To better understand the growth of urban culture, I turned to a collection edited by Jean-Luc Vellut, Itinéraires croisés de la modernité: Congo belge (1920–1950) (Tervuren, Belgium, 2000). In it I found fascinating chapters dealing with Scouting, soccer, media, the color bar, and daily life in the colonial city. Concerning the unique role of Tata Raphaël de la Kéthulle I read, in addition to the chapter contributed by Bénédicte Van Peel to Vellut’s collection, the article by Roland Renson and Christel Peeters, “Sport als missie: Raphaël de la Kéthulle de Ryhove (1890–1956),” in Voor lichaam en geest: katholieken, lichamelijke opvoeding en sport in de 19de en 20ste eeuw, edited by M. D’hoker, R. Renson, and J. Tolleneer (Leuven/Louvain, Belgium, 1994). More information about the Catholic Church’s work among young people was found in publications including Karl Catteeuw, “Cardijn in Congo: De ontwikkeling en betekenis van de Katholieke Arbeidersjeugd in Belgisch-Congo,” Brood en Rozen (1999). Sara Boel wrote an interesting doctoral dissertation about the regime’s attempts to control the media and the arts: “Censuur in Belgisch Congo (1908–1960): Een onderzoek naar de controle op de pers, de film, en de muziek door de koloniale overheid” (Vrije Universiteit Brussels, 2005). Bruce Fetter has discussed local club life and the Catholic Church’s attempts at recuperation in his classic article “African Associations in Elisabethville, 1910–1935: Their Origins and Development,” Études d’Histoire africaine (1974). An older work by Georges Brausch, Belgian Administration in the Congo (London, 1961) remains worth reading due to its nuanced chapter dealing with the color bar. Benoît Verhaegen wrote an excellent article about the exaggerated fear of the Red Menace, “Communisme et anticommunisme au Congo (1920–1960),” Brood en Rozen (1999). Concerning body politics, the medicalization of Congolese society, and the local reactions to that in the Congolese interior, see the fascinating study by Nancy R. Hunt, A Colonial Lexicon: Of Birth Ritual, Medicalization, and Mobility in the Congo (Durham, NC, 1999).
In his above-mentioned In het land van de Banoko (Leuven/Louvain, Belgium, 1993), Zana Aziza Etambla dedicates a very enlightening chapter to Paul Panda Farnana and his Union Congolaise. See also François Bontinck, “Mfumu Paul Panda Farnana, 1888–1930: Premier (?) nationaliste congolais,” in La dépendance de l’Afrique et les moyens d’y remédier, edited by V. Y. Mudimbe (Paris, 1980). In contemporary Congolese circles one notes renewed interest in this early champion of his countrymen’s interests. Didier Mumengi honored him with Panda Farnana, premier universitaire congolais, 1888–1930 (Paris, 2005). Antoine Tshitungu Kongolo examined his connections with the Belgian intellegentsia in: “Paul Panda Farnana (1888–1930), panafricaniste, nationaliste, intellectuel engagé: Une contribution à l’étude de sa pensée et de son action,” L’Africain (2003).
CHAPTER 5
A clear overview of World War II in Africa and its impact on colonialism is found in Michael Crowder’s article “The Second World War: Prelude to Decolonization in Africa,” in The Cambridge History of Africa, vol. 8 (Cambridge, UK, 1984). A more recent survey of the situation in the Belgian Congo, unfortunately, remains lacking. The latest attempt at such a survey dates from the 1980s, from Belgium’s Koninklijke Academie voor Overzeese Wetenschappen, Bijdragen over Belgisch-Congo tijdens de Tweede Wereldoorlog (Brussels, 1983); of greatest use to me were the articles by Léon de Saint-Moulin, Jean-Luc Vellut, Benoît Verhaegen, Gustaaf Hulstaert, Jonathan Helmreich, and Antoine Rubbens. The collection does not deal with the military aspects, however, which are covered by Emile Janssens, Contribution à l’histoire militaire du Congo belge pendant la Seconde Guerre mondiale, 1940–45 (Brussels, 1982–1984). The Abyssinian campaign was documented by a few Belgian officers who took part in it, including R. Werbrouck, La campagne des troupes coloniales belges en Abyssinie (Léopoldville, 1945), and Philippe Brousmiche, Bortaï: Faradje, Asosa, Gambela, Saio: Journal de campagne (Doornik/Tournai, Belgium, 1987). Felix Denis placed online the diary and above all the fascinating photo album compiled by his father-in-law, Lieutenant Carlo Blomme at http://force-publique-1941.skynetblogs.be/. See also Christine Denuit-Somerhausen and Francis Balace, “Abyssinie 41: Du mirage à la victoire,” in Jours de lutte, edited by F. Balace (Brussels, 1992).
