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Patrice Lumumba s legacy continues to fire the imagination of politicians, activists, and artists. But women have been missing from accounts of the Congo s decolonization. What new ideals of masculinity and femininity were generated in this struggle? Were masculinist biases re-inscribed in later depictions of the martyred nationalist? Through analysis of Lumumba s writings and speeches, the life stories of women activists, and literary and cinematic works, Gender and Decolonization in the Congo: The Legacy of Patrice Lumumba challenges male-centered interpretations of Congolese nationalism and illustrates how generic conventions both reinforced and undercut gender bias in representations of Lumumba and his female contemporaries.

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Lumumba´s Discourse on Women: From Qualified Vote to Universal Suffrage, Still Wives and Mothers? Lumumba´s Women, Women of the Congo: Negotiating Patriarchies Andrée Blouin: A Sister among Brothers in Struggle Léonie Abo and the Political Lessons of the Maquis: Commanding Troops, Carrying Water Sexual and Political Prowess: Césaire´s Lumumba , a Potent Symbol Peck´s Lumumba : Telling the ´Truth´ and Masculinist Bias Beyond the ´Truth´: The Maternal Voice in Peck´s Death of a Prophet Conclusion

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"Bouwer draws on literary criticism, a thorough grounding in the historical literature, and her own interviews with one of Lumumba´s wives in her efforts to use gender as a means of understanding Lumumba´s life and legacy. Her book is an exemplary example of interdisciplinary scholarship and provides a model for scholars seeking to weave literary and historical methods together. This outstanding work deserves a wide audience of scholars. Essential." - CHOICE

´Although a significant amount of writing exists on the history of Congo´s decolonization, almost all of it focuses on the political process. With this book, Karen Bouwer adds a much needed gender perspective to this body of work. Gender and Decolonization in the Congo is both a book about women and one that seeks to employ a gender analysis to understand Patrice Lumumba´s writings and his life´s legacy. In all, this book makes a significant contribution to the scholarship on Congo´s decolonization from an understudied perspective, and demonstrates how political legacies are shaped.´-Research in African Literatures

´The study goes a long way towards presenting the first truly groundbreaking investigation of women´s political participation in the DRC, a significant subject largely ignored by scholars. Gender and Decolonization in the Congo is richly documented and provides a useful index, an impressive bibliography, a dependable section of notes and rare photographs of Congolese female activists. Perhaps the greatest achievement of this study is that it offers a promising and unfamiliar approach into the subject of decolonization in the DRC. Gender and Decolonization in the Congo is a serious work of academic scholarship, able to stir the minds of specialists in the field of gender studies, history, politics, diaspora studies, development studies and literary studies.´-Gender & Social Justice

"Karen Bouwer has excavated Congolese women by shedding lighton their role in the decolonization of the Congo(DRC). Such analysis - a gender perspective pointing out the core of women´s oppression at the interconnection of reproduction/production in the way it was brought on by Belgian modernity in the Congo - is unprecedented in literature on Lumumba´s legacy and its position on women." - Gertrude Mianda, Associate Professor, School of Women´s Studies & Department of Sociology, York University

"Professor Bouwer offers an original and engaging overview of Lumumba´s life and legacy. Her analyses of cinematic works as well as the scholarship that has made Lumumba into an icon of African Cinema are thought provoking and noteworthy." - Valérie K. Orlando, Associate Professor of French & Francophone Literatures, Cultures and Film, University of Maryland, College Park

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