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This article sheds light on male identities in interwar Belgian Congo by using the colony's largest palm oil concession as a case study. Based on colonial archives and oral testimonies, it shows how vernacular and colonial understandings of masculinity interplayed and keep on influencing ways to 'be a man' in the present. This article is divided into four parts. First, it highlights how vigorous male bodies supposedly constituted entry points in the colonial 'civilizing mission'. Second, it addresses the convergences between coming‐of‐age rituals and of palm oil labour as markers of adulthood. Third, it nuances the association of dominant masculinity with brute force by showing how the 'strongest' palm oil workers were suspected to use witchcraft. Fourth, it addresses the apparent contradiction between recollection of colonial labour as an experience of hardships and paternalist 'pampering'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When Belgium was founded in 1830 French was the de facto dominant and prestigious language while Dutch indexed inferiority. This article argues how the marginalization of Flemings, i.e. Belgian speakers of Dutch, can be understood as a form of racialization and how Flemish emancipation was also contingent on the Belgian colonial project and impacted perceived Flemish group interests as 'white'. As participation in the colonial project entailed the promise of upward social mobility, the marginalized Flemings were disproportionally involved in the colony. In that process Dutch did not achieve the same prestigious status as French, but reached a social position at least superior to racialized colonized subjects. This article argues that the role of race and whiteness grounded in that colonial project is still apparent in contemporary Belgium, where political interests of Flemings are systematically framed in opposition to the interest of racialized citizens. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Through the comparison of the choices and the difficulties encountered by the British, Belgian and French colonizers when setting up propaganda systems, this article aims to define a transnational conception of the cinematographic medium. Indeed, the syntheses of the propaganda systems set up in Europe and the reports on the experiments carried out in the colonies reveal a number of recurring preconceptions: cinema as a vector of universally decipherable messages; cinema as a form of direct access to the viewer’s subconscious; cinema as a form of expression of a “European technological superiority”.

Over half a century since the last wave of political decolonisation, the handling of "dark" colonial histories remains topical. Influenced by the postcolonial turn, this study aims to examine, from a novel historical and comparative perspective, evolving textbook representations of Belgian colonialism and its legacy in Belgian and Congolese school history education since 1945. Its diachronic and synchronic narrative analysis identifies continuity and change, and convergences and divergences, in perspectives, emphases, and silences in textbook narratives. Pinpointing the influence of colonialism and postcolonial discourse on educational practices of representation, the study explores the sometimes contradictory influences on these practices of politics, academic historiography, popular historical culture, and processes of educationalisation. The analysis illuminates parallel shifts in the two countries from triumphalist colonialist ideologies towards more critical postcolonial perspectives. In relation to educational practices of representation, often aimed at socialising citizens into worldviews sanctioned by the political dispensation of the time, the traces of these shifts have reflected dominant societal discourses while being largely at odds with historiographical advances. These dynamics are evidence of a slow process of decolonisation of existing power structures and knowledge systems which only gradually gave way to a postcolonial world still in the making. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research into the history of colonial education in Congo has shown that, for a long time, it was dominated by the idea of gradual development of the masses. Here, the problem of selecting an intellectual elite hardly arose. It was only in the 1950s that a growing number of voices began to clamour for the Congolese to be permitted to study in secondary schools and universities. However, psychological testing was not the first means of resort in the selection of an elite. Nevertheless, following the Second World War, the sentiment that psychological testing might be helpful began to take hold in Belgium. Drawing on various international developments, a handful of specialists took up the issue. The analysis of their work shows that much of what Linstrum contended concerning the history of psychological research in the British Empire, also applies to Congo. Despite their modest number, these studies cannot simply be viewed as pretext for the racism deeply ingrained in colonial circles. But this does not mean that pseudo-scientific clichés about the backwardness of the Africans did not make an appearance. Rather the contrary was true. In any event, these studies were not prepared to pierce through general sentiment and therefore, do not seem to have yielded much more than adherence to the new, prestigious scientific research methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the 1920s, the Belgian colonial government appointed a territorial administrator named René Pecheur, a former missionary, to organise the territorial unification of what was conceived as the Ngbaka ethnicity, in the Ubangi region of the Equatorial Province of the Belgian Congo. This project had its place in the larger colonial tendency from the end of the First World War onwards, to replace the former assimilationist policy by an indigenist one. Initially, Pecheur was convinced of the necessity and feasibility of his task, but gradually lost faith and resigned in 1928. He was confronted with the divergence between Belgian ideals and Congolese realities, which led to his moral and mental exhaustion. His case and that of his successor Gaston Crabbeck indicate how individual trajectories and personal crises had a significant impact on the hampered implementation of colonial rule in the Belgian Congo. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Professor Jan Vansina looks back at the early years of his rich academic career as a historian of Africa and more specifically at his field research among the Kuba peoples of the DR Congo. Learning their language and participating in the boys' initiation allowed him to become a deeply involved participant observer. He worked on the current anthropological themes of the day, and more importantly, he also collected oral material for an innovative historiography that would later inspire hundreds of students and researchers. Blinded by cultural prejudice, missionaries and colonial administrators did not understand what he was doing, and saw him as a hopeless case, but Kuba people came to accept him everywhere in the country. As a junior researcher, Vansina had been sent to the Kuba kingdom because of the great reputation of its art in the West. He found out that this same reputation had played a crucial role in the survival of the kingdom, in particular after its initial encounter with the terror of King Leopold's Free State. Kuba kings had learned to deal with the realities of the Belgian Congo, using their revered art for clever diplomacy and bending the model of indirect rule to their own benefit. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the colonial history of the Congo Free State (CFS) during the reign of Belgian King Leopold II, focusing particularly on the culture of violence fostered in the country by its colonial administration. Topics include the historiography of the late 19th-century CFS, the anti-slavery stance of the CFS, racism, ethnic relations and politics, and trade routes.

