Reflection on Race & Power in Jean Genet’s Les Nègres

After discussing Artaud, Genet was the man of the hour. We read and saw his play Les Paravents (The Screens). We moved onto reading Les Nègres. Our discussions of this play moved me. After reading articles that were included in our NEH packet to help inform our work, and viewing the plays: Paroles d'Etoiles and Baraï Chom Ast (see earlier posts),and finally after encountering Foucault, I needed to reflect and write about Genet and Les Nègres.

In 1958, Jean Genet was asked to write a play. It explicitly required that ALL the actors be Black. There is no doubt that this play deals with race. Its title makes it extremely obvious with its repetitive use of the word nègres, Les Nègres: Clownerie Pour jour “Les Nègres”. Genet is not trying to conceal his message. But by steeping this play in a ritual, his play becomes a dialogue on power and empowerment. In religious rites, adherents of the rite seek to find strength beyond what they have in their daily life. They seek a higher self – their own through identification with a loa or God, in communion with like-minded individuals. I will attempt to look at how Genet presents this notion of race and power in Les Nègres.

Genet’s work is conveyed through a solemn rite. The stage he sets for Les Nègres requires a funeral bier, covered with a cloth. This actually resembles an altar found in Roman Catholic masses. Although costumes were to be colorful and outlandish, they were to be representations of formal clothing. His actors wore what was essentially gowns, black tie and tails. His presentations seemed to echo the work of Antonin Artaud as they required a sacrifice in order for the participants to transcend the physical plane for transformation. Much as Artaud experienced the purging of his pain and thus his transformation during what he called the “best three days of his life” in which he transcended his body achieving his “death” while alive, or much as Yoruba ritual of bloodshed (the killing of a cock in the animist ceremony of West African religions, or even like the attempted sacrifice of Oedipus’ father to purge the ills of a society, Les Nègres presents a ceremonial rite which will purge and transform an oppressed people, and symbolically rid them of their oppressor. Genet wrote that this performance was explicitly to be played in front of a White audience. They would be symbolically sacrificed on stage in order to render their colonial power system powerless. The audience members would either reject or be complicit in the action. Either way, the message was clear, a new era was upon them, regardless of how the spectators reacted to this play.

Genet was fascinated by ritual, and he wanted to present anything that would disturb, and anger « polite » society...he always perceived himself as an outcast (born to a French prostitute, and never knowing the identity of his father, he was considered a bastard). Genet was also homosexual and thus, he identified with those who were rejected by society. He was politically active in support of the oppressed during the struggles for independence especially in the French colonies post 1945. He also came to the USA to show support for the Civil Rights movement in America.

Les Nègres is a woven artifact, whose structure consists of four theatrical performances. The actors are performing a play that requires a dead woman (white) on a bier in the center of the stage. There must be a criminal, a man (black) who has murdered her in the name of all colonized people (blacks), as the victim of their hatred. Within the ritual, the characters present the myth of the Black Stud who “rapes” and later will “kill” the White Woman, whose honor and dignity must be avenged. The five actors representing Whites (colonial power) wear white masks which do not completely conceal their black skins, and they represent the symbols of colonialism: queen, valet, missionary, governor, judge. The other actors who represent the Negroes (term used when this play was written) or Blacks (transitional term coming into use in the 60’s) perform the ritual for them (the theatrical performance which represents the first strand in our weave). Later, the Whites (performed by the actors who are black) enter the story to judge the Black characters (2nd strand); Then, there is the 3rd strand -- a story of judgment of a deposed Black leader which takes place only off stage and which is reported by a Black character who appears on stage from time to time with an occasional report. This strand is marked by the fact that it seems that ALL the actors leave their roles in the ritual (strands 1 and 2) to listen to the report. And finally, the 4th strand consists of a budding love story between two actors, one who consistently transgresses from the ritual when he (Village) addresses his love interest, and declares his love for another performer (Virtue), whose role in the ritual (strands 1 and 2) is quite nebulous in itself.

