Reinventing Order in the Congo How People Respond to State Failure in Kinshasa

by Trefon, Theodore

• ISBN13: 9781842774915
• ISBN10: 1842774913
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2005-03-16
• Publisher: ZED BOOKS

Summary

The populations of many Third World mega-cities have far outstripped any apparent economic basis for their size and survival. In this volume Congolese and Western social scientists cover most aspects of urban life in Kinshasa--how ordinary people hustle for a modest living; the famous "bargaining" system ordinary Kinois have developed; and how they access food, water supplies, health and education. The NGOization of service provision is analyzed, as is the quite rare incidence of urban riots. Equally interesting are the studies of popular discourses (including street rumor, witchcraft, and attitudes to big men, like musicians and preachers). The studies are full of the most startling facts and the wonderfully evocative phrases coined by ordinary Kinois as they confront the huge obstacle course that is urban life. Concrete, readable, intensely interesting, and always illuminating, this book is a model of how to do urban sociology in the developing world today.

Author Biography

Theodore Trefon is an independent researcher and consultant currently based at the Free University of Brussels. He is also President of the Brussels Centre of African Studies.

Table of Contents

List of Figures and Tables	vii
Acknowledgements	viii
Maps	x
1 Introduction: Reinventing Order	1	(19)
Theodore Trefon
2 The Kinshasa Bargain	20	(13)
Anastase Nzeza Bilakila
3 The Tap is on Strike: Water Distribution and Supply Strategies	33	(14)
Angeline Maractho Mudzo Mwacan and Theodore Trefon
4 Food Security in Kinshasa: Coping with Adversity	47	(18)
Eric Tollens
5 The Miracle of Life in Kinshasa: New Approaches to Public Health	65	(17)
Peter Persyn and Fabienne Ladriere
6 The Diploma Paradox: University of Kinshasa between Crisis and Salvation	82	(17)
Telesphore Tsakala Munikengi and Willy Bongo-Pali Moke Sangol
7 Acting on Behalf (and in Spite) of the State: NGOs and Civil Society Associations in Kinshasa	99	(17)
Marco Giovannoni, Theodore Trefon, Jerome Kasongo Banga and Charles Mwema
8 Hidden Families, Single Mothers and Cibalabala: Economic Regress and Changing Household Composition in Kinshasa	116	(21)
Tom De Herdt
9 When Kinois Take to the Streets	137	(18)
Gauthier de Villers and Jean Omasombo Tshonda
10 On Being Shege in Kinshasa: Children, the Occult and the Street	155	(19)
Filip De Boeck
11 The Elusive Lupemba: Rumours about Fame and (Mis)fortune in Kinshasa	174	(18)
Bob W. White
Bibliography	192	(13)
Chapter Abstracts in French	205	(5)
Contributors	210	(5)
Index	215