Epistemic violence towards the mothers of colonial Métis children: evidence from Belgium’s ‘Africa archives’

Abstract

Between 1958 and 1961, as Ruanda-Urundi approached independence, the Belgian State deported 283 Métis children to Belgium where they were placed in orphanages or with foster families. Most of these illegitimate children of Black women and white colonial men would never see their birth mothers again, believing the ‘official’ narrative that their mothers had abandoned them. This article focuses on the mothers’ stories uncovered in visits to Belgium’s ‘Africa Archives’ in Brussels. Previously inaccessible for over 40 years, the files consulted debunk the notion that the mothers wilfully gave up their children. Instead, they expose the racial discrimination and prejudices to which the mothers were subjected by Belgian colonial officials determined to segregate the children from their African families and subsequently remove them to Belgium indefinitely. Using Miranda Fricker’s concepts of ‘testimonial injustice’ and ‘hermeneutical injustice’ as a theoretical framework, we examine the marginalization, coercion, and manipulation of the mothers in terms of epistemic violence facilitated by the colonial racial hierarchy. Additionally we suggest that, despite recent improvements pertaining to accessing Belgium’s colonial archives, the continued difficulties in accessing the files for the mothers and their families residing in Africa points to a perpetuation of colonial injustice.