Textures of Power

Florence Bernault is Professor of African History at Sciences Po, Paris. Florence Bernault is Professor of African History at Sciences Po, Paris. Benoît Henriet is Associate Professor of History at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel. Benoît Henriet is Associate Professor of History at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel. Emery Kalema is Assistant Professor of History at The Africa Institute in Sharjah. Emery Kalema is Assistant Professor of History at The Africa Institute in Sharjah. Johan Lagae is Professor of Architecture and Urban Planning at Ghent University. Margot Luyckfasseel is Junior Research Professor in Modern African History at the University of Antwerp. Katrien Pype is an anthropologist whose research explores Kinshasa's popular culture, media, and digital worlds.

Textures of Power introduces a groundbreaking theoretical framework and nuanced approach to the study of Central Africa. Its impact will resonate across disciplines for decades to come. - Didier Gondola, Johns Hopkins University

• AcknowledgementsA Note on the Book’s Cover: Thornton Dial’s ‘History Refused to Die’ (2004)Introduction Florence Bernault, Benoît Henriet, Emery KalemaPart 1. Long-Term Imaginations and Languages of PowerChapter 1.1. The Power of Motherhood and Wealth: Ugandan Concepts in the Common Era Rhiannon StephensChapter 1.2. From Hauling to Harrowing : Resilience and Change in Moral Imaginations of ‘Slavery’ in the Southern Lower Congo (700 BCE – ca. 1880s) Marcos Leitão de AlmeidaChapter 1.3. The Powers of Objects and the Collapse of Lunda (Angola and Western DRC), 1850-1900 David M. GordonChapter 1.4. The Power of Between : Political Power of the Bangando Community, Southeastern Cameroon Stephanie Rupp, Philippe Ambata, Stephane Molong, Abel MungoiePart 2. Weaving and Tearing out Textures of Power in Colonial and Postcolonial TimesChapter 2.1. A Transgressive Economy : Revolt, Repurposing, and Redistribution in 1931 Belgian Congo Benoît HenrietChapter 2.2. ‘Strange Men Who Call Themselves Chiefs’ : The Practice of Power and Authority Among the Acholi of Northern Uganda Patrick OtimChapter 2.3. The Tension From Within : Soldiers and Administrators Disputing Power in Late Colonial Guinea-Bissau (1961-74) Pedro CerdeiraChapter 2.4. Governing the Living Through the Dead : Necropower in a Post-Disaster Context in Cameroon Brice MoloChapter 2.5. The Out-of-Self Sovereignty of the Dark Continent Joseph TondaPart 3. Spatial TechnologiesChapter 3.1. More Than Meets the Eye : Colonial Violence and Spatial Imaginaries of Power in South-Ubangi, DR Congo Margot LuyckfasseelChapter 3.2. Policing the Colonial City : Urban Planning and the Politics of Order in the Port City of Matadi, DR Congo, 1928-1960 Johan Lagae, Jacob Sabakinu Kivilu (†)Chapter 3.3. Building Walls, Arranging Rooms : Values and Designs in Prisons of the Belgian Congo, 1908-1960 Valentine DewulfChapter 3.4. Textures of Power in Kinshasa Prison : Regulation by Violence and Mafia-Style Arbitrariness Sylvie Ayimpam, Jacky Bouju, Michel Bisa KibulPart 4. Gender, Sexualities, and Bodily PoliticsChapter 4.1. Engendering Domestic Space : Polygamy, Witchcraft, and Power Dynamic in the Mandara Mountains Melchisedek ChetimaChapter 4.2. The Language of Syphilis in Colonial Uganda Neil KodeshChapter 4.3. Homosexuality, Queer Politics, and the Texture of Power in Cameroon Basile NdjioChapter 4.4. Congolese Regimes and Lumumba’s Politics of Life Emery KalemaPart 5. The Other Side: Mystical and Nocturnal PowerChapter 5.1. Witchcraft as an Archive : Aquatic Murders, Metamorphosis Forces, and Historical Narratives in the Central African Republic Andrea Ceriana MayneriChapter 5.2. When ‘Slaves’ are Kept in a Bundle : Reliquary Art, Power and Slavery in Southwestern Gabon and the Republic of Congo Maxime de FormanoirChapter 5.3. Dark Capital and the Power of Containers Florence BernaultChapter 5.4. Beyond Syncretism: The History of Tangled Powers in Congo- Brazzaville Fred O. BiyelaChapter 5.5. The Fabric of Conspiracy Narratives: Freemasonry as Anusocratie, Cameroon Rogers Orock, Peter GeschierePart 6. Connectivities of PowerChapter 6.1. The Musical Afterlives of the Kongo Kingdom : Music and Power Between Cuba and Central Africa in the Twentieth Century Charlotte GrabliChapter 6.2. ‘Changwe Yetu’ : Theatre as a Site of Encounters of Power on the Congolese Copperbelt Enid GueneChapter 6.3. Radio and Dictatorship in Idi Amin’s Uganda Derek R. PetersonChapter 6.4. The Timbre of Power in Burundi Aidan RussellChapter 6.5. Music Technologies of Power in Gabon Alice Aterianus-OwangaChapter 6.6. Digital Horizons, Cryptopolitical Agency, and Shifting Elsewheres in the Kinois Imagination in the Early Twenty-First Century Katrien PypePart 7. Beyond the HumanChapter 7.1. Weaving the Future: Duiker Hides Trade and the Aka in Colonial Central Africa Etienne GontardChapter 7.2. The Power of Pollution on the Central African Copperbelt Iva PešaBibliography List of contributors Index