Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-gxg78 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-25T18:17:58.708Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

‘Sleep Occupies No Space’: The Use of Public Space by Street Gangs in Kinshasa

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 May 2011

Kristien Geenen
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This article deals with issues of territoriality, public space, the microphysics of power and street gang life in the current urban context of Kinshasa, capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo. In this city, a growing number of street children invade the public places. They team up in gangs and scour the streets in search of a location to settle (for a while). Along with their appropriation of public space, these gangs encounter several actors such as the city authorities, shop owners, tenants or rival street gangs. Before any settlement, deals have to be closed since every inch of the city is negotiable. All participants get involved in these negotiations, for no one is considered marginal, certainly not the street youth who are inextricably bound up with Congolese society. This contribution considers this dynamic field of negotiations through a focus on space and analyses it from a Foucauldian angle. It explores how gang members develop particular ways to control their territories and exercise power in them. Additionally, it examines how street youths manage to construct a home in the streets and make sense of their urban environment in the process.

Cet article traite de la territorialité, de l'espace public, de la microphysique du pouvoir et de la vie des gangs de rue dans le contexte urbain actuel de Kinshasa, la capitale de la République Démocratique du Congo. Un nombre croissant d'enfants des rues envahissent les lieux publics de la ville. Ils se constituent en gangs et déambulent dans les rues en quête d'un endroit où s'établir (pour un temps). En s'appropriant l'espace public, ces gangs croisent des acteurs divers comme les autorités de la ville, les commerçants, les résidents ou gangs rivaux. L'établissement temporaire d'un gang fait l'objet de négociations, le moindre centimètre de ville étant négociable. Tous les participants se mêlent à la négociation, personne n'étant considéré comme marginal, certainement pas les jeunes des rues, inextricablement liés à la société congolaise. Cet article examine ce champ de négociation dynamique à travers le prisme de l'espace et l'analyse sous un angle foucaldien. Il explore la manière dont les membres des gangs développent des méthodes particulières pour contrôler leurs territoires et y exercer leur pouvoir. Il étudie par ailleurs comment les jeunes des rues parviennent à construire un foyer dans les rues et, ce faisant, à donner un sens à leur environnement urbain.

Type
Research Articles
Information
Africa , Volume 79 , Issue 3 , August 2009 , pp. 347 - 368
Copyright
Copyright © International African Institute 2009

