the Jud~it6 of each subject separately.7 In summing up, it appeared necessary to clearly separate the following distinct elements: (a) the Jewish group, or Judaicit& (b) the values of the group, or Judaism; (c) the degree to which the Jew participates in his group and shares its values, or Judditd. I have already given a detailed account of these three concepts and the definitions below will serve as a matter of record: "ludaicite consists of the body of Jews, i.e., in a broad sense, the total number of Jews throughout the world; in a narrow sense, a given group of Jews geographically sitContinuedon page 98
29

N gritude et Judeite
suite de la page 28 riche et si fluente, nous avons meme essay6 de priciser des criteresde calcul de ce coefficient.Quoi qu'il en soit, il est n6cessairede pouvoir au moins consid6rersepar6mentla judeitede chaquesujet.7 En resume,il m'apparut necessairede distinguerclairement, ce qui 6tait confusementdistinct: (a) le groupe juif, ou judaicit6; (b) ses valeurs, ou judaisme;et (c) le degr6 de participation du Juif ' son groupe,d'unepart, a ses valeursd'autrepart,ou juddeitd. dctaill6 de ces trois J'ai donn6 ailleursun commentaire notions.En voici seulement,pourmemoire,les definitions: "La judaicite est l'ensembledes personnesjuives: soit, au sens large,la totalite des Juifs 'atraversle monde;soit, au sens 6troit,un groupementjuif donn6, geographiquement localise. (Par exemple: la judaicitefrangaiseou la judaicit6de New York.)" "Le judaismeest l'ensembledes doctrines,croyanceset institutionsdes Juifs, fixees ou non, ecrites ou orales;en somme, les valeurs et l'organisationqui constituent et reglent la vie d'un groupejuif;ou encore,la culturejuive au sens large: habitudescollectives,religion,philosophie, juridictionet arts." "Lajudeiteest le fait et la maniered'etreJuif;l'ensemble des caracteristiques, vecues et objectives, sociologiques, et psychologiques biologiquesqui font un Juif;la maniere " la judaicit dont un Juif vit, "tla fois, son appartenance et son insertiondans le monde non-juif." II Venonsen maintenanta ce parallle avec la negritude. II est interessant de noterdejat que la situationse pr6sentait a moi de la meme maniereque pour un Noir. II s'agissait de d&~crire, comde delimiteret de d6finirma personnalite me Juif: c'est-a-dire entreautrespar rapport a la personnalit6 collectivedu groupedontje faisaispartie.Or,le groupe juif vivait une conditionparticuliereet deformante,une conditionde dominance:d'oii des difficultesparticulieres a se saisir objectivement-des illusions sur soi, nees de des autres, mais 6galementdu refus de soi1'accusation meme, ainsi que des contre-mythes opposes l'accusation; nees aussi, plus gravement encore, de cette condition 6vidementa celle des non comparable objectiveanormale, de chez leur destin, lesquels les rapports peuples maitres
entre la religion et la culture, par exemple, avaient un tout autre style.8 La notion de nigritude rdpondait en somme au m~me besoin: elle prenait acte de la sdparationdu Noir, la r~summait commodiment d'un mot, et se proposait comme un drapeau, pour une libdration et une reconquete

Atreoubli"s au profit des valeurs! Or, tous les Noirs sont loin d'etre nationalement libres et, dans les nouvelles nations noires, tous les Noirs sont loin d'8tre socialement libres. Apr~s le colonisateur, ou parallklement i lui, ou mame avec sa complicitY: "Aujourd'hui, des N~gres exde soi. ploitent des Negres!", aujourd'hui, "nous vivons l'Are des Mais alors, il aurait dtonnant qu'une telle notion, qui Tschomb6!" ,te II est ind.niable que la constitution en nations de larges pr~tendait exprimer et illustrer la condition du Noir, h la fois ses richesseset ses carences,ses rdvolteset ses aspira- secteurs du monde noir a fait reculer la n6gativith noire, tions, n'en recle pas en mime temps tout le trouble et comme la fondation de l'Etat d'Israel a si heureusement toutes les difficultis. Et il suffit de parcourir quelques estomp6 la n6gativit6 juive, que certains Juifs, trop faciletextes indiscutables, puisque signis par les inventeurs ment oublieux, doutent qu'elle ait jamais exist6. Et l'on ou les Ivoiriens, dorinavent m~mes, et les d6fenseurs encore actuels, de la n6gritude, comprend que les Sin.galais de leur maitres aussi mais la mbme densit6 destin, politique pour le moins, veulent pour y d~couvrir passionnelle insister sur la seule positivit6 des valeurs et des arts noirs. la mime confusion par exchs de significations. Aim6 C6saire, qui fut, t ma connaissance, 1'inventeurdu On ne veut retenir d6sormais de la n6gritude que son terme, en avait surtout donn6 des approximations, dans aspect affimatif et mime glorieux. II est vrai aussi que si un langage magnifique, mais essentiellement po~tique. I1 l'oppression du monde noir a recul6, elle n'a pas disparu. appartenait 5 L. S. Senghor de tenter d'en formuler des Et qu'une telle euphorie peut sembler pr.matur6e et