Concerning the role of Katangan uranium in the development of the atomic bomb, see Jacques Vanderlinden, À propos de l’uranium congolais (Brussels, 1991), and Jonathan E. Helmreich, “The Uranium Negotiations of 1944,” in Bijdragen over Belgisch-Congo tijdens de Tweede Wereldoorlog (Brussels, 1983). I also refer the reader to his Gathering Rare Ores: The Diplomacy of Uranium Acquisition, 1943–1954 (Princeton, NJ, 1986), and L’uranium, la Belgique, et les puissances by Pierre Buch and Jacques Vanderlinden (Brussels, 1995).
The social unrest in the mines has been lavishly documented in the above-mentioned book by Perrings, Black Mineworkers in Central Africa. I also consulted J.-L. Vellut, “Le Katanga industriel en 1944: Malaises et anxiétés dans la société coloniale,” in Bijdragen over Belgisch-Congo tijdens de Tweede Wereldoorlog (Brussels, 1983). Especially useful was the study by Tshibangu Kabet Musas, “La situation sociale dans le ressort administratif de Likasi (ex-Territoire de Jadotville) pendant la Guerre 1940–1945,” Études d’Histoire Africaine (1974), and that by Bogumil Jewsiewicki, Kilola Lema, and Jean-Luc Vellut, “Documents pour servir à l’histoire sociale du Zaïre: Grèves dans le Bas-Congo (Bas-Zaïre) en 1945,” Études d’Histoire Africaine (1973). The clearest overview I found, however, was that by Bogumil Jewsiewicki, “La contestation sociale et la naissance du prolétariat au Zaïre au cours de la première moitié du XXe siècle,” Revue Canadienne des Études Africaines (1976).
Vladimir Drachoussoff’s fascinating wartime diary appeared in a modest print-run under his pseudonym Vladi Souchard, Jours de brousse: Congo 1940–1945 (Brussels, 1983). It was one of the most gripping documents that I had the pleasure to read while preparing this history. Governor General Pierre Ryckmans and Father Placide Tempels held nuanced views of colonial reality, see Ryckmans’s Dominer pour servir (Brussels, 1948), and Tempels’s Bantoe-filosofie (Antwerp, 1946). Also see Jacques Vanderlinden, Pierre Ryckmans, 1891–1959: Coloniser dans l’honneur (Brussels, 1994). Concerning this postwar period, see Nestor Delval’s highly readable essay, “Schuld in Kongo?” (Leuven/Louvain, Belgium, 1966).
With regard to the postwar years, Anton Rubbens’s work, Dettes de guerre (Elisabethville, 1945), comes highly recommended. It comprises a number of critical articles that appeared in the newspaper L’Essor du Congo. In addition, the reports drawn up by the Commission Permanente pour la Protection des Indigènes are required reading; besides containing useful social information, they illustrate quite characteristically the colonial paradigm; see L. Guebels, Relation complète des travaux de la Commission Permanente pour la Protection des Indigènes, 1911–1951 (Brussels, 1952). An excellent introduction to the subject of the trade unions and social protest is found in the 1999 thematic issue of Brood en Rozen, “Sociale bewegingen in Belgisch-Congo.” I also consulted André Corneille, Le syndicalisme au Katanga (Elisabethville, 1945), Arthur Doucy and Pierre Feldheim, Problèmes du travail et politique sociale au Congo belge (Brussels, 1952), and R. Poupart, Première esquisse de l’évolution du syndicalisme au Congo (Brussels, 1960).
