Reuben Loffman
Biographic Data
| ID | 637506 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Reuben Loffman |
| GIVEN NAMES | Reuben |
| FAMILY NAME | Loffman |
| SIGNATURE | LOFFMAN R |
| AFFILIATIONS | Queen Mary University of London |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-7060-5852 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 17 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 15 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 17 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2007 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2024 |
| H-INDEX | 2 |
A Vast and Beautiful Country”
Recent literature has highlighted the close relationship between the American Presbyterian Congo Mission (APCM) and the government of the Belgian Congo. Despite a libel trial in 1909, which saw the APCM face a key Belgian ally in court, historians, such as Ira Dworkin and Simon Mbau, have emphasised their co-operation following the dispute. This article adds to literature on the APCM and Belgian imperialism by exploring the beliefs they shared du…
Idesbald Goddeeris, Missionarissen. Geschiedenis, herinnering, dekolonisering
Rubber Production in Africa
Rubber—both synthetic and natural—has been produced largely because of its useful combination of malleability and resilience. Historically, natural rubber has been harvested across many parts of the equatorial world, with West, West-Central, and Equatorial Africa playing a significant—although not dominant—role in global production from the late 19th century onward. Conversely, synthetic rubber, developed in the early 20th century, has played a f…
De Hemptinne, the Benedictines and Catholic Assimilation on the Congolese Copperbelt, 1911–1960
This article explores the history of the Benedictines in south-eastern Congo. The Benedictine leader, Jean-Félix De Hemptinne, eschewed an adaptationist approach to his mission work in favour of an assimilationist one. This article explains why he was able to follow such an approach for so long. Two factors were paramount. First, what Chris Bayly described as ‘lateral connections’ enabled De Hemptinne to side-step the need to engage meaningfully …
My Training Is Deeply Christian and I Am Against Violence’
This article examines the Baluba Association of Katanga (Balubakat) from its creation in 1957 until its dissolution in 1964, as well as its leader Jason Sendwe. Despite not receiving much scholarly coverage hitherto, Sendwe and the Balubakat played an important part in undermining the Katangese secession, along with the UN and the Congolese National Army (ANC). This article's focus on the Balubakat and Sendwe challenges the traditional historical…
We Are Left with Barely Anything’
When historians have examined labour relations in the Belgian Congo, the paradigmatic image is that of rapacious, avaricious metropolitan investors oppressing helpless African communities by dint of a skeletal but violent cohort of intermediaries. Leopold II was exemplary of this trend. Having never set foot in the Congo, he drew vast profits from the territory by means of initiating a series of appalling atrocities as his employees coerced Afric…
Church, State and Colonialism in Southeastern Congo, 1890–1962
Same Memory, Different Memorials
Recent literature on modern martyrdom and memory has focused on cases in which individual groups remember martyrs’ sacrifices by making similar memorials to them. However, this article argues that even if members of a group agree on a martyr narrative, different memorials with diverse meanings can still be erected in memory of the martyrs concerned. This article supports its argument by exploring the case of twenty members of the Holy Ghost Fathe…
Belgian Rule and its Afterlives
The arrival of Belgian rule in the late nineteenth century initiated significant changes in the labor history of Tanganyika, a province in the southeastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), as well the discursive regimes used to legitimize these transformations. After the colonial conquests, unfree labor was justified by paternalistic rather than mythical discourses. Although unfree labor was less common in the postcolonial period, the stat…
Invisible Agents
On the Fringes of a Christian Kingdom
This article charts the history of a White Fathers' mission in a challenging rural milieu on the margins of the Christian 'kingdom' they established in southeastern Congo. It follows the Society from their arrival in the town of Sola in 1909 to the end of the colonial period. The history of this mission contradicts Jan Vansina's claim that missionaries in general were part of an ensemble of actors able to shatter a millennia-old political traditi…
An obscured revolution? Usaid, the North Shaba Project, and the Zaïrian administration, 1976–1986
This article examines a major instance of United States' (US) involvement in Zaïre during the 1970s and 1980s. The paper looks at an under-studied rural development scheme, known as the North Shaba Project/Projet du Nord Shaba (PNS), which was funded by USAID from 1976 to 1986.The PNS increased maize exports from northern Shaba (Katanga) to central and southern cities in the province and aimed to curtail workers’ discontent by providing cheap foo…
Men and Women of the Water
This article explores the sexual division of labour among the Lokele under Belgian rule in Stanleyville (Kisangani) and its hinterland. It asks why the Lokele were able to encounter the colonial state so successfully. Much of the answer lies in their womenfolk's fusion of commerce and Christianity. Lokele women maintained a lucrative trade in fisheries, which continued throughout the colonial period and which they used to support their male kinfo…
In the shadow of the tree sultans
This article examines the relationships between the Belgian colonial administration, Catholic missionaries, and local African leaders during the early twentieth century in eastern Congo. The article extends the argument that the state was weak by outlining how Belgian rule was shaped by local elites in the first instance. This study also reconsiders the misconception of an all-powerful Catholic Church that grew up in this period. This misundersta…
