'Bilan du monde pour un monde plus déshumanisé': The 1958 Brussels world's fair and Belgian perceptions of the Congo

European History Quarterly

Volumn 35, Issue 2, 2005, Pages 267-298

  Stanard, Matthew ^a  

^a INDIANA UNIVERSITY   (United States)

Author keywords

Belgian Congo; Ethnographic displays; Imperialism; World's Fairs or Expositions Universelles et Internationales

Indexed keywords

EID: 67650489548     PISSN: 02656914     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1177/0265691405051467     Document Type: Article

References (95)

1. John Allwood, The Great Exhibitions (London 1977);
2. Paul Greenhalgh, Ephemeral Vistas: the Expositions Universelles, Great Exhibitions and World's Fairs, 1851-1939 (Manchester 1988);
3. Robert W. Rydell, World of Fairs: the Century-of-Progress Expositions (Chicago, IL 1993); Bureau International des Expositions, URL (consulted 12 April 2000): http://www.bie-paris.org/.
4. Attendance figures drawn from Allwood, op. cit. See also A. Cockx and J. Lemmens, Les Expositions Universelles et Internationales en Belgique de 1885 à 1958 (Brussels 1958);
5. John E. Findling, ed., Historical Dictionary of World's Fairs and Expositions, 1851-1988 (New York 1990);
6. Fernand Baudhuin, Histoire économique de la Belgique: 1957-1968 (Brussels 1970), 217-18.
7. Almost 34 per cent of Belgians visited the Exposition two or three times and over 8 per cent visited it more than 15 times. G. and E. Jacquemyns, 'L'Exposition de 1958: son succès auprès des Belges, opinions et vœux des visiteurs', Institut Universitaire d'Information Sociale et Économique 'INSOC', Nos. 1-2 (1959), 13, 25, 30.
8. 'Battle of the "Best"', Newsweek, 28 April 1958, 41;
9. 'All's Fair', Time, 28 April 1958, 29;
10. H. Sutton, 'We Open in Brussels', Saturday Review, 3 May 1958, 26-9;
11. 'Nostalgie, Nostalgie: Jeanine Lambotte et Pierre Romeyerse se souviennent', 'Une Sacrée Bouffée d'Air Frais: souvenirs, souvenirs, les débuts de René Thierry à la radio avec "Étoiles 58"', Le Soir en ligne, 11 April 1998, URL (consulted 13 March 2000): http://www.lesoir.be. The impact of televised coverage is questionable because televisions were not widely used in Belgium at the time and only in 1958 did such programming become quotidian.
12. Nigel T. Rothfels, 'Bring 'Em Back Alive: Carl Hagenbeck and Exotic Animal and People Trades in Germany, 1848-1914', PhD thesis, Harvard University, 1994, chapter entitled 'Showing People', 133-256.
13. Burton Benedict, 'Rituals of Representation: Ethnic Stereotypes and Colonized Peoples at World's Fairs', in Robert W. Rydell and Nancy Gwinn, eds, Fair Representations: World's Fairs and the Modern World (Amsterdam 1994), 28-61;
14. Elizabeth Ezra, 'The Colonial Look: Exhibiting Empire in the 1930s', Contemporary French Civilization Vol. 19, No. 1 (1995), 33-49;
15. Arthur Chandler, 'Empire of the Republic: The Exposition Coloniale Internationale de Paris, 1931', Contemporary French Civilization, Vol. 14, No. 1 (1990), 89-99.
16. V. Jacques, Les Congolais de l'Exposition Universelle d'Anvers. Communication faite à la société d'anthropologie de Bruxelles, dans la séance du 24 septembre 1894 (Brussels 1894);
17. Maurits Wynants, Des ducs de Brabant aux villages congolais: Tervuren et l'Exposition coloniale 1897, translated by Chantal Kesteloot (Tervuren 1997), 120;
18. A. de Burbure, 'Expositions et sections Congolaises', Belgique d'Outremer, No. 286 (1959), 27-8.
