{"id":17604,"date":"2025-03-21T09:28:24","date_gmt":"2025-03-21T13:28:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.library.duke.edu\/rubenstein\/?p=17604"},"modified":"2025-03-19T10:35:10","modified_gmt":"2025-03-19T14:35:10","slug":"sharing-congolese-voices","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.library.duke.edu\/rubenstein\/2025\/03\/21\/sharing-congolese-voices\/","title":{"rendered":"Sharing Congolese Voices"},"content":{"rendered":"

Post contributed by Grace Zayobi, Exhibitions Intern<\/em><\/p>\n

When I started my internship with exhibitions, I expected some difficult topics. History is complex and the way people represent history is even more complex. So, constructing exhibits based on these topics is no laughing matter. But my first assignment being something so close to home was unexpected.<\/p>\n

Even though I was born here and grew up in the US, my mother immigrated here in 1990s from the Democratic Republic Congo (DRC) While my opinions can\u2019t hold as much weight as someone who was born and raised in the DRC, I grew up in a mixture of Congolese and American culture in a multi-generational household where there were Congolese immigrants coming in and out. I\u2019ve seen how their lives are affected by what is happening in the DRC and I want to be able to carry their voices so their stories can eventually be heard.<\/p>\n

So, imagine my surprise when my first task was to support the exhibition Joseph Conrad\u2019s Polish-Ukrainian \u201cGraveyard\u201d: Memory, Mourning, and Anti-Colonial Resistance in his 19th-Century Family Photo Album<\/em><\/a>. <\/em>Joseph Conrad (1857-1924) might not be a name well known in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) but to a lot of Congolese-Americans he is somewhat familiar. He wrote The Heart of Darkness<\/em> but that\u2019s not what the exhibit is about. This exhibit is about his own tragedy: he faced being stripped of his rights, losing his parents, and being forced from his home. You can feel his apathy for humanity when reading his book, and maybe this exhibit will truly contextualize why he feels that way.<\/p>\n

This post isn\u2019t about Joseph Conrad, it’s about the people in Joseph Conrad\u2019s book The Heart of Darkness; <\/em>although Belgium or the Congo are never named in the book, that is what the book is about. As much as Conrad suffered, it seemed he still saw Congolese as inferior people. I read his book and felt like he saw the Congolese as unworthy of humanity, but their colonizers were just as unworthy as he felt the Congolese were. I still think the book holds anti-colonial viewpoints that may have been controversial at the time but all I can see is a man who thought of my people as less than human.<\/p>\n

The Congo is the quintessential colonial massacre story. But rather than telling actual stories of the people, the Congo is often used as a metaphor.\u00a0 When King Leopold II of Belgium took over in the year 1885 it helped spark the \u201cScramble for Africa,\u201d a time period where European countries brought parts of Africa under their control. His cruelty led to a humanitarian crisis which activists protested until he relinquished his control in 1908.\u00a0 One of the first nations to back Leopold\u2019s control of Congo was America, and a lot of other countries followed suit and supported Leopold\u2019s private colony. The destabilization caused by outside governments interfering, the stripping of resources, and violent conflicts with neighboring countries can all be traced back to the Belgian occupation. It has left the Congo in ruins; we should see it has one of Africa\u2019s first colonial tragedies.<\/p>\n

Although the protests and interest in the Congo seemingly decreased, the humanitarian crisis continues to be relevant today. A lot of people consider Congo hard to talk about because there are no easy answers, no easy way to protest, no simple ways to make a difference.<\/p>\n

Just reading this blog post is listening to Congolese voices. What else can you do? Methods of protests are highly debated. So just starting your education is important. Adam Hochschild\u2019s King Leopold\u2019s Ghost<\/em> is a great place to start reading. Hochschild talks about the impacts of Leopold\u2019s rule and the formation of the group that fought against his ownership of DRC.<\/p>\n

But Congolese stories written by<\/strong> Congolese people must be highlighted too. While all these recommendations may not be about the crisis in Congo, they are all written by Congolese people. And they are all affected by that tragedy, and you can see elements of that in their writing. Some books include:<\/p>\n