The Leopard Men of the Eastern Congo (Ca

The Leopard Men of the Eastern Congo (ca. 1890-1940): history and colonial representation Vicky L. M. Van Bockhaven This thesis is submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy to the University of East Anglia, School of Art History and World Art Studies, Sainsbury Research Unit. December 2013 © This copy of the thesis has been supplied on condition that anyone who consults it is understood to recognise that its copyright rests with the author and that use of any information derived there from must be in accordance with current UK Copyright Law. In addition, any quotation or extract must include full attribution. Abstract The research begins with a sculpture representing a “Leopard Man”, threatening to attack a sleeping victim, at the Royal Museum for Central Africa, Belgium. Recently this colonial icon was criticised for presenting a racist image. Leopard men killed on behalf of chiefs in the east of Congo (ca. 1890-1940). The emergence of a mythology of leopard men is analysed in relation to its suppression as an anti-colonial movement in the colony. This research highlights the distinctive potency of ethnographic objects as proof, shaping experiences of the colonised in the colonial museum, in relation to the text-focused study of the colonial discourse. The history of leopard men is reconstructed to break away from an exotic and de-historicised understanding. Two eastern Congolese varieties, anioto and vihokohoko, are studied, from which the RMCA display was derived. The micro- histories of conflict clusters are considered in the context of the Zanzibari slave trade and the Belgian colonisation as forms of empowerment. Anioto and vihokohoko are further studied in their cultural history. They are regarded as institutional developments in the context of political competition. Mythologisation in colonial sources is regarded as a process of structuration underlying all expressions of human experience. While rooted in reality, such expressions are also shaped by what people desire to believe. This occurs in line with a cultural logic and the rhetoric of rumour with the most potent elements being singled out to support the colonial discourse, leaping into fiction. Leopard men accounts are structured after culturally effective traditions of narration, presenting the civilising project as a moral victory of good over bad. Leopard men became an epistemological category, a morally inferior, animal-like opponent threatening the colonial order. The use of costumes and claws for the killings was falsely exaggerated, because their form objectifies the colonial logic. Words: 296 3 Table of Contents Abstract ...................................................................................................3 Preface ...................................................................................................13 Acknowledgements ...............................................................................17 Introduction ..........................................................................................21 1. How colonial myths are made ��34 2. Reconstructing the his tory and ethnography of leopard men ��40 3. The role of objects and museum display in leopard men representation ��47 4. Outline of the thesis ��53 Chapter 1. Anioto and vihokohoko: the roots of leopard men in pre- colonial history .................................................................55 1.1. Populations practicing anioto and vihokohoko and their cultural history ��56 1.1.1. Populations from the northern complex: Bali, Ndaka and Budu ��56 1.1.2. Populations of the southern complex: Nande, Bapakombe and their neighbours ��65 1.1.3. The occurrence of leopard men among Bali, Ndaka, Bapakombe and Nande ��67 1.2. Roots of leopard men in pre-colonial cultural history ��73 1.2.1. Hypotheses on the origin of leopard men among the Bali ��73 1.2.2. The birth of leopard men in the middle Bomokandi-Nepoko region. ��75 1.3. Leopard men among the Bali and Ndaka in the Ituri forest ��81 1.3.1. Mambela and the socio-political organisation of the Bali ��82 1.3.2. The ancestral authority at the heart of mambela: the ishumu ��88 1.3.3. Dance cults and leopard men murders among the Bali ��93 1.4. Dispersal of leopard men in the Beni region ��98 1.4.1. Lusumba and the transmission of vihokohoko ��98 1.4.2. Cultural ties among mambela, lusumba and beyond ��100 1.5. Conclusion ��102 Chapter 2. Leopard Men conflicts under Foreign Occupations: the Zanzibari slave trade and the Belgian colonisation ....105 2.1. The slave trade and the foundation of the Congo Free State (1870s-1908) ��105 2.1.1. The slave trade ��106 2.1.2. The foundation of the Congo Free State and the military conquest of the slave traders �� 111 5 2.1.3. Military repression of rubber strikes under the Congo Free State �� 112 2.2. Leopard men conflicts under the Belgian colonial administration: an overview of the administrative and legal developments (1908-1935) �� 118 2.2.1. Rivalries fuelled by territorial administration ��121 2.2.2. Overview of actions against leopard men ��127 2.3. The culmination of the colonial conquest: the “hécatombes” from 1928 to 1934 ��132 2.3.1. The cases of Bangombe and Mbako: towards a “concerted” approach ��132 2.3.2. Ethnography as a weapon: understanding mambela and anioto in the case against Mbako ��135 2.3.3. Secrecy and rebellion ��136 2.3.4. Attacking mambela or not? Accountability in the legal discussion. ��138 2.3.5. The military occupation at Beni ��141 2.4. Conclusion ��142 Chapter 3. Leopard Men Conflicts in the Bali and Beni regions: a detailed analysis ..............................................................143 3.1. Anioto among the Bali, Ndaka and Budu ��144 3.1.1. Transmission of anioto related to dance cults ��145 3.1.2. Cases among the northern Bali since 1920 ��152 3.1.3. Cases among the eastern Bali and their neighbours around 1930 ��163 3.1.4. Summary ��181 3.2. Vihokohoko in the region of Beni ��182 3.2.1. The core of the conflict: tensions among Bapakombe and Nande groups ��182 3.2.2. The Bahera of Mukupi and Kinombe ��190 3.2.3. The Batangi Bapakombe of Karibumba ��197 3.2.4. The Batangi Bapakombe of Mwami against several Batangi groups ��198 3.2.5. Culmination of the different conflicts ��201 3.2.6. Summary ��202 3.3. Conclusion ��203 Chapter 4. The Colonial Representation of Leopard Men: discourse and display entangled .....................................................205 4.1. Leopard men objects and display at the RMCA ��206 4.1.1. The genealogy of the museum display ��206 4.1.2. Leopard men objects in the colony as evidence ��221 4.1.3. Objectification in the visitor experience of the museum display ��225 4.2. Structuration in textual and audiovisual documents on leopard men ��231 4.2.1. Structuring principles of narration: the white male conquest of a lesser

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