This play was performed in New York in 1961 and ran for 1, 408 performances. The original cast consisted of Maya Angelou as the queen, James Earl Jones as Archibald, Cicely Tyson and Louis Gossett, Jr.

Here are the names of the characters in English—this could be discussed further in another paper.

THE BLACKS
(women) (men)
Felicity - Archibald
Bobo - Diouf
Snow - Newport News
Virtue - Village

THE WHITES
The Queen
The Valet
The Governor
The Missionary
The Judge

I leave it to the reader to consider these names and the role they may play in a discussion of this play.

My interest in this discussion lies in the question of power within the play. Who has the power and how do we know it? The reader of this play will recognize where the power lies by where it does not reside. We recognize its absence in the hatred and violence the characters in the play express for the “murdered” White woman. Regarding the staging of "The Blacks" by Roger Blin, Jeanette L. Savona writes: "Although the acting was violent and reflected the secret jubilation of the actors--who were able to express their resentment against the white world-it also contained a great deal of humour and fantasy." Savona also writes about the staging in New York by director Robert Goldsby and says: "His black actors were not fully professional but they managed to convey the 'brutality of forceful vehemence' and the 'nebulous world of imagistic abstraction' encompassed in Genet's play." Savona then continues by saying: "The rite (1 and 2 above) represents a collective endeavor to reinforce the Blacks' hatred of the Whites and strengthen their desire to annihilate white values."

The most striking part of Savona’s comments are: 'resentment against the white world', 'forceful vehemence' & 'reinforce the Blacks' hatred of the Whites'. I think Genet would agree with that interpretation of his play. This makes this one scary play in today's world. We discussed whether this play could be performed in 2007. What would be the obstacles for staging this play? Who would react? How would people react? Why? What kind of discussions could this engender?

Jean Genet was a contemporary of Jean Paul Sartre whose theories on existentialism required the individual to act. Sartre believed our existence preceded our essence. And that the individual was definable only after what they had become. Genet came in contact with the work of Aimé Césaire, Léopold Sédor Senghor (negritude movement begun in the 1930s), Franz Fanon and Michel Foucault among others. A lot of the themes explored in “The Blacks” can be found in the works of these writers and poets.

It is French philosopher, Michel Foucault, who seems to be fascinated with discussions of power. Foucault’s work does not vilify the concept of power. His comments support a well ordered society, and its mandate for wielding power for the sake of security. Oxford professor Robert Young discusses Foucault’s influence during the colonial period and he found it surprising that although Foucault lived in North Africa, witnessed the anti-colonial sentiments firsthand or read about them as French society post ’45 was stirring with these questions of identity and power, he failed to use these examples in his writings. In his essay, “Foucault on Race and Colonialism”, Young cites Foucault:

"What gives power its hold, what makes it accepted, is quite simply the fact that it does not weigh like a force, which says no, but that it runs through, and produces, things, it induces pleasures, it forms knowledge, it produces discourses; it must be considered as a productive network which runs through the entire social body much more than as a negative instance whose function is repression." (Power, Truth and Strategy)

Therefore power exists, and some have it and some do not. Foucault believes that it works subtly, permeates our life influencing the way we act without a conscious reflection required. Unlike the world immediately following the World War II, where racism was explicit and legal, today, racism’s power exists in the very fact that we question whether we can stage a play such as Les Nègres! The power of racism exists in the very fact that we cannot talk about racism without someone feeling as if they are being attacked or worrying that someone will feel hurt when the subtle ways in which discrimination exists are unveiled. The power of racism exists in the very fact that the majority feels threatened by minority voices. The power of racism exists in the fact that genocide exists, that the powerless around the world suffer endlessly: non-potable water, poverty, illness from diseases that are curable and illiteracy. The power of racism exists when we think that all we have to do is teach tolerance, as if that were enough. The power of racism exists when we do not realize that ALL our children need to learn to find solutions to problems, to help others when they are hurting, and to speak out against injustice.