I gained a better understanding of life in the colonial city from the books of Filip De Boeck and Marie-Françoise Plissart, Kinshasa: Tales of the Invisible City (Ghent, Belgium, 2004), and Johan Lagae, Kongo zoals het is: Drie architectuurverhalen uit de Belgische kolonisatiegeschiedenis (1920–1960) (Ghent, Belgium, 2002). The work of Suzanne Comhaire-Sylvian, Femmes de Kinshasa: hier et aujourd’hui (Paris, 1968), Valdo Pons, Stanleyville: An African Urban Community under Belgian Administration (Oxford, 1969), and W. C. Klein, De Congolese elite (Amsterdam, 1957), provided me with a vivid picture of the new urban culture. The operations and impact of the radio broadcasts for a Congolese audience are discussed by Greta Pauwels-Boon, L’origine, l’évolution, et le fonctionnement de la radiodiffusion au Zaïre de
1937 à 1960 (Tervuren, Belgium, 1979), and Sara Boel, “Censuur in Belgisch Congo (1908–1960): Een onderzoek naar de controle op de pers, de film en de muziek door de koloniale overheid” (Vrije Universiteit Brussels, 2005). Concerning the association of Raphaël de la Kéthulle’s alumni, see Charles Tshimanga, “L’ADAPES et la formation d’une élite au Congo (1925–1945)” in Itinéraires croisés de la modernité: Congo belge (1920–1950), edited by J.-L. Vellut (Tervuren, Belgium, 2000).
The fate of the évolués has been discussed in many publications and by numerous authors such as Stengers, Young, and Ndaywel. The standard work is Jean-Marie Mutamba Makombo, Du Congo Belge au Congo indépendant 1940–1960 (Kinshasa, 1998). A highly interesting study is by Mukala Kadima-Nzuji, who establishes a tie between social ressentiment, the press, and literature in La littérature zaïroise de langue française (1945–1965) (Paris, 1984). Concerning the establishment of the first Congolese university, see Ruben Mantels’s interesting Geleerd in de tropen: Leuven, Congo en de wetenschap, 1885–1960 (Leuven/Louvain, Belgium, 2007). King Baudouin’s visit is colorfully depicted by Erik Raspoet, Bwana Kitoko en de koning van de Bakuba: Een vorstelijke ontmoeting op de evenaar (Antwerp, Belgium, 2005).
The lines at the end of this chapter were taken from the collection Esanzo by Antoine-Roger Bolamba, one of the loveliest works of Congolese poetry.
CHAPTER 6
The literature dealing with Congo’s decolonization is abundant, but often also of inconsistent quality, dated and exaggeratedly “white” in its views. The very best book about the period remains Politics in the Congo by Crawford Young (Princeton, 1965). Almost half a century after its first publication, the reader is still amazed to see how—so soon after the events themselves—the author was able to lucidly analyze and document the major processes. In doing so, Young was undoubtedly helped by the fabulous work already done by the Centre de Recherche et d’Information Socio-Politiques (CRISP) in Brussels, an inspiring and conscientious documentation center where researchers such as Jean Van Lierde, Benoît Verhaegen, and Jules Gérard-Libois have done pioneering work. CRISP’s yearbooks and studies of political movements remain to this day an indispensable source for historical research into the 1950s and 1960s in Congo. CRISP also published Young’s standard work in French.
Another older, but still highly valuable study is that by Paule Bouvier, L’accession du Congo belge à l’indépendance (Brussels, 1965). More recently, Zana Aziza Etambala has collected a sizeable amount of new archive material in two highly readable volumes, Congo 55/65: Van Koning Boudewijn tot president Mobutu (Tielt, Belgium, 1999), and De teloorgang van een modelkolonie: Belgisch Congo (1958–1960) (Leuven/Louvain, Belgium, 2008). Of the many memoirs published concerning the turbulent decolonization, those by Jef Van Bilsen, a key figure in the process, are extremely worthwhile, Kongo 1945–1965: Het einde van een kolonie (Leuven/Louvain, Belgium, 1993).
