Summaries 1 Zusammenf Assungen
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SUMMARIES 1 ZUSAMMENF ASSUNGEN Jan os RIESZ: On the tresholds 01 colonial IIterature. This essay fust asks for a systematic approach of pictures and literary images, which could take their mutuallinks into account. Secondly, it proposes a metho- dical program in order to analyse pictures as illustrations, photographies, etc. ; it takes into consideration historical evolution and variety of genres. Third,. the article comments upon what especially concems the wrappers of the colonial books. At laIt, Borneexamples are given, which are choosen in Belgian colonial and post-colonial literature. (PH) Marie-Christine BRUGAILLERE: A Journal Supportlng a Conquest, Le mOUFement giographique (1884-1908). From the Geographie Conference of Brussels in 1876, launches Leopold il busily into the African venture. Some scientists, joumalists and business men, more or less bound by their curiosity for the exploration, become interested through the Geographie Societies. A.-J. Wauters, a cultured mind, a literature and geography enthusiast, takes a part in the founding of the Mouvement giogra- phique in 1884, when the Berlin Conference starts. He becomes soon the editor of fuis paper which is brought out fust twice a month, then weekly, frOID1884 til 1922. Supporting the leopoldian conquest, this paper publishes aIl the available evidence about Africa, so that it is a kind of collective diary for the European «Movement». The privileged topics are: engineering (bridges, roads, railways), geographic and cartographie information, the political data of the expansion, which may be followed almost froIDday to day and which focus on business. The Mouvement giographique is also interesting for its iconography : drawing and engraving are gradually replaced by photography. Jean-Luc VELLUT: Emeri Cambier (1865-1943), Founder 01 the Kasal-Mlsslon. The production 01 a missionary 01 legend. The growing fascination for the world of images, is sometimes exercised at the expense of interest in «reality» itself. Indeed, in the eyes of «post-modernist» historians, reality appears as being out of our reach, there being no possible contact with the real world, but only with its images and mental representations. It is argued here that fuis extrerne scepticism opens the way to authors who feel entitled to select freely «images», without regard for the contexts in which they originate. It is argued here that the world of images cannot be meaningfully assessed without confrontation with what we can reconstruct of the past through analysis and description of «reality» as a whole. The following pages fust outline the history of a Roman Catholic mission through its formative years (1891-1913) in the former Belgian Congo, as it can be retrieved froIDunpublished sources. They IMAGES DE L'AFRIQUE ET DU CONOOIZAIRE. -ISBN 2-87277-004-6. Summaries / ZUsammenfassungen- 355 then proceed to present the fluctuating images attached to the founder of that mission. ln tom, P~rtl E. Cambier bas appeared as the ideal type of the pioneering missionary, in line with the tradition of missionary literature well-known Binee the 18th century. He later served as a rallying point for Catholic identity in a hostile, rationalistic, world, and later again as a national hero of Belgian coloni- sation. To-day, Cambier provokes controversy among students of the colonial period. ln every case, the production of images bas served particular purposes. Their analysis though legitimate in its own right should Dot act as a substitute for a critical appraisal of the «reality behind». Hans-Jürgen LCSEBRINK: Das Blld Afrikas und die Darstellung von Belgisch-Kongo in den franzosischen und belglschen Kolonial- ausstellungen (1889-1958). Ausgehend von der Feststellung, daB die Kolonialausstellungen cines der wichtigsten und breitenwirksamsten Medien der Afrikadarstellung im Europa des ausgehenden 19. und der ersten Hiilite des 20. jabrhunderts gewesen sind, behan- delt der Beitrag die In-Szene-Setzung der belgischen Kongo-Kolonie VOlallem untel drei Gesichtspunkten: erstens wird der ans sehr untersehiedliehen Text- 8Ortenzusammengesetzte Diskurs der Kolonialausstellungen in den Bliek gerUckt, in denen sowohl theatralische Elemente ais auch verschiedene Medien der Schrift- lichkeit (Zeitungsberichterstattung, Kataloge, gedruekte Reden etc.) und der ScM- Den Künste (Bildende Kunsl, Malerei) zur Geltung kommen; einen zweiten Gegenstandsbereich bilden die Prlisenz - und mit ihr die spezülSehen Formen der Inszenierung - der Afrikaner selbst im Rahmen der Kolonialausstellungen, VOl allem in Gestalt der «Eingeborenendôrfer», die sich bei den belgischen Kolo- nialausstellungen erstmals 1897 in Tervueren finden; und drittens werden Unter- schiede und Gemeinsamkeiten