The Bills were a youth subculture active in Léopoldville, Belgian Congo in the late 1950s, basing much of their image and outlook on the cowboys of American Western movies. Its name was taken from Buffalo Bill. [1]

2015年12月8日 · Inspired by Buffalo Bill, youths in 1950s Congo began donning Stetsons and defending their turf. What happened next changed the country’s history for ever.

2015年12月8日 · But the Kinshasa cowboys, known as “Bills” or “Yankees,” were hybrid heroes argues Gondola; figures who also borrowed from their traditional customs. They were enthusiastic practitioners of “kamon,” a local ritual in which the skin was cut and the ash of dead animals rubbed into the wound.

2015年12月8日 · Inspired by Buffalo Bill, youths in 1950s Congo began donning Stetsons and defending their turf. What happened next changed the country’s history for ever.

In the early 1950s, young people in Kinshasa, Belgian Congo, became infatuated with the figure of Buffalo Bill, with his feats and exploits, and with his fla...

The 'Bills' (from Buffalo Bill) model themselves on the cowboys in American westerns and create their own cultural codes through fashion, slang and music. This urban youth culture is absent from Inforcongo's images, which emphasize 'primitive' Congolese of the countryside, 'évolués' of the city and workers of the industrial centres.

2023年3月31日 · Buffalo Bill’s films were soon introduced to the Congolese, and these films quickly appealed to the youth of the Belgian Congo. These movies depicted the American Wild West and violent encounters between so-called “cowboys” and Native Americans.

Buffalo Bill in Central Africa. Tropical Cowboys: Westerns, Violence and Masculinity in Kinshasa. By Ch. Didier Gondola. (with Amandine Lauro)

2017年7月31日 · In the early 1950s young people in Kinshasa, Belgian Congo, became infatuated with the figure of Buffalo Bill — with his feats and exploits, and with his flamboyant looks — Buffalo Bill's...

During World War II the Congo even paid the bills for the Belgian government in exile. While Britain and France poured large sums into overseas territories, the Congo colony’s $960 million...