Concerning the international context of the Congolese struggle for independence, I profited greatly from Pierre Queuille, Histoire de l’afro-asiatisme jusqu’à Bandoung: la naissance du tiers-monde (Paris, 1965), and Colin Legum, Pan-Africanism: A Short Political Guide (New York, 1965).
Kinshasa’s youth cultures have been described by Didier Gondola in Villes miroirs: Migrations et identités urbaines à Kinshasa et Brazzaville, 1930–1970 (Paris, 1997). The above-mentioned work by Filip De Boeck also gives attention to the phenomenon of the “bills” and the “moziki.” The political dimension of Congolese soccer is the subject of an excellent documentary by Jan Antonissen and Joeri Weyn: F.C. Indépendance (2007). The violent rioting in the capital in 1959 has attracted a great deal of attention. Jacques Marras and Pierre De Vos wrote the accessible L’équinoxe de janvier: Les émeutes de Léopoldville (Brussels, 1959), but J’étais le général Janssens (Brussels, 1961) by General Émile Janssens, who commanded the Force Publique and was therefore far from impartial, is also worth reading.
The first generation of political figures has been dealt with widely. Concerning Kasavubu, see Benoît Verhaegen and Charles Tshimanga, L’Abako et l’indépendance du Congo belge: Dix ans de nationalisme kongo (1950–1960) (Tervuren, Belgium, 2003). On Lumumba, see Jean Omasombo Tshonda and Benoît Verhaegen, Patrice Lumumba: Jeunesse et apprentissage politique, 1925–1956 (Tervuren, Belgium, 1998), and their sequel, Patrice Lumumba: De la prison aux portes du pouvoir, juillet 1956–février 1960 (Tervuren, Belgium, 2005). The best study of Lumumba was written by Jean-Claude Willame, Patrice Lumumba: La crise congolaise revisitée (Paris, 1990). Other works have come mostly from the outspokenly partisan, with all inherent advantages and disadvantages; what the reader gains in terms of histoire vécue (history as it was lived) is usually lost to a lack of nuance and perspective. Pierre De Vos wrote the very readable, but not always accurate Vie et mort de Lumumba (Paris, 1961); Francis Monheim seemed head-over-heels in love when he wrote Mobutu, l’homme seul (Brussels, 1962); and Jules Chomé avoided seeming enraged but was very much so when he published Moïse Tshombe et l’escroquerie katangaise (Brussels, 1966). In La pensée politique de Patrice Lumumba (Paris, 1963), Jean Van Lierde brought together Lumumba’s most important speeches, articles, and correspondance. The foreword by Jean-Paul Sartre is, aside from its predictability, still impressive.
Studies examining the partisan squabbling with greater distance are also rare. P. Caprasse, however, with his Leaders africains en milieu urbain (Elisabethville) (Brussels, 1959), provided a magnificent sociological approach that went far beyond the local focus of his Katangan fieldwork. He devoted special attention to the rhetoric with which tribal awareness was exploited. Luc Fierlafyn went further in the same vein and submitted the political texts of that day to an interesting rhetorical analysis, Le discours nationaliste au Congo belge durant la période 1955–1960 (Brussels, 1990).
CHAPTER 8
The whirlwind of events that combined around the formation of the First Republic have been subjected to examinations numerous enough to fill a bookcase. A recent and broad historical survey is lacking, but solid studies have appeared concerning all individual aspects. Walter Geerts’s Binza 10: De eerste tien onafhankelijkheidsjaren van de Democratische Republiek Congo (Ghent, Belgium, 1970) still provides a clear introduction. Zana Aziza Etambala’s Congo 55/65: Van koning Boudewijn tot president Mobutu (Leuven/Louvain, Belgium, 1999), and Jef Van Bilsens highly important Kongo 1945–1965: Het einde van een kolonie (Leuven/Louvain, Belgium, 1993) also provide accessible points of departure for the interested reader. The above-mentioned CRISP yearbooks are essential reading as well.
