Research on African Colonial Schoolbooks at the 'Centre Aequatoria' at Bamanya/Mbandaka (Congo-Kinshasa)
The origins of the Centre Aequatoria at Bamanya, Democratic Republic of the Congo, go back to 1937, when E. Boelaert (1899-1966) and G. Hulstaert (1900-1990) launched their periodical Aequatoria (ceased in 1962, continued by Annales Aequatoria from 1980 onwards). The documentation that at present constitutes the core of the activities of the Centre Aequatoria was partially constituted in this context. For more information on the history and present activities of the 'Centre Aequatoria', please consult: http://www.aequatoria.be

The Aequatoria Archives
The largest contribution to the Aequatoria Archives comes from G. Hulstaert himself, who bequeathed his scholarly correspondence, his Lomongo dialect enquiries, and his botanical and zoological notes to the emerging Centre. Hulstaert's legacy also included the Boelaert's notes on Mongo history and on linguistic and literary phenomena. In the same period, the Archives also acquired the documentation related to the schools of various mission stations in the region. In 1992-1994, the entire archives collection was microfilmed with a grant from the African Archives and Museum Project (Social Science Research Council/ American Council of Learned Societies). A detailed catalogue is now available at the web site of the Aequatoria Archives Research Project : http://www.aequatoria.be/archives_project

Documentation on colonial education
Documents related to the educational organization in the Belgian colony, dated between 1926 and 1972 and totalizing about 8,000 pages, contain lists of students, inspection reports, exam results, statistics, regulations of the board school, several local disputes, curricula discussions, circulars, some reports of the school inspection office, and others.

Colonial Schoolbooks
The 'Centre Aequatoria' has a collection of more than 600 schoolbooks and religious textbooks in 35 Congolese languages. The oldest of these books date back to 1897. Microfiches or printouts of the archives can be ordered at the web site of the Aequatoria Archives Research Project http://www.aequatoria.be/archives_project Since 1995, fifty-five booklets have been entirely translated into French. The translations are available at the Aequatoria address (see below) and at the Laval University of Quebec (Prof. Jewsiewicki) and will be soon on this Website.

Research programme
Research on the African Colonial Schoolbooks started a few years ago at the 'Centre Aequatoria' with studies on terminology and on the history of the language problem in colonial education. Since 1994, more attention has been devoted to a preliminary inventory of African schoolbooks available in international libraries and archives. In the same period, methodological and ideological explorations made it clear that much has to be done in order to acquire a reliable understanding of the matter. The study of the African colonial schoolbooks is of importance in the following fields:

Linguistics: The very first reductions to writing of Central African languages and literature can be found in these simple texts.

History: The colonial ideology and the way in which the history of the colonial conquest was represented to the African pupils are among the most fascinating topics.

Politics: most of the political leaders of the first and second generation of independent Africa have been educated with these schoolbooks and their views of authority and power are rooted in the missionary teaching as expressed in the textbooks.

Anthropology: The anthropological dimensions of the pedagogical concept are a very rich and extended domain of inquiry. The presentation and moral qualification of traditional social and political institutions, in confrontation with the image of the Western (Christian) worldview, can be discovered by in-depth analysis of the texts.

Educational theory and practice: Many schoolbooks display the evolution of Western pedagogical concepts and their experimental adaptation to the African context. Important but untouched is the problem of the dependency of the colonial schoolbooks on the metropolitan ones.

Ideology: Highly interesting research can be conducted on concepts of religion, civilization, race origins, right to colonize "primitive" peoples, and superiority of Western cultures and languages, as they are openly professed and taught in the textbooks. In the same context, attention should be drawn to the ideological background of the (mighty) pedagogical congregations, such as the "school congregations" (Brothers and Sisters Congregations on Catholic side) that dominated the scene even for a long period after independence. The intervention of the colonial administration imposing their ideology through the schools and expressed in compulsory texts in the schoolbooks, can be an other object of research.

Addresses:
B.P. 276 Mbandaka Zaire (Do not use this address in periods of instability in the Congo)
Contact in Belgium: Aequatoria, Stationsstraat 48, B-3640 Lovenjoel, Belgium
Telephone and fax: (32) (0)16-46.44.84 (Belgium)
e-mail vinck.aequatoria@skynet.be
Website: http://www.aequatoria.be and http://www.aequatoria.be/archives_project