Gender and Decolonization in the Congo: The Legacy of Patrice Lumumba

249 Pages·2010·5.101 MB·English

by  Karen Bouwer (auth.)

GENDER AND DECOLONIZATION
IN THE CONGO
GENDER AND
DECOLONIZATION
IN THE CONGO
THE LEGACY OF PATRICE LUMUMBA
Karen Bouwer
GENDER AND DECOLONIZATION IN THE CONGO
Copyright © Karen Bouwer, 2010.
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2010 978-0-230-61557-1
All rights reserved.
First published in 2010 by
PALGRAVE MACMILLAN®
in the United States—a division of St. Martin’s Press LLC,
175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010.
Where this book is distributed in the UK, Europe and the rest of the world,
this is by Palgrave Macmillan, a division of Macmillan Publishers Limited,
registered in England, company number 785998, of Houndmills,
Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS.
Palgrave Macmillan is the global academic imprint of the above companies
and has companies and representatives throughout the world.
Palgrave® and Macmillan® are registered trademarks in the United States,
the United Kingdom, Europe and other countries.
ISBN 978-1-349-37925-5 ISBN 978-0-230-11040-3 (eBook)
DOI 10.1057/9780230110403
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Bouwer, Karen.
Gender and decolonization in the Congo : the legacy of Patrice
Lumumba / Karen Bouwer.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.

