This paper analyses (female) voices that reported sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) to the Commission of Inquiry of the Congo Free State between October 1904 and February 1905. Couldry's (2010) notion of "voice as value" is used to assess the possible contribution of these voices to the decade-long international humanitarian campaign that outsted King Leopold II from his personal colony. Document Analysis was performed on 21 witness accounts, including five female survivors and 16 African and European men who either corroborated or ruled out these women's statements. The analysis reveals one of the two main sites of violence to have been the home of the victim, a peculiar site of conflict-related SGBV even in the DRC today. Additionally, the study suggests a correlation between the geographical region of rubber exploitation and the area of concentration of SGBV - a finding which could signify germination of the 'world's capital of rape' to have started during the Leopoldian era and necessitates further examination. In answer to the inquiry's main question, results show that although voices denouncing SGBV remained unheard during the campaign, they did echo the main message carried by most if not all 300 or so Congolese men and women whose stories bear witness to brutalities that took place 120 years ago. The message they would have wanted reverberated worldwide is that ending the rubber regime was the only way out of their ordeal.

O Estado Independente do Congo foi reconhecido internacionalmente em 1885 como resultado da ação de representantes europeus em obter tratados de cessão de soberania junto às autoridades e chefes africanos da região da bacia do Congo. No entanto, a implantação de uma missão civilizadora, em consonância com os interesses comerciais do monarca belga Leopoldo II, não se deu sem conflitos, embates e resistências. A crueldade e a arbitrariedade que marcaram tal processo ecoaram na opinião pública internacional, gerando movimentos de denúncias sobre as violências que vitimaram as populações africanas. Este trabalho busca analisar as reações e acomodações ocorridas a partir da situação colonial que se impôs frente a um contexto no qual se faziam presentes múltiplas e variadas formas de organização política das sociedades africanas da região. / The Congo Free State was internationally recognized in 1885 as a result of the action of European representatives in obtaining sovereignty transfer treaties with the African authorities and leaders of the Congo Basin region. However, the implementation of a \"civilizing mission\" aligned to the commercial interests of the Belgian king Leopold II, has not been without conflicts, struggles and resistances. The cruelty and arbitrariness that have marked this process echoed on the international public opinion, generating movements of complaints about violence toward the African populations. This work seeks to analyze the reactions and accommodations that followed the colonial situation that was imposed in a context in which were present multiple and varied forms of political organization of African societies in the region.

O Estado Independente do Congo foi reconhecido internacionalmente em 1885 como resultado da ação de representantes europeus em obter tratados de cessão de soberania junto às autoridades e chefes africanos da região da bacia do Congo. No entanto, a implantação de uma missão civilizadora, em consonância com os interesses comerciais do monarca belga Leopoldo II, não se deu sem conflitos, embates e resistências. A crueldade e a arbitrariedade que marcaram tal processo ecoaram na opinião pública internacional, gerando movimentos de denúncias sobre as violências que vitimaram as populações africanas. Este trabalho busca analisar as reações e acomodações ocorridas a partir da situação colonial que se impôs frente a um contexto no qual se faziam presentes múltiplas e variadas formas de organização política das sociedades africanas da região. / The Congo Free State was internationally recognized in 1885 as a result of the action of European representatives in obtaining sovereignty transfer treaties with the African authorities and leaders of the Congo Basin region. However, the implementation of a \"civilizing mission\" aligned to the commercial interests of the Belgian king Leopold II, has not been without conflicts, struggles and resistances. The cruelty and arbitrariness that have marked this process echoed on the international public opinion, generating movements of complaints about violence toward the African populations. This work seeks to analyze the reactions and accommodations that followed the colonial situation that was imposed in a context in which were present multiple and varied forms of political organization of African societies in the region.

Ethnographic collections in western museums such as the Royal Albert Memorial Museum (RAMM) carry many meanings, but by definition, they represent an intercultural encounter. This history of this encounter is often lost, overlooked, or obscured, and yet it has bearing on how the objects in the collection have been interpreted and understood. This thesis uncovers the hidden history of one particular collection in the RAMM and examines the multiple meanings that have been attributed to the objects in the collection over time. The Richard Dennett Collection was made in Africa in the years when European powers began to colonise the Congo basin. Richard Edward Dennett (1857-1921) worked as a trader in the Lower Congo between 1879 and 1902. The collection was accessioned by the RAMM in 1889. The research contextualises the collection by making a close analysis of primary source material which was produced by the collector and by his contemporaries, and includes publications, correspondence, photographs and illustrations which have been studied in museums and archives in Europe and North America. Dennett was personally involved with key events in the colonial history of this part of Africa but he also studied the indigenous BaKongo community, recording his observations about their political and material culture. As a result he became involved in the institutions of anthropology and folklore in Britain which were attempting to explain, classify and interpret such cultures. Through examining Dennett’s history this research has been able to explore the Congo context, the indigenous society, and those European institutions which collected and interpreted BaKongo collections. The research has added considerably to the museum’s knowledge about this collection and its collector, and the study responds to the practical imperative implicit in a Collaborative Doctoral Project, by proposing a small temporary exhibition in the RAMM to explore these histories and meanings. In making this proposal the research considers the current curatorial debate concerning responsible approaches to colonial collections, and assesses some of the strategies that are being employed in museums today.

This thesis argues that King Leopold II, in his exploitation of the Congo, dealt the Congo a future of political, ethnic, and economic destabilization. At one time consisting of unified and advanced kingdoms, the Congo turned to one completely beleaguered by poverty and political oppression. Leopold acquired the Congo through unethical means and thus took the people's chances away at self-rule. He provided for no education or vocational training, which would stunt future Congolese leaders from making sound economic and political policies. Leopold also exploited the Congo with the help of concession companies, both of which used forced labor to extract valuable resources. Millions of Congolese died and the Congo itself became indebted through Belgian loans that were given with no assurance they could ever truly be paid back due to the crippled economy of the Congo. With the Congo now in crippling debt, the current president, Joseph Kabila, has little incentive to invest in reforms or public infrastructure, which stunts economic growth.1 For over a century the Congo has been ruled by exploitative and authoritarian regimes due to Leopold's initial acquisition. The colonization from Leopold lasted from 1885-1908, and then he sold it to his home country of Belgium who ruled the Congo from 1908 to 1960. Belgium helped prop up a dictator named Joseph Mobutu or Mobutu Sese Seko who ruled from 1965 to 1997. Afterwards he was overthrown by the Kabila family who has continued the exploitative rule and has made no significant efforts at democratization or reforms. Thus the ethnic conflicts, political oppression and economic woes that the Congo is facing today are inevitably linked to its Leopoldian past.