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The Recourse to Authenticity and Négritude in Zaïre

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 November 2008

Kenneth Lee Adelman
Kenneth Lee Adelman
Affiliation:
Kinshasa, Zaïre
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Extract

‘Chad should follow a genuine policy of authenticity and should unite behind this national movement for its cultural and social revolution.’1 This suggestion was not made by President Mobutu Sese Seko of Zaïre, the founder and chief proponent of authenticity, but by President Mouammar El Kadhafi of Libya in an address to the party leaders of Chad. It illustrates the increasing influence of authenticity as a guiding ideology in Africa, and perhaps in other continents as well. Not only are a number of nations using the phrase, but they are taking steps to make it a reality. Before describing these measures, let us examine the recourse to authenticity and compare it to its predecessor, négritude.

Type
Africana
Information
The Journal of Modern African Studies , Volume 13 , Issue 1 , March 1975 , pp. 134 - 139
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1975

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References

Page 134 note 1 ‘Le Tchad doit mener une veritable politique d'authenticité’, in Salongo (Kinshasa), 8 03 1974, p. 3.Google Scholar

Page 134 note 2 While the doctrine of the recourse to authenticity as a political ideology began in Zaïre, the sentiment it expresses certainly predates Mobutu. For example, a similar movement, complete with changes in personal names and dress codes, began in Ghana during the 1880s. See Kimble, David, Political History of Ghana, Vol. I,Google ScholarThe Rise of Gold Coast Nationalism, 1850–1928 (Oxford, 1963), pp. 517–28.Google Scholar

Page 134 note 3 Editorial, Salongo, 22 03 1974, p. 2.Google Scholar

Page 134 note 4 Speech by Mobutu Sese Seko in Buta, Haut Zaire; ibid. 5 November 1973, p. 9.

Page 134 note 5 Cf. Kangafu-Kutumbagana, , Discours sur l'authenticité (Kinshasa, 1973).Google Scholar

Page 134 note 6 Speech by Sakombi Inongo in Dakar, 20 February 1973; Salongo, 24 02 1973, p. 2.Google Scholar

Page 135 note 1 Abacost is an acronym of the phrase ‘a bas le costume’ or ‘down with the suit’ in French. It is a short-sleeved suit worn with an ascot rather than a neck-tie.

Page 135 note 2 Inongo, Sakombi, Authenticité (Kinshasa, 1973), p. 6 –Google Scholar an official Government publication by the Commissioner of National Orientation.

Page 135 note 3 Editorial, Salongo, 22 03 1974, p. 2.Google Scholar

Page 136 note 1 Léopold Sédar Senghor quoted by Taiwo, Oladele, An Introduction to West African Literature (London, 1967), p. 45.Google Scholar

Page 136 note 2 Opening speech by Léopold Sédar Senghor to the 1963 Dakar Conference on ‘African Literature and the University Curriculum’, in Gerald Moore (ed.), African Literature and the Universities (Ibadan, 1965), p. 15.Google Scholar

Page 137 note 1 Presidential interview of 28 May 1972; Salongo, 30 05 1972, p. 3.Google Scholar

Page 137 note 2 Inongo, , Salongo, 24 02 1973, p. 2.Google Scholar

Page 137 note 3 Senghor, loc. cit. p. 15.

Page 137 note 4 Quoted in Taiwo, op. cit. p. 45.

Page 137 note 5 Mobutu, loc. cit. p. 9.

Page 138 note 1 Salongo, 24 02 1973, p. 2.Google Scholar

Page 138 note 2 ‘Authenticité’, in Afrique chrétienne (Kinshasa), 01 1972, p. 3.Google Scholar