19. Jean-Pierre Jacquemin and Françoise De Moor, 'Notre Congo/Onze Kongo'. La propagande coloniale belge: fragments pour une étude critique (Brussels 2000), 15.
20. Exposition Universelle de Bruxelles 1935: Guide Officiel, Officiel Gids: Brussel 1935 (Brussels 1935), 66, 71-75.
21. Zaïre 1885-1985: Cent Ans de Regards Belges (Brussels 1985), 41.
22. The Brussels World's Fair, 1958 (np 1958), 18-19. The percentages of Belgians who visited the pavilions are as follows: Palais du Congo belge et du Ruanda-Urundi, 67.7 per cent; agriculture, 46.3 per cent; missions catholiques, 46 per cent; faune coloniale, 58.3 per cent; assurances, banques, commerce, 19.5 per cent; mines et métallurgie, 36.3 per cent; energie, constructions, transports, 31.2 per cent. The Jardin tropical was visited by 54.3 per cent of all visitors.
23. Le Mémorial officiel de l'Exposition universelle et internationale de Bruxelles: Les participations étrangères et belges (Brussels 1961), 235-54;
24. Quote from G. Solesmes, 'En regardant vivre le Congo et le Ruanda-Urundi', Revue congolaise illustrée, No. 6 (1958), 24, 26;
25. Office de l'Information et des Relations Publiques pour le Congo Belge et le Ruanda-Urundi advertisement, 'Belgian Congo on the Map of the World: Brussels 1958', New York Times, 17 April 1958, 44.
26. Roger de Meyer, Introducing the Belgian Congo and the Ruanda-Urundi (Brussels 1958).
27. Ersatz transportation to Africa at expositions was nothing new in 1958. Accounts of the Exposition Coloniale de 1931 in Paris, for example, indicate that visitors felt they actually had been transported to the exotic colonies. Charles-Robert Agéron, 'L'Exposition coloniale de 1931: mythe républicain ou mythe impérial?' in Pierre Nora, ed., Les Lieux de mémoire, (Paris 1984), 573-7;
28. Christopher Miller, Nationalists and Nomads: Essays on Francophone African Literature and Culture (Chicago, IL 1998), 67-71.
29. Gaston Bunnens, 'L'Art au Congo: images lointaines d'une vie frémissante', Le Peuple (Brussels), No. 109, 8 May 1958, 2.
30. There were other examples of this type of reporting, for example a Grenz-Echo photo of the Congo section accompanied by the caption, 'A picturesque corner in the native village within the Congo section. One has the impression of being in the middle of the Congo - only the many visitors disrupt something [nur die vielen Besucher stören etwas]'. Grenz-Echo (Eupen), No. 121, 28 May 1958, 7. Grenz-Echo was and is a German-language local newspaper published in Eupen. While serving mainly the Eastern Cantons - the German-speaking regions of eastern Belgium annexed from Germany after the First World War - the newspaper very often carried syndicated news articles found in other Belgian newspapers.
31. Paul de Swaef 'Une demi-heure sous les tropiques; Au Congorama, un cerveau électronique ressuscite toute l'épopée coloniale avec films, bruits, musique et cartes animées', Le Peuple (Brussels), No. 109, 8 May 1958, 2.
32. See also 'Deux chefs congolais à l'Expo', Le Peuple, No. 110, 9 May 1958, 2.
33. Apparently the only person who did not enjoy the Congorama was the room manager who 'risked being trampled at every showing' because so many people came to see the show. La Meuse (Liège), No. 143, 21-2 June 1958, 7.
34. Le Mémorial officiel de l'Exposition universelle et internationale de Bruxelles: Les Arts (Brussels), op. cit., 155.
