ISBN : 9782296128033
THE MICROPHYSICS OF COLONIAL POWER: VIOLENCE, INTIMACY, AND SEXUALITY IN BELGIAN COLONIAL LITERATURE
Jean Muteba Rahier
In this essay, I reflect upon the intersection of sex, race and power in
the colonial context of the Belgian Congo, through a brief discussion
of Belgian colonial literature. My intention is to examine the
emotional content of novels written by Belgian, mostly male writers
while they were involved in the colonial enterprise in the Congo, or
soon after their return to Belgium. Because of the limited space I have
here, I will mostly pay attention to two books: Blancs et noires
("White Men and Black Women") by Harry Norjen (1922), and
Fouessa: négresse du Kasaï ("Fouessa, Negress of Kasai") by Gaston
Deville (1945).