Discourse on Colonialism

Front Cover
Monthly Review Press, 2000 - History - 102 pages

"Césaire's essay stands as an important document in the development of
third world consciousness--a process in which [he] played a prominent
role."

--Library Journal
This classic work, first
published in France in 1955, profoundly influenced the generation of
scholars and activists at the forefront of liberation struggles in
Africa, Latin America, and the Caribbean. Nearly twenty years later,
when published for the first time in English, Discourse on Colonialism
inspired a new generation engaged in the Civil Rights, Black Power, and
anti-war movements and has sold more than 75,000 copies to date.


Aimé Césaire eloquently describes the brutal impact of capitalism and
colonialism on both the colonizer and colonized, exposing the
contradictions and hypocrisy implicit in western notions of "progress"
and "civilization" upon encountering the "savage," "uncultured," or
"primitive." Here, Césaire reaffirms African values, identity, and
culture, and their relevance, reminding us that "the relationship
between consciousness and reality are extremely complex. . . . It is
equally necessary to decolonize our minds, our inner life, at the same
time that we decolonize society." An interview with Césaire by the poet
René Depestre is also included.

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About the author (2000)

Poet and politician Aimé Césaire was born in Basse-Pointe, Martinique on June 26, 1913. He attended high school and college in France. While in Paris, he helped found the journal Black Student in the 1930s. During World War II, he returned to Martinique and was mayor of Fort-de-France from 1945 to 2001, except for a break from 1983 to 1984. He also served in France's National Assembly from 1946 to 1956 and from 1958 to 1993. In 1946, he helped Martinique shed its colonial status and become an overseas department of France. Some of his best known works include the book Discourse on Colonialism, the essay Negro I Am, Negro I Will Remain, and the poem Notes from a Return to the Native Land. He was being treated for heart problems and other ailments when he died on April 17, 2008.

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