How the People of Butembo (RDC) were Chosen to Embody ‘the New Congo’: Or What the Appearance of a Poster in a City's Public Places can Teach about its Social Tissue

Abstract

In this article, I translate local narratives about one particular event into a reading of a city as a whole. The city concerned is Butembo, a secondary city in the North Kivu province (DRC). The incident relates to the appearance of a foreign flower in the late 1950s. This water hyacinth — named ‘Congo ya Sika’, which means ‘the New Congo’— caused severe damage to the waterways of the Belgian Congo, and the colonial authorities mobilized the population in an effort to eradicate the plague. Pamphlets and posters were spread, with the request to destroy the pictured flower when spotted. People of Butembo reacted in a most particular way to the appearance of these posters in their city, ascribing the Congo ya Sika flower mythical proportions right from the start. In their interpretation, the appearance of the flower was a sign that ‘the new Congo’ would rise in their town, endowing their place exclusively with a particular force. I scrutinize the myth's origin and analyse its social meaning, in an effort to gain a better understanding of Butembo's society. Throughout my analysis, special attention is paid to (self) representation, and to noise stuck to colonial messages. Résumé Ce travail part de récits locaux à propos d'un événement particulier pour restituer une lecture de toute une ville. Il s'agit de Butembo, une ville secondaire de la province congolaise du Nord‐Kivu. L'incident est liéà l'introduction d'une fleur étrangère à la fin des années 1950. Cette jacinthe d'eau appelée Congo ya Sika, qui signifie ‘Nouveau Congo’ a proliféré dangereusement dans les voies d'eau du Congo belge, incitant les autorités coloniales à mobiliser la population afin d'éradiquer la plante. Des brochures et affiches ont été diffusées, demandant de détruire la fleur représentée dès qu'elle était repérée. La population de Butembo a alors réagi d'une manière très singulière, donnant à la fleur Congo ya Sika une dimension mythique dès le début. Selon l'interprétation des habitants, l'apparition de la fleur était le signe que le ‘nouveau Congo’ naîtrait dans leur ville, conférant à ce site une force spécifique. Après avoir étudié l'origine du mythe, cet article analyse sa signification sociale afin d'appréhender au mieux la société de Butembo. Une attention particulière est accordée à l'(auto)représentation et aux signaux parasites qui se sont raccrochés au message des autorités coloniales.

War, Displacement and Rural–Urban Transformation: Kivu’s Boomtowns, Eastern D.R. Congo

“…As an answer to an academic call by De Boeck et al (2010) to take into consideration 'secondary cities' as crucial research sites to understand D.R. Congo's current urban dynamics, important research has been done in several mid-size provincial cities, including in the East (Geenen 2012;Peyton 2018). The eastern provinces of North and South Kivu have historically, since the colonial period, been a densely populated region.…”

The pursuit of pleasurable women in the war-ridden city of Butembo, eastern DR Congo

“…Language is an important asset in this world of make-believe in a cabaret . As seen, cabarets are veiled by a sense of secrecy that suits a secluded city such as Butembo and its inhabitants who crave for discretion at all times (Geenen 2012). Charles Piot (1993) stresses the need to focus on the everyday while analysing the role of secrecy, and not merely on the ritual as most scholarly literature on the issue does.…”

“…It is an economic hub of major importance to the area, being the hometown of the notorious Nande traders – the dominant ethnic group of the city – whose trading movements today ramify as far as Dubai, Jakarta and Guangzhou. Both the vicinity of a transnational border and the on-going warfare catalysed the expansion of the trading business of these local Big Men (Vwakyanakazi 1982, 1991; MacGaffey 1987; Raeymaekers 2007, 2014; Geenen 2010, 2012). Indeed, Butembo lies right in the middle of a region that has been war-stricken for over a decade.…”

Displacement economies in Africa

“…Because the main activity these traders engage in is the import and export of cheap Chinese commodities, as well as cash crops and minerals over the Congo-Ugandan border, they also control a majority of urban shops and agricultural retail businesses to which young people can possibly apply for jobs. Owing to this monopolistic economic organization, socioeconomic interaction in Butembo has elsewhere been described as being bounded by a 'semipermeable veil' (Geenen 2012b). Not dissimilar to the situation in other postwar environments in Africa , access to work and rights to wealth in Butembo remain channelled through an almost 'invisible hand'.…”