Seminar 1 - Race, Ethnicity, and Nationalism (click to comment)
LefÈvre, Pascal - The Congo Drawn in Belgium
The article ‘The Congo Drawn in Belgium; by Pascal LefÈvre personally left me with more questions than information. LefÈvre starts by giving a very quick and somewhat sporadic history of the relationship between Belgium and the Congo and then states that he will be exploring how comics in Belgium, starting in the 1880’s to the present (or at least 2008 when the article was written), incapsulate the complex and varied view of the Congo in Belgium. Some of what LefÈvre focuses on is the evolution of the comics in representation of Africans, depiction of the characters, and background settings. Perhaps the lack of visual aids in the article contributed to my difficulty in finding it captivating. It is incredibly difficult to read someone describing a comic without having said comic in front of you as a reference. I was able to look up some visuals on my own, but I would have preferred the exact image being discussed at hand to better understand the article.
Two of the comics LefÈvre mentions are Tintin au Congo by Hergé and Blondin et Cirage by Jijé. The Tintin comic was the most successful Tintin story of the 1930’s and featured ill-educated Africans juxtaposed against impassioned, devout missionaries. The original version of Tintin showed Tintin teaching the Africans geography to show where their home, Belgium, was located (which demonstrates that the Belgium felt they had the right to dictate how the Congolese should identify, ie. as Belgium) while a revised version showed Tintin teaching maths. His sidekick, a character named Coco, represented the Congolese as skittish with simplified French language skills. Meanwhile in Jijé’s comics the Cirage character portrayed the Congolese as active, courageous, capable of speaking French well, and synonymous with a “brother.” At times it portrays Congolese as strength against common enemy, such as Americans.
Tintin au Congo by Hergé
Blondin et Cirage by Jijé
The Belgium comics changed over time based on the political and social environment of the times. From the 1880’s-1930’s there was a significant amount of colonization propaganda, though the later years showed work being more “friendly” towards the colonies. Art during time of WWI showed African people as uncivilized and yet brave while also praising the benevolent white man and his good deeds done to the African man. The 1930’s - mid 1970’s show white heroes against an African backdrop, but doesn’t directly mention the colonies (see LefÈvre pg 168). This was because Francophone Belgian publishers wanted to protect the French language and so Belgiums had to censor their comics when written in French. Afterward the comics became more popular for French. Next comics morphed again as more Africans held higher positions, the representation of Catholicism quieted, and decolonization became prevalent. The 1970’s showed increased violence and a more realistic style.
LefÈvre details several comics and describes how the way characters are drawn greatly effects the perception of them. A good example of this is caricatures, which LefÈvre does mention as being used in the Belgium comics. Caricatures are a great demonstration of how art can exaggerate certain perceptions such as the features on a person’s face (a classic is the Jay Leno chin). In a similar fashion, cartoons can enhance an issue making it easier to understand. This is how cartoons can become particularly influential on the young who may see an image, such as an African hurting an American and being celebrated for it in a Belgium cartoon, and then learn to associate ideas that coincide with those images. In this way cartoons are highly effective tools for teaching values and customs of a culture.
Tom Richmond
Prior to reading this article I was actually somewhat familiar with the issues in the Congo because of a necklace I saw a friend wearing about 6 or 7 years ago. It was a silver whistle on a long chain and was rather eye catching so she was questioned about it quite a bit. The company where she got it was called Falling Whistles (unfortunately I am not sure if they are still active) and the company sold whistles in order to spread the message of hope for peace in the Congo. The idea came from the fact that boys who were too young to manage a gun in the war were given whistles as their only weapon. The necklaces were an effective tool as there was both artistry and significance to the choice of a whistle. Similar to how a cartoon can convey a deep message through visual means, so too can a piece of jewelry. Art, in any form, has a way of grabbing a person’s emotions and, consequently, connecting them to a cause.
Personally, I feel that LefÈvre neglects to explain why the Congo was such a popular topic in Belgium comics for such an extensive period of time. Did it start from a sense of pride for colonization? Was it because the Congo seemed exotic and so it became a sense of escape for the Belgium audience? Or was it to illustrate the sharing of Belgium values and western education? LefÈvre seems too caught up in outlining the history of Belgium’s relationship with the Congo (which is rather extensive and likely needs even more of a background in order to effectively understand the presence of the Congo in the comics) instead of what drove the Congo as a subject matter and what effect those comics had. How did the people of Belgium interact with the comics? What was the opinion of people of the Congo, or were they unaware of the comics? How did it effect the youth? Did it influence their opinion of the relationship between Belgium and the Congo? Often a younger generation seeks to change or be different from the generation above, was this the case? LefÈvre only touches on how decolonization became a sensitive subject across Belgium and other countries, but there must have been varied opinions. How were the comics circulated? Who were the readers?
On the whole, what LefÈvre touches upon is relevant not just to the Belgiums, but to many countries across the globe. At the moment in the US there is a lot of friction concerning immigrants and opinions as to the issue vary across states, or even areas of a state, as well as across generations. There’s a political cartoon by Steve Kelley which I came across years ago and it has always stuck with me.
Steve Kelley
Kelley seems to put into perspective what we define as belonging to us or someone else, which has a lot to do with immigration as well as colonization. At what point does one person takeover ownership of a place? When does someone belong? In the Tintin comic, the Congolese are being told they are Belgiums, but is that how they identify? Who gets to decide? LefÈvre details much of why there is a complex relationship between the Belgiums and the Congolese, but I think he misses the human side of it, how the comics influenced opinions and how opinions influenced the comics, not just what the comics contained.
Political cartoons and comics are great vehicles for presenting and documenting opinions. Every day there cartoons published in newspapers which capture current events happening in an area or across the globe. They become excellent resources for history, time capsules for future generations. Looking at cartoons gives great insight into what issues have been important to a culture and how people viewed those issues. My history books were filled with them and even today I find that I can learn a little something about what’s going on in the world simply by thumbing through some political cartoons being published. While LefÈvre, I believe, set out to prove that cartoons representing the Congo in Belgium changed as feelings towards the relationship altered, there seems to be too much history to comb through before his point can be effectively made.
Khalil Bendib
Reference:
LefÈvre, P. (2008). ‘The Congo Drawn in Belgium.’ History and Politics in French-Language Comics and Graphic Novels. 166-185.
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