The Nature and Purpose of the Work
“Ce que je crois” (What I Believe) is Léopold Sédar Senghor’s extended personal testament, a philosophical and political autobiography in which the Senegalese poet, cultural theorist, and statesman articulates his fundamental convictions about civilization, culture, race, politics, and humanity’s future. Published when Senghor had already served as Senegal’s first president and established himself as one of the twentieth century’s most significant African intellectuals, this work represents his mature synthesis of a lifetime’s thought. It belongs to a French intellectual tradition of personal credos—works in which major thinkers lay out their core beliefs in systematic yet personal form.
The book is structured as a series of interconnected essays or chapters, each exploring a different dimension of Senghor’s worldview while building toward a comprehensive vision of human civilization. Unlike a purely academic treatise, “What I Believe” maintains an intimate, confessional quality throughout, with Senghor frequently drawing on his own experiences—his childhood in Senegal, his education in France, his years as a prisoner of war, his political career—to ground abstract philosophical positions in lived reality. The work is simultaneously a defense of Négritude (the cultural and philosophical movement Senghor co-founded), an exposition of African socialism, a meditation on the relationship between European and African civilizations, and a blueprint for what Senghor called the “Civilization of the Universal.”
Négritude and African Cultural Identity
A substantial portion of the work is devoted to explicating and defending the concept of Négritude, which Senghor developed alongside Aimé Césaire and Léon Damas in the Paris of the nineteen-thirties. Senghor explains Négritude not as a racist counter-doctrine to European supremacy, but as the affirmation of African cultural values and the African contribution to world civilization. He insists that Négritude is fundamentally about recognition and contribution, not separation or superiority.
Senghor articulates what he sees as the distinctive characteristics of African civilization and the “Negro-African” way of being in the world. He argues that African culture is characterized by a particular epistemology—a way of knowing and relating to reality that differs from the European Cartesian model. Where European thought, in Senghor’s analysis, tends toward analytical reason, abstraction, and the separation of subject from object, African thought emphasizes intuitive reason, participation, and the unity of being. He describes the African approach as one of “knowing through participation” rather than “knowing through distance.”
This difference, Senghor insists, is not a matter of superiority or inferiority but of complementarity. He rejects both European claims that African thought is “primitive” or “pre-logical” and African nationalist claims that would simply invert the hierarchy. Instead, he argues that humanity needs both modes of thought—the analytical and the intuitive, the technological and the spiritual, the individual and the communal—to achieve its full potential.
Senghor develops his famous formulation that “emotion is African as reason is Greek,” though he is careful to clarify that this does not mean Africans lack reason or Europeans lack emotion. Rather, he argues that different civilizations have emphasized different aspects of the human totality, and that each has developed particular strengths. African civilization, in his view, has cultivated a particular richness in emotional intelligence, artistic expression, spiritual awareness, and communal solidarity.
He explores how this distinctive African sensibility manifests in various domains: in art, where African sculpture and music have profoundly influenced modern European art; in social organization, where African communalism offers alternatives to European individualism; in spirituality, where African religious traditions maintain a sense of the sacred that European secularism has lost; and in the relationship with nature, where African cultures have preserved an ecological wisdom that industrial civilization desperately needs.
African Socialism and Political Philosophy
Senghor devotes considerable attention to his vision of African socialism, which he distinguishes sharply from both Soviet Marxism-Leninism and European social democracy. He argues that socialism is not a foreign import to Africa but rather a recovery and modernization of traditional African communal values. Pre-colonial African societies, in Senghor’s account, were fundamentally socialist in their economic organization, emphasizing collective ownership, mutual aid, and the subordination of individual accumulation to community welfare.
However, Senghor is equally insistent that African socialism must be adapted to contemporary realities and must incorporate elements from other traditions. He rejects the Marxist emphasis on class struggle as inappropriate to African conditions, arguing that African societies did not develop the same rigid class divisions as European industrial societies. He also rejects atheistic materialism, insisting that African socialism must be grounded in spiritual values and must recognize the importance of religion and culture in human life.
