Amilcar Cabral - Resistance and Decolonization (Reinventing Critical Theory)

Resistance and Decolonization

Amlcar Cabral

Translated by Dan Wood

With an introduction by Reiland Rabaka and Dan Wood

London New York

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English translation copyright 2016 by Rowman & Littlefield International

Introductory material 2016 by Dan Wood and Reiland Rabaka

Copyright 1977 from The Role of Culture and the Struggle for Independence by Amlcar Cabral and Michel Vale. Reproduced by permission of Taylor & Francis, LLC (https://www.tandfonline.com)

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the publisher, except by a reviewer who may quote passages in a review.

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Information Available

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

ISBN: HB 978-1-7834-8375-4

ISBN: PB 978-1-7834-8374-7

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Cabral, Amlcar, 1924-1973, author. | Rabaka, Reiland, 1972- writer of introduction. | Cabral, Amlcar, 1924-1973. Anlise de alguns tipos de resistncia. English. | Cabral, Amlcar, 1924-1973. Cultura nacional. English.

Title: Resistance and Decolonization / By Amlcar Cabral ; Translated By Dan Wood ; Introduction by Reiland Rabaka.

Description: Lanham, Maryland : Rowman & Littlefield International, 2016. | Series: Reinventing critical theory | Includes bibliographical references and index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2016000814 (print) | LCCN 2016007249 (ebook) | ISBN 9781783483747 (cloth : alk. paper) | ISBN 9781783483754 (pbk. : alk. paper) | ISBN 9781783483761 (electronic)

Subjects: LCSH: National liberation movements--Guinea-Bissau. | Guerrillas--Guinea-Bissau. | Guinea-Bissau--Politics and government--To 1974. | Nationalism. | Politics and culture. | National liberation movements.

Classification: LCC DT613.78 .C32613 2016 (print) | LCC DT613.78 (ebook) | DDC 966.57/02--dc23

LC record available at http://lccn.loc.gov/2016000814

TM The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American National Standard for Information Sciences Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992.

Printed in the United States of America

I would first like to express my sincere gratitude to all of those at Seara Nova and the Fundao Amlcar Cabral who kindly assisted me in this project. I express my deep gratitude to Reiland Rabaka for his contribution to this volume, his continual words of support and encouragement, and his profound engagement with Cabrals critical and political theory. Much of the present work is inspired by his various contributions. Special thanks to Carlos Reis, Miguel Lima, Celeste Mann, A. R. Monteiro, and all of those who helped in the translation of a number of terms. This book would also not exist without the engaging discussions at the Atelier de Thorie Critique at the Sorbonne in July of 2015, or without the patient assistance of Annika Thiem, Sarah Campbell, Gabriel Rockhill, and Nik Fogle. I must also thank my colleagues Eneida Jacobsen and Jasmine Wallace for their generous assistance with aspects of this book, as well as the helpful discussions with and documents shared by Tendayi Sithole. Any errors in the text are my own, though its possible merits derive from the innumerable and usually inconspicuous support systems without which I certainly could not think, write, or translate, most notably Claire. Last but not least, I thank Cabral for his inspiring words, actions, and example.

Introductions, Investigations, and Interpretations

Reiland Rabaka

Amlcar Cabral, Cabralism, and
Africana Critical Theory

The Cape Verdean and Bissau-Guinean revolutionary Amlcar Lopes da Costa Cabral connects with and contributes to the Africana tradition of critical theory in several poignant, provocative, and extremely profound ways. First, it should be mentioned that [a]lthough he did not start out or train as a philosopher, Cabral, according to the Nigerian philosopher Olufemi Taiwo (1999), bequeathed to us a body of writings containing his reflections on such issues as the nature and course of social transformation, human nature, history, violence, oppression and liberation (6). Second, and as eloquently argued by the Eritrean philosopher Tsenay Serequeberhan (1991), Cabrals ideas led to action (i.e., actual cultural, historical, social, and political transformation, and ultimately revolutionary decolonization, revolutionary re-Africanization, and national liberation) and, therefore, represents the zenith of twentieth-century Africana revolutionary theory and praxis (20). Third, and finally, Cabrals writings and reflections provide us with a series of unique contributions to radical politics and critical social theory, which la W. E. B. Du Bois, C. L. R. James, Claudia Jones, George Padmore, Jean Price-Mars, Lon-Gontran Damas, Aim Csaire, Lopold Senghor, Louise Thompson Patterson, Frantz Fanon, Malcolm X, Ella Baker, Stokely Carmichael, Angela Davis, Walter Rodney, the Black Panther Party, and the Combahee River Collective, among othersseeks to simultaneously critique the incessantly overlapping, interlocking, and intersecting nature of racism, sexism, capitalism, and colonialism in contemporary society.