definitions.LorsqueSenghord6finitla n6gritudecomme: des valeurs culturellesdu monde noir, telles 1'ensemble qu'elles s'exprimentdans la vie, les institutions et les oeuvresdes Noirs,'V9 en sommea ce que j'ai elle correspond propos6d'appelerstrictementjudaisme.I1 s'agit bien des traditionsculturelleset religieuses,et telles qu'ellescontinuent 'a4tre actualis6espar les hommesvivants aujourd'hui, mais non des hommesen tant que tels, individusou commetels. Or,lorsqu'ilajoute,"Notre groupes structures souci a de cette nigritude, et l'ayant et6 1'assumer, unique il s'agit alors plut6t de d'en le sens", approfondir v6cue, l'quivalent de la judeit6, c'est-a-dired'une maniere de vivreet de traiterces valeurs. de la Rencontrede Dakarla Lorsqueles organisateurs les "Etats Generauxde la Negritude" comme presentent (Alioune Diop), ils veulent dire apparemment qu'il s'agit cette fois d'un rassemblement d'hommes,et meme d'un rassemblement exhaustif,au moinspar sa representativit6. La preuve en est que la discussiona precis-mentport6 sur ce point. Il s'agissait alorsplut6t de la judaicit6. autre Lorsqu'un organisateurdeclare qu'il faut "defendre et illustrerla negritude", on ne sait s'il s'agit des hommesou des valeurs;probablementdes valeurs,cette le titre officielde mieux d'ailleurs fois; h quoi correspond "Festivaldes ArtsNegres", bien que cette appellationellememe soit bien restrictive, si l'on admet qu'uneculturene se resume pas dans les arts. D'autantqu'on parle 6galement"d'humanisme Ala "civilisanegre"et de contribution tion de l'universel" (Senghor). Admettonsau moins qu'il y a ici oscillationentre les hommeset la culture. Bien entendu,ne forgonspas exag6rement notre naivet6 moins la en ou fait, confusement, plus m'thodologique: a 1'ensemble des veut la hommes fois signifier n6gritude noirs, les valeurs du monde noir, et la participationde ce monde et chaque homme et de chaque groupe noir "a a ces valeurs.Et-je l'ai assez dit a propos de la trilogie les Juifs-nous n'avons conceptuelleconcernant pas affaire, dans la r6alit6,a trois tiroirsbien clos, dont chacunrec&Ale un contenu bien d6limite. Mais n'est-ilpas d'autantplus de disposerd'outilsadequats"a chaqueperspecn6cessaire tive? A chaque manipulationde l'existencede l'homme noir? On le voit clairement, en tout cas, a traversles malaises et les colkresdes jeunes generationsdont je parlaisplus haut: a tant bavarderde n6gritudeet d'humanisme noir, disent-ellesavec indignation,les hommes commencentat

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quelque peu d6sinvolte, sinon insultante, pour tous ceux dont la n6gritudedemeure plus un fardeau qu'une source de fPlicites. Voilk l'originede l'insatisfactiontrouble que ressentirentde nombreuxparticipants'a la rencontre de Dakar: il y avait lia l'esquisse d'une autre version du conflit entre peuples nantis et peuples dmunis, tous les deux noirs cette fois. Et l'on comprend alors que les organisateursaient pr6fer6 ne pas inviter certains: les Africainsdu Sud, par exemple, ou meme les Guin6ensou les Cubains: ce sont 1l des gens qui se seraientprobablement obstines ' rappelerla n6gativit6encore actuelle de la conditionnoire. D'oii la r6volte des jeunes gens contre cette totalisation euphorique, et leur tentation d'une condamnationaussi de la positivit6 des valeursnoires globale. Si l'affirmation doit voiler la negativit6des miseresde l'hommenoir, alors il faut denoncer ces pseudo-valeurs: "Culture tourn6e vers le passe6", "un pass6 petrifi6","les tam-tams de la ont des rumeursde chaudn6gritudeeosaire-senghorienne rons fe1es".Le haut-commissaire dahomeenne dit finalement pas autre chose: "la negritude sera liberatriceou ne sera pas". Dans son Aprerevolte contre toute la condition noire, l'crivain noir am6ricain Leroi Jones en arrive 'a contester l'existence d'une quelconque culture noire: "La culture noire n'existepas". I1 est difficile't un non-Noirde s'immiscerdans l'un des conflitsinternesles plus gravesqui puissent agiter un Noir actuel. Et si je me permets d'ouvrirla bouche dans une telle discussion,ce n'est pas seulement parce que je crois a la vertu d'une certainerationalit6,m me dans les d6bats les plus passionnels;c'est simplement,je le r6pete, parce qu'il ne m'a pas semble sans intlret de comparer,sur ce point, la condition noire et la condition juive. Et, avec l'espoir qu'une proposition m6thodologique, qui m'a beaucoup aid6 dans un cas, puisse en inspirer une similaire: il faudraitpeut-etre&clater le concept de negritude, comme j'ai dtdobligg de faire dclatercelui de judaisme. La n6gritude, donc, est largement n6gative encore, et doit tre bien aperque comme telle, sinon elle devient mystificatrice.La fin du refus de soi est certainement Mais inversepr6matur6e pour un Noir encoreaujourd'hui. ment ne serait-ilpas aussi catastrophiquede refuser d'un seul coup toutes les valeursnoires,si elles existent,pass6es ou en train de s'6difier,parce que la condition noire reste On en apergoit tout le danger lorsqu'onlit mis6rable?10 dans la d6claration du meme Haut-Commissaire dahom6en que l'Afriqueauraitbesoin "dumarteaude 1'ouvrier avant
le ciseau du sculpteur ne chantera son . . L'Afrique chant le plus beau que . lorsqu'elle sera libre!" En quoi il n'a probablement pas tout Afait tort. Mais, qui ne voit qu'il s'agit 1i de deux plans diff~rents, trbsli~s certes, mais qu'il faut bien se garder de confondre? Qu'il est n6cessaire de distinguer, d~s maintenant, entre ces valeurs culturelles, pass6es, pr6sentes ou A venir, des diff6rentes communaut6s noires, avec leurs diff6rents problkmes socio-politiques, et enfin, la manibre dont chaque individu noir aborde ces valeurs, les vit et les conteste, la manibre dont il se situe dans sa communauth, s'y conforme ou s'y r6volte? N'est-il pas indispensable de nommer, et de d6finir s6par~ment, ce que je propose d'appeler: la nrgritd; le nigrisme; la ndgritude. La nigritd serait l'ensemble des personnes, groupes et peuples, noirs. Le nugrisme serait l'ensemble des valeurs traditionnelles et culturelles des peuples noirs.

