Senghor embraced Tempels as enabling genuine dialogue between Europe and Africa

Evidence

Dialogue has always been at the heart of African Weltanschauung. It is found in its simplified form in the legendary “palaver” of the traditional philosophic sagacity. In our contemporary epoch, Senghor defines Negritude as a philosophy of liberty and dialogue in his notions of “la civilisation de l’universel” and “le métissage culturel”. His philosophic essays and his poetry call for “dialogue among cultures” and “dialogue among civilizations.” When Bantu Philosophy burst on the intellectual scene, Senghor immediately embraced the book and praised its author. For Senghor the Catholic, Tempels was one of those rare voices of reason that acknowledged the dignity of African humanity and rationality, a missionary of good faith who was poised to facilitate much needed dialogue between what he called “Latinité” and “Africanité” – not dialogue between civilized and savages, but dialogue among equals between Africa and Europe. — Frans Dokman, Beyond Bantu Philosophy_…, 656

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the broader discourse on Negritude and Senghor’s philosophy of cultural mixing and universal civilization.
• QUESTION: The ‘palaver’ as simplified dialogue raises the question of how traditional African dialogic practice relates to Western dialogue ethics.