1. Lumumba, Patrice, 1925–1961—Political and social views.
2. Lumumba, Patrice, 1925–1961—Relations with women. 3. Lumumba,
Patrice, 1925–1961—Influence. 4. Sex role—Congo (Democratic
Republic)—History—20th century. 5. Women—Political activity—
Congo (Democratic Republic)—History—20th century.
6. Decolonization—Congo (Democratic Republic)—History—20th
century. 7. Congo (Democratic Republic)—Politics and government—
1960–1997. 8. Congo (Democratic Republic)—Social conditions—20th
century. I. Title.
DT658.2.L85B68 2010
967.519024092—dc22 2009050952
A catalogue record of the book is available from the British Library.
Design by Newgen Imaging Systems (P) Ltd., Chennai, India.
First edition: August 2010
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
I dedicate this book to my parents
Harriet Johanna Bouwer (née Pretorius)
and
Jeremia Jess Bouwer
CONTENTS
List of Images ix
Acknowledgments xi
Permissions xiii
Introduction: The Gender of Decolonization 1
1 Lumumba on Women: From Domesticity to
Political Mobilization 13
2 Lumumba and Women: The Personal
Meets the Political 39
3 Andrée Blouin: A Sister among Brothers
in Struggle 71
4 Léonie Abo: The Political Lessons
of the Maquis 101
5 Césaire’s Lumumba: A Symbol of
Sexual and Political Prowess 131
6 Peck’s Personal Lumumba:
The Maternal Voice in Death of a Prophet 153
7 Peck’s Hollywood Lumumba:
A Masculine Hero 167
Conclusion: Legacies 191
Notes 197
Works Cited 213
Timeline 225
Index 229
IMAGES
2.1 Pauline Opango Lumumba today 69
3.1 Blouin addressing a crowd 75
3.2 Blouin with Gizenga 76
4.1 A maquis photo, Nelly Labutu in the center 115
4.2 Léonie Abo in the 1990s 128
6.1 Gisèle Peck in the mayor’s office in Leopoldville 156
7.1 Patrice and Pauline in Peck’s film 177
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Iw as sustained for the duration of this project by colleagues, friends, and
family. Anita Alkhas, a stalwart supporter in countless ways, helped me
visualize the book in every sense of the word. I am profoundly grateful
to the members of my writing group, Bernadette Barker-Plummer, Kathy
Nasstrom, and Stephanie Vandrick, as well as Heather Hoag, for their
moral support and discussions about process and content. The immeasur-
able generosity of Father Bernard Muhigirwa and Sister Pauline
Lukolongo made my short trip to the Congo fruitful beyond my dreams.
A special thanks to Madame Pauline Opango Lumumba, Léonie Abo,
and Roland and Juliana Lumumba, and all the others who took time to
meet or speak with me. Grey Osterud’s sophisticated and incisive feed-
back helped make this a better book. For careful readings of certain chap-
ters, I am indebted to Gertrude Mianda, Laurence M. Porter, Mary Vogl,
and Herbert Weiss. For listening, reading, and commenting, in big ways
and small, and for providing information, documents, permissions, and
photographs, my sincere thanks to Pamela Balls-Organista, Julia Berman
(my wonderful research assistant), Jean-Pierre Bongila, Monique
Chajmowiez, Elizabeth Costello, Ken Harrow, Jennesis Jensen, Mary
McCullough, Jennifer Morales, Jean Lambert Mulopo Pemba, Valerie
Orlando, Victoria Pasley, Raoul Peck, Bernadette Pedagno, Agnès
Peysson-Zeiss, Tracy Seeley, Katha Sheehan (honoring the life and work
of her mother Jean MacKellar), Dean Jennifer Turpin and the College of
Arts and Sciences at the University of San Francisco (for financing and
supporting regular writing retreats for the faculty), Herbert Weiss, and
Raúl Wybo, as well as Luba Ostashevsky, Joanna Mericle, Colleen
Lawrie, and Laura Lancaster, at Palgrave Macmillan. My everlasting grat-
itude goes to my family, my rock, and to Omid Ahmadian for always
being there, by my side.
PERMISSIONS
The author and publisher are grateful for permission to reproduce the
following copyrighted material:
Excerpts from Andrée Blouin’s My Country, Africa: Autobiography of the
Black Pasionaria (published with the collaboration of Jean MacKellar
by Praeger Publishers in 1983) reproduced with the kind permission of
Katha Sheehan on behalf of the Estate of Jean MacKellar.
Excerpts and photographs from Ludo Martens’s Abo. Une Femme du Congo
(1995) reproduced with the kind permission of Ludo Martens and EPO,
Brussels.
Excerpts from Aimé Césaire’s Une Saison au Congo reproduced with the
kind permission of Éditions du Seuil, 1966, coll. Points, 2001. For the
English translation: A SEASON IN THE CONGO by Aimé Césaire.
English translation copyright © 1968 by Grove Press, Inc. Originally
published in French as Une Saison Au Congo, copyright © 1967 by
Éditions du Seuil. Reprinted by permission of Georges Borchardt, Inc.,
for Éditions du Seuil.
INTRODUCTION: THE GENDER OF
DECOLONIZATION
Shortly before independence on June 30, 1960, Prime Minister Patrice
Lumumba met resistance from a surprising source: his wife. Pauline
Opango and other women organized against their husbands in Lumumba’s
incoming administration at a moment when the men would seem to need
the loyal support of their spouses. Why? Anicet Kashamura explains
the mounting tensions in the Lumumba household as independence
approached:
Lumumba’s family drama intensifies when he starts assuming responsi-
bilities. Pauline Opango, his wife, is worried. . . . She is the first in the
Congo to notice that independence is going to bring about changes in
Congolese homes. A man who happens to become a minister, she says,
will be tempted to marry a better educated, more Europeanized woman,
able to play a part in diplomatic ceremonies. That’s why she organizes a
women’s movement in Leopoldville to protest the behavior of the minis-
ters and of her husband. (7)1
The discovery of this event, almost eclipsed in the turmoil surrounding
the struggle for independence, raised a whole range of questions that
spurred me to undertake this study.
Pauline Lumumba’s political initiative draws attention to a dimension
of women’s political involvement beyond what is commonly acknowl-
edged in the literature on the Congo. I seek to foreground women while
I use the iconic figure of Patrice Lumumba as the focal point of my
investigation of gender and decolonization. This protest underscores the
family as a crucial locus for the manifestation and contestation of gender
relations and emphasizes the interconnections between public and private
domains at this transitional moment in political life.
During my meeting with Madame Lumumba in Kinshasa in March
2008, she corroborated Kashamura’s account in De Lumumba aux
colonels.2 The women’s protests emphasized the effect of the changing