La n6gritude, enfin, serait r6serv6ea la maniere de se a un groupe d'homsentir et d'etre noir, par appartenance a ses valeurs. mes et parfid61it6

III

pourquoi j'ai propos4 non de parler de la n~gativit6 du judaisme, ou maintenant du n6grisme, ou de l'Islam, ce qui serait absurde, mais de distinguer entre la tradition et la culture. De sorte qu'il soit possible de se placer dans une perspective de fid6lit6 plus ou moins int6grale au pass6, ou dans une attitude fonctionnaliste Al'6gard des valeurs; de se r6f6rer ~ des normes religieuses, 6thiques ou esth6tiques, relativement fix6es, ou de les refuser, ou pour le moins de vouloir les d6passer au nom d'une re-cr~ation permanente de rbgles et d'oeuvres plus r6solument adaptbes aux besoins de l'homme contemporain. Une telle variabilith dans la r6f6rence permet de d6passer ce fauxproblbme du tout ou rien, de l'acceptation intigrale ou du refus absolu. Quoi qu'il en soit de ces problhmes, certes passionnants, le plus important Amon sens est ce mouvement de distinction, qui seul permettra de faire 4clater une unit6 fallacieuse et 6touffante, entre plusieurs plans de la r6alitd noire. (Ce ne fut pas un hasard de 1'histoire culturelle et
97

Je n'ai 6videmmentpas l'ambition,dans ces quelques pages, de vouloir combler des besoins m6thodologiques complexes, qui relkvent autant de l'6pist6mologieque de la sociologie de la connaissance.I1 me suffiraitd'avoirpu indiquer une direction de recherches et, accessoirement, d'avoir ajoute un argument"a cette hypoth6se d'une certaine similitude entre la plupart des conditions de dominance. Et puis-je signaler,en passant,que l'on retrouvele meme besoin, n6 de la meme confusion,dans le domaine islamique, puisque le meme terme d'Islam signifie tant6t par l'ensemble des croyants en la religion et les valeurs Mahomet, tant6t cette religion elle-m me propos.e Et qu'il est 6thiques qui l'accompagnentordinairement? peut-8tretemps d'y oprer 6galementquelque distinction? Bien entendu, ces parallklesne supprimentnullement la sp6cificit6de chaque terminologie,et de chaque contenu, pour la raisonmajeureque, par delt les similitudes, les diff6rencesentre les conditions et les traditions sont d'une extreme importance.L'oppressiondu Juif ne coincide ni avec celle du Noir, ni avec celle des colonis6s.Ni d'ailleurscelle de chaque Noir avec celle de tous les Noirs. Et, armes de ces sch6maset de ces outils communs,c'est aux Noirs a faire leurs propresinventaires.On ne peut que sugg6rer les questions: comment caracteriserdorenavant le contenu de la n6gritude,ou plus exactement,de chaque n6gritude.S'il 6tait entendu, comme je le propose, que la negritude n'est que le degr6 de participationde chaque Noir h la personnalit6 collective du groupe,on congoitque ce sera une notion essentiellementdynamique,et 'a plusieurs variables. Quelle sera a chaque fois la part de la n6gativit6 et celle de la positivit6? Peut-on arriver a d6crire,et 'ala limite, a cernerun coefficientde negritude, a l'instardu coefficientde jud6ite? On verra peut-etre, 6galement,que si la dialectique du de n6gatif-positifest d'une 6normeimportance l'interieur a a prochaque n6gritude,elle devient moins pr6occupante des valeursculturellesnoires. pos du n6grisme,c'est-h-dire A strictement parler, en effet, une culture ne saurait etre n6gative; elle peut etre insuffisante,caduque, mal adapt6e aux besoins nouveaux, contradictoirememe, et influences dispers6esuivantla g6ographieet les diff6rentes subies, elle ne sauraitetre affect6e du signe moins. C'est

sociale des Chr6tiens, s'ils ont dispos6 assez t6t du concept de 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 tradition; et il faut qu'il ait le droit de garder ses distances vis-h-vis de son groupe. Pour cela, il faut qu'il puisse distinguer entre cette tradition et la manibre de la vivre, c'est-a-dire d'y consentir ou de s'y refuser, ou plus exactement d'y consentir ou de s'y refuser d'une maniere variable. II faut qu'il puisse s'affirmersuffisamment, sans tre 6touffe par sa tradition ou son groupe, ou gene dans sa revolte; contraint de se nier totalement. Et pour tout cela, il faut lui foumrnir les outils ad6quats. Je n'exclus pas, enfin, que les termes que je propose ici soient jug6s peu 616gants, et qu'on en choisisse d'autres. Ce sont les concepts qui me paraissent indispensables, de quelque fagon qu'on les exprime.1 Je n'exclus meme pas que ces concepts n'aient qu'une utilisation temporaire. Par exemple, exclusivement jusqu'a'la constitution de tous les Noirs en nations ind6pendantes, ce qui ambnera peutetre Y6clatement d6finitff de la negrit6, qui se fondra peutetre alors dans l'humanit6. Et parce que la negrit6, fondamentalement et malgr6 les apparences, correspond non tellement h une communautd de race, mais 'a une communaute de condition, qui est une condition d'oppression, sous le pretexte mythique de la race.12 La n6grit6 n'est que la r6ponse ethnique des Noirs a l'accusation ethnique des Blancs. On trouve la meme reponse globale, et probablement provisoire, chez la plupart des colonists, qui font souvent aussi un racisme r6actionnel, avec solidarit6 pseudo-ethnique, surenchbre de soi et refus ethnique de colonisateur. Peut- tre enfin que le concept meme de negrisme serat-il jug6 tout a fait hasardeux, sinon inutile. Peut-on parler d'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 "humanisme noir," dont parle Senghor? Sinon principalement, et toujours, refdrence 'ala couleur de la peau? Depuis quelques annees, pour d6passer ou enrichir cette rdf~rence ethnique trop precise et trop 'troite, la plupart des leaders noirs insistent sur la communautd gdographique originelle de tous les Noirs, l'Afrique, dont on ne sait trop si elle doit rester un mythe pass'iste et po6tique, ou devenir un projet politique. A la veille de sa mort, Malcolm X, le chef dissident des Black Muslims americains songeait, semble-t-il, 'a une veritable convergence de toute la nigrit, mondiale vers le foyer africain. Chez Aim6 C6saire, poete et antillais, 1'Afrique mere fournit une extraordinaire matrice de roves communs. Mais, je le ripete, c'est encore l'affaire des Noirs de cerner et de pr6ciser leurs relations avec 1'Afrique r6elle ou mythique et le contenu exact de d6bat. Pour nous, du moment qu'ils parlent de cette communaut6 culturelle, imagin6e ou r6ellement vecue, il faut qu'ils disposent d'un concept, et pour le moins d'un mot sans &quivoque pour la d6signer. Et si, un jour, un reclassement de cette terminologie s'av6rerait encore n6cessaire, ce n'est pas moi qui m'en 6tonnerais ou la regretterais, qui crois 'aun dynamisme de tous les groupes humains et, heureusement, de toutes les conditions. Et donc, corrdlativement, a un dynamisme ineluctable de tous les concepts, et meme peut-etre a leur N mort periodique et a leur necessaire remplacement.

