Go to AfricaBib home

Go to AfricaBib home AfricaBib Go to database home

bibliographic database
Line
Previous page New search

The free AfricaBib App for Android is available here

Periodical article Periodical article Leiden University catalogue Leiden University catalogue WorldCat catalogue WorldCat
Title:Labor policies and household economic strategies among the railway workers in Katanga, Belgian Congo, 1928-1960
Author:Yelengi, NkasaISNI
Year:2000
Periodical:Africa: rivista trimestrale di studi e documentazione
Volume:55
Issue:4
Pages:463-487
Language:English
Geographic terms:Congo (Democratic Republic of)
Belgium
Subjects:colonialism
labour law
rail transport
External link:https://www.jstor.org/stable/40761478
Abstract:In 1928 the Compagnie de chemin de fer du Bas-Congo au Katanga (BCK) completed the construction of the Port Francqui-Bukama railroad. Because of the chronic labour shortage in Katanga, thousands of workers were recruited from outside the province during the 1920s and the railway company became one of the largest employers of African workers in Katanga. This article analyses the BCK's implementation of Belgian colonial labour legislation in order to illustrate the limits of colonial paternalism. It demonstrates that the BCK's main objective, to forge a distinctive railway culture, referred to as the 'esprit de cheminot', failed to materialize because the latitude it had to enforce the labour laws produced unintended effects: a divided African workforce and divergent and sometimes conflicting expectations between employers and employees. It further describes living conditions in the BCK camps and the ambiguity of workers' responses to BCK labour policies. Although no violent collective actions occurred at the BCK, workers' demands increased and the threat of a revolt may have led to changes in the BCK's wages, food rationing and housing policies in the mid-1940s. In the late 1940s and early 1950s, workers' power continued to grow and increasing numbers of workers moved out of the camps into the African quarters of the cities, thus escaping the 'cheminot' culture which the company sought to create. App., notes, ref., sum. in French and Italian.
Views
Cover