Festival Mondial des Arts Nègres (FESMAN)

Abstract This chapter addresses the role played by the Festival Mondial des Arts Nègres (FESMAN) in cultivating cultural connections between continental Africans and African Americans. Conceived at a 1959 meeting of the Society of African Culture (SAC), the three-week FESMAN in April 1966 was the first major world event on African soil in which continental Africans and Africans in the Diaspora mobilized around politics, arts, and culture. While some political figures and intellectuals did not support the idea of Négritude or the Festival, most agreed that Maurice Senghor was “the right man” to take on the task SAC set forth. A major factor in Senghor’s cultural policy was the notion of cultural exchange; among his significant objectives was to persuade the outside world to participate in such exchanges with Africa generally and with Senegal particularly, allowing Africans to demonstrate that the “Black World” had contributed to “universal civilization” despite European claims to the contrary. The chapter then looks at the US political interest and involvement in the 1966 Festival. It also considers the colloquium Fonction et Signification de L’art Négro-Africain dans la Vie de Peuple et pour le Peuple (Function and Significance of Negro Arts in the Life of the People and for the People), during which more than thirty writers, artists, and scholars gathered to discuss the traditional function of art in Africa.