Un terrain fragmenté

Abstract

Cet article considère mon expérience de terrain sur les sites kimbanguistes au Congo et en Belgique depuis 1996. Quelques écueils relatifs à ma position personnelle et à sa réceptivité par les Kimbanguistes sont évoqués d'entrée de jeu. Ensuite, je pointe les difficultés méthodologiques résultant de la diversification des sites kimbanguistes. Le concept d'ethnoscape que l'on doit à Arjun Appadurai permet d'interroger les processus et les modes de (re)configurations identitaires de groupes dispersés sur la planète. J'en viens, enfin, à des déplacements au-delà des sites kimbanguistes, en somme aux articulations de ces sites à d'autres sites non kimbanguistes. L'ethnographie multi-située et la métaphore du « pister » théorisées par George Marcus apportent un éclairage neuf sur la spécificité que présente ce terrain de recherche. Mots-clés: kimbanguisme, ethnoscape, ethnographie multi-située, métaphore du « pister » . Summary: This article is based on field work in Kimbanguist research sites in Congo and Belgium since 1996. Obstacles relating to my personal position and its receptivity by Kimbanguists are discussed at the outset. Next, I focus on the methodological difficulties associated with the diversity of Kimbanguist sites. The concept of ethnoscape developed by Arjun Appadurai helps us reflect on the processes and modes of identityrelated (re)configurations of groups dispersed all over the planet. The article ends with a discussion about displacements beyond the Kimbanguist sites. Multi-sited ethnography and the metaphor of 'tracking' theorised by George Marcus throws new light on the specificity of this research.

‘MBOKA MUNDELE’: AFRICANITY, RELIGIOUS PLURALISM AND THE MILITARIZATION OF PROPHETS IN BRAZZAVILLE AND KINSHASA

“…This story of the cannibalism of the ‘Whites’ did not spare missionaries, especially the Catholics. This was a tacit accusation of witchcraft that, according to Mélice (2011), was also to favour the advent of the Kongo prophet Simon Kimbangu in the early twentieth century. Kimbangu was known as the ‘Black Christ’, and his elevation to martyr status, like that of the Kongo prophetess Kimpa Vita who preceded him (in the early eighteenth century), would be permanently associated with the emergence of an ‘inculturated’ Christianity in both Congos.…”

“…The patterns of liberation and deliverance that can be discerned here reflect forms of identity politics in which Africanity, in the ethnic and national sense, is not only a major issue, but a component that is increasingly associated with armed conflict. In the context of long-term history ( histoire longue ), one may be tempted to read this as a continuation or resumption of Kongo forms of prophetic activity that were in evidence throughout the precolonial and colonial periods (Balandier 1953; Asch 1983; Mokoko-Gampiot 2004; Mélice 2011). However, although the ethnic and spatial fragmentation and promiscuity at the heart of these political and religious disputes are largely dependent on colonial borders and/or intermingling, the internal conflicts to which these ethno-identity dynamics lead are the expression of a radical change of paradigm.…”