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the colonzied individual who writes should not ruminate on the past, but use it to open the future. to
the responsibility of the 'man of culture' is global.
case to fight for national culture means to fight for liberation of the nation.
every person who fights colonialism with their bare hands is no stranger to their own national culture. the national culture takes on form and content as battles play out under guillotines, as every colonial outpost is captured and destroyed. don’t be content delving into the past to counteract attempts to calfcify... work and fight with the same rhythm as those in the fight. join them and work to construct a future with coherence.
a national culture is
national culture in underdeveloped countries is part and parcel with the struggle for freedom.
there is a common destinty betweeen nations dominated by the same colonizer. the national cultures will resemble each other, though no two cultures are completely identical.
cultural unity is achieved first by upholding the people’s struggle for freedom. you can't wish for the spread of african culture if you don't give practical support to its existence, to the liberation of the whole continent. no speech-making, no proclamation will turn us from the fundamental tasks: liberation of national territory and contiunual struggle against colonialsim in its new forms.
colonial domination is total. it’s made possible by neagating national reality by the occupying power. by banishing natives. by outlining districts. by systematiclally enslaving men and women.
in the colonial situation, dynamism is replaced by substantification of the attitudes of the colonizers: areas marked off by
every effort is made to make the colonized person admit to the inferiority of their culutre, the unreality of their nation, and the confused, imperfect character of their biology.
native reactions are not unanmimous. artisanal styles solidify into formalism more stereotyped. the intellectual throws themself into frantic acquisition of occupying power. they (a) unfavorably criticize their own national culture, or else (b) take refuge in substantiating their culture passionately. both become unproductive, and both lead to impossible contradictions. these acts are ineffectual because they lead to analyses of the colonial situation which are not carried out on strict lines.
the colonial situation halts national culture. there is not and won’t ever be new cultural changes in a colonial situation. here and there, attempts are made to re-animate cultural dynamics and give fresh influences to its themes and tonalities, but in the absence of national liberation, the attempts are for naught. time to brush the cobwebs off the national consciousness.
the national culture is a contested one whose destruction is sought systematically. a culture condemend to secrecy. the occupying power interprets traditional values as refusal to submit. in its secrecy, the once-solid core of national culture becomes shriveled and inert.
after a century or two of oppression, there is an emaciation of national culture, and little movement can be discerned. no creativity, no overflowing life. poverty of people and inhibition of culture are one and the same.
after a century or two of domination, a culture becomes rigid and
it’s important to follow the evolution of relations during a struggle for national freedom. the negation of native culture and suppression of all specialized branches of organization cause the native to turn reflexively to poorly differentiated and ineffective aggression. over time, however, exploitation, poverty, and famine drive the native to more organized, open revolt. the necessity for a decisive breach is formed imperceptibly, formed by a majority of people.
international events, collapse of sections of colonial empries, and contradictions all uphold the native’s national consciousness. these upholdings, found at all stages, have repercussions on the colonial plane. in literature, there is overproduction. literature produced by natives becomes differentiated and solidifies into a will. the native intelligentsia, who were once just consumers, now become producers. literature at first confines itself to tragedy and poetry, then novels, short stories, essays. poetic expression becomes less frequent as the struggle becomes more precise. the themes are altered. the writing becomes less bitter, hopeless, recriminatory. colonialists have enocuraged these modes of production, these
the continued cohesion of the people constitutes for the intellectual an invitation to go further than protest. first an indictment, then an appeal, then a command. the crystallization of national consicousness distrupts and completes a new form. whereas the writer once aimed to be read exclusively by the oppressor to charm or denounce him, now the native progressively starts to address their own people. only from that moment can we speak of a national literature. here there can be a taking up and clarifying of themes which are typically national. it is a literature of combat, a will to liberty. it calls on the whole people to fight for their existence as a nation. it molds the national consciousness, giving it form and contours, flinging open new doors to boundless horizons.
the oral tradition, stories, epics, and songs which formerly were just set pieces begin to change. storytellers now bring inert episodes alive and bring modifications which are increasingly fundamental. we want to modernize the struggles evoked by stories. the formula is substituted with 'this story happened somewhere else, but it might have happened here, today, and it might happen tomorrow.'
from '52 to '53, storytellers who were previously boring, stereotyped, rigid, overturned their stortytelling methods. the epic reappearaed and became an authentic form of entertainment, taking on cultural value. colonialism arrested these storytellers systemtatcially and made no mistake in doing so.....
