NEO‐PENTECOSTALISM: A POST‐COLONIAL CRITIQUE OF THE PROSPERITY GOSPEL IN THE DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO. By Nelson KalomboNgoy. Foreword by Brian Stanley. Eugene, OR: Wipf & Stock, 2019. Pp. 290. $36.

The development of refrigeration is a priority in all countries, given the multidimensional roles that it plays in the sustainable development of society. In developing countries, efforts are being made to catch up with the delayed experienced in the use of refrigeration. To achieve this goal, several countries are allowed to trace the history of refrigeration in their countries in order to understand the main causes of non-expansion, and then set up a new strategy of sustainable development for this technology. The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is a developing country that has experienced a very interesting history of refrigeration, but is still less known by the Congolese themselves as well as by scientists. This paper has traced out the outline in the history of refrigeration in the DRC. Surveys were conducted in the industrial, health, residential, commercial, and tourism sectors during the colonial and post-colonial period. Results showed that the use of refrigeration in the DRC has been remarkably observed in the industrial sector, especially in breweries, with a cooling capacity ranging from 50.1 thousand to 2.88 million kWh, about 5 659 % between 1929 and 1957; from 3 million to 26.5 million kWh, about 783.3 % between 1958 and 1980, and then dropped to 6.5 million kWh in 2004 before resuming its growth up to 11 million kWh in 2009. The variations in the use of refrigeration during the above periods significantly influenced the economy, in the sense that the economic and social indicators of the country grew from 0.415 to 0.430 between 1975 and 1985, and then declined to 0.375 in 2000, due to political instability, before rising up to 0.410 in 2005.

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STATE–BUILDING, CITIZENSHIP AND THE BANYARWANDA QUESTION IN THE DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO

Strategic Review for Southern Africa ◽

10.35293/srsa.v35i1.99 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 35 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Sadiki Koko

Keyword(s):

Democratic Republic ◽

Democratic Republic Of Congo ◽

Great Lakes Region ◽

Short Term ◽

Republic Of Congo ◽

Post Colonial ◽

Political Exile ◽

Balance Of Forces ◽

Congo Free State ◽

Historical Periods

Since achieving independence in June 1960, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has been grappling with the question of the citizenship of Kinyarwanda and Kirundi-speaking populations settled on its territory at different historical periods, herein referred to as the Banyarwanda. While there is evidence of the presence of some Banyarwanda communities on current Congolese territory prior to the advent of Belgian colonisation in the area, the majority of the Banyarwanda currently living in the DRC are descendants of those brought into the country through colonial immigration and labour recruitment processes, political exile and refuge as well as clandestine migration. Using a historical perspective, this article analyses the manner in which the question of the citizenship of the Banyarwanda has been handled in the DRC since the establishment of the Congo Free State in 1885. The article locates the roots of the problem in the poorly designed colonial policies surrounding the relocation of these populations to the Kivu region. However, the article acknowledges that the sole shortcomings on the part of colonial authorities would have never had the current consequences if it was not for the inconsistencies of the different post-colonial governments that have ruled over the DRC. Instead of resolving the citizenship question in an effective and sustainable manner, all these governments have based their respective responses to the issue on short-term political expediencies as dictated by the balance of forces within the country, the Kivu area and the Great Lakes region at a particular juncture.

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Constructing Spiritual Motherhood in the Democratic Republic of Congo

Gender & Society ◽

10.1177/0891243219872464 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 34 (2) ◽

pp. 307-330

Author(s):

Casey Clevenger

Keyword(s):

Democratic Republic ◽

Democratic Republic Of Congo ◽

Well Being ◽

Roman Catholic ◽

Ethnographic Study ◽

Republic Of Congo ◽

Post Colonial ◽

Catholic Sisters ◽

Cultural Ideals ◽

Religious Imagery

Drawing on an ethnographic study of Roman Catholic sisters in the Democratic Republic of Congo, I show how women in the Global South draw on religious imagery to redefine cultural ideals of womanhood and family responsibility. By taking the religious vows of chastity, poverty, and obedience, the Congolese sisters I interviewed seemingly betray local expectations regarding women’s responsibility to reproduce and repair the clan. Although sisters’ vows subject them to social ridicule for violating cultural expectations to bear children and support kin, they devise new strategies to negotiate the connection between womanhood and the maternal role of caregiver and nurturer outside of marriage and fertility. In social ministries that affirm their communal, moral, and spiritual ties to others, the sisters realize these cultural ideals through a “spiritual motherhood” that transforms their traditional heteronormative obligations. Framing their decision to live outside accepted kinship structures in religious terms mutes the radicalness of this lifestyle and provides religious legitimation for what would otherwise be considered a selfish choice for a woman acting independent of family well-being. In this context, I demonstrate how doing religion is inseparable from doing gender as Catholic sisters embody alternative ways of being a woman in post-colonial Congolese society through their religious practices.

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