Textures of Power
Central Africa in the Long Twentieth Century
Published on 27. May 2025
Book
Paperback/Softback
600 pages
978-94-6270-459-6 (ISBN)
Description
A multidisciplinary study of power in Central Africa.
Central Africa has long been a fertile ground for engendering new concepts and innovative research, exerting significant influence on African studies and beyond. This edited volume offers groundbreaking, multidisciplinary reflections on power in Central Africa, from the Atlantic slave trade era to the present. By bringing together emerging and leading scholars, Textures of Power builds on the rich epistemic legacies of (Central) African studies, and opens new research avenues across history, anthropology, and cultural and political studies. It offers fresh perspectives on colonial and postcolonial power structures, drawing on new findings while critically engaging with earlier theoretical frameworks.
Employing the concept of "texture" as a red thread, the book showcases the central importance of power as an analytical tool in the humanities and the social sciences. It fosters dialogues between emotions and technology, colonialism and its aftermath, and between non-humans and the invisible world. Drawing on stories about women, social rebellions, digital technologies, slavery, languages, forest management, charms, care and bio-medicine, urban life, radio, music, witchcraft, homosexuality, and environmental pollution, this volume emphasizes bottom-up, long-term and emic approaches as well as local theories about power.
This work will appeal to students and scholars in African studies, colonial and postcolonial studies, and those interested in Africa's longue duree history. Beyond its spatial focus, it will also be relevant to those studying power dynamics, cultural studies, queer and gender studies, and environmental humanities.
Central Africa has long been a fertile ground for engendering new concepts and innovative research, exerting significant influence on African studies and beyond. This edited volume offers groundbreaking, multidisciplinary reflections on power in Central Africa, from the Atlantic slave trade era to the present. By bringing together emerging and leading scholars, Textures of Power builds on the rich epistemic legacies of (Central) African studies, and opens new research avenues across history, anthropology, and cultural and political studies. It offers fresh perspectives on colonial and postcolonial power structures, drawing on new findings while critically engaging with earlier theoretical frameworks.
Employing the concept of "texture" as a red thread, the book showcases the central importance of power as an analytical tool in the humanities and the social sciences. It fosters dialogues between emotions and technology, colonialism and its aftermath, and between non-humans and the invisible world. Drawing on stories about women, social rebellions, digital technologies, slavery, languages, forest management, charms, care and bio-medicine, urban life, radio, music, witchcraft, homosexuality, and environmental pollution, this volume emphasizes bottom-up, long-term and emic approaches as well as local theories about power.
This work will appeal to students and scholars in African studies, colonial and postcolonial studies, and those interested in Africa's longue duree history. Beyond its spatial focus, it will also be relevant to those studying power dynamics, cultural studies, queer and gender studies, and environmental humanities.
Reviews / Votes
Textures of Power introduces a groundbreaking theoretical framework and nuanced approach to the study of Central Africa. Its impact will resonate across disciplines for decades to come. - Didier Gondola, Johns Hopkins University This impressive collection is a rare and ambitious editorial feat. Bridging well-established expertise with fresh, innovative perspectives, it offers readers both authoritative insights and groundbreaking research. It is set to become an essential reference for students of Central Africa, while the notion of textures of power that it introduces will resonate far beyond the region. A testimony to the methodological creativity and conceptual vitality in Central African studies, the book will appeal to historians, anthropologists, and other scholars in the humanities and social sciences. Pedro Monaville, McGill University This is a very exciting new collection of essays that will be vital reading for anyone interested in Central African history. The notion of 'textures' represents a useful and very innovate means of approaching power relations in this region's past. Alongside its thematic approach, the chronological, disciplinary, and geographic breadth of the collection is extremely impressive. A must read. - Reuben Loffman, University of London 'Textures of Power' is a bold and important book. Framing analyses of power in Central Africa in what they call the long 20th century, the editors position Central Africa as critical to new ways of thinking about power outside, alongside, and against the binary of colonizer/colonized. This collection of work and the tour-de-force introduction are grounded in innovative methodologies, deep engagement with the literature, and novel theoretical interventions. The work here shows that Central African Studies is not a regional specialty with internal coherence but a keystone for African Studies. - Marissa Moorman, University of Wisconsin-MadisonMore details
Language
English
Place of publication
Leuven
Belgium
Target group
College/higher education
Professional and scholarly
US School Grade: College Graduate Student and over
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Illustrations
Not illustrated
Dimensions
Height: 234 mm
Width: 156 mm
Weight
875 gr
ISBN-13
978-94-6270-459-6 (9789462704596)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Persons
Florence Bernault is Professor of African History at Sciences Po, Paris. Florence Bernault is Professor of African History at Sciences Po, Paris. Benoit Henriet is Associate Professor of History at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel. Benoit Henriet is Associate Professor of History at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel. Emery Kalema is Assistant Professor of History at The Africa Institute in Sharjah. Emery Kalema is Assistant Professor of History at The Africa Institute in Sharjah.
