Lyrical framework and political superconsciousness in Afro-descendant poetry: a reading of "Voix nègres, voix rebelles, voix fraternelles", by Jean Métellus

Abstract

The 20^th century was a pivotal period in the struggle for emancipation by the African people and their diasporas throughout the world. From anti-systemic racism movements in the United States, to the struggle against apartheid in South Africa, to the demands for independence in the former colonies, writers have been at the forefront to carry the desire of self-determination and legitimacy of the African everywhere in the world. This context allowed the erection in the dominant space of the subordinate voices that echo a counter-discourse of the established order. The literary work of Jean Métellus in the lineage of hagiographic African poetry poses the problem of the celebration and sacralization of heroes/heralds in the continental and diasporic African space. Poetry assumes a social and political function in the Aristotelian sense of the term. Thus, beyond poetry which is the art of speech, the poetic act becomes an act of resilience and agency in the writings of the Haitian poet. With a focus on the celebration of heroic figures in the geographical space of the South, this paper recalls the condition of the African subject at key moments in the history of the struggle of dominated peoples by highlighting the figures of Pan-African activism. This article is part of the phenomenological approach of literature that puts forwards the iconoclastic gaze of the poet on the world of consecrated deities, sometimes through the rape of the imaginary of colonized peoples. This paper was written following the subjective and referential dimensions through a decolonial reading.