Ce texte a dtd dcritpendant rl'dt6 1966, pour faire partie d'une publication collective, sur la Sociologie de la Connaissance, a paraitre aux Editions Anthropos, Paris. Au moment ol je remettais ce livre a l'dditeur,le President Leopold Sedar Senghor a bien voulu me faire savoir l'intiret qu'il prenaita mes suggestionsdu renouvellement de la notion de n6gritude par son dventual dclatement, ainsi que sa ddcision de les soumettre au Congres des Africanistes(II'm session, Dakar, dicembre 1967). Notes,voir page 123

The Negro and The Jew

continuedfrom page 29
uated (for example, the Judaicitd of France or of New York)." "Judaism is the group of Jewish doctrines, beliefs and institutions-standardized or not, written or oral. It is the set values and the organization which constitute and regulate the life of a Jewish group. Judaism also comprises Jewish culture in a broad sense-common customs, religion, philosophy, laws and art." "Juddit4 is the fact and manner of being a Jew-the objective sociological, psychological and biological characteristics which make a person a Jew; the way in which a Jew lives, his membership in the Judaicitd and his place in the non-Jewish world." II Now let us construct the parallel between Negritude and Judditd. It is interesting to note that my situation as a
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Jew strikes me as being similar to that of the Blacks. My problem was to describe, delineate and define my personality as a Jew, i.e., my relationship to the collective personality of the group to which I belong. The Jewish group was subjected to a particular condition-a condition of oppression. From such a situation arise difficulties which must be objectively analyzed. Illusions exist, in part the product of the accusations of others but also of the rejection of self and the invention of other myths to counteract the accusations. These illusions are also born in part -and this is a more serious problem-of an objective and atypical condition which far differs from that of a people who are masters of their own destiny and for whom the relationship between religion and culture, for example, is of 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 recognition of the black man's uniqueness, summing it up in one convenient word. It was a concept which proposed to be the standard bearer for a movement of self-liberation and self-realization.

It is not surprisingthat a concept which endeavoredto express and illustrate the situation of the black man-his riches, his deficiencies, his revolts and his aspirationsshould reflect at the same time the complex problemsof definition.A brief perusal of authoritativetexts signed by the inventorsand actual defenders of the term Negritude uncoversthe same intense emotionalism and confusion,the result of a vocabularycovering a myriad of meanings. Aim6 Cesaire, who, to my knowledge,was the inventor of the word Negritude, sought above all to suggest an definitionin a magnificent, approximate poetic language.It was L. S. Senghorwho attemptedto define the term more vigorously. He defined Negritude as: "The body of cultural values of the Blacks as they find expressionin their This parallels my lives, institutions and achievements."9 strict definition of Judaism: a word which expresses the cultural and religious traditions which men continue to espouse today-and not the men themselvesor the groups to which they belong. Furthermore, when Senghorstates, "Ourone thought has been to accept this Negritude and having lived it to make it meaningful,"he furnishes the equivalent of Judditd,i.e., the way of living and coping with one's values. However, when the organizersof the Dakar conference spoke of themselvesas "TheGeneralStates of Negritude" (Alioune Diop) they apparentlyused the word Negritude to mean "an assembly of men," and a completely representative one at that. The proof is that discussiondid indeed center aroundthis usage of Negritude,which would be the equivalent of the word Judaicitd. When anotherof the organizersdeclaredthat one must "defend Negritude and render it illustrious,"it was not understood whether he meant men or values-probably values this time. What corresponds better to this idea than the officialtitle of the gathering,"The Festival of Negro Arts?"This appellationis itself quite limited, however, if we agree that culture is not exclusivelysummedup in the arts. This would be especially true of the Negro culture, for the organizers spoke of "Negro humanism"and its contributionto the "civilizationof the universal"(Senghor). Let us at least admit that there is here an ambiguity between men and culture. Let us not constructour methodologytoo naively.Negritude, in a more or less confused fashion, does mean all these things-the group of black men as a whole, their values, and the participationof each man and each black group in his world and in its values. We are not dealing with three tightly closed drawers whose contents must not be mingled: I made this point forcefullyenough when I spoke of the conceptual trilogy concerningthe Jew. Is it not all the more necessary, therefore, to possess adequate tools to uncover each perspective-to uncover each operationof the black man'sexistence? We can, however, clearly see why the younger generation of whom I spoke above experiences such anxiety and anger. "There is so much talk about Negritude and black humanism,"they exclaim with indignation, "that values are makingpeople forget about men."All blacks do not live in free nations, and in the new black nations all blacks are far from being socially free. This situationmaterialized in some cases with the complicity of the colonizers and in others after they had left. But the fact remainsthat today "Negroesare exploitingNegroes." "Today we live in the era of the Tshombes." The appearanceof nations in large sectors of the black

