Corpus Vile: Death and Expendable Youth in Urban Congo

The cemetery of Kintambo is one of the oldest and largest cemeteries of Kinshasa, the capital of the DRCongo. Over the years, the city has increasingly invaded the cemetery, and shanty towns have sprung up alongside it. One of these is the populated slum area of Camp Luka, also known as ‘the State’. Here, the living and dead live in close proximity. Although the cemetery was officially closed by the urban authorities, the people from Camp Luka continue to bury their dead there. This chapter brings an ethnography of the mourning rituals and funerals that take place in and around Kintambo cemetery, and thathave become moments of upheaval and contestation of social and political orders for the young in Congo's capital.

ISBN:9780520278417

Jaar van publicatie:2016