| Reinventing Order in the Congo: How People Respond to State Failure in Kinshasa Contributor(s): Trefon, Theodore (Editor) |
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ISBN: 1842774913 ISBN-13: 9781842774915 Publisher: Zed Books OUR PRICE: $40.54 Product Type: Paperback - Other Formats Published: March 2005 Annotation: The populations of many Third World mega-cities have far outstripped any apparent economic basis for their size and survival. In this volume Congolese and Western social scientists cover most aspects of urban life in Kinshasa--how ordinary people hustle for a modest living; the famous "bargaining" system ordinary Kinois have developed; and how they access food, water supplies, health and education. The NGOization of service provision is analyzed, as is the quite rare incidence of urban riots. Equally interesting are the studies of popular discourses (including street rumor, witchcraft, and attitudes to big men, like musicians and preachers). The studies are full of the most startling facts and the wonderfully evocative phrases coined by ordinary Kinois as they confront the huge obstacle course that is urban life. Concrete, readable, intensely interesting, and always illuminating, this book is a model of how to do urban sociology in the developing world today. |
| Additional Information |
| BISAC Categories: - Business & Economics | Economic Conditions - Social Science | Sociology - General - Political Science | Public Policy - City Planning & Urban Development |
| Dewey: 330.967 |
| LCCN: 2003067200 |
| Physical Information: 0.51" H x 5.52" W x 8.5" (0.67 lbs) 234 pages |
| Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
| Publisher Description: Kinshasa is sub-Saharan Africa's second largest city. The seven million Congolese who live there have a rich reputation for the courageous and innovative ways in which they survive in a harsh urban environment. They have created new social institutions, practices, networks and ways of living to deal with the collapse of public provision and a malfunctioning political system. This book describes how ordinary people, in the absence of formal sector jobs, hustle for a modest living; the famous 'bargaining' system ordinary Kinois have developed; and how they access food, water supplies, health and education. The NGO-ization of service provision is analysed, as is the quite rare incidence of urban riots. The contributors also look at popular discourses, including street rumor, witchcraft, and attitudes to 'big men' such as musicians and preachers. This is urban sociology at its best - richly empirical, unjargonized, descriptive of the lives of ordinary people, and weaving into its analysis how they see and experience life. |
Contributor Bio(s): Trefon, Theodore: - Theodore Trefon is a senior researcher at the Belgian Royal Museum for Central Africa and a lecturer in environmental governance at ERAIFT/University of Kinshasa. He has published a number of articles and books in French and English, including Congo Masquerade and Reinventing Order in the Congo. |