Léopold Sédar Senghor, «The Black Soul», 19 March 1960
French National Archives, reference number 20100024/36
An iconic figure of the 20the In the 20th century, the Senegalese poet, writer and statesman Léopold Sédar Senghor (1906–2001) was one of the leading figures of the «Négritude» literary movement (alongside Aimé Césaire from Martinique, in particular). His work, characterised by lyricism and humanism, earned him a place in the Académie française in 1983, making him the first African to be elected as a member.
Politically, Senghor played a decisive role in Senegal’s march towards independence. Having served as a member of parliament and as a minister in several French governments under the Fourthe Republic; he became the first President of the Republic of Senegal on 7 September 1960, a post he held with a commitment to modernisation and stability until his voluntary resignation in 1980.
Beyond his terms of office, he remains a leading figure in the Francophonie, of which he was a fervent advocate. Convinced that the French language could serve as a bridge between peoples, he helped to shape the institutions that today promote cultural and linguistic cooperation across the world.
On 19 March 1960, whilst he was President of Mali’s short-lived Federal Assembly, the IHEDN invited him to speak on the ’black soul«. Senghor did so using the vocabulary of the time – employing terms such as »race«, »Negro« or »Negro-African« – which, taken out of context, might shock contemporary readers. At a time when France’s African colonies were gaining their independence, his ambition was to foster greater mutual understanding within a »renewed Community«.
He posits as a fundamental principle that «the great reality of the 20the The 21st century is characterised by the clash of civilisations in the development of the »Civilisation of the Universal’, to which each continent must make its own specific contribution. For Senghor, this intimate understanding is the prerequisite sine qua non of any joint political project.
The speaker highlights a profound divergence in attitudes towards nature and the world: whilst the European, a man of will, analyses and objectifies reality in order to subdue it, the Black African proceeds by «intuition» and «participation». Senghor defines «Negritude» as the totality of the cultural values of the Black world, characterised by emotion, which he describes as an «affective attitude towards the world». Far from being a weakness, this emotionality is presented as a «source of Black African knowledge and art», providing access to an invisible and magical ‘sub-reality’ that animates appearances.
In conclusion, Senghor emphasises that these differences, evident in both art and community social structures, are not insurmountable obstacles but rather the foundation for a fruitful partnership. He advocates for a Confederation in which the partners agree to be «different yet united», considering that recognition of these psychological and cultural specificities is essential to the success of Franco-African cooperation. He thus sees this meeting of cultures as a «meeting of give and take» capable of serving as a model for humanity.
Throughout these thirteen pages, the future member of the Académie Française sets out his arguments in poetic prose, as these few extracts illustrate:
«Unfortunately, we are not angels; whilst we may, in reality, be higher animals, we are animals all the same.»
«In Black Africa, hidden behind social phenomena, lie the forces that govern them, animating appearances, giving them colour and rhythm, life and meaning.»
«Black African society, like the universe, is an interconnected system of vital forces.»
Alfred Sauvy, «The World’s Population», 19 December 1975
French National Archives, reference number 20100024/81
The influence of the demographer, economist and sociologist Alfred Sauvy (1898–1990) had a profound impact on public policy in the 20the century. A graduate of the École Polytechnique and a statistician by training, he devoted much of his career to the analysis of populations and their dynamics, notably serving as director of the National Institute for Demographic Studies (INED), which he helped to found in 1945. His approach, combining statistical rigour with social observation, made him a leading figure in the debate on demographic decline and the ageing of French society.
Known for his sharp mind and his talent for explaining complex ideas in simple terms, he is famous for having coined the term «Third World» in 1952, drawing a historical parallel with the Third Estate of the French Revolution. The following year, he gave his first lecture at the IHEDN on demography in Europe. A prolific author, he theorised the «shift» of the working population between different sectors of activity, a major contribution to our understanding of economic change.
As is often the case with the National Archives collection devoted to lectures given at the IHEDN, this document is not the full text of his lecture – his second and final one at the Institute – but a summary written by a member of the audience.
On 19 December 1975, Alfred Sauvy himself admitted:
«The «Third World» – a term I coined many years ago – now encompasses very different realities. It is no longer a valid generalisation: alongside countries that have become wealthy, there are peoples suffering from hunger.»