Content
Acknowledgements
A Note on the Book's Cover: Thornton Dial's 'History Refused to Die' (2004)
Introduction
Florence Bernault, Benoit Henriet, Emery Kalema
Part 1. Long-Term Imaginations and Languages of Power
Chapter 1.1. The Power of Motherhood and Wealth: Ugandan Concepts in the Common Era
Rhiannon Stephens
Chapter 1.2. From Hauling to Harrowing : Resilience and Change in Moral Imaginations of 'Slavery' in the Southern Lower Congo (700 BCE - ca. 1880s)
Marcos Leitao de Almeida
Chapter 1.3. The Powers of Objects and the Collapse of Lunda (Angola and Western DRC), 1850-1900
David M. Gordon
Chapter 1.4. The Power of Between : Political Power of the Bangando Community, Southeastern Cameroon
Stephanie Rupp, Philippe Ambata, Stephane Molong, Abel Mungoie
Part 2. Weaving and Tearing out Textures of Power in Colonial and Postcolonial Times
Chapter 2.1. A Transgressive Economy : Revolt, Repurposing, and Redistribution in 1931 Belgian Congo
Benoit Henriet
Chapter 2.2. 'Strange Men Who Call Themselves Chiefs' : The Practice of Power and Authority Among the Acholi of Northern Uganda
Patrick Otim
Chapter 2.3. The Tension From Within : Soldiers and Administrators Disputing Power in Late Colonial Guinea-Bissau (1961-74)
Pedro Cerdeira
Chapter 2.4. Governing the Living Through the Dead : Necropower in a Post-Disaster Context in Cameroon
Brice Molo
Chapter 2.5. The Out-of-Self Sovereignty of the Dark Continent
Joseph Tonda
Part 3. Spatial Technologies
Chapter 3.1. More Than Meets the Eye : Colonial Violence and Spatial Imaginaries of Power in South-Ubangi, DR Congo
Margot Luyckfasseel
Chapter 3.2. Policing the Colonial City : Urban Planning and the Politics of Order in the Port City of Matadi, DR Congo, 1928-1960
Johan Lagae, Jacob Sabakinu Kivilu (?)
Chapter 3.3. Building Walls, Arranging Rooms : Values and Designs in Prisons of the Belgian Congo, 1908-1960
Valentine Dewulf
Chapter 3.4. Textures of Power in Kinshasa Prison : Regulation by Violence and Mafia-Style Arbitrariness
Sylvie Ayimpam, Jacky Bouju, Michel Bisa Kibul
Part 4. Gender, Sexualities, and Bodily Politics
Chapter 4.1. Engendering Domestic Space : Polygamy, Witchcraft, and Power Dynamic in the Mandara Mountains
Melchisedek Chetima
Chapter 4.2. The Language of Syphilis in Colonial Uganda
Neil Kodesh
Chapter 4.3. Homosexuality, Queer Politics, and the Texture of Power in Cameroon
Basile Ndjio
Chapter 4.4. Congolese Regimes and Lumumba's Politics of Life
Emery Kalema
Part 5. The Other Side: Mystical and Nocturnal Power
Chapter 5.1. Witchcraft as an Archive : Aquatic Murders, Metamorphosis Forces, and Historical Narratives in the Central African Republic
Andrea Ceriana Mayneri
Chapter 5.2. When 'Slaves' are Kept in a Bundle : Reliquary Art, Power and Slavery in Southwestern Gabon and the Republic of Congo
Maxime de Formanoir
Chapter 5.3. Dark Capital and the Power of Containers
Florence Bernault
Chapter 5.4. Beyond Syncretism: The History of Tangled Powers in Congo- Brazzaville
Fred O. Biyela
Chapter 5.5. The Fabric of Conspiracy Narratives: Freemasonry as Anusocratie, Cameroon
Rogers Orock, Peter Geschiere
Part 6. Connectivities of Power
Chapter 6.1. The Musical Afterlives of the Kongo Kingdom : Music and Power Between Cuba and Central Africa in the Twentieth Century
Charlotte Grabli
Chapter 6.2. 'Changwe Yetu' : Theatre as a Site of Encounters of Power on the Congolese Copperbelt
Enid Guene
Chapter 6.3. Radio and Dictatorship in Idi Amin's Uganda
Derek R. Peterson
Chapter 6.4. The Timbre of Power in Burundi
Aidan Russell
Chapter 6.5. Music Technologies of Power in Gabon
Alice Aterianus-Owanga
Chapter 6.6. Digital Horizons, Cryptopolitical Agency, and Shifting Elsewheres in the Kinois Imagination in the Early Twenty-First Century
Katrien Pype
Part 7. Beyond the Human
Chapter 7.1. Weaving the Future: Duiker Hides Trade and the Aka in Colonial Central Africa
Etienne Gontard
Chapter 7.2. The Power of Pollution on the Central African Copperbelt
Iva Pesa
Bibliography
List of contributors