Senghor’s African socialism emphasizes several key principles: economic development that serves human needs rather than profit; planning that respects African cultural values and social structures; cooperation rather than competition as the organizing principle of economic life; and the integration of traditional communal practices with modern economic techniques. He argues for a “middle way” between capitalism and Soviet-style communism, one that would preserve African cultural identity while achieving economic development.
He discusses the practical challenges of implementing this vision in newly independent African states: the need for rapid economic development to overcome colonial underdevelopment; the difficulty of building modern institutions while respecting traditional authorities and practices; the tension between national unity and ethnic diversity; and the challenge of maintaining independence while necessarily engaging with the global economy dominated by former colonial powers.
Senghor is frank about the difficulties and contradictions involved in this project. He acknowledges the risk of authoritarianism in one-party states, even as he defends the single-party system as necessary for national unity in the early stages of independence. He recognizes the tension between economic development and cultural preservation, between modernization and tradition, between African authenticity and necessary borrowing from other civilizations.
Dialogue of Civilizations and the Universal Civilization
Perhaps the most distinctive and ambitious aspect of Senghor’s vision is his concept of the “Civilization of the Universal”—a future global civilization that would synthesize the contributions of all human cultures. This idea represents the culmination of his thought and the ultimate purpose, in his view, of both Négritude and African socialism.
Senghor argues that human history is moving toward increasing integration and that the twentieth century’s decolonization and technological revolution have created the conditions for a genuinely universal civilization. However, he insists that this universal civilization must not be simply the globalization of European culture—the imposition of Western values, institutions, and ways of life on the entire world. Such a false universalism would impoverish humanity by suppressing the diversity of human cultural achievement.
Instead, Senghor envisions a universal civilization built through dialogue among civilizations, in which each culture contributes its distinctive gifts to a common human heritage. African civilization would contribute its spiritual depth, its communal values, its artistic creativity, and its ecological wisdom. European civilization would contribute its scientific method, its technological prowess, its traditions of individual rights and democratic governance. Asian civilizations would contribute their own distinctive achievements. The result would be a richer, more complete human civilization than any single culture could produce alone.
This vision requires, in Senghor’s view, a fundamental shift in how we think about cultural difference. We must move beyond both the colonial mentality that ranked cultures hierarchically with European civilization at the apex, and the reactive nationalism that would simply isolate cultures from one another. Instead, we need what Senghor calls “cultural métissage”—a creative mixing and cross-fertilization of cultures, in which each maintains its identity while learning from and contributing to others.
Senghor draws on his own experience as someone formed by both African and French culture. He describes how his education in French language and literature, far from alienating him from his African roots, actually helped him understand and articulate African values more clearly. He argues that the French language, precisely because it was not his mother tongue, gave him a certain distance and analytical capacity that enriched his understanding of African culture. At the same time, his African formation gave him perspectives and sensibilities that enriched his understanding of French literature and European culture.
He extends this personal experience into a general principle: cultural exchange and dialogue, when conducted on the basis of mutual respect and equality, enriches all participants. The goal is not cultural purity but creative synthesis, not isolation but dialogue, not the preservation of cultures as museum pieces but their dynamic development through interaction.
Religion, Spirituality, and Humanism
Senghor’s religious and spiritual convictions permeate the entire work. A Catholic who maintained deep respect for African traditional religions, Senghor argues for the essential role of spirituality in human life and criticizes both European secularism and Marxist atheism for their impoverishment of the human spirit.
He describes his own religious journey: his early formation in the animist traditions of his Serer people, his conversion to Catholicism, and his mature synthesis that sees no fundamental contradiction between African spirituality and Christian faith. He argues that African traditional religions, with their sense of the sacred pervading all of life, their emphasis on community and ancestors, and their integration of the spiritual and material dimensions of existence, actually prepared him to understand Christianity more deeply than a purely rationalistic European approach would have allowed.
Senghor develops a vision of humanism that is explicitly spiritual and religious. He rejects what he sees as the false humanism of European secularism, which in his view reduces the human person to a purely material being and cuts humanity off from the transcendent dimension that gives life meaning. True humanism, in Senghor’s account, recognizes the spiritual nature of the human person and the human need for connection to something beyond the self—whether conceived as God, the ancestors, the community, or the cosmos.
