LEADER 04410nam 2200805Ia 450 001 9910810756503321 005 20240416152407.0 010 $a0-674-26298-0 010 $a0-674-03424-4 024 7 $a10.4159/9780674034242 035 $a(CKB)1000000000805432 035 $a(OCoLC)630878640 035 $a(CaPaEBR)ebrary10331293 035 $a(SSID)ssj0000485147 035 $a(PQKBManifestationID)11294021 035 $a(PQKBTitleCode)TC0000485147 035 $a(PQKBWorkID)10603761 035 $a(PQKB)10947718 035 $a(SSID)ssj0000177742 035 $a(PQKBManifestationID)12055422 035 $a(PQKBTitleCode)TC0000177742 035 $a(PQKBWorkID)10218415 035 $a(PQKB)11501125 035 $a(MiAaPQ)EBC3300707 035 $a(Au-PeEL)EBL3300707 035 $a(CaPaEBR)ebr10331293 035 $a(OCoLC)923116551 035 $a(DE-B1597)584977 035 $a(DE-B1597)9780674034242 035 $a(OCoLC)1322125622 035 $a(EXLCZ)991000000000805432 100 $a19980327d1998 uy 0 101 0 $aeng 135 $aurcn||||||||| 181 $ctxt 182 $cc 183 $acr 200 10$aIn search of Africa /$fManthia Diawara 205 $a1st ed. 210 $aCambridge, MA $cHarvard University Press$d1998 215 $a1 online resource (301 p.) 300 $aBibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph 311 $a0-674-44611-9 311 $a0-674-00408-6 320 $aIncludes bibliographical references (p. 279-282) and index. 327 $tFrontmatter -- $tPreface -- $tContents -- $tSituation I. Sartre and African Modernism -- $tSituation II. Richard Wright and Modern Africa -- $tSituation III. Malcolm X: Conversionists versus Culturalists -- $tSituation IV. Homeboy Cosmopolitan -- $tReferences -- $tIndex 330 $a"There I was, standing alone, unable to cry as I said goodbye to Sidimé Laye, my best friend, and to the revolution that had opened the door of modernity for me--the revolution that had invented me." This book gives us the story of a quest for a childhood friend, for the past and present, and above all for an Africa that is struggling to find its future. In 1996 Manthia Diawara, a distinguished professor of film and literature in New York City, returns to Guinea, thirty-two years after he and his family were expelled from the newly liberated country. He is beginning work on a documentary about Sékou Touré, the dictator who was Guinea's first post-independence leader. Despite the years that have gone by, Diawara expects to be welcomed as an insider, and is shocked to discover that he is not. The Africa that Diawara finds is not the one on the verge of barbarism, as described in the Western press. Yet neither is it the Africa of his childhood, when the excitement of independence made everything seem possible for young Africans. His search for Sidimé Laye leads Diawara to profound meditations on Africa's culture. He suggests solutions that might overcome the stultifying legacy of colonialism and age-old social practices, yet that will mobilize indigenous strengths and energies. In the face of Africa's dilemmas, Diawara accords an important role to the culture of the diaspora as well as to traditional music and literature--to James Brown, Miles Davis, and Salif Kéita, to Richard Wright, Spike Lee, and the ancient epics of the griots. And Diawara's journey enlightens us in the most disarming way with humor, conversations, and well-told tales. 606 $aWest Africans$zUnited States$xEthnic identity 606 $aWest Africans$zUnited States$vBiography 606 $aAfrican Americans$xRelations with Africans 606 $aPan-Africanism 606 $aAfrican American arts 606 $aArts, African 607 $aUnited States$xRelations$zAfrica, French-speaking West 607 $aAfrica, French-speaking West$xRelations$zUnited States 615 0$aWest Africans$xEthnic identity. 615 0$aWest Africans 615 0$aAfrican Americans$xRelations with Africans. 615 0$aPan-Africanism. 615 0$aAfrican American arts. 615 0$aArts, African. 676 $a973/.0496 700 $aDiawara$b Manthia$f1953-$0685880 801 0$bMiAaPQ 801 1$bMiAaPQ 801 2$bMiAaPQ 906 $aBOOK 912 $a9910810756503321 996 $aIn search of Africa$91268542 997 $aUNINA