Unfinished Histories

Empire and Postcolonial Resonance in Central Africa and Belgium
Erscheinungsjahr 2022
ISBN: 978-94-6270-357-5
Verlag: Leuven University Press

Buch, Englisch, 426 Seiten, Format (B × H): 156 mm x 234 mm, Gewicht: 598 g

Colonial memory and interdisciplinary memorialization across Congo, Rwanda, Burundi and Belgium
Belgian colonialism was short-lived but left significant traces that are still felt in the twenty-first century. This book explores how the imperial past has lived on in Belgium, but also in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Rwanda and Burundi. The contributing authors approach colonial legacies from an interdisciplinary perspective and examine how literature, politics, the arts, the press, cinema, museal practices, architecture, and language policies – but also justice and ethics – have been used to critically revisit this period of African and European history. Whilst engaging with significant figures such as Sammy Baloji, Chokri Ben Chikha, Gaël Faye, François Kabasele, Alexis Kagame, Edmond Leplae, VY Mudimbe, Fiston Mwanza Mujila, Joseph Ndwaniye, and Sony Labou Tansi, this book also analyses the role of places such as the AfricaMuseum, Bujumbura, Colwyn Bay, Kongolo, and the Virunga Park to appraise the links between memory and the development of a postcolonial present.

Contributors: Sarah Arens (University of Liverpool), Robert Burroughs (Leeds Beckett), Bambi Ceuppens (AfricaMuseum), Matthias De Groof (University of Antwerp), Catherine Gilbert (University of Newcastle), Chantal Gishoma (University of Bayreuth), Hannah Grayson (University of Stirling), Dónal Hassett (University of Cork), Sky Herington (University of Warwick), Nicki Hitchcott (University of St Andrews), Yvette Hutchison (University of Warwick), Albert Kasanda (Charles University, Prague), Maëline Le Lay (CNRS/ THALIM, Sorbonne nouvelle), Reuben Loffman (Queen Mary University of London), Caroline Williamson Sinalo (University of Cork)

Ebook available in Open Access.
This publication is GPRC-labeled (Guaranteed Peer-Reviewed Content).

Autoren/Hrsg.

Fraiture, Pierre-Philippe

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Weltgeschichte & Geschichte einzelner Länder und Gebietsräume Geschichte einzelner Länder Afrikanische Geschichte
• Geisteswissenschaften Literaturwissenschaft Postkoloniale Literatur
• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Geschichtliche Themen Kolonialgeschichte, Geschichte des Imperialismus
• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Geschichtliche Themen Postkoloniale Geschichte, Nationale Befreiung und Unabhängigkeit
• Geisteswissenschaften Architektur Architektur: Allgemeines

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Acknowledgements

Thinking, Performing, and Overcoming Belgium’s ‘Colonial Power Matrix’? An Introduction Pierre-Philippe Fraiture

Part 1 — Regimes of Knowledge and Decolonisation
Must Leopold Fall? The Renovation of the AfricaMuseum and Belgium’s Place in International Debates on the Decolonisation of Public Heritage Dónal Hassett

Imperial Fictions: Belgian Novels about Rwanda Nicki Hitchcott

Confronting the Colonial Past? Genocide Education in Francophone Belgian Schools Catherine Gilbert

Part 2 — International Resonances
Imperial Entanglements of the Congo/African Institute, Colwyn Bay, Wales (1889–1911) Robert Burroughs

Performative Challenges to Belgium’s Colonial Amnesia: Mobilising Archives and Resonant Spaces Yvette Hutchison

Writing in Ciluba: From Colonial Extirpation to the Challenge of Globalisation Albert Kasanda

Part 3 — Imperial Practices and Their Afterlives
Media Representations of Burundi’s 2020 Elections in Belgium and Burundi Caroline Williamson Sinalo

Living with Ruination: Rural Neglect and the Persistence of ‘Grey’ Colonial Architecture in Kongolo, Tanganyika, DRC Reuben A. Loffman

Cash Crops and Clichés: Agriculture, Contact Zones, and Afterlives of Belgian Colonialism Sarah Arens

The Legacy of Alexis Kagame: Responses to Conceptions of Colonisation and Evangelisation in Rwanda Chantal Gishoma

Part 4 — Trans-African Entanglements
‘Depuis la Flamandchourie’: Legacies of Belgian Colonialism in Sony Labou Tansi’s Kinshasa Sky Herington

Landscaping and Escaping the Colony in Mudimbe’s, Ruti’s, and Nayigiziki’s Works’ Maëline Le Lay

Récit d’enfance, récit de distance: Gaby as implicated subject in Gaël Faye’s Petit Pays Hannah Grayson

Part 5 —The Emergence of Diasporic Agents
‘Without Art Congo Is Just a Mine’: Art as the Restoration of Shattered Bodies Bambi Ceuppens

From Leopold III’s Masters of the Congo Jungle to Contemporary Congolese Eco-Cinema: Postcolonial Resonance Matthias De Groof

Tracking the Potholes of Colonial History: Sinzo Aanza’s Généalogie d’une banalité and Fiston Mwanza Mujila’s Tram 83 Pierre-Philippe Fraiture

Bibliography About the authors Index

Über Autor(innen)

Fraiture, Pierre-Philippe
Pierre-Philippe Fraiture is professor of French Studies at the University of Warwick.