Concerning the mutiny within the national armed forces, Louis-François Vanderstraeten wrote the definitive study, Histoire d’une mutinerie, juillet 1960: De la Force Publique à l’Armée nationale congolaise (Paris, 1985). He gave a great deal of attention to the atmosphere of panic, the sudden exodus of the remaining Belgians, and the Belgian military intervention. For a vivid picture of those days, see two books by Peter Verlinden, Weg uit Congo: Het drama van de kolonialen (Leuven/Louvain, Belgium, 2002), and Achterblijven in Congo: een drama voor de Congolezen? (Leuven/Louvain, Belgium, 2008). Marie-Bénédicte Dembour wrote an interesting anthropological study on the perspective of the former colonials, Recalling the Belgian Congo (New York, 2000).
How the Congo crisis drew Africa into the Cold War is the subject of a truly magnificent analysis in the epic documentary by Jihan El Tahri, Cuba, une odyssée africaine (Arte, 2007). The film not only includes interviews with Cuban veterans, but also with leading Congolese, Russian, and American figures of that day: it is a stunning portrait of the Cold War machinations within Africa. For the American perspective, see Stephen R. Weissman, American Foreign Policy in the Congo 1960–1964 (Ithaca, NY, 1974), and Romain Yakem-tchouk, Les relations entre les États-Unis et le Zaïre (Brussels, 1986). For the communist perspective, see Le monde communiste et la crise du Congo belge, edited by Arthur Wauters (Brussels, 1961), and Edouard Mendiaux, Moscou, Accra, et le Congo (Brussels, 1960). Form
er CIA boss Larry Devlin recently published his strikingly frank memoires, Chief of Station, Congo: A Memoir of 1960–67 (New York, 2007). More recently, Frank R. Villafaña has drawn attention to the confrontation between left- and right-wing Cubans in Congo in Cold War in the Congo: The Confrontation of Cuban Military Forces, 1960–1967 (New Brunswick, NJ, 2009).
The UN operations have been the subject of commentary from various authors. Georges Abi-Saab analyzed the implications for international law in The United Nations Operation in the Congo 1960–1964 (Oxford, 1978). Claude Leclercq granted a great deal of attention to the situation on the ground in L’ONU et l’affaire du Congo (Paris, 1964). Georges Martelli delivered a very negative verdict in Experiment in World Government: An Account of the United Nations Operation in the Congo 1960–1964 (London, 1966). The United Nations played such a striking role that other forms of multilateralism have tended to be somewhat neglected. Concerning the establishment of the Organization of African Unity and its contribution to the conflict, see Catherine Hoskyns, The Organization of African Unity and the Congo Crisis (Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, 1969).
Lumumba’s murder is know best of all from the oft-translated classic by Ludo De Witte, De moord op Lumumba (Leuven/Louvain, Belgium, 1999). In Belgium the book prompted the establishment of a parliamentary investigative subcommittee consisting of four historians charged with combing the available archives with a view to establishing the extent of Belgian culpability in the killing. Their report was bone dry but scrupulous: Luc De Vos et al., Lumumba: De complotten? De moord (Leuven/Louvain, Belgium, 2004). For the American involvement in the affair, see Madeleine Kalb, The Congo Cables: The Cold War in Africa, from Eisenhower to Kennedy (New York, 1982), and the recent article by Stephen R. Weissman, “An Extraordinary Rendition,” Intelligence and National Security (2010). For the perspective of two Congolese politicians who had once been Lumumba’s allies, see Cléophas Kamitatu, La grande mystification du Congo-Kinshasa: Les crimes de Mobutu (Paris, 1971), and Thomas Kanza, Conflict in the Congo: The Rise and Fall of Lumumba (Baltimore, 1972).
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