Writings of the Subsoil in the Contemporary Congolese Novel

The expression “geological scandal,” used at the end of the nineteenth century by the Belgian geologist Jules Cornet to describe the mineral wealth of the eastern Congo, has become even more relevant today if we think of the misfortunes that affect the region. Global predation in this part of central Africa is naturally at the heart of the literary preoccupations of many Congolese writers, who invent narrative forms that are able to account for what is being played out beneath the earth’s surface, in the bowels of the earth. In this paper, I wish to highlight the literature of the mine that begins in the colonial era of the Congolese novel and develops considerably in contemporary times. Through the reading of a few major Congolese novels, this article analyzes how the Congo’s subsoil is the vector of globalization.

Island of Peace

Chapter One explains how the island of Idjwi has avoided the devastating violence in the rest of eastern Congo. For more than twenty years, Idjwi has remained a “haven of peace” even though civil and international wars raged around it and more than five million people died. This is all the more surprising because the island possesses all of the same preconditions for conflict that have fueled fighting in other parts of Congo, such as land scarcity, ethnic tensions, and aggressive neighboring countries. The chapter explains that the island is peaceful not because of the army, state, or police, or because of foreign peacebuilders, but because of the everyday involvement of all of its residents, including the poorest and least powerful ones. The story of Idjwi shows us that grassroots efforts, bottom-up conflict resolution, and local community resources can build lasting, resilient peace even in a country where traditional outside interventions have failed.

Would You Fight? We Asked Aggrieved Artisanal Miners in Eastern Congo

To meet the rising demand for minerals, mining companies have ventured into fragile areas, often at the expense of artisanal miners. This has led to grievances, and at times violence. Who among the aggrieved intend to use violence? How can peace be maintained? This paper uses individual-level data to address these questions. Among a sample of 469 about-to-be-evicted artisanal miners in Eastern Congo, we inquire about the intention to engage in several forms of violence. We identify how this intention varies with miners’ past exposure to violence and attitudes towards policies that seek social peace. A large proportion of miners intends to destroy the company’s property, attack its employees, use fire arms, or join an armed group. These would-be-fighters are motivated by grievances, as well as material and social incentives. Our results contribute to understanding the micro-motivations underpinning the local resource curse and entail concrete lessons for mining policies.