Op de raaklijn tussen het historische en literaire. Het Vlaamse koloniale proza tot 1960 toegelicht door Luc Renders

Publications on Dutch literature about the Belgian Congo that have appeared to date are fragmentary and scattered across scholarly as well as cultural journals, collected volumes, and conference proceedings. There are practically no comprehensive studies on the history of Flemish colonial literature. Koloniseren om te beschaven. Het Nederlandstalige Congoproza van 1596 tot 1960, a recently released book by Luc Renders, aspires to redress this gap in research. Renders’ book can be considered the first as wide-ranging and detailed literary-historical exploration of pre-1960 colonial literature, which is presented against an extensive historical background. Crucially, Renders not only compiles the existing research on colonial writings in Dutch, but also contributes to it in an important way.

Between colonial medicine and global health: protein malnutrition and UNICEF milk in the Belgian Congo

During the last decades of colonial rule, Belgian colonial authorities, health agencies and researchers intensely engaged with kwashiorkor, a severe syndrome that was deemed widespread among young children in some parts of the Belgian Congo and Ruanda-Urundi and chiefly attributed to protein malnutrition. To fight kwashiorkor, the Belgian government, in the early 1950s, set up a joint milk distribution campaign with the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund, Food and Agriculture Organization and World Health Organization, the first of its kind in colonial Africa. Placing this campaign in the context of mounting international and inter-imperial concern about kwashiorkor and other nutritional problems in Africa and across the globe, this article explores its rationales, mechanisms and consequences, and in particular, how the campaign was shaped and publicised by FORÉAMI, one of the main health providers on the ground. It not only contributes to the history of European colonial medicine and nutritional policies, but also opens new perspectives on international health collaboration during late colonialism. It argues that Belgian authorities were wary of international interference in colonial policies, but that especially FORÉAMI also viewed and used the campaign as an opportunity to display its ‘mastery’ in rural and infant healthcare and control the narrative on Belgium’s colonial medicine.

Newly Discovered Archival Data Show Coincidence of a Peak of Sexually Transmitted Diseases with the Early Epicenter of Pandemic HIV-1

To which extent STDs facilitated HIV-1 adaptation to humans, sparking the pandemic, is still unknown. We searched colonial medical records from 1906–1958 for Leopoldville, Belgian Congo, which was the initial epicenter of pandemic HIV-1, compiling counts of treated STD cases in both Africans and Europeans. Almost all Europeans were being treated, while for Africans, generalized treatment started only in 1929. Treated STD counts in Europeans thus reflect STD infection rates more accurately compared to counts in Africans. In Africans, the highest recorded STD treatment incidence was in 1929–1935, declining to low levels in the 1950s. In Europeans, the recorded treatment incidences were highest during the period 1910–1920, far exceeding those in Africans. Europeans were overwhelmingly male and had frequent sexual contact with African females. Consequently, high STD incidence among Europeans must have coincided with high prevalence and incidence in the city’s African population. The data strongly suggest the worst STD period was 1910–1920 for both Africans and Europeans, which coincides with the estimated origin of pandemic HIV-1. Given the strong effect of STD coinfections on HIV transmission, these new data support our hypothesis of a causal effect of STDs on the epidemic emergence of HIV-1.

Comics in Colonial Africa

Comic books did not appear in Africa until the arrival of the Europeans and the methodical integration of their civilization at the expense of preexisting civilizations. However, prior to their arrival, there did exist, among many peoples—particularly the Bamum people—a culture of the image. The end of the First World War corresponds to a stronger Western presence on the continent. Therefore, one finds some comic panels and strips in newspapers intended for an audience of Europeans and literate Africans. The 1940s and 1950s—and even earlier in South Africa and Madagascar—mark the appearance of some of the first publications aimed at youth on the continent. Many contained comic strips, but these were often reproductions of stories that had already appeared in Europe. Examples include Kisito, a Catholic youth magazine (1954), and Ibalita (1957). Local missionaries also used graphic narratives to instruct, to arouse interest in particular vocations, and to evangelize. This is particularly true in the Belgian colonies. In fact, it was probably in the Belgian Congo that one of the first comic books appeared on the continent (Les 100 aventures de la famille Mbumbulu, 1956), while the first comic series (Matabaro) was born in 1954 in Ruanda-Urundi. The case of Egypt is of particular interest: it has an old tradition of publishing newspapers, magazines, and journals, including journals for children like Sindibad created in 1952.

When the Physician Becomes an Apostle

Missionary medicine, especially healthcare offered by Catholic missions, is a rather neglected field in the study of colonial medicine. In addition, the potential of analytical tools such as the circulation of knowledge or attention for professional identities has not been fully explored yet. In this study of physicians in the Belgian Congo, we argue that a new professional identity – or persona – of the Catholic colonial doctor arose as a result of Catholic religious doctrine, missionary politics and biomedical developments. The persona of the mission’s main healthcare provider, with a strong commitment to curative medicine, was a metropolitan professional identity shaped by older missionary narratives. In colonial day-to-day reality, however, where tensions between physicians, missionaries and state officials abounded, this discursive identity proved difficult to maintain.

A Lesson of Sustainability Given by The Tropical Modernism in Kinshasa: The BCB Headquarters by Maurice Houyoux

The tropical region is often considered as a region where the sun shines intensely and the temperature varies at certain times of the year. In the case of Congo, the average weather condition is considered cool, however, there have been cases where the temperature reached up to 43° C. It is therefore imperative for buildings in this region to take into account the temperature variation while considering the comfort of the users. During the design and construction of the Bank of Belgian Congo, the availability of data to assist the architect Maurice Houyoux in meeting the challenge of the region was unavailable. The architect had to be creative in planning and overcoming the challenges posed by the environment. This paper seeks to examine the issues confronted by Maurice Houyoux and the design solutions he provided to ensure that the building was functional and responded to the tropical challenges. In undertaking this study, a historical approach was adopted through the review of relevant literature on the building and designs within the period of the development of the bank. An observation method was also deployed to verify some of the information found in the literature. The findings are presented using pictures and sketches to explain some of the key issues relevant to the design of the bank. The findings showed that despite the reduced number of published data for designing in such a region, the architect was able to examine the existing buildings and discuss with users of other constructions to obtain relevant data. The findings also showed that the building was able to respond to peculiar requirements to be functional. The paper concludes that the local building materials and traditional builders can be used to achieve a contemporary building that fits into the context towards sustainable architecture.

Finns in the Colonial World

Utilizing such concepts as “colonial complicity” and “colonialism without colonies”, this chapter examines the case of Finns and Finland as a nation that was once oppressed but also itself complicit in colonialism. It argues that although the Finnish nation has historically been positioned in Europe between western and eastern empires, Finns were not only passive victims of (Russian) imperial rule but also active participants in the creation of imperial vocabulary in various colonial contexts, including Sápmi in the North.This chapter argues that although Finns never had overseas colonies, they were involved in the colonial world, sending out colonizers and producing images of colonial “others”, when they, in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, felt the need to project themselves as white and European (not Russian or non-white, such as Mongols). Finns adopted, adapted, and created common European knowledge about colonized areas, cultures, and people and participated in constructing racial hierarchies. These racialized notions were also applied to the Sámi. Furthermore, Finns benefitted economically from colonialism, sent out missionaries to Owambo in present-day Namibia to spread the ideas of Western/White/Christian superiority and instruct the Owambo in European ways. Finns were also involved in several colonial enterprises of other European colonizing powers, such as in the Belgian Congo or aboard Captain Cook’s vessel on his journey to the Antipodes.