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“How will God hear us?”: Sonic and linguistic difference among Kinshasa’s Églises des Noirs

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 July 2023

Margot Luyckfasseel
Margot Luyckfasseel*
Affiliation:
History Department, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium
*
Email: [email protected]
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Abstract

This article studies how anti-Christian, ‘traditionally African’ organizations, locally known as Églises des Noirs, navigate religious competition in the Congolese capital through sonic and linguistic strategies. It focuses on the understudied Mpadist community, a ‘dissident’ branch of the better known Kimbanguist church. Mpadists mobilize diverging appreciations and meanings of sound and language to set themselves apart from the dominant Lingalaphone Pentecostal loudness of the city. In doing so, they pursue a delicate balance between Kongo traditionalism, the source of their spiritual legitimacy, rooted in colonial prophetic movements, and tactics of ‘modern’ community making in order to remain competitive within Kinshasa’s prolific religious setting. The article argues that ideologies of sound and language should be analysed within the same nexus, for they operate and are operationalized in similar ways. It therefore proposes to expand the sociolinguistic notion of indexicality to incorporate elements of the volume and modalities of sound making. The article also shows that sonic and linguistic ideologies are bound by context. In Kinshasa’s ‘low-fi’ soundscape, the indexical values of the languages Kikongo and Lingala, and of unamplified and amplified sound production, share similar features, yet they are evaluated differently in rural ‘hi-fi’ sonic environments.

Résumé

Résumé

Cet article étudie la manière dont des organisations anti-chrétiennes « traditionnellement africaines », localement connues sous le nom d’Églises des Noirs, font face à la concurrence religieuse dans la capitale congolaise par le biais de stratégies soniques et linguistiques. Il se concentre sur la communauté peu étudiée des mpadistes, une branche « dissidente » de l’Église kimbanguiste mieux connue. Les mpadistes mobilisent des appréciations et des sens du son et du langage divergents pour se distinguer de la bruyante communauté pentecôtiste lingalaphone dominante de la ville. Ce faisant, ils recherchent un équilibre délicat entre traditionalisme kongo d’une part, source de leur légitimité spirituelle et ancré dans les mouvements prophétiques coloniaux, et tactiques de construction communautaire « moderne » d’autre part, pour rester compétitifs dans le milieu religieux prolifique de Kinshasa. L’article soutient qu’il conviendrait d’analyser les idéologies du son et du langage dans un même nexus, car ils opèrent et sont opérationalisés de façon similaire. Il propose par conséquent d’étendre la notion sociolinguistique d’indexicalité pour incorporer des éléments de volume et de modalités de production du son. L’article montre également que les idéologies soniques et linguistiques sont liées par contexte. Dans le paysage sonore « low-fi » de Kinshasa, les valeurs indexicales des langues kikongo et lingala, et de la production de son non amplifié et amplifié, présentent des particularités similaires, et sont pourtant évaluées différemment dans les environnements soniques « hi-fi » ruraux.

Resumo

Resumo

Este artigo estuda a forma como as organizações anticristãs e ‘tradicionalmente africanas’, conhecidas localmente como Églises des Noirs, navegam a competição religiosa na capital congolesa através de estratégias sonoras e linguísticas. Centra-se na pouco estudada comunidade mpadista, um ramo ‘dissidente’ da mais conhecida igreja kimbanguista. Os mpadistas mobilizam apreciações e significados divergentes de som e linguagem para se diferenciarem do ruído Pentecostal lingalafono dominante da cidade. Ao fazê-lo, procuram um equilíbrio delicado entre o tradicionalismo kongo, a fonte da sua legitimidade espiritual, enraizada nos movimentos proféticos coloniais, e as tácticas de criação de comunidades ‘modernas’, a fim de se manterem competitivos no prolífico cenário religioso de Kinshasa. Este artigo argumenta que ideologias de som e linguagem devem ser analisadas no âmbito do mesmo nexo, uma vez que operam e são operacionalizadas de formas semelhantes. Propõe, por isso, alargar a noção sociolinguística de indexicalidade para incorporar elementos do volume e das modalidades de produção de som. O artigo também mostra que as ideologias sonoras e linguísticas estão ligadas pelo contexto. Na paisagem sonora ‘low-fi’ de Kinshasa, os valores indexicais das línguas kikongo e lingala, e da produção de som não amplificado e amplificado, partilham características semelhantes, no entanto são avaliados de forma diferente em ambientes sonoros rurais qualificados como ‘hi-fi’.

Type
Research Article
Information
Africa , Volume 93 , Issue 3 , August 2023 , pp. 351 - 370
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Copyright
© The Author(s), 2023. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the International African Institute

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