Analysis Of Aime Cesaire s Discourse On Colonialism

Aime Cesaire’s Discourse on Colonialism, first published in 1955, reads as a passionate and scathing piece of prose, laying heavy, but warranted criticism on Europe, the oppressed classes and those who continue to allow such oppression to continue. While being written around 1955 specifically about colonialism, it bears many explicit and metaphorical statements which can be applied to our situation today, both in terms of racial struggles as well as struggles against capitalism and imperialism. While all these struggles are intimately intertwined, it is important not to conflate them, emptying each of their specificity. Cesaire’s politics, opinions did not remain stubbornly stagnant. Rather, he has proved quite responsive to situational changes, constantly tweaking his thought in reaction to the conditions he found around him. His politics are marked by several shifts, which seem, on paper, to be quite drastic, but are actually rather fluid developments for the most par t. The shifts seem to begin from his early immersion in French political theory and culture, particularly as a young man in Martinique, to his part in the Negritude movement accompanied by a distancing from Europe and wholesome embrace of blackness and the idealization of Africa as the homeland. Discourse on Colonialism Cesaire’s work discredit to focus too heavily on this moderate moment. The work in question is, on its own, a much-needed critique of European bourgeois society (although the metaphor can beShow MoreRelatedSample Resume : The Cambridge Companion 10581 Words   |  43 Pageshave the urge to defend it’ Étienne De La Boà ©tie Take up the White Man s burden– Ye dare not stoop to less– Nor call too loud on Freedom To cloke yourRead MoreA Passage Of India And The Relations Of Power10531 Words   |  43 Pageshave the urge to defend it’ Étienne De La Boà ©tie Take up the White Man s burden– Ye dare not stoop to less– Nor call too loud on Freedom To cloke your