Provisional notes on the postcolony’ in Congo studies

An Overview of Themes and Debates

Dados Bibliográficos

ID7548101
AutoresK Pype (0000-0002-7766-1902, KU Leuven, autor correspondente)
Ano2022
Volume92
Fascículo1
Páginas49-70
Data de publicação2022-01-01
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessSim
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoAfrica (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 0001-9720 • E-ISSN: 1750-0184
EditoraCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/s0001972021000863
OpenAlexW4205575824
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas2
Referências citadas45

This article considers the uptake of Achille Mbembe’s article ‘Provisional notes on the postcolony’ (1992), the book De la Postcolonie: essai sur l’imagination politique dans l’Afrique contemporain (2000) and its translated version, On the Postcolony (2001), in Congo studies. ‘Congo’ here is a shorthand for the current Democratic Republic of Congo, formerly known as Zaire. The article is concerned with the ways in which these two English-language texts (and their original French versions) figure in the social sciences and the humanities, specifically in the field of study relating to Zairian/Congolese society and culture. It becomes clear that the theme of mutual entanglements of commandement (power) and citizens not only influences political studies but also structures Congo scholarship on economy and governance, popular culture and erotics. The article ends with some reflections on academic writing about Congo, the limited uptake of ‘Provisional notes’ and On the Postcolony in religious studies, questions about ethics and scientific writing about political postcolonial cultures, and especially the necessity to historicize the postcolony

Democracy · Political science · Politics · Power (physics · Scholarship · Sociology · Theme (computing · Anthropology · Historical and Contemporary Political Dynamics · Law · North African History and Literature · Religion, Society, and Development