Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-ndw9j Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-08T02:00:26.370Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

The Political Undead: Is It Possible to Mourn for Mobutu's Zaire?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 May 2014

Abstract:

Following the successful coup d'état of Laurent Kabila's forces in May 1997, the Zairian dictator Mobutu Sese Seko was forced into exile in Morocco, where he died. This article looks at a lively transnational debate about what should be done with the former president's remains, and through this debate reflects on attempts by people in the Congo to determine what version of history should be told and how to understand the impact of Mobutu's political legacy.

Résumé:

Résumé:

A la suite du coup d'état reussi des forces de Laurent Kabila en Mai 1997, le dictateur zaïrois Sese Seko Mobutu fut exilé au Maroc, où il est mort. Dans cet essai, je m'intéresse à un débat actif transnational sur la décision à prendre concernant les restes de l'ancien président, et au travers de ce débat, je propose une réflexion sur les tentatives du peuple congolais de déterminer quelle version historique doit etre choisie pour comprendre l'impact de l'héritage politique laissé par Mobutu.

Type
ASR Focus
Copyright
Copyright © African Studies Association 2005

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

Bayart, Jean-François. 1993. The State in Africa: The Politics of the Belly. New York: Longman Publishers.Google Scholar
Biaya, T. K. n.d. “La kinoiserie: aux sources de la culture politique congolaise contempo raine.”Google Scholar
Biaya, T. K.. 1997. “Ngoma ya Madilu, the Mourning Drums: Luba-Kasayi Sacred Rituals, Dances and Celebrations.” In Dagan, Esther A., ed., The Spirit's Dance in Africa, 226–30. Westmount, Québec: Galerie Amrad African Arts Publications.Google Scholar
Biaya, T. K.. 1998. “La ‘Mort’ et ses metaphors au Congo-Zaire, 1990–1995 ou Mami Wata, le Congolais et les cycles gnosiques ou ‘Bien Mourir’: La mort dans les arts populaires et la vie quotidienne au pays du fleuve Congo.” Cahiers Africans 89127.Google Scholar
Blundo, Giorgio, and de Sardan, J.-P. Olivier, eds. 2001. “La corruption au quotidien.” Politique africaine 83 (10).Google Scholar
Callaghy, Thomas. 1984. The State-Society Struggle: Zaire in Comparative Perspective. New York: Columbia University Press.Google Scholar
Cohen, David William, and Odhiambo, E. S. Atieno. 1992. Burying SM: The Politics of Knowledge and the Sociology of Power in Africa. Portsmouth, N.H.: Heinemann.Google Scholar
De Boeck, Filip. 1998. “Beyond the Grave: History, Memory, and Death in Postcolonial Congo/Zaire.” In Werbner, R., ed., Memory in the Postcolony: African Anthropology and the Critique of Power, 2157. London: Zed.Google Scholar
De Witte, Ludo. 2001. The Assassination of Lumumba. New York: Verso.Google Scholar
Dungia, Emmanuel. 1992. Mobutu et l'argent du Zaire. Paris: l'Harmattan Google Scholar
Fabian, Johannes. 1996. Remembering the Present: Painting and Popular History in Zaire. Berkeley: University of California Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gupta, Akhil. 1995. “Blurred Boundaries: The Discourse of Corruption, the Culture of Politics, and the Imagined State.” American Ethnologist 22 (2): 375402.Google Scholar
Huntington, Richard, and Metcalf, Peter, eds. 1979. Celebrations of Death: The Anthropology of Mortuary Ritual. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Jewsiewicki, Bogumil. 1991. “Painting in Zaire: From the Invention of the West to the Representation of Social Self.” In Africa Explores: Twentieth Century African Art, edited by Vogel, S. M., 5677. New York: Center for African Art.Google Scholar
Jewsiewicki, Bogumil 1996. “Corps Interdits: La représentation christique de Lumumba comme rédempteur du peuple zairois.” Cahiers d'Études africaines 141–42: 113–42.Google Scholar
Jewsiewicki, Bogumil, and White, Bob W.. 2002. “Memory and Mourning for the Traumatic Past.” Panel abstract, annual meeting of the African Studies Association, November.Google Scholar
Lokondo, Wina. n.d. “M.P.R. ne disparaîtra pas du paysage politique Congolais.” Letter appearing in press kit publication for the MPR/Fait-privé: available on the Web at 129.194.252.80/catfiles/2070.pdf.Google Scholar
Mamdani, Mamood. 1996. Citizen and Subject: Contemporary Africa and the Legacy of Late Colonialism. Princeton: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Ngbanda, Honoré. 1998. Ainsi sonne le glas! Les demiers jours du maréchal. Paris: Gideppe.Google Scholar
Karl-I-Bond, Nguza. 1982. Mobutu ou l'incarnation du mal. London: Rex Collings.Google Scholar
Ndaywel è Nziem, I. 1993. “La société zaïroise dans le miroir de son discours religieux (1990–1993).” Cahiers Africains 6: 3950.Google Scholar
Rubango, Nyunda ya. 2001. Les Pratiques Discursives du Congo-Belge au Congo-Kinshasa. Paris: L'Harmattan.Google Scholar
Verdery, Katherine. 1999. The Political Lives of Dead Bodies: Reburial and Postsocialist Change. New York: Columbia University Press.Google Scholar
White, Bob W. 2004. “The Elusive Lupemba: Rumors About Fame and Misfortune in Mobutu's Zaire.” In Trefon, Theodore, ed., Reinventing Order in the Congo, 174–91. New York: Zed Publishers.Google Scholar
White, Bob W.. In press. Ndule: The Politics of Popular Dance Music in Mobutu's Zaire. Durham, N.C.: Duke University Press.Google Scholar
Wrong, Michela. 2000. In the Footsteps of Mr. Kurtz: Living on the Brink of Disaster in the Congo. London: Fourth Estate.Google Scholar
Yambuya, Pierre. 1991. Zaire l'abattoir, un pilote qui park. Bruxelles: EPO.Google Scholar
Yoka, Lye M. n.d. “Paix en R.D. Congo: Le ‘travail de deuil’ n'a pas eu lieu!”Google Scholar