This sub-study focuses on the uses of wild animals and uncultivated organisms as foodstuffs. The Congo Basin hosts a remarkable diversity of inhabitants, with which local human communities interacted in order to sustain themselves, often at the margins of colonial capitalism and commodification. I investigate how specific non-humans were identified, collected and consumed in colonial Central Africa, as well as their symbolic and economic importance. These processes entail dynamic productions of ecological techniques and knowledge, which were porous with, or even mobilized, by colonial authorities provided they pursued economic objectives such as food production or agronomical improvements. These interactions fall within the scope of my research, for regulating indigenous uses of the environment was part of the colonial project. Furthermore, consumption is another aspect, as authorities ambitioned to manage both wealth production and circulation. My research also encompasses trading, as well as cooking practices, for they provide insights into mundane yet fundamental aspects of the colonial past of the Congo Basin.
Photo credits: Man holding a giant fruit bat, AP.0.0.5062-3, collectie KMMA Tervuren; foto A. Mahieu, 1905