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

Abdullah, I. (2005) ‘“I am a rebel”. Youth, culture and violence in Sierra Leone’ in Honwana, A. and Boeck, F. de (eds), Makers and Breakers: children and youth in postcolonial Africa. Oxford: James Currey.Google Scholar
Appadurai, A. (1996) Modernity at Large: cultural dimensions of globalization. Minneapolis MN and London: University of Minnesota Press.Google Scholar
Appadurai, A. (2000) ‘Spectral housing and urban cleansing: notes on millennial Mumbai’, Public Culture 12 (3): 627–51.Google Scholar
Bayat, A. (1997) ‘Un-civil society: the politics of the “informal people”’, Third World Quarterly, 18 (1) 53–72.Google Scholar
Biaya, T. K. (2005) ‘Youth and street culture in urban Africa’ in Honwana, A. and Boeck, F. de (eds), Makers and Breakers: children and youth in postcolonial Africa. Oxford: James Currey.Google Scholar
Corsín Jiménez, A. (2003) ‘On space as a capacity’, Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute 9: 137–53.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
de Boeck, F. (2005a) ‘The divine seed: children, gift and witchcraft in the Democratic Republic of Congo’ in Honwana, A. and Boeck, F. de (eds), Makers and Breakers: children and youth in postcolonial Africa. Oxford: James Currey.Google Scholar
de Boeck, F. (2005b) ‘The apocalyptic interlude: revealing death in Kinshasa’, African Studies Review 48 (2): 11–31.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
de Boeck, F. (2006) ‘Youth, death and the urban imagination: a case from Kinshasa’, Mededelingen der Zittingen Koninklijke Academie Overzeese Wetenschappen 52 (2): 113–25.Google Scholar
de Boeck, F. and Plissart, M.-F. (2004) Kinshasa: tales of the invisible city. Tervuren: Ludion.Google Scholar
de Certeau, M. 1990. L'Invention du quotidien. 1. Arts de faire. Paris: Gallimard.Google Scholar
de Herdt, T. and Marysse, S. (1996) ‘L'économie informelle au Zaïre. (Sur)vie et pauvreté dans la période de transition’. Institut Africain-CEDAF, Afrika Instituut-ASDOC, No. 21–2, Brussels.Google Scholar
de Maximy, R. (1984) ‘Kinshasa, ville en suspens… (Dynamique de la croissance et problèmes d'urbanisme: étude socio-politique)’. Travaux et documents de L'ORSTOM, No. 176, Paris.Google Scholar
Devisch, R. (1995) ‘Frenzy, violence, and ethical renewal in Kinshasa’, Public Culture 7 (1995): 593–629.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Emizet, K. N. F. (1998) ‘Confronting leaders at the apex of the state: the growth of the unofficial economy in Congo’, African Studies Review 41 (1): 99–137.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Engle Merry, S. (2001) ‘Spatial governmentality and the new urban social order: controlling gender violence through law’, American Anthropologist 103 (1): 16–29.Google Scholar
Geenen, K. (2006) ‘”De slaap neemt geen plaats in.” Een etnografische analyse van het gebruik van de publieke ruimte door straatbendes in Kinshasa’. Unpublished dissertation, University of Ghent.Google Scholar
Gondola, C. D. (1999) ‘Dream and drama: the search for elegance among Congolese youth’, African Studies Review 42 (1): 23–48.Google Scholar
Holston, J. (1991) ‘Autoconstruction in working-class Brazil’, Cultural Anthropology 6 (4): 447–65.Google Scholar
Holston, J. (1999) ‘The modernist city and the death of the street’ in Low, S. (ed.), Theorizing the City: the new urban anthropology reader. New Brunswick NJ: Rutgers University Press.Google Scholar
Honwana, A. and Boeck, F. de (eds) (2005) Makers and Breakers: children and youth in postcolonial Africa. Oxford: James Currey.Google Scholar
Inda, J. X. (2005) ‘Analytics of the modern: an introduction’ in Inda, J. X. (ed.), Anthropologies of Modernity: Foucault, governmentality, and life politics. Oxford: Blackwell.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jewsiewicki, B. (2004) ‘Kinshasa: (auto)représentation d'une société “moderne” en (dé)construction. De la modernisation coloniale à la globalisation’ in Mantuba-Ngoma, P. M. (ed.), La Nouvelle Histoire du Congo: mélanges eurafricaines offerts à Frans Bontinck, c.i.c.m. Cahiers Africains/Afrika Studies, No. 65–7. Paris: L'Harmattan.Google Scholar
Kaumba, L. (ed.) (2005) Les Enfants de la rue au Katanga. Lubumbashi: Presses Universitaires de Lubumbashi.Google Scholar
Korbin, J. E. (2003) ‘Children, childhoods, and violence’, Annual Review of Anthropology 32 (2003): 431–46.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kuyu Mwissa, C. (1996) ‘Zaïre: L'officiel contredit par le réel’, Politique africaine 63: 13–23.Google Scholar
La Fontaine, J. S. (1970) ‘Two types of youth groups in Kinshasa (Léopoldville)’ in Mayer, P. (ed.), Socialization: the approach from social anthropology. London: Tavistock.Google Scholar
Lagae, J. (2004) ‘Colonial encounters and conflicting memories: shared colonial heritage in the former Belgian Congo’, Journal of Architecture 9 (Summer): 173–97.Google Scholar
Lefebvre, H. (2000) [1974] La Production de L'espace. Paris: Anthropos.Google Scholar
Low, S. M. (1996) ‘Spatializing culture: the social production and social construction of public space in Costa Rica’, American Ethnologist 23 (4): 861–79.Google Scholar
Magazine, R. (2003) ‘Action, personhood and the gift economy among so-called street children in Mexico City’, Social Anthropology 11 (3): 303–18.Google Scholar
Mianda, G. (1996) Femmes Africaines et pouvoir: les maraiĉhères de Kinshasa. Paris: Éditions L'Harmattan.Google Scholar
Moyer, E. (2004) ‘Popular cartographies: youthful imaginings of the global in the streets of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania’, City and Society 16 (2): 117–43.Google Scholar
Nlandu, M. T. (2002) ‘Kinshasa: beyond chaos’ in Enwezor, O. et al. (eds), Under Siege: four African cities – Freetown, Johannesburg, Kinshasa, Lagos. Hatje: Cantz Publishers.Google Scholar
Nzeza Bilakila, A. (2004) ‘La “coup” à Kinshasa : survie et marchandage’ in Trefon, T. (ed.), Ordre et désordre à Kinshasa: réponses populaires à la faillite de L'état. Cahiers Africains/Afrika Studies, 61–2. Paris: Éditions L'Harmattan.Google Scholar
Panter-Brick, C. (2002) ‘Street children, human rights, and public health: a critique and future directions’, Annual Review of Anthropology 31: 147–71.Google Scholar
Pype, K. (2007) ‘Fighting boys, strong men and gorillas: notes on the imagination of masculinities in Kinshasa’, Africa 77 (2): 250–71.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Raymaekers, P. (1963) ‘L'organisation des zones de squatting. Élément de résorption du chômage structurel dans les milieux urbains des pays en voies de développement. Application au milieu urbain de Léopoldville (République du Congo)’. Collection de L'école des sciences économiques, No. 88, Université catholique de Louvain.Google Scholar
Simone, A. (2004) ‘People as infrastructure: intersecting fragments in Johannesburg’, Public Culture 16 (3): 407–29.Google Scholar
Simone, A. (2005) ‘Introduction: urban processes and change’ in Urban Africa: changing contours of survival in the city. Dakar: CODESRIA Books.Google Scholar
Trefon, T. (ed.) (2004) Ordre et désordre à Kinshasa. Réponses populaires à la faillite de l'état. Cahiers Africains/Afrika Studies, 61–2. Paris: Éditions L'Harmattan.Google Scholar
Tuan, Y. (1991) ‘Language and the making of place: a narrative-descriptive approach’, Annals of the Association of American Geographers 81 (4).Google Scholar
Venkatesh, S. A. (1997) ‘The social organization of street gang activity in an urban ghetto’, American Journal of Sociology 103 (1): 82–111.Google Scholar
Wa Mwanza, M. (1997) ‘Le transport urbain á Kinshasa: un noeud gordien’, Cahiers Africains/Afrika Studies 30 (December).Google Scholar
Watson, S. (2006) City Publics: the (dis)enchantments of urban encounters. London: Routledge.Google Scholar