new life, forgotten muscular tensions, awakened imagination. a real invocation. a new human being is revealed to the puiblic. the present is no longer turned in on itself but spread out for all to see. the storyteller gives free reign to the imagination and finally makes
the creative urge of epic stories is worth following. the storyteller replies to expectant people and makes their way alone, but helped on by the public toward seeking out of new, national patterns. comedy and farce disappear. dramatization is no longer placed on the plane of the troubled intellectual and tormented consciousness. by losing despair and revolt, drama becomes the common lot of the people. the preparation for this reality is already in progress: forms of expression formerly seen as the dregs of art now begin to reach out and touch.
woodwork now becomes differentiated. the arms tend to be raised as if to suggest an action. compositions containing more figures appear. by depicting groups fixed on the same pedestal, the artist invites participation in an organized movement.
traditional schools are led to creative efforts. this new vigor in the cultural sector passes unseen, mostly, yet the contribution to the national effort is of utmost importance.
ceramics and pottery see the same observations: formalism abandoned; jugs, jars, trays modified first subtly, then almost savagely; colors, formerly few and obeying traidiotnal rules, increase in number, influenced by repercussions of rising revolutions. certain colors once forbidden now assert themselves without scandal. similarly, stylization of the human face becomes completely relative. specialists from the home country are quick to note these changes and condemn them in the name of a rigid code of artistic style. the specialists do not recognize these new forms and rush to preserve the traditional indigenous society. paradoxically, colonialists come to defend the native style. for example, note the reaction of
we might find also that traditional things have a similar upward trend. well before the political or fighting phase, an attentive spectator can see and feel the manifestation of a new vigor: unusual forms and themes, freshly imbued with power not of invocation alone, but an assembling of people, a summoning together for a precise purpose.
everything awakens native sensibility and makes real the unacceptability of defeat. in the renewal of purpose and dynamism within the artworld, the world itself loses its accursed character. all new forms and movements in culture are linked to the maturity of national consciousness. consequently, the movement will want to express itself objectively in institutions. thence comes a need for a national institution, whatever the cost.
a frequent msitake is finding cultural expression for native culture within the framework of colonial domination.
national culture is a sum of all appraisals, internal and external, and tensions over society as a whole.
origin in a colonial situation, the culture which is deprived of support will fall over and die. the condition for existence is national liberation, state renaissance. a nation is not only a condition of culutre, it is also a necessity. it is the fight for national existence which sets a culture moving, opening the doors of creation. the nation will ensure the conditions and framework necessary for culture. the nation gathers together all elements necessary for credibility, life, and creative power. similarly, its national character will enable it to permeate other cultures. a nonexistent culture cannot bear reality or influence it. the first necessity is the reestablishment of a nation to give birth—in a biological sense—to the nation. on the eve of national conflict is the rebirth of imagination.
one more quesiton remaining: what's the relation between sturggle and culture? is there a suspension of culture during conflict, or is struggle the expression of culture? should one say that the battle for freedom is a negation of culutre? is the struggle for liberation cultural?
we believe a conscious, oragnized undertaking to reestablish sovereignty is an obvious cultural manifestation. culture is not put into cold storage during conflict. culture is sent along different paths. the struggle for freedom doesn’t give back to national culture its former value. struggle, aimed at different relations between people, can’t leave intact the form or content of the previous culture. after a conflict, there is a disappearance of the colonized person.
new humanity can’t do otherwise than define new humanism for self and other. prefigured in its methods and objectives is conflict. it expresses aims and impatience. it is not afraid to count exclusively on people’s support. the value of this type of conflict is that it supplies the maximum conditions necessary for developing culture. after freedom is obtained, no painful indecision can be found in newly independent countries, because the nation, by coming into being, exerts a fundamental influence over culture. the nation born of people’s concerted actions can't exist but in exceptionally rich forms of culutre.
it is not the success of a struggle which gives it validity and vigor.
natives who want to give a universal dimension to national culture shouldn’t place their hope into some undifferentiated indpenedence written into the consciousness of people. liberation is one thing; methods and content of the fight are another.
the future of national culture and riches are part and parcel with the values which ordained the stuggle for freedom. the mistake which may have consequences lies in rushing to skip national period.
if culture is the expression of national consciousness, it is national consciousness which is the most elaborate form of culture. philosophy teaches us that it is its guarantee. national concsiousness is the only thing that will give us an international dimension.
the problem of national consciousness/culture takes on a special dimension in africa.
every independent nation where colonialism still exists is a fragile, encircled, permanently endangered nation.
the most urgent thing for the intellectual is to build up the nation. if one interprets the manifest will of people and finds that they are eager, then the building of the nation is necessary.
national liberation plays its part on the stage of history. the heart of the national consciousness is where international consciousness lives and grows. twofold emerging is the source of all cutlure.