"Quelle est votre tribu?" Identity, difference and modernization in the Democratic Republic of Congo

Abstract

In this article, I intend, initially, in a first topic, to call attention to questions or concerns about the African continent. After that, in a second topic, I intend to emphasize the impacts of Belgium's colonization and struggle for independence on the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). That done, in a third topic, I intend to describe particular situations experienced in the current reality of this "democratic republic" from the cities of Lubumbashi, capital of Haut Katanga Province, and Kamina, capital of Haut Lomami Province. Finally, I present the provisional argument that the challenges imposed on the DRC and the Congolese people lead to a process of Christian modernization. This modernization effort is hostage to the memory of the past and to a “colonial Europeanized capitalism”, to a predatory political action and to the destructive and endless war that strikes east of the DRC. At that time, without mastering any of the DRC's native languages, I interacted with people, wrote down and recorded data through French, inherited from Belgian colonization, and the daily observation of what I saw, heard and felt.