world has undeniably diminished the negative feelings towards the black man, just as the founding of the State of Israel has fortunately reduced the negative feelings towards the Jew-so much so that certain very forgetful Jews doubt that they ever existed. The inhabitants of Senegal and the Ivory Coast, who are now masters of at least their political destinies, insist only on the positive aspects of black art and values. We can easily understand and glorious why. They wish to retainonly the affirmative side of Negritude. But if it is true that oppressionof the blacks has diminished,it has not altogether disappeared. Such a euphoricattitude may show a lack of concern,and seem prematureand somewhat offensive to all those for whom Negritude remainsmore of a burden than a source of happiness. The dissatisfactionwhich numerous participants experienced at the Dakar festival stemmed from this kind of attitude. The Festival displayed anotherversion of the conflict between rich and poor peoples, but this time both were black. Thus, one understands why the organizerspreferred simply not to invite certain blacks: the South Africans,for example,or even the Guineansor the Cubans. These peoples would probably have obstinately insisted on the negative aspects of the black man's conditiontoday. The young people who revolted against this wholesale euphoriatried to condemnit as totally as those they condemned tried to praise it. If to affirmthe positivenessof black values veils the negative counterpart,the black man's misery, then these pseudo-values must be denounced: "a culturelookingto the past;""a petrifiedpast." "The tom-toms of the Cesaire-Senghor variety of Negritude rumble like cracked cauldrons." The High Commissioner from Dahomey makes his final statement, "Negritude will either be a liberatingforce or it will be nothing." In his bitter revolt against the black condition,the American Negro writer, Leroi Jones, contests the existence of any black culture: "Thereis no black culture." It is a serious step for a non-blackto interfere in one of the most stirringand grave internal conflictsthat face a black man today. If I allow myself to speak up it is not even in only because I believe in the virtuesof rationalism the most heated debates. It is simply because, let me repeat, it seems interestingto compare the conditions of the Blackswith that of the Jews. The use of methodology, which greatlyhelped me to clarifythe concept of Judaism, may be able to provide similar help for the concept of Negritude, although it might be necessary to shatter the concept of Negritude as I had to do for Judaism. Negritude, therefore,is still largely a negative concept, and it must be recognizedas such or it will create rather than clarify mysteries.It would be premature,today, for a black man to end his self-rejection.But would it not also be catastrophicto reject in one clean sweep all black values, whether they belong to the past or are in the process of creation, simply because the condition of the black man remainsmiserable? 'o We realize the impending danger when we read the declarationof the High Commissioner from Dahomey who states that Africa will need "the hammerof the laborersbefore the chisel of the sculptor . . . Africa will sing her most beautiful song only when she will be free!" He may not be entirely wrong, but it is a question of two completely different,if interrelated, levels which must not be confused. It is vital to begin differentiatingimmediately among: cultural values of the differentblack communities, be they past, presentor
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future;their differentsocio-political problems;the way in which each black approachesthese values; the way he lives up to them and contests them; and finally how he reacts to his community-conformsto it or rejectsit. Is it not urgentto name and define separatelythe Negritd,the Ndgrisme,and the Negritude? (a) Nigritdewould comprise the body of black groupsand peoples. (b) Ndgrisme would consist of all the traditionaland culturalvalues of the black people. (c) Negritudewould be strictlyused to definethe way in which a personwho is black feels he is black: his sense of belonging to a group of men, and his loyalty to the group'svalues. III I do not pretend to satisfy complex methodological needs within these few pages;they belong as much to the realm of epistomologyas they do to that of the sociology of knowledge.It is sufficientto have indicateda direction for future research,and at the same time, to have contributed an argumentto the hypothesis that there is a certain similaritybetween most conditionsof oppression.

AFRICAN LITERATURE TODAY

A Journalof Explanatory Criticism D. JONES ELDRED Editor:
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CHINUA ACHEBE
'The palm oil with which Achebe's words are eaten.' LINDFORS by BERNTH

J. P. CLARK
'Twohands a man has': The poetry of J. P. Clark by JOHN POVEY

OKIGBO CHRISTOPHER
'OkigboUnderstood':A Study of two poems by 0. R. DATHORNE Andthere are reviewson books by

andEQUIANO NWAPA, AMADI, CESAIRE, NGUGI, E.N. OBIECHINA writeson

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I add in passing that the same need, born of a similar confusion, exists in the Islamic world. The same term, Islam, refers variously to those who believe in the religion of Mohammed, to the religion itself and the ethical values which generally accompany it. Would it not also be timely to differentiate between these meanings? The parallels I have drawn between the conditions of Negritude and Judaite do not, of course, lessen the specificity of each term and of its contents, primarily because the differences between the conditions and the traditions of the two situations are extremely important. The oppression of the Jew is not the same as that of the black man or of that of the colonized. The oppression of the individual black is not the same as that of the group of blacks. Armed with these common tools and schemes, the blacks must conduct their own inventories. I can only suggest how to differentiate the contents of the word Negritude, or more exactly, of each sense of Negritude. If my proposal is accepted, and Negritude is defined only as the degree of participation of each black in the collective personality of the group, the concept would be an essentially dynamic one, subject to several variables. What would be the role each time of the positive and negative aspects? Can one describe and at the same time calculate a coefficient of Negritude patterned after the coefficient of Judeit? We will also see that the negative-positive dialectic which was so important to each type of Negritude becomes a subject of lesser concern when we speak of Negrisme, 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, and diluted by the different influences it has been subject to, but it can never carry a minus sign. This is what kept me from speaking of the negativity of Judaism, Negritude or Islam: an absurdity. I have distinguished instead between tradition and culture. Such a distinction makes it possible to see oneself in the perspective of one's fidelity to the past or to adopt a functionalist attitude with respect to values. It also becomes possible to adopt or reject relatively religious, ethical or aesthetic norms, just as it becomes possible to want to go beyond them out of a desire to re-create rules and achievements to better adapt them to modern man. The existence of variation in the point of reference makes it possible to overcome the "problem"of all or nothing, of total acceptance or absolute rejection. In my opinion, the most important step towards resolving these heady problems is a task of clarification, of constructing distinctions. Only this approach will provide for the splitting up of a single erroneous and stifling term into the several component parts of the black man's condition. (Christians did not accidentally replace the concept of Christianism early in their history with the term Christianity; and the decision proved to be a beneficial one to them.) The black man must retain the right to question his tradition just as he must have the right to keep his distance with respect to his group. To do so, he needs to be able to isolate the tradition itself from the way of life organized around it, which is the same thing as saying that he needs to be free to accept or reject it, or take whatever part he wants of it. He needs to be able to affirm himself without being smothered either by tradition or by his group. Nor must his spirit of rebelliousness be quelled. He needs to be able to reject parts of himself without being obliged

