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Decolonizing Diplomacy: Senghor, Kennedy, and the Practice of Ideological Resistance

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 January 2021

Yohann C. Ripert Open the ORCID record for Yohann C. Ripert [Opens in a new window]
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Abstract

At the turn of the 1960s, Léopold Sédar Senghor and John F. Kennedy vowed to radically transform African foreign policy. Through a close reading of a recently declassified correspondence and a historical analysis of two behind-the-scenes negotiations, Senghor’s first state visit to the U.S. and Kennedy’s support for the First World Festival of Negro Arts, Ripert examines the private and public concatenations that lead both statesmen to transform policymaking not by implementing new policies but by challenging inherited ideologies. Though their efforts did not always bring successful change in policymaking, the diplomatic correspondence between the two newly elected leaders reveals a more subtle and sustainable transformation: a decolonization of diplomacy.

Résumé

Résumé

Au tournant des années 1960, Léopold Sédar Senghor et John F. Kennedy se sont engagés dans une transformation radicale de la politique étrangère africaine. Par une lecture minutieuse d’une correspondance récemment déclassifiée et une analyse historique des coulisses de deux négociations, la première visite d’état de Senghor aux États-Unis et la participation de Kennedy à l’élaboration du Premier Festival Mondial des Arts Nègres, Ripert examine les concaténations publiques et privées qui ont amené les deux chefs d’état à transformer la pratique politique non par la mise en place de nouvelles politiques mais en défiant les héritages idéologiques. Si leurs efforts pour un changement de politique n’ont pas toujours été couronné de succès, cette correspondance diplomatique entre les deux chefs d’état nouvellement élus révèle une transformation plus subtile et durable: une décolonisation de la diplomatie.

Resumo

Resumo

No final da década de 1960, Léopold Sédar Senghor e John F. Kennedy prometeram transformar radicalmente a política externa africana. Através da leitura minuciosa de uma correspondência epistolar recentemente desclassificada e aberta ao público e da análise historiográfica de duas negociações de bastidores – a primeira visita de Estado de Senghor aos EUA e o apoio que Kennedy concedeu ao Primeiro Festival Internacional de Arte Negra –, Ripert debruça-se sobre a sequência de eventos públicos e privados que levaram estes dois homens de Estado a transformar a política não através da implementação de novas medidas, mas através do questionamento das ideologias do passado. Ainda que os seus esforços nem sempre se tenham traduzido em mudanças políticas bem-sucedidas, a correspondência entre estes dois líderes recém-eleitos revela uma transformação mais subtil e sustentável: a descolonização da diplomacia.

Keywords

KennedySenghordiplomacydecolonizationideologyforeign policyFirst World Festival of Negro ArtsNegritude
Type
Article
Information
African Studies Review , Volume 64 , Issue 2 , June 2021 , pp. 292 - 314
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the African Studies Association

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