Dealing with Belgium’s Colonial Past
(2025) The Oxford Handbook of Belgian Politics — ISBN: [9780198914754], p. 448-461, published
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- Abstract
- This chapter is anchored in the literature devoted to reparative justice and conflict transformation between formerly colonised communities and former metropoles. It questions the consequences of Belgium’s colonisation in the longue durée in paying particular attention to the evolution of official silence, words, and gestures related to what is often depicted in Brussels, Paris, London or Berlin as a “painful” past. It shows why the Belgian case is considered as highly emblematic from a comparative perspective. It mostly concentrates on the Special Commission set up in 2020 by the Belgian Parliament to deal with the colonial period (in Congo, Burundi and Rwanda) and its enduring consequences. The failure of the Commission allows us to reflect on the pros and cons of a maximalist approach. In terms of methodology, the analysis is based on two disciplines (political sciences and history) and two fieldworks (Belgium and Democratic Republic of Congo).
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Citations
Rosoux, V. (2025). Dealing with Belgium’s Colonial Past. In Min Reuchamps, Marleen Brans, Petra Meier, and Emilie Van Haute (ed.), The Oxford Handbook of Belgian Politics (p. p. 448-461). Oxford University Press. https://hdl.handle.net/2078.5/270986