Suchergebnisse

The Matsouanist religion in Congo-Brazzaville has its roots in Amicale, a
sociopolitical association and movement that aimed to improve the rights of colonial
subjects that emerged in the late 1920s. After its leader, André Matsoua, died in prison,
the movement transformed into a religion that worships Matsoua as a prophet. In this
article, I argue that this transformation should be understood not as a rupture but as
continuation, albeit in a different discursive domain. This transformation was steered
by duress, or the internalization of structural violence in everyday life under colonialism.
Through this discursive transformation, Matsoua's followers appropriated the
movement and brought it into a culturally known place that enabled them to continue
their struggle for liberation from colonial oppression.

AbstractSince the signing of the Sun City peace agreement in 2002, the Democratic Republic of Congo has strived to democratise with limited success. This paper explores some of the challenges of the process of democratisation in the Congo. It does so not by looking at democratisation policies and practices, but by focusing on identity construction and how these identities manifest themselves in Congolese engagements with the process of democratisation as a process that is pursued in partnership with Western donors. The paper traces the construction of an understanding of democracy as a means to make an end to perpetual victimisation of Congolese people due to foreign interference in the Congo. The paper argues that the concept of democracy has acquired over time a meaning that creates a highly ambivalent engagement with the current democratisation process, and in particular with Western donors of this process, which are simultaneously perceived as the main obstacles to its successful realisation.