Anticolonial Poetics in Tadeusz Dębicki’s Reportage: Moienzi Nzadi. U wrót Konga

Abstract

This article analyzes the reportage of Tadeusz Dębicki, titled Moienzi Nzadi: At the Gates of the Congo (1928) in terms of its anticolonial attitude. The article reviews the writer’s methods for constructing a critique of the colonial system (through contrast and irony) and discusses its uniqueness against the backdrop of other Polish travel accounts from Africa written in the interwar period. The specific circumstances of Dębicki’s journey are also described here, as well as the prevailing stereotypes associated with conditions in Africa, which the author either subverts or affirms.