35. Marcelle Dumont, 'Une visite au jardin congolais de l'Expo: Le succès de dix petits nègres', Le Peuple (Brussels), No. 181, 31 July 1958, 4.
36. Le Mémorial officiel : Les participants, op. cit., 359.
37. Le Mémorial officiel : Les participations, op. cit., 249.
38. Isidore Ndaywel è Nziem, Histoire générale du Congo: de l'héritage ancien à la République Démocratique (Paris 1998), 531.
39. Julien Vanhove, Histoire du Ministère des Colonies (Brussels 1968), 115;
40. Puch, 'Le Soldat de Chocolat', 'La garde veille. . .', Le Peuple (Brussels), No. 156, 2 July 1958, 2, 4;
41. Revue congolaise illustrée, No. 8 (August 1958), 27.
42. Fernand Demany, 'Le soldat noir adore l'uniforme et déteste le vinaigre', Le Peuple (Brussels), No. 151, 26 June 1958, front page;
43. Le Peuple, No. 188, 8 August 1958, 4.
44. F.D., 'Le Ghetto Noir', Le Peuple (Brussels), No. 173, 22 July 1958, 2.
45. P.G., 'Tervuerenville, une cité brabançonne peuplée de Noirs', Le Peuple (Brussels), No. 67, 20 March 1958, 4.
46. Le Peuple (Brussels), No. 181, 31 July 1958, 4;
47. Le Courrier de l'Escaut (Tournai), No. 168, 18 July 1958, front page;
48. La Cité (Brussels), No. 267, 28 September 1958, 6;
49. Revue congolaise illustrée No. 5 (May 1958), 39;
50. La Meuse (Liège), No. 172, 26-27 July 1958, 4.
51. For just one example see Le Peuple (Brussels), No. 173, 22 July 1958, front page.
52. La Cité (Brussels), No. 139, 21 May 1958, 7.
53. Le Peuple (Brussels), No. 110, 9 May 1958, 2;
54. La Cité (Brussels), No. 118, 30 April 1958, front page.
55. Fernand Demany, 'Visite à la paillote et à la tour du cuivre', Le Peuple (Brussels), No. 93, 19 April 1958.
56. Demany, 'Visite à la paillote', op. cit., front page.
57. Bill Robins, Le Soir pour les enfants (Brussels), No. 146, 26 June 1958.
58. Dominique de Wespin, Le Phare-dimanche (Brussels), No. 660, 24 August 1958, 11.
59. Catherine Hodeir, 'L'épopée de la décolonisation à travers les expositions universelles du XXe siècle', in Le livre des expositions universelles 1851-1989 (Paris 1983), 305-12, 310.
60. Edward W. Said, Orientalism (New York 1979).
61. The number of Belgians living in the Congo was never great. Up until the end of the First World War, the European population was not much more than 3000 total, among whom only 55-65 per cent were Belgian. By 1947, there were some 25,000 Belgians living in the Congo and by 1958, 86,736. Thus in 1958, only roughly one out of every 100 Belgians lived in the Congo. This 86,736 figure pales in comparison with the approximately 7,200,000 Belgians who were potentially exposed to the Congo section at the 1958 World's Fair. Jean-Luc Vellut, 'Belgians in the Congo (1885-1960)', in Albert d'Haenens, ed., 150 Years of Communities and Cultures in Belgium, 1830-1980 (Brussels 1980), 260-2;
62. According to R.P. Stanislas Van de Velde, 'aumônier des congolais habitant en Belgique', there were around 150 Congolese in Belgium in 1952 and they generally did not interact with whites; 'Ils n'entretiennent que peu de relations avec les Blancs'. Many were there illegally, having worked for the Compagnie Maritime Belge and deserted. AA, portefeuille No. 37 3b Documentation historique coloniale. 8) Manifestations; Interview in Agence Belga press release, 12 July 1952. See also Jean-Luc Vellut, 'Episodes anti-communistes dans l'ordre colonial belge (1924-1932)', in Pascal Delwit and José Gotovitch, eds, La Peur du rouge (Brussels 1996), 183-190.
