The great thinker and “pharaoh of knowledge” Cheikh Anta Diop (December 29, 1923 – February 7, 1986) would have been 102 years old this Monday, December 29, 2025. On this occasion, an intellectual and citizen meeting is being held today at the Grand Théâtre national in Dakar, around the major geopolitical issues of the African continent.
The memory and legacy of Professor Cheikh Anta Diop will be at the heart of this major meeting, organized by the Dakar–Thieytou International March and the Karbone 14 Movement, in collaboration with the Grand Théâtre national.
Placed under the theme “African sovereignty and geopolitical recomposition”, the commemoration aims to be a framework for reflection, transmission and debate, in touch with the contemporary challenges of Africa.
Researchers, students, cultural actors and engaged citizens are invited to take part in these exchanges, intended to revisit the scientific, pan-African and political thought of Cheikh Anta Diop, a major figure in African intellectual history.
Through this initiative, the organizers intend to strengthen citizen debate and keep alive the legacy of a thinker whose work continues to inspire struggles for emancipation, sovereignty and African unity.
Political opponent
Each year, in December and February, several cultural events are organized in tribute to the famous Senegalese scholar, whose work contributed, according to many historians, to the rehabilitation of black African civilizations.
Through his theses, Cheikh Anta Diop maintained that black peoples played a central role in the birth of the civilization of Pharaonic Egypt during Antiquity, and that several civilizations, notably Greek, were influenced by ancient Egypt, particularly in scientific fields.
However, these theses remain contested by certain Egyptologists, particularly Western ones.
Professor Diop’s rich bibliography covers the history of Africa, its languages and its societies, but also physics, politics and economics. A supporter of a federal state for black Africa, Cheikh Anta Diop was also a political opponent of the first president of Senegal, Léopold Sédar Senghor (1960-1980), then of his successor Abdou Diouf (1981-2000).
Salla GUEYE