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to totally deny his heritage. To do all this we must furnish him with adequate tools. Critics may find my terms awkward and propose others themselves. I do not exclude the possibility at all. The concepts, on the other hand, strike me as being indisputable, however they be named.1' I will not deny that these concepts may be but temporarily useful. When all black peoples succeed, for example, in constituting their own independent nations, the word Negrit6e because of its specific nature may disappear, melting unidentifiably into the more general word "humanity." Despite the appearances, the concept of N6gritd identifies fundamentally not a racial group but a group which suffers the same conditions, conditions of oppression, hidden by the mythical question of race.12 Negritd is nothing more than the ethnic response of the Blacks to the ethnic accusations of the White. We can find the same global response -probably a temporary one also-among most colonized peoples who become, themselves, racist by reaction, maintaining a pseudo-ethnic solidarity among themselves by continually feeding their self-esteem and by rejecting the colonizer on racist grounds. The concept even of Ndgrisme may finally be rejected itself as arbitrary and useless. It is possible to speak of a worldwide community of black culture. What has become today of Senghor's "black humanism" in a world where Blacks number among the Moslems, Christians, Protestants, Animists, and Jews? Does this term do more than refer to a skin color? For the last few years most black leaders have emphasized the unique geographical grouping of all black peoples, Africa, to try to go beyond or enrich an ethnic reference which had become too specific and too restricting. They seemed not to know whether Africa should remain a poetic myth linked to the past or become a political program. Malcolm X, the dissenting leader of the Black Muslims in the United States, seemed to be envisaging, just a short time before his death, a veritable converging of the worldwide Negrite upon the African homeland. And Africa, the Mother, is an extraordinarily fertile subject of inspiration for the similar dreams of Aim6 Cesaire, French West Indian poet. But, I repeat, it is still up to the Blacks themselves to specify what their relationship is to the real or mythical Africa, as well as to specify the factors which influence their condition. The moment they begin speaking of a common community of culture, whether it be real or imaginary, they need a precise word to designate the concept. If one day it becomes necessary to reclassify the terminology I will not be astonished, nor will I regret the move: I believe in the dynamism of all human groups and of all human conditions. This means that I also believe in the dynamic nature of concepts, even to their periodic U death and replacement. This text was written during the summer of 1966 to be printed in a series on the Sociology of Knowledge published by the Editions Anthropos, Paris. Just before I submitted the manuscript to the Editors, President Liopold Sedar Senghor kindly expressed an interest in my suggestion that the term negritude be redefined and eventually split into several terms. This was to have been submitted to the Congress of Africanists (Second Session) in Dakar, in December 1967. Notes, see page 123

COMICPLAYIN GHANA
continued from page 34

had sustained injuries in a lorry accident; she had bandages all over her body and was unable to walk. She had to crawl on her knees towards her husband. He started driving the injured wife away, telling another woman who was with him that he did not know the mad woman crawling towards him. As the injured wife began weeping, singing, and bemoaning her fate, many members of the audience literally queued up to present her with money. The writer was sitting on a seat between two women. The woman sitting on the left of the writer was weeping bitterly and the one on the right turned to her and said, "Compare this with your case and console yourself." The remark from her friend made her weep all the more! The plays obviously provide their audiences with entertainment and recreation; but they have other social functions. The emotional involvement of the audience in the Comic Plays throws light on one of these. The plays have an emotional effect on their audience similar to the theory of catharsis discussed by Aristotle in his Poetics. Aristotle contends that tragedy enables members of the audience to release repressed emotions and the excess of passions. Similarly, the Comic Plays give the audience a chance to release their emotions and accumulated tensions. Members of the audience are presented with echoes of their own bitter or happy relationships and experiences or of those of their friends. They get the opportunity to purge themselves of the grief which their sad experiences caused them or to relive their happy experiences. They feed into the plays the particular emotions and feelings they are experiencing. They attend to find some sort of internal tranquilizer which the Comic Plays provide. Some aspects of everyday life are mirrored on the stage so that the audience can be outside observers and at the same time mental participants in the unfolding drama. A woman who witnesses an incident in a play similar to her own agonizing experience bursts into tears and releases the painful feelings accumulated as a result of that experience. She is emboldened in her emotional response to the play by the pity which the echo of her experience rouses from the audience. The plays serve as an effective instrument of "sellcriticism." They seem to provide the only means of selfcriticism whose message is easily understood by all sections of Ghanaian population, from a villager in the remotest corner of the country to the undergraduate and professor at the university. The comedians dramatize and exaggerate on the stage indigenous or acquired ideas, manners, and habits of Ghanaians, and ridicule them with the intent of suggesting their re-examination and possible modification. It is "self-criticism" in that the comedians are themselves Ghanaians who criticise in the plays some aspects of Ghanaian life. Finally, the plays portray aspects of Ghanaian culture. The ear-catching Ghanaian songs which the comedians sing, the rich Kente cloth which they wear, the Ghanaian dances they perform and the customs about marriage and family relations which they dramatize are all true U facets of Ghanaian culture.
101

oristsMust Go. MontyMorgan,its editor and lead writer, put forwardthe well-worntheory that the economicfuin business ture of the countrylay in Africanparticipation and industry. "Only those companies which were prepared to have Africanson their boards;only those companies which were preparedto invite Africancapital;only those companieswhich were preparedto train Africans for responsibleposts were to be toleratedin the country. All othersmust pack up and go." So far this was a tediously familiartheme in the Echo'spages. But today there was a new twist. There were such companies:companies which were prepared to have Africanson their boards; companieswhich were preparedto train Africansfor responsible posts. Why were they not being allowed to bring the blessingsof developmentto the country?There was a conspiracyof so-called academics and so-called top civil servants.They wished to run the country on theoreticalideas which would keep hopelesslyimpractical this country tied to the apron strings of the imperialist powers for ever. "Who knows how much they are paid to keep this countrybackwardwhile they line their private pockets?Why don't they take their ill-gotten gains away with them and allow the countryto take the path to economicsalvation,hand in hand with those who are preparedto help us?" Morganended with his favourite snippets of Shakespeare,threatened further disclosures, 0 and ended "Theseobstructivetheoristsmust go."
The Lowie Museum of Anthropology, University of California, Berkeley, is offering the first two sets of 2 X 2" color slides based on its recent exhibition, African Arts. Each set consists of 25 slides and sells for $16.00 postage prepaid, California residents add $.75 sales tax per set; payment should be made to The Regents of the University of California. The first two sets have been selling so well that we are already preparing two more sets, and it is hoped that additional sets can be made available in the future. Lists of the pieces included can be had free of charge from the Museum. For those who have access to the exhibit catalogue, African Arts, the first set includes items 1, 9, 17, 23, 31, 40, 45, 59, a better example 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.

