History
The History of Congo's Leopard Men Society that Inspired Marvel's Black Panther By Brunno Braga THE ANYOTO, ALSO KNOWN as the leopard men society, were a secret society from eastern Congo. They are one of the most notable social organizations in Africa’s recent history. They were famous for killing their enemies with fake leopard claws and leaving fake footprints near corpses left in the forest, giving the impression of death by leopards. Anyoto means ‘to scratch’ in Kibali, a Bantu language spoken in Congo. It is also believed that they existed in the 1700s in ancient Ivory Coast, Gabon, Nigeria, Liberia and Sierra Leone Once described by Western colonialists as barbarians, savages and other misrepresentations given to African people, the Anyoto’s image is starting due to recent approaches made by African scholars giving a fair depiction of this controversial secret association. Some sources state that the leopard men society
112
September-October 2021
used to practice cannibalism. However, most of those sources are from the colonial era. “Through the images of the leopard-men, the Congo and Africa were represented as uncivilized places, characterized by cannibalism and brutal murders. These stereotypes have stood in the way of understanding the real purposes of this society. In recent years, particularly in Belgium, the continued use of leopard-men in images of Africa has caused polemical reactions among academics and Congolese concerned with representation of Africa,” writes Vicky van Bockhaven in a scholar article entitled "Leopard-men of the Congo in Literature and Popular Imagination." According to the professor, images of the leopard men society contribute to stereotypical and racist representations of past African societies being overemphasized, similarly as contemporary war and violence. Such stereotypes suggest that there
DAWN
www.africabusinessassociation.org
