Найти книгу: "Recalling the Belgian Congo"

When the author embarked on her study, her aim was to approach former colonial officers with a view to analyzing processes of domination in the ex-Belgian Congo. However, after establishing a rapport with some of these officers, the author was soon forced to revise her initial assumptions, widely held in present-day Belgium: these officers were not the «baddies» she had expected to meet. Exploring the colonial experience through the respondents' memories resulted in a far more complex picture of the colonial situation than she had anticipated, again forcing her to question her original assumptions. This resulted not only in a more differentiated perspective on Belgian colonialist rule, but is also sensitized her as regards the question of anthropological understanding and of what constitutes historical fact. These two aspects of her work are reflected in this study that offers specific material on the way Belgian colonialism is remembered and reflects on its conditions of production, thus combining ethnographic analysis with a theoretical essay.

Historically, the conservation of forests and wildlife has focused on the creation of national parks and reserves. However, only 9% of protected areas are larger than 14,000 hectares, likely making them too small to conserve ecosystem services and prevent loss of wide-ranging keystone species such as elephant and leopard. New approaches are needed that extend conservation beyond protected area boundaries into areas where economic considerations prevail. The book describes one such emerging model of conservation: the integration of the private sector into partnerships to protect biodiversity and improve forest management. While such partnerships are being created in nearly every sector of resource extraction, detailed analyses of how such partnerships work and whether they benefit biodiversity conservation are rare. Using a case study from the Congo Basin, the book examines principles of conservation and partnership, and provides technical and methodological details to replicate an innovative conservation model. It presents concrete solutions for expanding conservation across multi-use landscapes, a necessary action as industry expands to all the corners of the globe.

FINALIST FOR THE CUNDILL PRIZE FOR HISTORY‘Not only deserves the description “epic”, in its true sense, but the term “masterpiece” as well’ IndependentThis gripping epic tells the story of one of the world’s most critical failed nation-states: the Democratic Republic of Congo. Interweaving his own family’s history with the voices of a diverse range of individuals – charismatic dictators, feuding warlords, child soldiers, and many in the African diaspora of Europe and China – Van Reybrouck offers a deeply humane approach to political history, focusing squarely on the Congolese perspective and returning a nation’s history to its people.