Tintin in the Congo prefaces its colonial “context,” and is perhaps worse

Infantilization, paternalism towards blacks and colonialism clutter the pages of Tintin in the CongoHergé’s album published in installments between 1930 and 1931 in The little twentieth, then as a black and white volume the same year. However, the work was the subject of a released in November.

A colorful reprint

Contemporary audiences will therefore discover Tintin’s adventures in colored form, within a box set entitled “The Colorized”, together with two other adventures, “Tintin in the Land of the Soviets” (1930) and “Tintin in America” ( 1932). ).

Was it necessary to promote and market a work corrupted by racism? The Moulinsart and Casterman editions, at the origin of this re-edition, decided to enrich the comic with a preface presumably “which provides information on the genesis of these stories and their publication context”, as their site specifies. The little black boy on the original cover is also missing on the reissue cover.

Is this preface a simple defense forum?

TF1, which obtained the preface in question, noted that its author defended Hergé from any accusation of racism. A prejudice that is not surprising if we know that Philippe Goddin, its author, is the president of the association Friends of Hergéwhich presents itself as “the oldest and largest tintinophile association with almost fourteen hundred members”. In the preface to this reprint we can read:

“It has been said that Hergé made a hateful caricature of the Congolese. Racist, is he? He defended himself strenuously (…) he makes fun of everyone, black and white, cheerfully. »

As reported PointPhilippe Goddin defended his position with AFPdefending the more than questionable idea that stereotypes do not go hand in hand with racism:

” We are racist from the moment we want to denigrate, belittle the other, which is not the case Tintin in the Congo. Certain, there are stereotypes, caricatures. Hergé insisted on large lips and flat noses, like many stylists of the time. But for me, even if the line between caricature and racism is blurred, he doesn’t cross it. »

Herge “ignore sources that describe the violence of colonization“

Among historians this argument does not seem to have convinced. AFP also interviewed Pascal Blanchard, a specialist on the French colonial empire, postcolonial studies and the history of immigration. If he recognizes the importance of the work of preface and re-edition, the historian and the researcher critic the text by Philippe Goddin:

“ This preface is very questionable. He tells us that Hergé would be a simple sponge of his time. It’s light, it’s fake. Hergé did it they made the political choice to ignore sources describing the violence of colonization.

And Philippe Goddin abuses a paradox: by showing us that Hergé is as close as possible to the photos that come to him from the Congo, he believes that the iconography of the colonies, in a country equipped with a colonial propaganda agency, would become a source of truth. No, it’s propaganda. »

Finally, Pascal Blanchard clarified that a “a second preface signed by a great historian like Elikia M’Bokolo”, Congolese specialist in Africa in the 19th and 20th centuries.

The work of anti-racist and decolonial historians, researchers and activists has borne fruit. In 2023, the argument that racist portrayals were acceptable under the guise of being commonplace it doesn’t happen anymore.

Do you like our articles? You’ll love our newsletters! Sign up for free on this page.