This spiritual humanism informs his entire political and cultural vision. African socialism, in his conception, is not merely an economic system but a way of organizing society that respects the spiritual dimension of human life. The Civilization of the Universal must be a civilization that makes room for the sacred, that recognizes the limits of purely technical rationality, and that cultivates the human capacity for wonder, reverence, and transcendence.
France, Francophonie, and the Colonial Legacy
Senghor’s relationship with France and French culture is one of the most complex and controversial aspects of his thought, and he addresses it directly and at length in this work. As someone who became a French citizen, served in the French army, taught in French schools, and was eventually elected to the French National Assembly before leading Senegal to independence, Senghor embodied the contradictions of the colonial relationship.
He defends his continued attachment to French language and culture even after independence, arguing that the French language has become an African language through African use of it, and that Francophonie—the community of French-speaking peoples—can be a vehicle for cultural dialogue and cooperation rather than continued domination. He acknowledges the violence and injustice of colonialism while also crediting French education with opening intellectual horizons and providing tools for African liberation.
This position drew criticism from more radical African intellectuals who saw Senghor as too accommodating to French interests and insufficiently critical of colonialism. Senghor responds to these criticisms by distinguishing between colonialism as a political and economic system, which he condemns, and French culture and civilization, which he values. He argues that it is possible and necessary to reject colonial domination while appreciating and learning from French cultural achievements, just as it is possible to appreciate African culture while recognizing that pre-colonial African societies had their own injustices and limitations.
He discusses the practical benefits of maintaining French as an official language in multilingual African states, where it can serve as a neutral lingua franca among different ethnic groups. He also argues for the economic and diplomatic advantages of membership in the Francophone community. At the same time, he insists on the importance of developing African languages and preserving African cultural traditions.
Senghor’s vision of Francophonie is explicitly post-colonial: a community of equals sharing a common language but not a common political allegiance, cooperating for mutual benefit but not subordinated to French interests. Whether this vision was realistic or whether Francophonie in practice served to maintain French influence in Africa remains a matter of debate, but Senghor articulates it as a genuine attempt to transform a colonial legacy into a resource for African development and cultural dialogue.
Art, Poetry, and Cultural Expression
As a distinguished poet himself, Senghor devotes significant attention to questions of art and cultural expression. He discusses the role of the artist in society, the relationship between traditional and modern forms of artistic expression, and the particular characteristics of African aesthetics.
Senghor argues that art is not a luxury or a mere entertainment but a fundamental human need and a crucial dimension of civilization. He criticizes European industrial civilization for marginalizing art and reducing it to a commodity, and he celebrates African cultures for maintaining the integration of art into everyday life. In traditional African societies, he notes, there was no separate category of “art” divorced from social, religious, and practical functions—art was woven into the fabric of life.
He explores the distinctive features of African art: its emphasis on rhythm, which he sees as fundamental to African aesthetics across all art forms; its stylization and symbolic representation rather than naturalistic imitation; its communal and participatory character; and its spiritual dimension. He discusses how African sculpture influenced European modernists like Picasso and how African music has shaped global popular culture, arguing that these influences demonstrate the universal appeal and relevance of African aesthetic principles.
Senghor also addresses the question of how African artists should relate to their traditions in the modern world. He rejects both slavish imitation of traditional forms and complete abandonment of African aesthetics in favor of European models. Instead, he advocates for creative synthesis: artists should draw on traditional African aesthetic principles while engaging with modern forms and techniques, creating new works that are both authentically African and genuinely contemporary.
He discusses his own poetry as an example of this synthesis: written in French but drawing on African oral traditions, employing European verse forms but infused with African rhythms, addressing modern themes but grounded in African spiritual and cultural values. He sees the artist as playing a crucial role in the dialogue of civilizations, creating works that bridge cultures and contribute to the emerging universal civilization.
The Author and His Context
Léopold Sédar Senghor was born in Senegal in the early twentieth century, during the colonial period, into a Serer family. He received his early education in Catholic mission schools before winning a scholarship to continue his studies in France. In Paris, he attended the prestigious Lycée Louis-le-Grand and the Sorbonne, becoming the first African to earn the agrégation, the highest teaching qualification in the French system.
