Two artists and researchers at the Higher Institute for Fine Arts (HISK) in Ghent, Vesna Faassen and Lukas Verdijk, have collected translated works by Congolese historians and for the first time printed them in a Dutch book. It was important to Faassen and Verdijk that they, as westerners, did not choose or edit the content. The writing style and nuances inherent to the French texts were preserved as much as possible in the translations to Dutch. The fact that this is a first shows how a Congolese counterpart has been generally missing from the colonial debate. Of course, this does not imply that Flemish authors and historians do not know or cite the works of their Congolese colleagues. Their publications are read at universities but the fact remains that their works had not been translated into Dutch for a wider audience.
To accommodate the bilingual nature of the publication the book was bound with a ‘tète-bêche’ technique. The French version starts at the front and ends in the middle of the book. When you turn the book to the other side and hold it upside down, you can read the Dutch version. That one also ends in the middle of the book.
The book has a softcover and was printed on Munken Print White 115 grs.
Vesna Faassen en Lukas Verdijk
Buy it here