Des fonctionnaires impuissants? Administrer le Kwango-Kwilu dans l’entre-deux-guerres

Description

This presentation looks at the exercise of power on the ground in the south-western Belgian Congo at the end of the First World War. It considers together the fiscal policy practised by the administration, the abuses committed by its agents, and the bonds of solidarity existing between civil servants and employees of the Huileries du Congo Belge. These three case studies serve to illustrate the concept of an ‘impotent’ colonial power. This metaphor refers both to the inability of state officials to fulfil the tasks expected of them and to the conscious mobilisation of their repressive capacity for purposes that contradicted the supposed objectives of Belgian colonial power in Central Africa.

Period	18 May 2021
Event title	Séance de la Classe des Sciences humaines de l'Académie Royale des Sciences d'Outre-Mer
Event type	Workshop
Degree of Recognition	National