Benoît Verhaegen
Benoît Verhaegen (1929–2009) was a Belgian academic and Africanist who specialised in the political sociology and post-colonial history of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Born into a Belgian aristocratic family, Verhaegen fought as a volunteer in the Korean War. He embarked on an academic career after his return to Belgium and took up a post in the Belgian Congo in 1959 shortly before its independence. Verhaegen's progressive political views meant that he sympathised with African nationalism and he remained in the country on-and-off until 1987. He taught at various universities in the Congo which became Zaire in 1971 and he became increasingly influenced by Marxism and Maoism. Verhaegen's scholarly research was focused particularly on contemporary political movements in the Congo in the 1960s and 1970s. He termed his object of study "immediate history" (histoire immédiate) and published a number of important articles, books, and collections of documents. Early life and the Korean War Benoît Verhaegen was born into aristocratic family at Merelbeke, East Flanders in Belgium on 8 January 1929. He was the youngest son of Jean Verhaegen and his wife Simone Piers de Raveschoot. His grandfather, Arthur Verhaegen (18471917) had been a member of parliament for the Catholic