Léopold Senghor’s poem celebrates the female elements of African and African-heritage people. The Senegalese poet further associates femaleness with the essence of the African continent. The personification of Africanness is established as black and beautiful, as well as “na_ked.” The poem locates females within a range of traditional identities, including the mother, the lover, and the creative artist. In contrast to this positive view presented by an African male, Senghor offers the Conqueror: the white colonialist’s attitude was one of domination, the desired mastery that included sexual domination through ra_pe. In the latter regard, the poet sexualizes political-economic conquest and associates women with the colonized and men with the colonizers. The lyrical qualities of the poem complement the poet’s praise of the black African woman’s creative qualities, both as mother and musician. The generative, fecund nature that he promotes is a characteristic not only of the fertility of the human and the land, but also extends into the celestial and, by association, spiritual realm. A range of colours, not only black, emphasizing the glory of Africa, as “gold” suggests the sun as well as the mineral wealth of West Africa, especially the Gold Coast colony (contemporary Ghana). An additional area of contrast is between the optimism of song, fertility, and hope in the “eternal” continuation against the exploitation, destruction, and despair that the land might be turned into “ashes.” In the poem’s celebratory attitude toward the continent and women, Senghor presents a positive view of race and land as associated with gender. In that he is a man writing about women, however, his approach can also be understood as promoting the dominant male gaze that objectifies women.
