Postcolonial Imperialism

Joseph Tonda is Professor Emeritus at Omar Bongo University of Libreville. He is the author or coauthor of several books, including La guérison divine en Afrique centrale and Modern Sovereign: The Body of Power in Central Africa (Congo and Gabon).Cheryl Smeall is Lending and Access Manager at the McGill University Libraries. She is also the translator of The Doctor Who Would Be King by Guillaume Lachenal.

“Postcolonial Imperialism is a fluently translated introduction to a figure who has emerged as one of Africa’s most imaginative thinkers. The richness of Joseph Tonda’s work lies in the fine detail of his reading of our time as well as in the extravagance of his theoretical constructs.”—Achille Mbembe, author of Necropolitics“This book offers a groundbreaking approach to seemingly exhausted questions of postcoloniality and embodiment. With remarkable ingenuity, Tonda mobilizes a vast and eclectic range of genres and platforms, bringing into compelling dialogue both the celebrated and the infamous. Uncovering the limitations of dominant theoretical paradigms and disciplinary orientations, Tonda reconfigures modernity around transactions, transitions, and transgressions that shape embodied dynamics of violence and value.”—Naminata Diabate, author of Naked Agency

• Translator’s Note ixOpening Threshold. The Dazzling Dark Powers of Postcolonial Imperialism 1Threshold 1. Johnny Mad Dog and Osama Bin Laden: Agents of Postcolonial Imperialism 21Threshold 2. Anchor Points 39Threshold 3. Illuminations 57Threshold 4. Sex-Bodies, Bombshell Breasts, and Dazzling DVDs and VCDs 83Threshold 5. Bombs and Lightning Bolts 97Threshold 6. Nafissatou Diallo, DSK, Sarkozy, and Postcolonial Imperialism 109Threshold 7. Literary Dazzlements 127Threshold 8. Africanism and Postcolonial Imperialism 155Anaconda. Critical Threshold of Postcolonial Imperialism 169Afterword / Peter Geschiere 181Notes 195Bibliography 217Index 229