A study of the Belgian fight against communism in the Congo can uncover the deeper workings of Belgian colonial ‘foreign’ policy. The principles guiding Belgium and its Western partners in their war against the ‘red threat’ give us vital clues to understanding how Belgian governance worked, and shed new light on the Congolese crisis of 1960–61. This article also gives examples of strategies and influences at play during the Cold War, and significant both for the countries developing them and for those which suffered the consequences. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The article explores the collective memory of imperial history and the establishment and exhibitions of history museums in Belgium. The author discusses the founding of the Royal Museum for Central Africa in Tervuren, Belgium and King Leopold's Royal Congo Museum. Emphasis is given to topics such as colonial denial in the 2005 exhibition "La Mémoire du Congo," the diaspora of historical objects and cultural artifacts, exhibitions of Flemish art, and museum design.

This article argues for a thematic and periodization shift in the approach to the history of Congo's decolonization. It demonstrates how debates about cultural heritage and demands for cultural restitution became important aspects of Congolese interpretations of decolonization, and argues that they played an important role in the national and international politics that were central to the construction of the cultural sovereignty of the postcolonial Zairian state. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This article responds to a question put forward approximately a decade ago by the history of education research group at the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven: Did the child-centred ideas of New Education, as promoted by Ovide Decroly, influence the education policy in the former Belgian colony of Congo? Naturally, ideas were circulating that could have been linked with indigenism, taking into account African traditions and local oral traditions. Some hold that in everyday educational practice, as much in Belgium as in the Belgian Congo, the paternalistic perspective remained uninterrupted. Offering a more nuanced picture, this article is based on the biography of Gustaaf Hulstaert, a noted missionary educator, and also analyzes his textbooks and manuals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

