DR CONGO: Protest Banned

The Japanese “new religions” ( Shin Shūkyō) active in Kinshasa (DR Congo) nearly all perform healing through the channeling of invisible divine light. In the case of Sekai Kyūseikyō (Church of World Messianity), the light of Johrei cannot be visually apprehended, but is worn as an invisible aura on the practitioner’s body. This article discusses the trans-cultural resonances between Japan and Central Africa regarding the ontology of spiritual force, regimes of subjectivity, and the gradual embodiment of Johrei divine light as a protection against (suspicions of) witchcraft. Meanwhile, I argue that religious multiplicity in urban Africa encourages cultural reflexivity about concepts of health and healing, self-responsibility, and Pentecostal suspicion-mongering of occult sciences. Thus, Johrei divine light not only feeds into a longstanding local tradition of spiritual healing; within the religiously multiple city, it is also a discursive space for, and an experience and performance of, emic critique.

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Fire risk assessment, spatiotemporal clustering and hotspot analysis in the Luki biosphere reserve region, Western DR Congo

Trees, Forests and People ◽

10.1016/j.tfp.2021.100104 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 100104

Author(s):

Nadège CIREZI CIZUNGU ◽

Elvis TSHIBASU ◽

Eric LUTETE ◽

Arsene MUSHAGALUSA ◽

Yannick MUGUMAARHAHAMA ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Risk Assessment ◽

Biosphere Reserve ◽

Fire Risk ◽

Dr Congo ◽

Hotspot Analysis ◽

Fire Risk Assessment ◽

Spatiotemporal Clustering

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Morphological features of Kiswahili youth language(s): Evidence from Dar es Salaam, Goma, Lubumbashi and Nairobi

Linguistics Vanguard ◽

10.1515/lingvan-2019-0034 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 6 (s4) ◽

Author(s):

Nico Nassenstein ◽

Paulin Baraka Bose

Keyword(s):

Urban Youth ◽

Structural Features ◽

Dar Es Salaam ◽

Morphological Features ◽

East African ◽

Verbal Morphology ◽

Dr Congo ◽

Register Variation ◽

Identity Constructions ◽

Youth Language

Abstract Since the late 1980s, linguists’ analyses of Sheng, the urban youth language from Nairobi, have led to the growth of a considerable body of literature. In contrast, only a few studies are available that cover other youth registers from the Kiswahili-speaking parts of Africa. While most of the available studies either deal with techniques of manipulation or with adolescents’ identity constructions, our paper intends to give a comparative overview of specific morphological features of Kiswahili-based youth languages. While certain characteristics of Sheng (Nairobi/Kenya), Lugha ya Mitaani (Dar es Salaam/Tanzania), Kindubile (Lubumbashi/DR Congo) and Yabacrâne (Goma/DR Congo) largely diverge from East Coast Swahili (hereafter ECS) in regard to their nominal and verbal morphology, they all share specific features. Focusing on (apparent) supra-regional developments and changes in Kiswahili, this preliminary description of some structural features that transcend all four youth language practices aims to provide comparative insights into urban register variation, approaching East African youth languages from a micro-typological perspective.

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