In his critique of Léopold Sédar Senghor the negritude movement, renowned playwright, Wole Soyinka is quoted as saying “A tiger does not shout its tigritude, it acts”. People who are white do not spend time thinking about being white, but in America, an American woman of Haitian descent always considers the fact that she is other: of Haitian origin, a woman and Black. In essence Genet’s act for weakening racism was in writing Les Nègres and annihilating racism in the theater.

Genet's Les Nègres is an explicit identification of the power system in colonialism. And the intention of the Blacks is to take that power away from the Whites, by invoking and purging, through ritual, the centuries of injustice experienced by the colonized. Note, when the Whites descend from the balcony, when they stop being spectators and wish to act, they discover that there is no body, no victim, and therefore no criminal, and no judgment. In symbolically destroying the myth in this way, the Blacks have rendered the Whites powerless. As already mentioned, Genet was asked to write a play that would be performed by Black actors. Roger Blin, who would later direct Genet’s “The Screens” (a play whose action revolves around the Algerian War) was working with a group of actors, La Compagnie des Griots, Black actors from both Africa and the Caribbean. This message, this purpose was real for these performers in 1959. Les Nègres is a work of genius, as Genet captures aspects of Black culture—in the role of women in African matriarchal societies (non-Christian, non-Islamic). The verbal sparring between the Queen and Felicity has been replayed in countless stories and real life! Not dissimilar to the tradition of “Yo Mama” play/debates in school grounds in African-American culture. The rebellion occurring off stage represents countless of instances where revolutionaries attempted to overturn the power dynamic.

However, that was over forty years ago! Is 2007 politically and economically different from the world of the 1960s? We are now 60 years past World War II. Oprah Winfrey is listed in the Fortune 500 and has just built a school for young leaders in South Africa. Nelson Mandela is free and was president of South Africa! Racism, as it existed in 1960 is ugly and unacceptable. Legislation, mission statements and corporate policies state clearly that discrimination will not be tolerated. Populations have shifted, and in countries like the USA and France, the demographics have drastically changed, and these nations among others are exploding in multicultural dynamics.

The Civil Rights movement, Malcolm X, Martin Luther King, Michel Foucault, Jean Genet, and Jean-Paul Sartre are dead. The former colonial powers, no longer govern their former colonies. Yet, what Genet couldn’t know, although he hints at it in the action off-stage, was that 60 years later, former colonies continue to suffer from poverty, civil unrest, oppression, rebellion, and genocide. There is a subtle, unnamed power dynamic which continues to exist in republics run by Africans themselves.

Thus, is there a need to present Les Nègres today? Yes. Racism is the ultimate form of the dialectic of power. Today, Les Nègres: Clownerie pour jour “Les nègres” speaks to the marginalized, the outcasts, and the silenced voices. I remember wanting to choose a mascot for my high school in 1984 and pushing for the “Panthers”. My teachers, witnesses to the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s and 1970s and White nuns, were concerned that I wanted the image of a black panther as our logo…they not see anything beyond that. But, I was oblivious. I was in high school in the early to mid 80s, I said, “Hunh? No, no, the Pink Panther. Who are the black panthers?” These lovely ladies had only taught me about MLK and his call for non-violence, for peace. But they had planted a seed.

In senior year of college, I remember buying Public Enemy’s Fear of a Black Planet, because Chuck D spoke of the pain I could not express, of the injustice that I had been assured did not exist for me. But I had experienced racism firsthand. I was rejected for an interview for a position as an au pair in France because I was une femme de couleur. I recall the placement coordinator handling my file apologizing profusely. She said that the woman on the phone indicated that it was not her rule, but that of the apartment management. Who were the racists in that story? I left, not showing my tears to placement coordinator, but bawling all the way home. Like Genet, rappers today continue to speak for the marginalized, the outcasts, the silenced voices. French rapper Diams writes in 2006:

C'est pas ma France à moi cette France profonde
Celle qui nous fout la honte et aimerait que l'on plonge
Ma France à moi ne vit pas dans l'mensonge
Avec le coeur et la rage, à la lumière, pas dans l'ombre

