Placide Tempels’ Bantu Philosophy served Belgian colonial interests by legitimizing economic exploitation.

Evidence

From the Rev. Tempels, missionary and Belgian, his “Bantu Philosophy,” as slimy and fetid as one could wish, but discovered very opportunely, in order to counteract the “communist materialism” which, it seems, threatens to turn the Negroes into “moral vagabonds.” … What generosity, Father! And what zeal! … If there is anything better, it is the Rev. Tempels. Let them plunder and torture in the Congo, let the Belgian colonizer seize all the natural resources, let him stamp out all freedom, let him crush all pride … You are going to the Congo? … Respect the Bantu Philosophy! … wonderful! Everybody gains: the big companies, the colonists, the government – everybody except the Bantu, naturally. Since Bantu thought is ontological, the Bantu only ask for satisfaction of an ontological nature. Decent wages! Comfortable housing! Food! These Bantu are pure spirits, I tell you: “What they desire first of all and above all is not the improvement of their economic or material situation, but the white man’s recognition of and respect for their dignity as men, their full human value.” In short, you tip your hat to the Bantu life force, you give a wink to the immortal Bantu soul. And that’s all it costs you! — Frans Dokman, Beyond Bantu Philosophy_…, 736

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the broader literature on African philosophy’s colonial origins — e.g. critiques by Léopold Sédar Senghor’s opponents, Kwasi Wiredu’s ‘philosophy and an African culture’, and Frantz Fanon’s critique of colonizer goodwill.
• QUESTION: Worth checking whether Tempels actually wrote the quoted claims about Bantu wanting dignity over material improvement, and how his later work (Bantu Philosophy revisions) addressed this critique.