‘Bilan du monde pour un monde plus déshumanisé’: The 1958 Brussels World’s Fair and Belgian Perceptions of the Congo

Abstract

This article examines the intentions behind the Belgian Congo and Ruanda-Urundi section at the 1958 World’s Fair and the reactions that its pavilions elicited. The article argues that while the Belgian Congo and Ruanda-Urundi section did demonstrate the impressive nature of Belgian accomplishments in Central Africa, it failed in its intentions to develop interest and sympathy in Belgium for the nation’s Central African empire. The 1958 World’s Fair maintained a tradition of paternalism toward Africans and buttressed a negative image of Congolese, all the while without facing up to Belgium’s colonial past. The Belgian Congo section’s village indigène continued a long practice of dehumanizing Africans at universal exhibitions by displaying them in a ‘primitive’ state to be observed by fair visitors.