Mulele et la revolution populaire au Kwilu (Republique Democratique du Congo), by Benoit Verhaegen, Jean Omasombo, Edwine Simons, and Francoise Verhaegen
This study aims to extend Benoît Verhaegen's earlier seminal works on post-colonial Congolese rebellions. The principal reason for publishing another book specifically on the Kwilu rebellion of 1964, argue the authors, is to update previous research through the use of ‘immediate history’. This particular methodology involves the extensive use of quotations from contemporary sources, which can be reinterpreted by subsequent generations of historia…
A history of violence
Journal Article A history of violence: The state, youth, and memory in contemporary Africa Get access Reuben Loffman Reuben Loffman Reuben Loffman ([email protected]) is a graduate student at Keele University who is researching the history of violence in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. He is also an occasional lecturer and teaching assistant at the Centre of West African Studies in Birmingham University. The author gratefully ackno…
The Democratic Republic of Congo
This book should make grim – but necessary – reading for policy makers, academics, and professionals alike who work on the Congo-Kinshasa region. In this study Michael Nest, François Grignon, and Emizet Kisangani examine the role of economic interests in the tortured peace process in the DRC, concurrently summarizing a seemingly endless catalogue of institutional failures by both national and international organizations. Nest introduces this volu…
We Are Left with Barely Anything’
When historians have examined labour relations in the Belgian Congo, the paradigmatic image is that of rapacious, avaricious metropolitan investors oppressing helpless African communities by dint of a skeletal but violent cohort of intermediaries. Leopold II was exemplary of this trend. Having never set foot in the Congo, he drew vast profits from the territory by means of initiating a series of appalling atrocities as his employees coerced Afric…
In the shadow of the tree sultans
This article examines the relationships between the Belgian colonial administration, Catholic missionaries, and local African leaders during the early twentieth century in eastern Congo. The article extends the argument that the state was weak by outlining how Belgian rule was shaped by local elites in the first instance. This study also reconsiders the misconception of an all-powerful Catholic Church that grew up in this period. This misundersta…
Belgian Rule and its Afterlives
The arrival of Belgian rule in the late nineteenth century initiated significant changes in the labor history of Tanganyika, a province in the southeastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), as well the discursive regimes used to legitimize these transformations. After the colonial conquests, unfree labor was justified by paternalistic rather than mythical discourses. Although unfree labor was less common in the postcolonial period, the stat…
On the Fringes of a Christian Kingdom
This article charts the history of a White Fathers' mission in a challenging rural milieu on the margins of the Christian 'kingdom' they established in southeastern Congo. It follows the Society from their arrival in the town of Sola in 1909 to the end of the colonial period. The history of this mission contradicts Jan Vansina's claim that missionaries in general were part of an ensemble of actors able to shatter a millennia-old political traditi…
Rubber Production in Africa
Rubber—both synthetic and natural—has been produced largely because of its useful combination of malleability and resilience. Historically, natural rubber has been harvested across many parts of the equatorial world, with West, West-Central, and Equatorial Africa playing a significant—although not dominant—role in global production from the late 19th century onward. Conversely, synthetic rubber, developed in the early 20th century, has played a f…
Same Memory, Different Memorials
Recent literature on modern martyrdom and memory has focused on cases in which individual groups remember martyrs’ sacrifices by making similar memorials to them. However, this article argues that even if members of a group agree on a martyr narrative, different memorials with diverse meanings can still be erected in memory of the martyrs concerned. This article supports its argument by exploring the case of twenty members of the Holy Ghost Fathe…
The Democratic Republic of Congo
This book should make grim – but necessary – reading for policy makers, academics, and professionals alike who work on the Congo-Kinshasa region. In this study Michael Nest, François Grignon, and Emizet Kisangani examine the role of economic interests in the tortured peace process in the DRC, concurrently summarizing a seemingly endless catalogue of institutional failures by both national and international organizations. Nest introduces this volu…
The Democratic Republic of Congo
This book should make grim – but necessary – reading for policy makers, academics, and professionals alike who work on the Congo-Kinshasa region. In this study Michael Nest, François Grignon, and Emizet Kisangani examine the role of economic interests in the tortured peace process in the DRC, concurrently summarizing a seemingly endless catalogue of institutional failures by both national and international organizations. Nest introduces this volu…
A history of violence
Journal Article A history of violence: The state, youth, and memory in contemporary Africa Get access Reuben Loffman Reuben Loffman Reuben Loffman ([email protected]) is a graduate student at Keele University who is researching the history of violence in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. He is also an occasional lecturer and teaching assistant at the Centre of West African Studies in Birmingham University. The author gratefully ackno…
Mulele et la revolution populaire au Kwilu (Republique Democratique du Congo), by Benoit Verhaegen, Jean Omasombo, Edwine Simons, and Francoise Verhaegen
