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Title: | CONGO-PARIS | |
| Author: | J.MACGAFFNEY + R. BAZENGUISSA-GANGA | |
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| Price: | £11.95 | ||
| Publisher: | JAMES CURREY | ||
| Distributor: | PLYMBRIDGE | ||
| ISBN: | 0253214025 | ||
| Format/Size: | 135X216MM PB | ||
| Pages: | 189 | ||
| Publication Date: | 2000 | ||
| LINKS | > Index (by subject) | > Complete list of order forms |
| (a-z) | > CAP order form | > James Currey Website |
| > Edinburgh University Press order form |
| Description: | This book draws on the life histories of traders who work between the Congos and France and who switch in and out of the law. The authors challenge traditional anthropology, citing the question, Is anthropology condemned to be reduced to territories, unable to follow networks?' This book, with the same provocative originality of The Real Economy of Zaire, follows the networks to examine the way in which the second economy has been extended transnationally, globally on the margins of the law. Again the concern is with what everybody knows exists but which eludes economic and political categorization. Who are these traders? People from countries disrupted by social disorder which are ruled by leaders who have amassed huge fortunes. A vicious circle comes into being: as the official system collapses, more people turn to unofficial activities and the society becomes more violent and chaotic. What strategies do they have not just to survive but shine? Half of the traders interviewed are sapeurs'. They compete for status through acquiring French designer clothing. They spread the cult of appearance. They search for excitement through pulling off coups. Their strategies for survival and success involve contesting and transgressing boundaries. What kind of networks do they rely on? The personal networks of ethnicity, kinship, religion and friendship exact their own pressures on the traders for the redistribution of the wealth they accumulate. In their marginal existences they are fashioning a world of their own. The commodities of their trade structure identity among African migrants in Europe. How does this trade relate to globalization? From Johannesburg to Cairo and from Dakar to Nairobi as well as in Paris the Congolese traders are renowned and envied. It is not just the multinationals who benefit from jets, trucks and mobile phones. Janet MacGaffey is Professor of Anthropology at Bucknell University. PA Remy Bazenguissa-Ganga teaches at Centre d'Etudes Africaine, Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales, Paris |
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