Index
A Note on the Book's Cover: Thornton Dial's 'History Refused to Die' (2004)
Introduction
Florence Bernault, Benoit Henriet, Emery Kalema
Part 1. Long-Term Imaginations and Languages of Power
Chapter 1.1. The Power of Motherhood and Wealth: Ugandan Concepts in the Common Era
Rhiannon Stephens
Chapter 1.2. From Hauling to Harrowing : Resilience and Change in Moral Imaginations of 'Slavery' in the Southern Lower Congo (700 BCE - ca. 1880s)
Marcos Leitao de Almeida
Chapter 1.3. The Powers of Objects and the Collapse of Lunda (Angola and Western DRC), 1850-1900
David M. Gordon
Chapter 1.4. The Power of Between : Political Power of the Bangando Community, Southeastern Cameroon
Stephanie Rupp, Philippe Ambata, Stephane Molong, Abel Mungoie
Part 2. Weaving and Tearing out Textures of Power in Colonial and Postcolonial Times
Chapter 2.1. A Transgressive Economy : Revolt, Repurposing, and Redistribution in 1931 Belgian Congo
Benoit Henriet
Chapter 2.2. 'Strange Men Who Call Themselves Chiefs' : The Practice of Power and Authority Among the Acholi of Northern Uganda
Patrick Otim
Chapter 2.3. The Tension From Within : Soldiers and Administrators Disputing Power in Late Colonial Guinea-Bissau (1961-74)
Pedro Cerdeira
Chapter 2.4. Governing the Living Through the Dead : Necropower in a Post-Disaster Context in Cameroon
Brice Molo
Chapter 2.5. The Out-of-Self Sovereignty of the Dark Continent
Joseph Tonda
Part 3. Spatial Technologies
Chapter 3.1. More Than Meets the Eye : Colonial Violence and Spatial Imaginaries of Power in South-Ubangi, DR Congo
Margot Luyckfasseel
Chapter 3.2. Policing the Colonial City : Urban Planning and the Politics of Order in the Port City of Matadi, DR Congo, 1928-1960
Johan Lagae, Jacob Sabakinu Kivilu (?)
Chapter 3.3. Building Walls, Arranging Rooms : Values and Designs in Prisons of the Belgian Congo, 1908-1960
Valentine Dewulf
Chapter 3.4. Textures of Power in Kinshasa Prison : Regulation by Violence and Mafia-Style Arbitrariness
Sylvie Ayimpam, Jacky Bouju, Michel Bisa Kibul
Part 4. Gender, Sexualities, and Bodily Politics
Chapter 4.1. Engendering Domestic Space : Polygamy, Witchcraft, and Power Dynamic in the Mandara Mountains
Melchisedek Chetima
Chapter 4.2. The Language of Syphilis in Colonial Uganda
Neil Kodesh
Chapter 4.3. Homosexuality, Queer Politics, and the Texture of Power in Cameroon
Basile Ndjio
Chapter 4.4. Congolese Regimes and Lumumba's Politics of Life
Emery Kalema
Part 5. The Other Side: Mystical and Nocturnal Power
Chapter 5.1. Witchcraft as an Archive : Aquatic Murders, Metamorphosis Forces, and Historical Narratives in the Central African Republic
Andrea Ceriana Mayneri
Chapter 5.2. When 'Slaves' are Kept in a Bundle : Reliquary Art, Power and Slavery in Southwestern Gabon and the Republic of Congo
Maxime de Formanoir
Chapter 5.3. Dark Capital and the Power of Containers
Florence Bernault
Chapter 5.4. Beyond Syncretism: The History of Tangled Powers in Congo- Brazzaville
Fred O. Biyela
Chapter 5.5. The Fabric of Conspiracy Narratives: Freemasonry as Anusocratie, Cameroon
Rogers Orock, Peter Geschiere
Part 6. Connectivities of Power
Chapter 6.1. The Musical Afterlives of the Kongo Kingdom : Music and Power Between Cuba and Central Africa in the Twentieth Century
Charlotte Grabli
Chapter 6.2. 'Changwe Yetu' : Theatre as a Site of Encounters of Power on the Congolese Copperbelt
Enid Guene
Chapter 6.3. Radio and Dictatorship in Idi Amin's Uganda
Derek R. Peterson
Chapter 6.4. The Timbre of Power in Burundi
Aidan Russell
Chapter 6.5. Music Technologies of Power in Gabon
Alice Aterianus-Owanga
Chapter 6.6. Digital Horizons, Cryptopolitical Agency, and Shifting Elsewheres in the Kinois Imagination in the Early Twenty-First Century
Katrien Pype
Part 7. Beyond the Human
Chapter 7.1. Weaving the Future: Duiker Hides Trade and the Aka in Colonial Central Africa
Etienne Gontard
Chapter 7.2. The Power of Pollution on the Central African Copperbelt
Iva Pesa
Bibliography
List of contributors
Index