Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-7cvxr Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-22T14:49:39.941Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

THE POLITICAL ECONOMY OF MIGRATION AND REPUTATION IN KINSHASA

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 April 2011

Joseph Trapido
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This essay presents a history of the mikiliste, the high-living bon vivant who travels to Europe and is a central figure in Kinois urban mythology. It looks in particular at the highly theatrical exchanges engaged in by the mikiliste, which relate especially to music patronage and to designer clothing. I show how these exchanges have evolved over time, both shaping and being shaped by the political economy of Kinshasa. The essay shows how such aesthetic performances should not be discussed in isolation from wider political-economic considerations. Those who participate in economies of prestige must be connected to a material base, and the ruling class, with their access to the resources of the interior, have become ever more important participants in the mikiliste rituals of largesse. Recently, the violent contestation of mikiliste exchange, both in Europe and in Kinshasa, indicates that such moments of largesse may be involved in reproducing political-economic relations in the Congolese capital.

Résumé

Cet essai présente une histoire du mikiliste, le bon vivant qui mène la grande vie durant ses voyages en Europe, personnage central de la mythologie urbaine kinoise. Il s'intéresse en particulier aux échanges hautement théâtraux auxquels prend part le mikiliste, qui ont trait notamment à son goût pour la musique et les vêtements de grandes marques. Il montre comment ces échanges ont évolué au fil du temps, tout à la fois façonnant l’économie politique de Kinshasa et façonnés par elle. L'essai montre en quoi ces interprétations esthétiques sont indissociables, dans leur analyse, de considérations politico-économiques plus larges. Ceux qui participent aux économies de prestige sont forcément connectés à une base matérielle et la classe dirigeante, parce qu'elle a accès aux ressources de l'intérieur, participe plus que jamais aux rituels de largesse du mikiliste. Récemment, la contestation violente de l’échange mikiliste, tant en Europe qu’à Kinshasa, indique que ces moments de largesse contribuent peut-être à reproduire les rapports politico-économiques dans la capitale congolaise.

Type
Research Article
Information
Africa , Volume 81 , Issue 2 , May 2011 , pp. 204 - 225
Copyright
Copyright © International African Institute 2011