Onugbo MlOko7,notes

Line 1. Eleelele, exclamationof pain and dismay, sorrow, or astonishment. Has many musical forms, e.g. lines 12, 40, 82, 120. Ene, "mother,"is probably understood, and an expanded form of the first line might be: Eleelele! Ene nee mum oo. 3. Ajeega, title of Oko (see line 5); Onugbo, the name of a bird which appears in the evening and whose characteristiccall is "okoe!"Oko, also a bird, is the name of one of the ancestors of Oturkpo,of whom it is said in the formal genealogy that he killed fourteen lions and fifteen leopards and when he heard news of war he would not sleep in a house. 4. tela from tu, "cause";ela, "trouble." 5. Traditionaltitles of Oko. 14. cinem for cinanoo, the usual form in reported speech. 20-21. The traditionalpraiseof Oko. 21. igweelo, archaic at Oturkpo, current in Southern Idoma; for igweeho. 25. ogwu, the acclamationof a brave deed, such as the killing of a fierce animal or an enemy, accompaniedby the ceremonial cleansing (eogwoona) of the spirit of the dead animal or man from the face of the hunteror victor. 26. nyee, go away, change place, condition, psychological state, directionof an activity. 32. Oli, Igala word, "tree, stick, gun." Kola (Igala) is kela (Idoma); Kpitii is kputuu, Igala ideophonic adverb. 33. Inyi, "elephant," archaic for adagba. Kpa (Igala) is nmo (Idoma), "kill." 34. Surely one would not kill an elephant and go off and leave it without furtherado. There is a strong suggestionhere of excessive ambition. 50. Agabi Idoma, the traditionalancient home of the Idoma people. The name is used as an exclamation. 86. A psychologicalchange is implied here. 105. Igala proverb, not yet satisfactorilytranslated.

Symbolism in African Verbal Art, notes

1. See also his article in African Arts/Arts d'Afrique, Autumn 1967, p. 54. 2. Melville J. and Frances S. Herskovits, Dahomean Narrative, A Cross-CulturalAnalysis, Evanston, Northwestern University Press, 1958. of the Fundamental 3. Aurelio M. Espinosa, "A New Classification Elements of the Tar-Baby Story on the Basis of 267 Versions," Journalof AmericanFolklore, LVI, 1943, pp. 31-37. 4. Heli Chatelain, "Folk-Talesof Angola," Memoirsof the American Folklore Society, Boston and New York,Houghton Mifflin, 1894. Vol. 1; Merlin Ennis, Umbundu,Folk Tales from Angola, Boston, Beacon Press, 1962. 5. Edmund Wilson, Alex's Castle, New York, Scribner's, 1950, p. 21. 6. "Myth and Metaphysics," in Modern Poetry, American and British,eds. KimonFriar and John MalcolmBrinnin,New York, 1951, pp. 422-423. Thanks are due Appleton-Century-Crofts, to my former colleague, Professor Hugh Staples, for his enlightening summaryof currentliteraryapproachesto symbolism. 7. Herskovits and Herskovits, op. cit.; all subsequent references to Dahomey are taken from Dahomean Narrative. 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; Creativity in BahamianFolklore, Berkeley and Los Angeles, University of CaliforniaPress, Folklore Series, No. 17, 1966, p. 30. 11. H. Abrahamsson, The Origin of Death: Studies in African Mythology, Stud. ethnog. Upsal. 3, Uppsala, Almquist and Wiksells, 1951; Denise Paulme, "Two Themes on the Origin of Death in West Africa," Man, II, No. 1, March 1967, p. 4861.

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

NMgritude et Judeite, notes

1. D. Boukman,"A propos du Festival des Arts Negres de Dakar," Partisans,Paris, mai-juin, 1966, p. 120. 2. Arnold Mandel, Les voies du Hassidisme,Calmann-Levy,1965, p. 226. Arnold Mandel a la plume moins heureuse quand il poursuit: "[la judeit6 semble] indiquerune teneur juive abstraction faite de la spiritualit6 et de la culture juive". Sur les relations entre jud6it6 et culture juive, je me permets de

