Resolutely Black

Aimé Césaire (1913-2008) was born in Basse-Pointe, Martinique, and was an anticolonial theorist, activist, writer and poet.Françoise Vergès has held the Global South(s) Professorship at the Maison des sciences de l’homme, Paris.

• Note on the translationPreface by Françoise VergèsInterviewsPostface by Françoise VergèsWorks by Aimé CésaireNotes

“Whether it be his poetry, plays, essays, or speeches, Aimé Césaire's writing has remained a canonical essential for over 50 years, but only with the arrival of Resolutely Black can we now enjoy the kinds of detailed insights and commentary worthy of his stature. The interviews with Françoise Vergès further underscore the unnerving prescience of Césaire when it comes to racial politics while also providing much-needed context, depth and texture. A ‘must’ for all students and scholars who study power, diaspora, culture, identity and belonging in the modern world.”Michelle Wright, Emory University“Resolutely Black offers English language readers a fascinating series of primarily political conversations [Françoise] Vergès had with Martinican poet, playwright, and politician Aimé Césaire late in his long life, just four years before he died at age ninety-four in 2008. […] Vergès’s framing of these interviews and the incisive writings around them in both her preface and postface to the book are crucial for getting at the complexities of Césaire’s legacies. […] The translator of Resolutely Black, Matthew B. Smith […] is an experienced translator who enables readers of this book to hear the source text in the translation, something only very talented translators can do.”Katerina Gonzalez Seligmann, Simone de Beauvoir Studies