The speaker emphasises that the global population explosion, which began after 1945 with the widespread adoption of medical techniques, is creating a major imbalance in relation to food resources. He strongly criticises the doomsday predictions of the Club of Rome (a think tank which published the report «The Limits to Growth» in 1972), describing them as «scientific quackery» because they ignore the divisions between rich and poor countries, the latter being unable to obtain the protein hoarded by developed nations. Furthermore, he states that the latter «degrade and destroy the environment, pollute the air with carbon dioxide and are driving climate change».
The demographer emphasises that birth control is a matter of «education» and «cultural change» that cannot be imposed from outside, as demonstrated by the failures of compulsory contraception programmes in the Third World. Conversely, he notes that countries such as Singapore, Formosa (now Taiwan) and Hong Kong have stabilised their populations thanks to a collective awareness of the «value of human life and the value of children».
Finally, Sauvy warns wealthy countries against the illusion that their own low birth rates would compensate for those of poorer countries. He warns that Europe, threatened by a «rejection of life» and severe ageing, is turning into a «society of the infirm» (people in a permanent state of ill health) doomed to disappear in the face of an influx of younger, more dynamic populations.
Fernand Braudel, «The Characteristics of Civilisation in the Mediterranean Basin», 11 January 1977
French National Archives, reference number 20100024/83
Fernand Braudel (1902–1985) was one of the most influential historians of the 20the century on a global scale. After teaching in Algiers and then in São Paulo, he joined the École pratique des hautes études in Paris, where he succeeded Lucien Febvre, the founder of the École des Annales (alongside Marc Bloch). His seminal work, The Mediterranean and the Mediterranean World in the time of Philip II (1949) revolutionised the discipline by introducing the concept of the «longue durée» and shifting historians’ focus from mere accounts of events to deep-seated geographical, economic and social structures.
Beyond his research, Braudel had a profound influence on French academia. As director of the VIe As a member of the École pratique des hautes études and founder of the Maison des sciences de l’homme, he shaped research in the humanities by promoting an interdisciplinary approach. His last major project, Material civilisation, the economy and capitalism (1979) confirmed his ambition to present a comprehensive history capable of capturing the dynamics of the world over several centuries, establishing him as a leading figure in contemporary intellectual thought.
As with Sauvy, the document we are presenting is a summary of his 1977 lecture, but this time it includes questions from the audience (which we have anonymised).
Fernand Braudel presents the Mediterranean basin as a complex «world economy», which must be analysed over a long timescale in order to distinguish between what is fundamental and what is ephemeral. He identifies three enduring variables: the physical environment (a man-made ecosystem), biological realities (demographic behaviour) and, above all, civilisations: «Man is subject to the geographical environment and biological realities, but it is he who builds civilisations.»
For Braudel, «civilisations are not fundamentally mortal», unlike states or economic systems, whose developments are more rapid and often superficial:
«Like all political realities, states do not last as long as one might think. In Italy in the 13the and XIVe »As many states over the centuries as there are in the world today."
The historian emphasises that civilisations, centred on myths and beliefs, dictate the underlying course of history, as evidenced by the difficulty in assimilating populations during past conquests in Spain or Algeria. Whilst the Mediterranean has long played a «formative» role for civilisations, it now finds itself on the periphery as the global economic centre of gravity has shifted towards the United States. Braudel, moreover, expresses marked pessimism regarding the region’s economic future, given that since 1970 we have entered a phase of «decline» within a secular cycle.
During his discussions with the audience, Braudel elaborated on his views regarding contemporary issues, particularly in relation to ideologies. He observes that Marxist ideology is «at home in the Mediterranean», explaining that Catholic countries in the region are more receptive to it than Protestant ones because the latter harbour no hostility towards capital. With regard to French influence, he advocates an effective policy based on the training of foreign intellectuals rather than simply increasing the number of educational facilities abroad:
«France pays little attention to its true riches, which are its cultural riches.»
The IHEDN would like to thank the Archives Unit within the Prime Minister’s Office for facilitating access to these speeches.
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