Nancy Rose Hunt is Professor of History at the University of Michigan, and the author of the prizewinning
The two-state heuristic missed much ambling and vernacular motion. Kitawala moved into chiefdoms; after its banning, chiefs used medical censusing to entrap Kitawala. A range in security tastes is suggested: the agitated visions of a Kimbanguist in Ekafera; a Befale nurse, disturbed by Ekafera and prone to peddling in sorcery and exam scores; a famous Rumba star, Henri Bowane, caught stealing a phonograph; and the banning of a French song about colonial nervousness. The fondness of 1954 Congolese writers for the brass band of the suicidal officer of 1902 also open music and hedonism as a theme, as does looking at Coquilhatville: women’s associations mushrooming amid critical debate; ubiquitous venereal inspections complicated by despised efforts to force declaring partners. Bar life was flourishing amid nervousness with all kinds present, from a visiting Kinois to Graham Greene, joining in sparkling sessions with live bands, crowded dance floors, and beer.
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