Belgian Monuments of Colonial Violence: the Commemoration of Martyred Missionaries

ABSTRACT Present-day scholarship on Black Lives Matter and the decolonization of public space has largely focused on the monuments that have raised societal criticism. Commemorative markers for missionaries have so far largely fallen beyond these debates. This article asks why this has been the case, how missionaries are remembered and in which ways they connect to the present-day criticism of problematic memorials. More particularly, it analyzes the memorialization of martyrs, i.e. missionaries who were killed during their mission, and works with the case of Belgium, a country that has witnessed campaigns against statues of Leopold II and his collaborators in the Congo Free State. The article reveals that the only direct references to colonial violence in Belgian public space are tributes to martyred missionaries. Although explicit reference to martyrdom has gradually faded (but not completely disappeared), colonial language and frames have not, white individuals’ commitment and victimhood being emphasized and contrasted with collective and anonymous indigenous savagery. At the same time, the article demonstrates the complexity of dealing with these monuments. They also serve as sites of mourning and family reunion and honor individuals that are not associated with colonialism but, on the contrary, are being venerated beyond Europe.