renvoyer aux derniers chapitres de mon Portrait d'un Juif (Gallimard 1962), ainsi qu'a la deuxieme partie de La Lib6ration du Juif (Gallimard 1966). On y verrait que l'une des dimensions de la judeit6 est assurement la determinationrelative, positive ou n6gative, par rapport a la culture et A la tradition juives. 3. Je voudrais exprimer ici ma vive reconnaissance au Professeur Maurice de Gandillac qui a bien voulu reassurermes pas dans cette double d6marche linguistique et conceptuelle. 4. Pour tout dire, il y avait encore celui de juiverie. 11 avait un sens pdjoratif, qui le faisait l6gitimement 6viter par les publicistes juifs et par tout savant soucieux d'6carter de son vocabulaire toute dimension normative, surtout n6gative. 1 &tait aussi ambigii que celui de judaisme, bien que d'une signification plus restreinte: il signifiait tant6t un groupe juif (ex: "la juiverie de Marrakech"), tant6t une maniere d'etre de l'individu juif, tant6t une maniere d'atre d'un groupe juif. Ses diff rents sens 6taient dija contenus dans le terme de judaisme, auquel il n'ajoutaitrien, sinon l'aura pejorative, et qu'il ne precisait gubre. En somme, le terme de juiverie 6tait un doublet de celui de judaisme, avec ses 6quivoques et ses insuffisantes, plus une dimension normative et d6plaisante. 5. J'ai dit qu'il n'6tait pas dans mon propos de m'tendre ici sur ce concept de jud6it6. 11 aurait fallu egalement y considerer la rnference aux non-juifs, qui est fort importantepuisqu'elle est a la source de son aspect negatif. C'est cette dimension qui a particulibrementfrapp6 J. P. Sartre dans ses Reflextions sur la question juive probablement parce qu'il 6tait entour6 d'amis et de collaborateurs juifs, qui croyaient n'avoir plus guere d'attaches positives avec le groupe juif. 6. Voir en particulier "Recherches sur la judeit6," Revue Frangaise de Sociologie, Paris, janvier-mars,1965. 7. C'est pourquoi je ne puis que regretter que des auteurs fort estimables, par exemple G. Friedmann et R. Misrahi, continuent A confondre jud6it6 et judaicit6, qui signifient dans leurs 6crits tant6t le groupe juif, tant6t la maniere d'etre juif. I1 est enfin " permis de se refuser absolument une quelconque distinction dans la r6alit6 juive et d'affirmerpar exemple qu'on ne saurait meme concevoir une judaicite qui n'adhdre pas totalement au judaisme, lequel aurait toujours 6t6 identique A lui-m me, et qu'un juif "veritable"est celui qui est solidaire a 100%de son groupe, positivement et negativement, et qui coincide exactement avec les croyances et la pensee traditionnelles et qui en respecte integralement les consequences pratiques. Mais c'est alors parler au nom juif ideal et d'un judaisme ideal et s'interdire tout examen concret du Juif vivant. Au surplus, puis-ie signaler que meme cette position extreme, et en fait normative et non scientifique,peut cependant entrer dans les categories proposees: ce serait decider de se limiter a ne parler que des individus ' juifs ayant un coefficientde judeit6 gal 1? 8. Pour tout cela, voir mon Portrait du Colonisd (re-edition, 1966, J. J. Pauvert, collection "Libert6s"). 9. Definition imprim&e la plus recente dans Libertd I. "Negritude et Humanisme," Editions du Seuil 1966. Les interventions du Festival de Dakar n'y changent rien. 10. D'ailleurs les Noirs sont parfaitement scandalises lorsqu'ils rencontrent cette these chez des Blancs meme lorsqu'ils sont leurs siirs amis. C'est ce qui est arriv6 t Sartre. Dans l'un de ses meilleurs essais, "Orph&eNoir," cet auteur, sans toutefois omettre toute riference a une culture noire, insistait exag&r& ment t leur grb sur la n6gativith de la n6gritude. I1 indigna de nombreux Noirs qui pourtant l'admiraient et lui 6taient reconnaissants de les aider Ase d6finir. Mais Sartre voulait surtout denouncer l'oppression dont souffraient les Noirs. Il 6tait done amend t insister sur la partie relationnelle de la n~gritude avec les Non-Noirs. C'est 6galement ainsi, je crois, qu'il faudrait lire ses Rdflexionssur la question juive. Il parlait comme Blanc et comme non-Juif, et n'avait pas Ase prboccupertellement du contenu positif de la judbit6 ou de la n6gritude. 11. Ainsi l'un de mes amis antillais me dit que le terme de n~grisme, qui existerait dbji dans le parler antillais, sinon dans la langue &rite, y aurait une rbsonance lhgbrement pbjorative. I1 me suggbre de le remplacer par nigbrisme. De m~me, j'avais le choix entre negritd et nigritd, c'est-A-direentre la racine latine nigr. et la racine frangais nigr. S'il n'avait dbpendu que de moi, j'aurais choisi la racine latine et propose nigritb. Mais puisque n6gritude existait ddjt, et non nigritude, j'ai pr~f6r6 m'y rapporter. 12. Autre paralldle encore avec la condition juive.

The Negro and The Jew, notes

1. 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 and cultural heritage of the Jews." See the final chapters of my Portrait d'un Juif (Gallimard 1962) as well as part two of La Libdration du Juif (Gallimard 1966) for an exposition of the relations between the juddite and Jewish culture. 3. I would like to express my thanks to Professor Maurice de Gandillacwho has encouragedme in this effort. 4. The word, Jewry, it is true, still remained. But its sense was vaguely pejorative. Jewish writers, and indeed any scholar anxious to avoid any moral judgment, tended to avoid using the term. Its meaning was just as ambiguous as that of the word Judaism. It meant variously, a group of Jews (the "Jewry of Marrakech"), the way in which an individual Jew lived, and the way a group of Jews lived. All these meanings are contained in the word judaism, which has the additional merit of eliminating the pejorative sense. 5. I have said that it was not my intention here to present an exhaustive study of the word jud6ite. Before doing so it would have been necessary to consider the term in reference to nonJews. It is this facet which is the source of the negative aspects of the word. The question particularlypreoccupied J. P. Sartre in his Rdflexions sur la question Juive. 6. See "Recherches sur la jud6ite," in Revue Franpaise de Sociologie, janvier-mars,1965. 7. This is why I find it regrettable that such distinguished authors as G. Friedmann and R. Misrahi continue to confuse jud6ite' with judaicit6. In their writings, the terms refer at times to the Jewish group and at times to the manner in which one is Jewish. One may argue that a judaicite'is inconceivable which does not adhere to judaism-an unchanging phenomenon. A "real"Jew, therefore,would be someone who supportshis group one hundred per cent, someone who adheres consistently to traditional beliefs and tenets and who is willing to accept the practical consequences of them. This kind of thing ignores the living Jew and centers on 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 debates at the Festival of Dakar altered nothing. 10. Blacks are quite shocked when they hear Whites, even their friends, expounding this thesis. This is what happened to Sartre. In one of his best essays, Orphie Noir, he exaggerated in their opinion the negative aspects of the word negritude. Sartre had aimed mainly at denouncing the oppression from which the blacks suffered. He, therefore, wanted to emphasize the relationship between negritude and non-blacks. 11. One of my friends from the Antilles mentioned that the term negrisme which exists in the local dialect, at least orally, had a slightly pejorative echo. He suggested I replace the word with nigdrism. Following the same reasoning I had the choice between nigritc and nigritd, i.e., between the Latin root, nigr., and the French root, ndgr. But since the word negritude existed already, and not the word, nigritude, I preferred to follow suit. 12. Anotherparallel with the condition of the Jew.

acknowledgements
page 14-15, 26-7, 43 46, 50 62 75, 83, 85-86, 91-93, 98, 117 Photography:William Doherty Photography: Rebecca Holmes Photography:John McGaughey Photography:William Doherty

errata
The Incwala in Swaziland, Spring, 1968. We sincerely regret that there is a misspelling in the name of King Sobhuza II of Swaziland in the caption on page 56. In addition, the picture of Royal Women shows two groups, the marriageable (and not as printed, the married) and the unmarried girls. 123