Overview

The British and American Congo Reform Movement (ca. 1890-1913) has been praised extensively for its ›heroic‹ confrontation of colonial atrocities in the Congo Free State. Its commitment to white supremacy and colonial domination, however, continues to be overlooked, denied, or trivialised. This historical-sociological study argues that racism was the ideological cornerstone and formed the main agenda of this first major human rights campaign of the 20th century. Through a thorough analysis of contemporary sources, Felix Lösing unmasks the colonial and racist formation of the modern human rights discourse and investigates the ›historical work‹ of racism at a crossroads between imperial power and ›white crisis‹.

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9783837654981

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»The book is quite valuable in providing a new perspective annew insights on the Congo reform movement. The bonus for scholars more broadly is the modelhe provides for examining other movements and geopolitical events in the decades before andafter the First World War.« Dean Pavlakis, Archiv für Sozialgeschichte, 3 (2024) »Lösings Studie bietet einen wichtigen und längst überfälligen, weil rassismuskritischen Blick auf eine humanitäre Bewegung, von der viele akademische und publizistische Meinungsführer:innen behaupten, sie sei die erste Menschenrechtsbewegung der Moderne gewesen. Das vorliegende Werk ist durch akribische Recherche charakterisiert und resultiert in einer lesenswerten Rekonstruktion des historischen und kulturellen Diskurses um die CRA, ohne dabei ideologisch zu polarisieren oder zu relativieren.« Julien Bobineau, H-Soz-u-Kult, 17.05.2022

Author Information

Felix Lösing (Dr. phil.), born 1983, teaches at the Leuphana University Lüneburg and the Ev. Hochschule für Diakonie und Soziale Arbeit, Hamburg. The sociologist studied at the Hamburg University for Economics and Political Science and the University of Essex, Colchester. Awarded with a scholarship by the German Rosa-Luxemburg-Foundation, he did his doctorate at the University of Hamburg. His research focuses on history and theory of racism and colonialism.

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