Abstract
This article analyses the role of visual cultures in debates surrounding memories of the Belgian colonial project and its long-term consequences by focusing on a single case study, Barly Baruti’s and Christophe Cassiau-Haurie’s comic Madame Livingstone: Congo, La Grande Guerre (2014). Focusing on how the image-text represents ‘official’ commemoration versus ‘private’ memories in the context of the Belgian colonialism and the First World War in the Great Lakes region, it highlights how a focus on the visual can also function as a counterproduction of images that emphasise the complex and contested nature of commemoration in a transnational context.
Highlights
‘We note with concern the public monuments and memorials that are dedicated to King Leopold II and Force Publique officers, given their complicity in atrocities in Africa
Working Group is of the view that closing the dark chapter in history, and reconciliation and healing, requires that Belgians should confront, and acknowledge, King Leopold II’s and Belgium’s role in colonization and its long-term impact on Belgium and Africa.” – Extract from a statement to the media by the United Nations Working Group of Experts on People of African Descent, 11 February 2019 In February 2019, the United Nations Working Group of Experts on People of African Descent published a 74-point report on the conclusion of its official visit to Belgium the same month
While the first eleven points highlight governmental, institutional and grassroots initiatives to combat racism and hate crime and to promote the cultures of African diasporas, notably Congolese, the report unambiguously concludes that ‘[d]espite the positive measures referred to above, the Working Group is concerned about the human rights situation of people of African descent in Belgium who experience racism and racial discrimination’ (n.p.)
Summary
‘We note with concern the public monuments and memorials that are dedicated to King Leopold II and Force Publique officers, given their complicity in atrocities in Africa.
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