Metodo

International Studies in Phenomenology and Philosophy

Book | Chapter

227677

From the air-conditioned offices to the everyday

Meike de Goede

pp. 146-161

Abstract

Everymorning from 7 a.m. to about 9 a.m. small groups of people gather on street corners or under a tree in the popular quarters of Kinshasa. They are either unemployed or on their way to work. They discuss what is in today's newspaper, or what has been discussed in parliament yesterday and is on the political agenda for today. They discuss the latest speech of a certain minister or of the President, argue that the current democracy in the Congo is failing and debate upcoming general elections. De Boeck describes Kinshasa as a city of words, a city of imagination, where little is concrete but all is visible to those who imagine it. With the help of a few attributes such as tires, a plastic table and a few crates, or a mirror hung on a tree, a few empty square meters beside the street turn into a garage, a bar, a theatre, a barbershop. It is a rhetorical architecture, composed of chantiers de parole.

Publication details

Published in:

Richmond Oliver P., Mitchell Audra (2012) Hybrid forms of peace: from everyday agency to post-liberalism. Basingstoke, Palgrave Macmillan.

Pages: 146-161

DOI: 10.1057/9780230354234_8

Full citation:

de Goede Meike (2012) „From the air-conditioned offices to the everyday“, In: O. P. Richmond & A. Mitchell (eds.), Hybrid forms of peace, Basingstoke, Palgrave Macmillan, 146–161.