Country of the Week: Martinique’s Most Famous Writers

Aimé Césaire (pictured): poet and former politician who coined the term “Negritude”, with Leopold Senghor (who later became Senegal’s president) and Leon Gontran-Damas in the 1930s. Nick Nesbitt’s article defines it: “The term marks a revalorization of Africa on the part of New World blacks, affirming an overwhelming pride in black heritage and culture..." Inspiration for the term mostly came from the Harlem Renaissance - particularly writers Langston Hughes and Claude McKay - but also has roots in the anti-colonial works of W.E.B. DuBois, Martin Delaney, and William Blyden.

Frantz Fanon: Black Skin, White Masks and Wretched of the Earth are the Marxist psychiatrist's best known works, where he discussed the psychology of decolonization. A former student of Césaire, he critiqued the Negritude, arguing that people's status depends instead on their economic and social position. He also advocated for violent revolution as the means of ending colonialism.