Colonialism or Philanthropy? Blurred Lines in King Leopold’s Congo

Posted December 28, 2019

External Article: Global Atlanta

Kirk Bowman, Jon R. Wilcox Professor of Soccer and Global Politics, Sam Nunn School of International Affairs, wrote about King Leopold’s Ghost: A Story of Greed, Terror and Heroism in Colonial Africa by Adam Hochschild (Houghton Mifflin 1998) for Global Atlanta. 

Excerpt:

The Congo experience provides numerous lessons for our time... I read Leopold’s Ghost at the same time that J.K. Rowling launched a three-year campaign to stop orphanage tourism. There is an oversupply of orphanage tourists and a shortage of orphans. Children are being sold or stolen into orphanages to sate the pressure from orphanage volunteers. While their intentions are far more noble than the Congo’s ruthless ruler, Hoschild’s brilliant book reminds us all that global philanthropy can sometimes be far different from what it appears. 

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