La comunità italiana in Congo, formatasi a partire dagli anni Ottanta dell'Ottocento grazie a una collaborazione fra Leopoldo II e Umberto I, fu una delle diaspore italiane più consistenti nell'Africa subsahariana, tanto che il biennio 1903-1904 è conosciuto in Congo come 'l'epoque des italiens'. Gli italiani generalmente venivano utilizzati nelle miniere o nell'agricoltura come una sorta di razza e classe di mezzo fra i belgi e i congolesi, ricostruendo la propria identità a partire dall'impossibilità di essere considerati totalmente bianchi o neri. Analizzando gli scritti letterari in italiano della prima generazione (giunta in Congo negli anni Ottanta e Novanta dell'Ottocento) e della seconda (nata in Congo a partire dagli anni Dieci e Venti del Novecento), è possibile riflettere sulle loro rappresentazioni della razza e del colore che mostrano un'identità razziale molto complessa. La produzione letteraria degli scrittori italo-congolesi si situa fra tre nazioni (l'Italia, il paese di origine; il Belgio, il paese colonizzatore che amministrava il Congo; il Congo, il paese di accoglienza) e attraverso i conflitti e le contraddizioni di cui è impregnata ci mostra le difficoltà della costruzione razziale italiana a partire dall'Unità fino ad oggi. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Journal of Belgian History / Revue Belge d'Histoire Contemporaine is the property of Cegesoma and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The article reports on the testimonies of former Belgian colonials to establish a social profile of the group and to analyze their social memories. There were two research phases: a written questionnaire was first sent to a large sample group, after which oral interviews were conducted with a smaller selection of individual witnesses. The article returns to the methodological path taken during the second stage of the project. First, this article discusses the profile of the witnesses and the choice made for the method of interviewing. Second, it analyses the external factors that potentially impacted the course of the interview.

The article discusses the historiography of Belgium, its colonial possession of the Belgian Congo, colonialism, and imperialism. It considers the book "Tensions of Empire: Colonial Cultures in a Bourgeois World," edited by Frederick Cooper and Ann Laura Stoler. Topics considered include the 1958 Brussels World’s Fair and the segregated experiences of the120 members of the Congolese dance troupe Changwe Yetu, the cross-cultural influences of Belgium and the Belgian Congo, and notions of social mobility or immobility.

Based on the scholarship of Frans M. Olbrechts and the changes implemented in the Museum of the Belgian Congo during his directorship (from 1947 until 1958), this article argues that the institutionalization of African artefacts as art served the late Belgian colonial regime in promoting its renewed postwar commitment to the Congolese colony. In their reinvention as art and subsequent re-installation in modernist displays, the objects acquired not only a cultural, but also an economic and political value as resources, which led to their co-option in the mise-en-valeur, or valorization, of the colony and fuelled a colonial rhetoric that replaced an earlier emphasis on the civilizing mission with a construction of cultural guardianship based on the universal value of the objects as art. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The article discusses the political, diplomatic and cultural influence of France in central Africa and especially in the former Belgian Congo shortly after the colonial period of that country ended. It describes and emphasizes changes within Congolese society. Among other topics addressed are the nature of sources for the history including archives and diplomatic records, the influence of France on the Belgian colonial Congo, and the influence of global politics. The latter includes both world wars and the Cold War.

The article discusses the relationship between ethnicity and class in colonial Rwanda as a means to investigate whether ethnicity exists as a colonial construct. The author examines the processes of ethnicization and racialization begun by German and Belgian authorities that placed Tutsi chiefs in positions of power. It is argued that class was considered a more important marker of identity than ethnicity among colonial administrators. Specific attention is given to the ways in which class and ethnicity informed the colonial prison system, corvée labor, and the imposition of taxes.

Copyright of International Journal of Urban & Regional Research is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The article presents a study which examines the political ascent of Patrice Lumumba, the first prime minister of the Democratic Republic of Congo, his true ideological profile, and his relations with communists during the 1950s in the Belgian Congo. The author discusses Lumumba's anticolonialistic and nationalistic sentiments and the Belgian authorities reactions, how he was perceived by his fellow countrymen, and his involvement with the Mouvement National Congolais (MNC), a Congolese political party. Topics include the Belgian Congo's independence movement, the uprisings in Stanleyville (Democratic Republic of Congo) on October 30, 1959, and the circumstances in which Lumumba was accused of receiving help from communists and whether the allegations were founded.

When the first political troubles broke out in Léopoldville in January 1959, and the mobs demanded—for the first time violently and publicly—independence for the Congo, Brussels circles were the first to be surprised. Belgian specialists in colonial affairs did not even know of most of the parties thrust brusquely into the limelight: the Abako of Joseph Kasavubu, the Mouvement national congolais (M.N.C.) of Patrice Lumumba, and many ethno-political groups with their mystifying initials. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]