Cabral, Césaire, Du Bois : Trois Voix Atlantiques pour Amplifier la Portée des Luttes d’Émancipation

Abstract

The Black Atlantic has become a key reference in postcolonial studies. This concept is extremely useful to examine the presence of hyperviolence and struggles for emancipation in literary works and political paths. This article addresses the link between the Atlantic and the notion of identity. This metaphoric place, where a wide variety of symbolic goods circulates, tends indeed to favour dynamic processes of identification, less marked by a rooted and exclusive Us. Then, this article examines how Cabral, Cesaire and Du Bois have, from that symbolic space, thought the forms of emancipation. When considered from the global South, emancipation requires an analytic space that goes beyond the local setting. This article argues that the Atlantic imposes itself not as a resource among others, but as a necessity given the nature of the object being studied.