Love Labor Liberation In Lasana Sekou

Nonfiction. Language and Literature. Criticism and Interpretation. Caribbean Area Civilisation. The writings of Lasana M. Sekou have been compared to the works of a range of poets, from Aime Cesaire to Oswald Mtshali, from Kamau Brathwaite to Dylan Thomas, from e.e. cummings to Linton Kwesi Johnson, but Fergus insists that "the voice that reaches us is sui generis, unique and Sekouesque." Fergus throws wide ajar the doors to enter into Sekou's poetics with authority and anticipation."

For review see: Howard A. Fergus, in The New Voices, vol. 15, no. 29/30 (1987); p. 200-207 and in Caribbean contact (jan. 1987); p. 15.

For review see: Howard A. Fergus, in The Caribbean Writer, vol. 4 (1990); p. 100-101.

History, culture, environmental conservation, profiles of historical figures of the Caribbean island of St. Martin.

Poetry. African Diaspora Studies. Lasana M. Sekou's 37 POEMS was written in China while the St. Martin poet was a visiting fellow at Asia's first International Writers' Workshop (2004) in Hong Kong and Beijing. Coming from a 37-square-mile Caribbean island, Sekou has been steadily reaching readers in the Caribbean, the Americas, Europe, Africa, and Asia through his writing and performances. Readers who think they know his poetic style will be pleasantly surprised at his streamlined use of language in 37 POEMS, which makes the collection even more potent than Sekou's previous release, THE SALT REAPER, which predates 37 POEMS by just a few months. "Somewhere between the grace of haiku and the weight of the epic, Sekou has crafted his most elegant work to date. 37 POEMS is both love song and lament"-Drisana Deborah Jack, author of "The Rainy Season."

Doit-on considérer la Négritude comme un mouvement ancré dans la fin de la période coloniale et sur lequel il n’y a plus lieu de revenir ? C’est une des questions que le colloque qui s’est tenu à l’Université des West Indies à la Barbade en l’honneur du centenaire de la naissance de Senghor s’efforce d’explorer. Lylian Kesteloot nous rappelle encore récemment dans son étude Césaire et Senghor un pont sur l’Atlantique l’importance de ce mouvement qui entre les années trente et soixante a participé à la naissance de la littérature africaine. La question du particularisme que le mot Négritude implique et de son opposé l’universel sera largement débattue dans les pages de cet ouvrage. Les articles de cet essai discutent les défauts essentialistes de la Négritude senghorienne, mais également le fait que dans les termes de Senghor « la Négritude est un mythe », donc une construction identitaire, l’expression d’une invention. Il envisageait par exemple l’avènement d’un socialisme africain, dans une interprétation unique du marxisme. En tant que mouvement poétique, philosophique, littéraire, ou en tant que réponse idéologique à une oppression, les auteurs africains et antillais étudiés ici et qui traitent de thèmes très contemporains, démontrent la vivacité d’une Négritude toujours d’actualité dans sa présentation des cultures. Il faut bien entendu dépasser la notion raciale contenue dans le terme et insister sur le culturel, le philosophique et l’esthétique, pour accepter que la Négritude ait une pertinence actuelle. Notamment nous verrons que la Négritude s’est métamorphosée aux Antilles où au Brésil en d’originaux projets idéologiques et esthétiques. Should Negritude be seen as a movement that originated at the end of the colonial era and merits no further study in this contemporary world? This is one of the questions explored in the Colloquium held at the University of the West Indies, Barbados, to mark the centenary of the birth of Léopold Sedar Senghor. In a recent study, Césaire et Senghor: Un pont sur l’Atlantique, Lylian Kesteloot reminds her readers of the importance of Negritude which contributed to the emergence of African literature between 1930 and 1960. The idea of essentialism which the word Negritude implies, as well as the opposite idea of universalism, will be widely discussed in the pages of this work. This collection of essays acknowledges the essential shortcomings of Senghor’s Negritude, but, at the same time, underlines the fact that in Senghor’s words, “Negritude is a myth” and therefore has to do with the construction of (an) identity and is the expression of an imaginary creation. It envisaged, for example, the creation of an African form of socialism within a unique interpretation of Marxism. In this volume, African and Caribbean writers who are concerned with contemporary issues, demonstrate the vitality of Negritude as a poetic, philosophical and literary movement and as an ideological response to oppression that is still relevant in its presentation of cultures. Clearly, it is necessary to go beyond the notion of race implied in the term and to focus on the cultural, philosophical and aesthetic elements in order to appreciate the relevance of Negritude today. Most notably in the Caribbean or Brazil, Negritude has been transformed into original ideological and aesthetic projects.

Caribbean Art presents and discusses the diverse, fascinating and highly accomplished work of Caribbean artists, whether indigenous or from the diaspora, popular or high culture, rural or urban based, politically radical or religious. This expanded edition has a new preface, and has been updated to reflect on recent challenges to the ideological premises and institutions of conventional art-historical practice and their connections to histories of colonialism, Eurocentricity and race. Two new chapters focus on public monuments linked to the history of the Caribbean, and the intersections between art and tourism, raising important questions about cultural representation. Featuring the work of internationally recognized artists such as Sonia Boyce, Christopher Cozier, Wifredo Lam, Ana Mendieta, Ebony G. Patterson, Hervé Télémaque, and more than 100 others working across a variety of media, this new edition makes an important contribution to the understanding of Caribbean art and its context, in ways that invite and encourage further explorations on the subject.

Fiction. Short stories. Lasana M. Sekou is the author of 11 books of poetry, monologues, and short stories. He is the leading writer of St. Martin and is considered one of the prolific Caribbean poets of his generation. His writings are taught in high schools and dramatized on stage and in carnival presentations. Brotherhood of the Spurs is his latest collection of short stories. "Brotherhood of The Spurs brings a new dimension to the growing stature of Lasana M. Sekou as a St. Martin and Caribbean writer"--George Lamming.