This study aims to extend Benoît Verhaegen's earlier seminal works on post-colonial Congolese rebellions. The principal reason for publishing another book specifically on the Kwilu rebellion of 1964, argue the authors, is to update previous research through the use of ‘immediate history’. This particular methodology involves the extensive use of quotations from contemporary sources, which can be reinterpreted by subsequent generations of historia…
In the shadow of the tree sultans
This article examines the relationships between the Belgian colonial administration, Catholic missionaries, and local African leaders during the early twentieth century in eastern Congo. The article extends the argument that the state was weak by outlining how Belgian rule was shaped by local elites in the first instance. This study also reconsiders the misconception of an all-powerful Catholic Church that grew up in this period. This misundersta…
Men and Women of the Water
This article explores the sexual division of labour among the Lokele under Belgian rule in Stanleyville (Kisangani) and its hinterland. It asks why the Lokele were able to encounter the colonial state so successfully. Much of the answer lies in their womenfolk's fusion of commerce and Christianity. Lokele women maintained a lucrative trade in fisheries, which continued throughout the colonial period and which they used to support their male kinfo…
An obscured revolution? Usaid, the North Shaba Project, and the Zaïrian administration, 1976–1986
This article examines a major instance of United States' (US) involvement in Zaïre during the 1970s and 1980s. The paper looks at an under-studied rural development scheme, known as the North Shaba Project/Projet du Nord Shaba (PNS), which was funded by USAID from 1976 to 1986.The PNS increased maize exports from northern Shaba (Katanga) to central and southern cities in the province and aimed to curtail workers’ discontent by providing cheap foo…
Invisible Agents
On the Fringes of a Christian Kingdom
This article charts the history of a White Fathers' mission in a challenging rural milieu on the margins of the Christian 'kingdom' they established in southeastern Congo. It follows the Society from their arrival in the town of Sola in 1909 to the end of the colonial period. The history of this mission contradicts Jan Vansina's claim that missionaries in general were part of an ensemble of actors able to shatter a millennia-old political traditi…
Belgian Rule and its Afterlives
The arrival of Belgian rule in the late nineteenth century initiated significant changes in the labor history of Tanganyika, a province in the southeastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), as well the discursive regimes used to legitimize these transformations. After the colonial conquests, unfree labor was justified by paternalistic rather than mythical discourses. Although unfree labor was less common in the postcolonial period, the stat…
Same Memory, Different Memorials
Recent literature on modern martyrdom and memory has focused on cases in which individual groups remember martyrs’ sacrifices by making similar memorials to them. However, this article argues that even if members of a group agree on a martyr narrative, different memorials with diverse meanings can still be erected in memory of the martyrs concerned. This article supports its argument by exploring the case of twenty members of the Holy Ghost Fathe…
We Are Left with Barely Anything’
When historians have examined labour relations in the Belgian Congo, the paradigmatic image is that of rapacious, avaricious metropolitan investors oppressing helpless African communities by dint of a skeletal but violent cohort of intermediaries. Leopold II was exemplary of this trend. Having never set foot in the Congo, he drew vast profits from the territory by means of initiating a series of appalling atrocities as his employees coerced Afric…
Church, State and Colonialism in Southeastern Congo, 1890–1962
My Training Is Deeply Christian and I Am Against Violence’
This article examines the Baluba Association of Katanga (Balubakat) from its creation in 1957 until its dissolution in 1964, as well as its leader Jason Sendwe. Despite not receiving much scholarly coverage hitherto, Sendwe and the Balubakat played an important part in undermining the Katangese secession, along with the UN and the Congolese National Army (ANC). This article's focus on the Balubakat and Sendwe challenges the traditional historical…
De Hemptinne, the Benedictines and Catholic Assimilation on the Congolese Copperbelt, 1911–1960
This article explores the history of the Benedictines in south-eastern Congo. The Benedictine leader, Jean-Félix De Hemptinne, eschewed an adaptationist approach to his mission work in favour of an assimilationist one. This article explains why he was able to follow such an approach for so long. Two factors were paramount. First, what Chris Bayly described as ‘lateral connections’ enabled De Hemptinne to side-step the need to engage meaningfully …
Idesbald Goddeeris, Missionarissen. Geschiedenis, herinnering, dekolonisering
Rubber Production in Africa
Rubber—both synthetic and natural—has been produced largely because of its useful combination of malleability and resilience. Historically, natural rubber has been harvested across many parts of the equatorial world, with West, West-Central, and Equatorial Africa playing a significant—although not dominant—role in global production from the late 19th century onward. Conversely, synthetic rubber, developed in the early 20th century, has played a f…
A Vast and Beautiful Country”
Recent literature has highlighted the close relationship between the American Presbyterian Congo Mission (APCM) and the government of the Belgian Congo. Despite a libel trial in 1909, which saw the APCM face a key Belgian ally in court, historians, such as Ira Dworkin and Simon Mbau, have emphasised their co-operation following the dispute. This article adds to literature on the APCM and Belgian imperialism by exploring the beliefs they shared du…
History (16 works) · Political science (15 works) · African history and culture studies (13 works) · History (12 works) · Law (12 works) · Sociology (11 works) · Colonialism (9 works) · Law (8 works) · Politics (8 works) · Archaeology (7 works)