Women’s Precarity in the Late Colonial and Postcolonial Congo Pubblico

Abstract

This thesis examines how the status and precarity of women changed during the late colonial and early colonial period in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The first chapter focuses on Congolese perceptions of domestic violence, studied through the lens of colonial scholars who interviewed subjects about their views on marriage. These scholars situated descriptions of violence and fear within colonial ideologies in ways that minimized, concealed and misdescribed violence. The second chapter studies how colonial interventions in and presumptions about plural marriage, sex work and monogamous marriage left many women with fewer rights and protections in intimate partner situations. This study calls for a re-examination of how scholars discuss women’s situations and experiences of vulnerability in African contexts.

Table of Contents

Introduction: Marital Chastisement, or Being Beaten with a Lamp…………………. p. 1

Part I: “Girls Are Afraid Of...” Psychology and Domestic Cruelty in the Late Colonial Congo …p. 9

Part II: “For you, there was only marriage”: The increasing vulnerability of female romantic partners under colonialism ... p. 35

Conclusion …………………………………………………………………………...p. 61

Bibliography ………………………………………………………………………….p 63 

About this Master's Thesis

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School	Laney Graduate School
Department	History
Degree	M.A.
Submission	Master's Thesis
Language	English
Research Field	History, African
Parola chiave	domestic violence congo colonialism
Committee Chair / Thesis Advisor	Scully, Pamela, Emory University
Committee Members	Rogers, Thomas, Emory University Xavier, Subha, Emory University

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