Negritude is not just another way to trace identity. It is an entirely new way of being, different from the imperialist’s dichotomised view of the world. It is the separation of the colonised from object-hood into personhood. The coloured people become something more than just what the white man defines them as. In a sense, negritude is thus reactionary. It is a rejection of the white man’s gaze.
Critics point out that in an attempt to reaffirm the black identity and package it differently negritude seems to take on racist undertones. Senghor highlights an African rhythm, one which links man back to nature and nature directly to god. He embraces nature as part of man, especially a part of the African man. Being one with nature is said to be an intrinsic part of the African, something which the European lacks. This view is starkly different from the European ideas which separate man from nature and focus on overpowering it instead of harmonizing with it.
Consequently, Senghor’s vision has come to be recognised as particularistic and the entire movement as very narrow. He emphasises going back to the shared African past in order to reaffirm their identity and to find their place in the world today. But questions arise regarding whose past he is referring to. Is he talking only to the Africans who still inhabit the ‘motherland’ or are the African diaspora part of the narrative? He creates a new humanism which is in stark opposition to the image of the European. But by asserting this he brings to mind questions again regarding whether this humanism can be a global humanism and if it isolates the African from the rest of the world. Senghor is creating a new black identity entirely in response and opposition to the white man.
The movement assumes one shared African past for all black people who inhabit the continent, regardless of their country, clan or tribe. For this reason, Fanon sees the movement as essentially playing into the narrative of the European. The colonisers painted over the differences between the African population through their policies and narratives ignoring the rich cultural diversity of the continent. Negritude is criticized for doing much the same.
This notion of the black identity is thus particularistic. In trying to create a new identity it becomes suffocating and stifles the opportunities for the African people. It essentializes the black identity into only one way of being.
But then the question remains as to what do the Africans do? How do they create a place for themselves in an entirely white space? There seems to be no correct way in which they may assert their identities and their personhood which is not prone to criticism. In a world dominated by Europeans and divided between the white and the coloured, it seems impossible to create an identity which is not based on difference. Colonisation has forever left the world to be divided into binaries of the European against the rest of the world. For this reason, Senghor’s contribution and negritude as a whole cannot be criticized too harshly. According to Fanon, the ideal would be to create individual identities not based on caste or race but such an idealistic world is far from reality. In the meanwhile identities based on difference and opposition are all the coloured can resolve to.
Decoloniality and Decolonization 