Description
Book SynopsisIn
Gesture and Power Yolanda Covington-Ward examines the everyday embodied practices and performances of the BisiKongo people of the lower Congo to show how their gestures, dances, and spirituality are critical in mobilizing social and political action.
Trade Review"This is a study of religious dynamism, as people update earlier symbolic behavior to seek fulfillment in ever-changing circumstances. Attention to west-central African dance histories and evocative descriptions of the author’s participation in performance events enrich the study, with a chapter on 'dancing disorder' during the dictatorial days of Mobutu Sese Seko among the book’s strongest contributions to humanistic Africanist literature. . . . Highly recommended. All academic levels/libraries."
-- A. F. Roberts * Choice *
"Gesture and Power is an extraordinary work. . . . [It] provides serious and fertile historical and ethnographic material and offers a solid methodological format and an insightful perspective on African embodied politics and religious practices in both the past and the present." -- Annalisa Butticci * Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute *
"[Covington-Ward's] attention to the microdynamics of gesture brings the study of rite and ritual into the domain of the evetyday and highlights the profundity of common acts as makers of religious and political meaning. In doing so, she raises questions about position and positionality that are pertinent beyond the powerful dynamics of religion and politics in Congo." -- Emma Wild-Wood * Church History *
"A tremendous amount of labor went into this study and the end product is a compelling, engaging, intelligent, and enjoyable text, a fine scholarly contribution to the literature on religion in Central Africa. Small wonder thus that the book is adorned with glowing endorsements on the back cover by such distinguished anthropologists of African religion as Paul Stoller and Bennetta Jules-Rosette." -- Terry Rey * Religion *
"A fine blend of Congo’s colonial history, an impressive page of Cultural anthropology, an introduction to African body/performance studies, and a crisp work on sociology of religion. . . . One of the finest works on ethnography given its style of description, rich theoretical background, and methodology." -- Adfer Rashid Shah * African Studies Quarterly *
Table of ContentsAcknowledgments ix
Introduction: Gesture and Power 1
I. Performative Encounters, Political Bodies
1. Neither Native nor Stranger: Places, Encounters, Phophecies 37
II. Spirits, Bodies, and Performance in Belgian Congo
2. "A War between Soldiers and Prophets": Embodied Resistance in Colonial Belgian Congo, 1921 71
3. Threatening Gestures, Immoral Bodies: Kingunza after Kimbangu 107
III. Civil Religion and Performed Politics in Postcolonial Congo
4. Dancing with the Invisible: Everyday Performances under Mobutu Sese Seko 137
5. Dancing Disorder in Mobutu's Zaire: Animation Politique and Gendered Nationalisms 165
IV. Re-creating the Past, Performing the Future
6. Bundu dia Kongo and Embodied Revolutions: Performing Kongo Pride, Transforming Modern Society 187
Conclusion: Privileging Gesture and Bodies in Studies of Religion and Power 227
Glossary 233
Notes 235
References 253
Index 275