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Bazenguissa-Ganga, R. and MacGaffey, J. (2000) Congo-Paris: transnational traders on the margins of the law. Oxford: International African Institute in association with James Currey.Google Scholar
Biaya, T. K. (1996) ‘La culture urbaine dans les arts populaires d'Afrique: analyse de l'ambiance zaïroise’, Canadian Journal of African Studies/Revue Canadienne des Études Africaines 30 (3): 345–70.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bilakila, A. N. (2004) ‘The Kinshasa bargain’, in Trefon, T. (ed.), Reinventing Order in Congo: how people respond to state failure in Kinshasa. London and Kampala: Zed Books.Google Scholar
Boas, F. (1916) ‘Tsimshian mythology’ in Thirty-First Annual Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology. Washington DC: Bureau of American Ethnology.Google Scholar
Bohannan, P. (1959) ‘The impact of money on an African subsistence economy’, Journal of Economic History 19 (4): 491–503.Google Scholar
De Boeck, F. (1999) ‘Domesticating diamonds and dollars: identity, expenditure and sharing in southwestern Zaire’ in Meyer, B. and Geschiere, P. (eds), Globalization and Identity: dialectics of flow and closure. Oxford: Blackwell.Google Scholar
De Boeck, F. (2001) ‘Garimpeiro worlds: digging, dying and hunting for diamonds in Angola’, Review of African Political Economy 28 (90): 548–62.Google Scholar
De Boeck, F. and Plissart, M.-F. (2004) Kinshasa: tales of the invisible city. Tervuren and Ghent: Royal Museum for Central Africa/Ludion.Google Scholar
de Herdt, T. (2002) ‘Democracy and the money machine in Zaire’, Review of African Political Economy 29 (93/94): 444–62.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
de Heusch, L. (2002) Du pouvoir: anthropologie politique de sociétés d'Afrique centrale. Nanterre: Société d'ethnologie.Google Scholar
Devisch, R. (1993) Weaving the Threads of Life: the Khita gyn-eco-logical healing cult among the Yaka. Chicago IL: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Dupré, G. and Rey, P. (1980) ‘Reflections on the relevance of a theory of the history of exchange’ in Wolpe, H. (ed.), The Articulation of Modes of Production: essays from Economy and Society. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul.Google Scholar
Dupré, G. (1985) Les Naissances d'une Société: espace et historicité chez les Beembé du Congo. Paris: ORSTOM.Google Scholar
Ekholm-Friedman, K. (1991) Catastrophe and Creation: the transformation of an African culture. Philadelphia PA: Harwood Academic Publishers.Google Scholar
Ferguson, N. (2002) The Cash Nexus: money and power in the modern world, 1700–2000. London: Penguin.Google Scholar
Gandoulou, J.-D. (1989a) Au Cœur de la Sape: mœurs et aventures des Congolais à Paris, preface by Rouch, J.. Paris: L'Harmattan.Google Scholar
Gandoulou, J.-D. (1989b) Dandies à Bacongo: le culte de l’élégance dans la société Congolaise contemporaine. Paris: L'Harmattan.Google Scholar
Gondola, D. (1999) ‘Dream and drama: the search for elegance among Congolese youth’, African Studies Review 42 (1): 23–48.Google Scholar
Grumet, R. S. (1975) ‘Changes in coast Tsimshian redistributive activities in the Fort Simpson region of British Columbia, 1788–1862’, Ethnohistory 22 (4): 295–318.Google Scholar
Guyer, J. I. (1993) ‘Wealth in people and self-realization in equatorial Africa’, Man (New Series) 28 (2): 243–65.Google Scholar
Guyer, J. I. (1995) ‘Introduction: the currency interface and its dynamics’ in Guyer, J. (ed.), Money Matters: instability, values, and social payments in the modern history of West African communities. Portsmouth NH and London: Heinemann and James Currey.Google Scholar
Guyer, J. I. (2004) Marginal Gains: monetary transactions in Atlantic Africa. Chicago IL: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Harms, R. W. (1981) River of Wealth, River of Sorrow: the central Zaire basin in the era of the slave and ivory trade, 1500–1891. New Haven CT and London: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
Jewsiewicki, B. (1992) ‘Jeux d'argent et de pouvoir au Zaïre: la “bindomanie” et le crépuscule de la Deuxième République’, Politique africaine 46: 55–70.Google Scholar
La Fontaine, J. S. (1970) City Politics: a study of Leopoldville, 1962–63. London: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Laman, K. E. The Kongo (Vols 1–3) (1953–68). Uppsala and London: Uppsala Universitet and Kegan Paul.Google Scholar
MacGaffey, W. (2000) Kongo Political Culture: the conceptual challenge of the particular. Bloomington IN: Indiana University Press.Google Scholar
Mauss, M. (1924/1990) The Gift: the form and reason for exchange in archaic societies, translated by Halls, W. D., foreword by M. Douglas. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Mbiki, D. D. (2008) L’Épopée du Diamant du Sang en Afrique: un creuseur Zairo-Congolais à Lunda Norte. Paris: L'Harmattan.Google Scholar
Meillassoux, C. (1960) ‘Essai d'interprétation du phénomène économique dans les sociétés traditionelles d'autosubsistance’, Cahiers d'études africaines 4: 38–67.Google Scholar
Monnier, L., Jewsiewicki, B. and de Villers, G. (eds) (2001) Chasse au Diamant au Congo/Zaire. Paris and Tervuren: L'Harmattan and Institut Africain–CEDAF.Google Scholar
Mpiana, J. B. (1996) ‘Bana Lunda’ in Feux de l'Amour. Paris: Simon Music.Google Scholar
Nugent, S. (2007) ‘Some reflections on anthropological structural Marxism’, Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute 13 (2): 419–31.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Peleman, J. (2000) ‘The logistics of sanctions busting: the airborne component’, <http://www.issafrica.org/pubs/books/Angola/15Peleman.pdf>, accessed 13 October 2010.,+accessed+13+October+2010.>Google Scholar
Prunier, G. (2009) From Genocide to Continental War: the ‘Congolese’ conflict and the crisis of contemporary Africa. London: Hurst.Google Scholar
Pype, K. (2009) ‘ “We need to open up the country”: development and the Christian key scenario in the social space of Kinshasa's teleserials’, Journal of African Media Studies 1 (1): 101–16.Google Scholar
Roth, C. F. (2002) ‘Goods, names, and selves: rethinking the Tsimshian potlatch’, American Ethnologist 29 (1): 123–50.Google Scholar
Sumata, C. (2002) ‘Migration and poverty alleviation strategy issues in Congo’, Review of African Political Economy 39 (93/94): 619–28.Google Scholar
Taylor, C. C. (1999) Sacrifice as Terror: the Rwandan genocide of 1994. Oxford and London: Berg.Google Scholar
Tondo, J. (2005) Le Souverain moderne: le corps du pouvoir en Afrique Centrale (Congo, Gabon). Paris: Karthala.Google Scholar
Trapido, J. (2010) ‘Love and money in Kinois popular music’, Journal of African Cultural Studies 22 (2): 121–44.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Turner, V. W. (1968) The Drums of Affliction: a study of religious processes among the Ndembu of Zambia. London: International African Institute in association with Hutchinson University Library for Africa.Google Scholar
Vellut, J.-L. (2004) ‘Réflexions sur la question de la violence dans Afrique Central’ in Mantuba-Ngoma, P. M. (ed.), La Nouvelle Histoire du Congo: mélanges eurafricains offerts à Frans Bontinck. Paris: L'Harmattan.Google Scholar
Wemba, P. (1995) ‘Kaokokokorobo’ in Pole Position. Paris: Sonodisc CDS8815.Google Scholar
Werrason, N. N. (1996) ‘Tshasho Mbala’ in Pleins Feux !!! Paris: Saga SG960003.Google Scholar
White, R. W. (1999) ‘Modernity's trickster: “dipping” and “throwing” in Congolese popular dance music’, Research in African Literatures 30 (4): 156–75.Google Scholar
White, R. W. (2008) Rumba Rules: the politics of dance music in Mobutu's Zaire. Durham NC: Duke University Press.Google Scholar
Young, C. and Turner, T. (1985) The Rise and Decline of the Zairian State. Madison WI: University of Wisconsin Press.Google Scholar