Ma France à moi elle a des halls et des chambres où elle s'enferme,
Elle est drôle et Jamel Debbouze pourrait être son frère,
Elle repeint les murs et les trains parce qu'ils sont ternes
Elle se plaît à foutre la merde car on la pousse à ne rien faire.
Elle a besoin de sport et de danse pour évacuer,
Elle va au bout de ses folies au risque de se tuer,
Mais ma France à moi elle vit, au moins elle l'ouvre, au moins elle rit,
Et refuse de se soumettre à cette France qui voudrait qu'on bouge.
Ma France à moi, c'est pas la leur, celle qui vote extrême,
Celle qui bannit les jeunes, anti-rap sur la FM,
Celle qui s'croit au Texas, celle qui a peur de nos bandes,
Celle qui vénère Sarko, intolérante et gênante.
Celle qui regarde Julie Lescaut et regrette le temps des Choristes,
Qui laisse crever les pauvres, et met ses propres parents à l'hospice,
Non, ma France à moi c'est pas la leur qui fête le Beaujolais,
Et qui préte nd s'être fait baiser par l'arrivée des immigrés,
Celle qui pue le racisme mais qui fait semblant d'être ouverte,
Cette France hypocrite qui est peut-être sous ma fenêtre,
Celle qui pense que la police a toujours bien fait son travail,
Celle qui se gratte les couilles à table en regardant Laurent Gerra,
Non, c'est pas ma France à moi, cette France profonde
Alors peut-être qu'on dérange mais nos valeurs vaincront
Et si on est des citoyens, alors aux armes la jeunesse,
Ma France à moi leur tiendra tête, jusqu'à ce qu'ils nous respectent.

Artists such as Diams’ reveal what many do not see regarding the power dynamic. If there are people oppressed, who are the oppressors? Who will play Les Nègres and for what purpose? Did Genet envision a world that would constantly be working to overthrow the power dynamic? Did Genet expect his ritual to be played night after night? Genet does not advocate anarchy. There cannot be disorder in ritual. Artaud required that acolytes be trained formerly before undertaking a performance in his Theater of Cruelty.

As I am a bit of an optimist, I believe that Genet ends his play with a note of optimism. Village and Virtue have the last lines of the play before joining the other actors. Virtue asks Village to be creative in expressing his love for her rather than using the same old romances, words and actions. Village promises that he will do this, even if his initial attempts are pathetic and amusing. Village and Virtue represent a new order…However, at the time the play was written, Genet could not determine what this new world order should look like or how it would be achieved. He did not try to define it. Many authors present difficult theories without providing a method for implementing those ideas. What would happen if all elements of society were truly allied around an ideal? There is a message in the names that Genet provides for these characters. What if Village represented all of mankind and Virtue (although she is a prostitute in the play) represented life, liberty, happiness, equality and justice (the qualities of a virtuous person?). Might Genet be saying: Change the old way of looking at power. Ensure life, liberty, happiness, equality and justice for all. As our experiences our diverse, so should be our solutions.

Diams. “Ma France à moi”. Dans Ma Bulle. 2006. 16 Jul 2007.
< http://www.paroles.net/chansons/38484.htm >

Genet, Jean. Les Nègres: Clownerie pour jouer “Les Nègres”. Gallimard: Paris, 1963.

Godomski, Rapahael. “Wole Soyinka: All You Want to Know About”. 16 Jul 2007.
< http://wolesoyinka.blogspot.com/2006/01/biography_18.html >

Kivel, Paul. Uprooting Racism: How White People Can Work for Racial Justice. New Society
Publishers: Philadelphia, 2002.

Morot, Edouard. “Culture et humour dans la literature Negro-Africaine de langue
française”. Ethiopiques. 15 Jul 2007.
< http://www.refer.sn/ethiopiques/article.php3?id_article=924&artsuite= >

Savona, Jeannette L. Jean Genet. Grove Press, Inc.: New York, 1983.

Young, Robert J.C. “Foucault on Race and Colonialism”. 1995. 13 Jul 2007.
< http://robertjcyoung.com/Foucaul.pdf >