des Nationenbegriffs im Vergleich zwischen Belgien und Frankreich herausgearbeitet Kennzeiehnenderweise fand das Konzept eiDer nationalen Einheit zwischen Belgien und dem Kongo - cine Vorstellung, die sieh ausdrUcklich aueh an die franzôsische Vorstellung der «Plus Grande France» anknüpft - erst gegen Ende der Kolonialzeit cine fast paradoxal zu nennende Auspragung :1958 bei der BrUsseIer Weltausstellung und damit zwei Jabre VOlder Unabhangigkeit Belgisch-Kongos. Édouard VINCKE: Dlseourse about Black Man. Images in the town spaces of Brussels. The objective of this paper is to extract a coherent meaning from a multitude of written messages and icons throughout the public space of Brussels and, particu- lary, those referring 10 the image of the Black Man as it is conceived within the popular imagination. We will analyse, in counterpoint, the image of the White Man, as civiliser and explorer, and images of the «Xenos» incamated by the Indian and the Arab. Data was collected over a period of thirteen years through the systematic photographing of exterior urban representations relevant to the subject. The theoretical framework combines two düferent approaehes. Firstly, a content as defmed of Marc Angenot and secondIy, a qualitative anthropological approach based on the grid inspired by the work of Jan Nederveen Pieterse. The empirica1 framework is based on the division of the whole into specifie sub-areas : official signa (monuments, national symbols), street and traffle signa (speeüically),market, cultural, politieal, and humanitarian publieity (posters, shop signa and window displays), and finally, a mobile sub-area (stickers and images on elothing). These different sub-areas can be qua1if1edas «legitimate», as defmed by Pierre Bourdieu. Outside of these subareas there also exista the «ille- gitimate» are&,within which fall some murais and graffiti of ail kinds. 356 - Summaries / Zusammenfassungen The paradigm of the Blact Man emerges tram this repertary of siloS and images. The paradigm is underpinned by a number of states attributed ta Blacts : natural state,savage, a state of servility ,and a state of infantility. However, the paradigm must also take inta 8CCOuntthe voluntarily anomicseries of posters by Benetton. ln opposition ta this there is the image of the White Man as a hero, either as civilizer or as an adventurer. An encompassing and precise meaning appears out of ail the visual messages. It closely reflecta the relations between Belgium and Africa and the needs of the entertainment and clothing industries. Jean-Louis DUFAYS: Anthology heritage and cultural stereotypes. Mental pletures of Afrlca from French lIterature handbooks ln French-speaklng Belglum (1960-1990) This fust exploration of African imagery in French-language Belgian school anthologies aims ta break the obsession of ideological demystifieation, starting trom IWo propositions: fustly, it is both unavoidable and necessary that sehool- books should contain many stereotypes, for any understanding of complieated matters depends on the use of simplification; secondly, the stereotype of the mental pietures retainedby the textbooks is not incompatible with a diversity of speech and a genuine care for cultural differences. The comprehensive study - SI anthologies intended for secondary teaching, published tram 1960 ta 1990 - devotes a rather limited part ta Afriea, varying according ta the periods and apparently linked ta the objectives that are assigned ta the French course. As ta the choice of texts relating ta Afriea, it actually favours French writers over Belgians and Afrieans, - which only repeata and reinforces the present hierarehies in the literary field. The mental pietures conveyed deal- in order of importance - with the elements of African scenery, action of Europeans on the African soil, life and behaviour of Africans and, fmally, evaluation of the colonial wort and the future of Afdca. From those varions mental pictures arises a tension between, on the one band, a «uoiver- sa1ist» option, which endeavours ta rediscover the reproduction of certain western patterns in the African realities of texta, and, on the other band, a «particularist» option, which is above ail concerned about differences. It stands ta reason, however, that the sporadic and summary feature of those mental pictures does not prevent a minority of school-books tram really paying attention ta the cultural and literary realities of Africa. Sabine CORNE LIS: «Congolese sketches.: tram BuIs to Vaueieroy, some looks at the Congo by Belglan arUsts (1898- 1930). This study concerna the images brought back by the plastic artists, not only in their pictural work, but also in the writings they have left us. Our purpose here is ta compare the artistic sensibilities of three painters of the XIXthcentury and the sensitivity