63. Excerpt of interview with Mr Kruseman, Director of the Belgian Congo and Ruanda-Urundi Section for the Commissariat général, Objectif 58, No. 10 (December 1955), 8.
64. The head architect and the architects for all individual pavilions were European. Objectif 58, No. 26 (May 1957), 2-3, 35;
65. Objectif 58, No. 25 (April 1957), 41;
66. Objectif 58, No. 16 (June 1956), 15;
67. Objectif 58, No. 1 (March 1955), 12;
68. Objectif 58, No. 12 (February 1956), 16-17;
69. La Cité (Brussels), No. 112, 24 April 1958, 7;
70. La Cité (Brussels), No. 114, 26 April 1958, 5;
71. Quote is from Revue congolaise illustrée, No. 4 (April 1958), 21.
72. Le Phare-dimanche (Brussels), No. 668, 19 October 1958, 11.
73. The giant mural that greeted visitors in the Belgian Congo and Ruanda-Urundi Pavilion was the work of the artist Floris Jespers. La Meuse (Liège), No. 93, 21 April 1958, 7;
74. Le Mémorial officiel : Les participations, op. cit., 237.
75. On language problems in the village indigène, see Marcelle Dumont, 'Une visite au jardin congolais de l'Expo, Le succès de dix petits nègres', Le Peuple (Brussels), No. 181, 31 July 1958, 4.
76. These included works by the sculptors Boets, Le Plae and Dupagne.
77. La Meuse (Liège), No. 175, 30 July 1958, 5.
78. Jean-Luc Vellut, 'Hégémonies en construction, articulations entre état et entreprises dans le bloc colonial belge (1908-1960)', Canadian Journal of African Studies Vol. 16, No. 2 (1982), 313-30.
79. Le Peuple (Brussels), No. 59, 11 March 1958, 2;
80. Maxime Waha, 'La brousse invitée à une soirée de gala, avec "Changwe Yetu" notre fête à nous tous', Le Peuple (Brussels), No. 157, 3 July 1958, 2;
81. Demany, 'Le soldat noir', op. cit., front page;
82. L.M., 'Le détachement de la Force publique coloniale a connu le plus vif succès à Liège', Le Peuple, No. 181, 31 July 1958, 4.
83. Adam Hochschild, King Leopold's Ghost: A Story of Greed, Terror and Heroism in Colonial Africa (Boston, MA 1998);
84. Roger Anstey, King Leopold's Legacy: The Congo Under Belgian Rule 1908-1960 (London 1966).
85. For an African-centered perspective on the cultural disruption caused by Belgian colonialism see Colin M. Turnbull, The Lonely African (New York 1962).
86. Quoted in La Meuse (Liège), No. 93, 21 April 1958, 7.
87. La Cité (Brussels), No. 118, 30 April 1958, 5.
88. La Cité (Brussels), No. 178, 30 June 1958, 1-2.
89. At the inauguration of the Congo pavilion on 18 April 1958, Minister of Colonies Buisseret stated that Belgians 'have the pride to have scrupulously accomplished in Africa the orders that the founder of our colony bequeathed to us'. Quoted in both La Cité (Brussels), No. 107, 19 April 1958, front page, and La Meuse (Liège), No. 93, 21 April 1958, 7.
90. G. Jacquemyns, Le Congo belge devant l'opinion publique (Brussels 1956), 66-7.
91. Monique Moncel, 'Il y a 50 ans, l'Exposition coloniale, apogée de l'empire', Historia, No. 414 (May 1981), 62-8.
92. Herman Lebovics, True France: The Wars Over Cultural Identity, 1900-1945 (Ithaca, NY 1992), 93.
93. Jean Stengers, 'Precipitous Decolonization: The Case of the Belgian Congo', in Prosser Gifford and William Roger Louis, eds, The Transfer of Power in Africa, Decolonization 1940-1960 (New Haven, CT 1982), 305-35, 335.
94. Stengers, 'Precipitous Decolonization', op. cit., 320-1;
95. and Jean Stengers, 'La Belgique et le Congo: politique coloniale et décolonisation', in Histoire de la Belgique Contemporaine, 1914-1970 (Brussels 1974), 391-440, 421-2;