Histoire du politique au Congo-Kinshasa by Gauthier de Villers Louvain-la-Neuve

reality that compels the post-colonial subject to endless impoverishing.To the author, humour points to the diversity, wildness and spontaneity of social life outside formal associations, the unmapped spaces where the governor and the governed blend into a spectrum of possibilities.In Chapter , 'Siddon Look' (titled after a phrase in Nigerian parlance which means sitting and watching but not participating nor interested in the event going on), the author made use of specific instances of successful invocation of silence to promote a non-organisational understanding of civil society and the possibilities of informality.Obadare focused on silence in order to juxtapose that humour (verbal) and silence (non-verbal) are related nodes in a communicative continuum.He sees the examination of silence and its possibilities as a useful strategy for rethinking the scholarly axiom which states that 'only voice can provide a way to political participation'.In Nigeria, the resort to Siddon Look in principle is an invocation of silence stemming from the backdrop of state-sponsored violence and systematic persecution of enemies of the state.Obadare notes that silence is not necessarily the absence of speech but that specific social and political realities give rise to it.He also shows how silence is a part of discourse and language rather than the antithesis of communication.Silence can be a form of protest or a choice to avoid conflict against the logic of the political milieu and its underpinning ethos.Obadare posits that silence was the best way of giving voice while at the same time evading the penalty that open speech attracted in Nigeria under military rule.Conclusively, the book is unique and innovative.Obadare achieved his aim of giving the idea of civil society in Nigeria a non-associational outlook.He also succeeds in showing silence and humour as major strategies used to promote the non-associational nature of civil society.However, Obadare's use of advanced terminology in the book will make it difficult for the ordinary reader to comprehend

Humanities · Political science · African history and culture studies · Philosophy