Negritude and Bergsonism

Abstract

It is generally admitted that both the form and the content of Negritude owe much to Western philosophical discourses, especially to French intellectual influence. The fact that the two most outstanding exponents of Negritude, namely Léopold S. Senghor and Aimé Césaire, are deeply impregnated with French culture is taken as a case in point. And among the French roots, some scholars single out the profound impact of Henri Bergson. Thus, Abiola Irele maintains that “it is largely the epistemology of Bergson that Senghor has adopted in his formulation of Negritude.”