African Testimony in the Movement for Congo Reform

The Burden of Proof
1. Auflage 2020
ISBN: 978-0-367-58917-2
Verlag: Routledge

Buch, Englisch, 200 Seiten, Format (B × H): 156 mm x 234 mm, Gewicht: 316 g

Reihe: Routledge Studies in the Modern History of Africa

The humanitarian movement against Leopold’s violent colonisation of the Congo emerged out of Europe, but it depended at every turn on African input. Individuals and groups from throughout the upper Congo River basin undertook journeys of daring and self-sacrifice to provide evidence of atrocities for the colonial authorities, missionaries, and international investigators.

Combining archive research with attention to recent debates on the relation between imperialism and humanitarianism, on trauma, witnessing and postcolonial studies, and on the recovery of colonial archives, this book examines the conditions in which colonised peoples were able to speak about their subjection, and those in which attempts at testimony were thwarted.

Robert Burroughs makes a major intervention by identifying African agency and input as a key factor in the Congo atrocities debate. This is an important and unique book in African history, imperial and colonial history, and humanitarian history.

Zielgruppe

Postgraduate and Undergraduate

Autoren/Hrsg.

Burroughs, Robert

Fachgebiete

• Sozialwissenschaften Ethnologie | Volkskunde Volkskunde Historische & Regionale Volkskunde
• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Weltgeschichte & Geschichte einzelner Länder und Gebietsräume Weltgeschichte
• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Weltgeschichte & Geschichte einzelner Länder und Gebietsräume Geschichte einzelner Länder Afrikanische Geschichte

Inhaltsverzeichnis

List of Figures

Acknowledgements

Note on Place Names

Map

Introduction: The Burden of Proof

1. Humanitarianism and Diplomacy: West African Migrants in the Congo Free State (c.1890–1903)

2. Behind the Casement Report (1903–4): Guides, Interpreters, and Interviewees

3. Before the Commission of Inquiry (1904–5): Travellers and Testifiers

4. The Silencing of Witnesses: The Stannard Trial (1906) and the Sheppard Trial (1909)

5. ‘Bringing hands to the English’: Injured Bodies as Evidence

Conclusion: A Humanitarian History from Below

Bibliography

Index

Über Autor(innen)

Robert Burroughs is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Cultural Studies and Humanities, Leeds Beckett University, UK.