Within this particularly sensitive context, new historiographical and more innovative trends have nevertheless appeared. Patricia Van Schuylenbergh also reviews them. She particularly focuses on the works of the new generation of researchers. With study grants making it easier to travel abroad, in a world that has become a “global village”, these researchers have naturally turned towards overseas studies in the context of transnational and world history (“World-Global History”). Abandoning a number of habitual reactions – the denunciation of colonial experiences as simple cases of exploitation, for instance – these researchers are turning towards a comparative history that is “particularly rich in the study of cultural areas that offer a coherent and convincing framework of analysis”.

A collection of “views”

“L'Afrique belge aux XIX^e et XX^e siècles.” includes many other contributions that are all as interesting as each other. Pierre-Luc Plasman takes another look at the “paradoxes of Leopoldian Congo”. Lancelot Arzel establishes unexpected parallels between the realms of fighting and hunting. Mathilde Leduc-Grimaldi focuses on the unknown African stakeholders of the colonial enterprise. Jan Vandersmissen (University of Liège) studies the determining role of “geographical societies” in the materialisation in the field of Leopold II’s expansionist projects.

As for Bérangère Piret and Charlotte Braillon (University of Liège), they each deal with various aspects of colonial law, in their own way. Pierre Tilly also presents an interesting point of view in “Social policy in Belgian Congo, 1945-1960: a model colony?”, where he particularly refers to the relative failure of Congolese trade unions before and after independence. Guillaume Léonard examines the enduring establishment of an independent farming colonate, beginning in the 1920s, in Kivu. Etienne Deschamps explores “the various forms of the Eurafrique concept” in the interwar period, while Anne-Sophie Gijs analyses the way in which the Belgian colonial authorities attempted to bar the way to the “Communist threat” and the “danger of nationalism”, right in the middle of the cold war.

In this collection, the work of a young PhD student from the University of Liège, Dantès Singiza, particularly stands out. His contribution highlights the main documentary sources used in relation to the Ruzagayura famine, which he developed during his dissertation for his master’s degree. The famine, caused by drought, happened in Rwanda right in the middle of the Second World War. It was fatal for many - between 30 000 and 300 000 deaths, according to sources – and resulted in mass migrations, widespread insecurity and... the anger of the Rwandans. In his detailed investigation, the researcher measured the level of (in)efficiency of the measures taken by the Belgian and Rwandan authorities to eradicate this phenomenon. It took them more than a month to organise supplies for the victims of the disaster! In the doctoral thesis he is preparing, Dantès Singiza has focused on the history of Rwanda during the Second World War. The country’s participation in the war effort “sucked dry” the available food stocks and this was one of the causes of the dreadful Ruzagayura famine.

Continuing the effort

The book “L'Afrique belge aux XIX^e et XX^e siècles.” will undoubtedly catch the attention of all those who are passionate about Central Africa. It is already a reference work and, as we have said, a link. “It is important for the effort to continue beyond this initial work”, concludes Catherine Lanneau. “And we must ensure”, she repeats, “that we encourage the participation of Flemish and foreign researchers and thereby maintain contact with them”. Other study days have already been programmed.