Suturing the City

Focusing upon the 'urban now', a moment suspended between lingering precolonial references, the broken dreams of a colonial past, and the not yet realised promises of neoliberal futures, this book provides an ethnographic and photographic investigation of the complex meanings of living - and living together - in Congo's urban worlds today. The authors, anthropologist Filip De Boeck and photographer Sammy Baloji, take the reader on a tour of specific urban sites in Kinshasa and beyond. In their detailed analysis these sites emerge as suturing points in which the possibilities of collective urban action and dreams of a shared future continue to be explored. Filip De Boeck is professor of Anthropology at the Institute for Anthropological Research in Africa (IARA), a research unit of the Catholic University of Leuven, Belgium. His previous book publications include Kinshasa, Takes of the Invisible City (2004, with phtogorapher Marie-Franoise Plissart), and the edited volume Makers and Breakers, Children and Youth in Postcolonial Africa (2005, with co-editor Alcinda Honwana). Sammy Baloji is a visual artist based in Brussels and Lubumbashi. He is the co-founder of the Lumbumbashi Biennial organised by Picha asbl. Internationally renowed, Sammy Baloji's work has been exhibited in prestigious venues and has been published in numerous catalogues and books. Recent book publications by Sammy Baloji or about his works include Mmoire / Kolwezi (2014) and Hunting & Collecting (2016). Published by Autograph ABP, 2016 330 pages 2500 x 2100 x 40mm Hardcover with dust jacket ISBN 9781899282197