During his student years in Paris, Senghor encountered other African and Caribbean intellectuals, including Aimé Césaire from Martinique and Léon Damas from French Guiana. Together, they developed the concept of Négritude as a response to the racism and cultural imperialism of colonial ideology. This movement sought to affirm the value and dignity of African culture and the African contribution to world civilization.
Senghor served in the French army during World War II and spent time as a prisoner of war in Germany, an experience that deepened his reflections on civilization, violence, and human nature. After the war, he entered politics, serving in the French National Assembly and eventually leading Senegal to independence. He served as Senegal’s first president from independence until his voluntary retirement, an unusual act in African politics of that era.
Throughout his political career, Senghor continued to write poetry and cultural criticism. He was a major figure in African literature and one of the most influential African intellectuals of the twentieth century. He was eventually elected to the Académie française, the first African to receive that honor.
“What I Believe” represents the mature synthesis of Senghor’s thought, bringing together the various strands of his intellectual and political work: his poetry and cultural theory, his political philosophy and practice, his reflections on colonialism and independence, and his vision for Africa’s and humanity’s future. The work must be understood in the context of the post-independence period, when African leaders and intellectuals were grappling with the challenges of building new nations, overcoming colonial underdevelopment, and defining African identity in the modern world.
Significance and Reception
“What I Believe” occupies an important place in African intellectual history and in the broader discourse on post-colonialism, cultural identity, and global civilization. It represents one of the most comprehensive and systematic articulations of Senghor’s thought, making it essential reading for understanding both his individual contribution and the broader Négritude movement.
The work has been both celebrated and criticized. Admirers praise Senghor’s vision of cultural dialogue and synthesis, his sophisticated understanding of the relationship between particular cultures and universal values, and his attempt to chart a distinctively African path to modernity that would neither reject African traditions nor isolate Africa from global developments. His emphasis on cultural complementarity and mutual enrichment offers an alternative to both cultural imperialism and cultural isolationism.
Critics, however, have raised several objections. Some argue that Senghor’s characterization of African and European civilizations relies on essentialist generalizations that obscure the diversity within each civilization and the historical changes both have undergone. The notion that “emotion is African as reason is Greek” has been criticized as perpetuating colonial stereotypes even while attempting to revalue them. Some African intellectuals have argued that Senghor’s continued attachment to French culture and his relatively moderate political positions made him insufficiently critical of colonialism and neo-colonialism.
Feminist critics have noted that Senghor’s work, like much of the Négritude movement, tends to focus on male experience and to romanticize African women as symbols of tradition and fertility rather than treating them as full political and intellectual agents. His vision of African socialism, while emphasizing community and solidarity, does not adequately address gender inequality.
From a Marxist perspective, critics have argued that Senghor’s African socialism is too idealistic, underestimating the importance of class analysis and material conditions. His emphasis on cultural values and spiritual dimensions, while offering important correctives to crude materialism, may obscure the economic structures and power relations that shape social life.
Despite these criticisms, “What I Believe” remains a significant work that continues to provoke thought and debate. Senghor’s vision of a universal civilization built through dialogue among cultures, rather than the domination of one culture over others, remains relevant in an era of globalization. His insistence that economic development must be guided by cultural values and human needs, not merely by technical efficiency or profit maximization, speaks to contemporary concerns about sustainable development and the quality of life.
The work also offers valuable insights into the intellectual and political challenges faced by the first generation of post-colonial African leaders, who had to navigate between tradition and modernity, between African authenticity and necessary engagement with global systems, between the ideals of independence and the realities of continued economic and cultural dependence. Senghor’s attempt to articulate a vision that would honor African traditions while embracing selective modernization, that would maintain cultural identity while participating in global civilization, represents one important response to these challenges, even if it is not the only possible response and even if its implementation faced significant obstacles.
“What I Believe” thus stands as both a historical document—a window into the thought of a major African intellectual and political leader during a crucial period—and a continuing contribution to debates about cultural identity, globalization, and the possibility of genuine dialogue among civilizations. It represents Senghor’s attempt to answer the fundamental questions: What does it mean to be African in the modern world? How can different civilizations learn from one another while maintaining their distinctive identities? What kind of universal civilization should humanity strive to create? These questions remain urgent, and Senghor’s answers, whatever their limitations, continue to deserve serious engagement.
