Why do Congolese people go to court? A qualitative study of litigants’ careers in two justice of the peace courts in Lubumbashi, D.R.Congo

in Journal of Legal Pluralism and Unofficial Law (2013), 66

Although JP courts did not escape the general deterioration of Congolese administrative structures, Congolese people continue to use these courts to resolve their conflicts. Based on qualitative research ... [more ▼]

Although JP courts did not escape the general deterioration of Congolese administrative structures, Congolese people continue to use these courts to resolve their conflicts. Based on qualitative research carried out in Lubumbashi, this article attempts to understand why people bring their cases to the JP court. How do litigants make that decision in the first place? Once their cases are underway, how do they deal with the trial? The authors emphasise the fact that while litigants denounce the corruption that occurs within the legal system, they continue nevertheless to have confidence in justice itself and in the State. This faith reflects the importance of the law and the formal ideal of institutions that were inherited from the Belgian colonial period in various areas of the daily life of Congolese people. But it also suggests that, counter to the dominant paradigm in the study of the State in Africa, these institutional norms do not simply represent an illusion without basis in reality. Where circumstances allow, these norms do indeed play a structuring role in the functioning of bureaucracy in Congo. [less ▲]

When women defend the patriarchal family. A historical anthropology of marital relationships among Gécamines workers, D.R.Congo

Scientific conference (2011)

Industrial farmers go farming. Agriculture, paternalism and urban identity among ex-Gécamines workers in Likasi (Katanga province, D.R.Congo)

Conference (2011)

Compte-rendu de l'ouvrage de Giorgio Blundo et Pierre-Yves Le Meur (eds). The Governance of Daily Life in Africa. Ethnographic Explorations of Public and Collective Services. Leiden, Boston : Brill, 2009. 347 pp. Index. Paper.

in African Studies Review (2010), 53(1), 193-195

Penser la critique sociale en Afrique. Les revendications des ex-agents de la Gécamines, Congo-Kinshasa

Conference (2010)

Compte-rendu de Blundo, G. et Le Meur, P-Y. (eds), 2009, The governance of daily life in Africa. Ethnographic explorations of public and collective services', Leiden, Brill.

in African Studies Review (2010), 51(1),

Claiming workers' rights in the Democratic Republic of Congo: the case of the Collectif des ex-agents de la Gécamines

in Review of African Political Economy (2010), 37(125), 329-344

Within the context of its strategy for the reform of public companies in Africa, the World Bank became involved in redundancies of questionable legality. In the Democratic Republic of Congo, for example ... [more ▼]

Within the context of its strategy for the reform of public companies in Africa, the World Bank became involved in redundancies of questionable legality. In the Democratic Republic of Congo, for example, the Bank arranged and financed a voluntary severance programme in 2003, whereby 10,000 employees of the mining company Gécamines, some 45% of its workforce, left in return for an arbitrarily fixed lump-sum payment. Based on ethnographic research, this paper discusses the history of the protest movement which emerged from this mass redundancy programme, the arguments deployed by the movement and the resources available to it. On the basis of this case study, the paper goes on to offer some thoughts on the conditions for social criticism in a transitional regime, heir to an authoritarian tradition of long standing, and operating under the tutelage of foreign donors. [less ▲]

La coopération universitaire belgo-congolaise : le rôle des mises en récit

in Revue Tiers Monde (2009), 199

French-Speaking universities in Belgium have developed since 1999 an important development program with the University of Lubumbashi. On the ground of our own experience, we will bring out the impulse at ... [more ▼]

French-Speaking universities in Belgium have developed since 1999 an important development program with the University of Lubumbashi. On the ground of our own experience, we will bring out the impulse at the origin of this collaboration; replace the strategies of Belgian and Congolese academics in context; and study how both partners assess their partnership. This analysis leads to considerations about the role of narratives in the negotiation of development programs. [less ▲]

Trust, networks, and success among European and Congolese traders in Katanga, Congo-Kinshasa. A comparative analysis

Conference (2009)

Entre abandon et spoliation. Les mémoires du passé postcolonial au Katanga, Congo-Zaïre

Scientific conference (2008)