"In Senghor's Shadow" is a unique study of modern art in postindependence Senegal. Elizabeth Harney examines the art that flourished during the administration of Leopold Sedar Senghor, Senegal's first president, and in the decades since he stepped down in 1980. As a major philosopher and poet of Negritude, Senghor envisioned an active and revolutionary role for modern artists, and he created a well-funded system for nurturing their work. In questioning the canon of art produced under his aegis--known as the Ecole de Dakar--Harney reconsiders Senghor's Negritude philosophy, his desire to...

"In Senghor's Shadow" is a unique study of modern art in postindependence Senegal. Elizabeth Harney examines the art that flourished during the administration of Leopold Sedar Senghor, Senegal's first president, and in the decades since he stepped down in 1980. As a major philosopher and poet of Negritude, Senghor envisioned an active and revolutionary role for modern artists, and he created a well-funded system for nurturing their work. In questioning the canon of art produced under his aegis--known as the Ecole de Dakar--Harney reconsiders Senghor's Negritude philosophy, his desire to...