Filip De Boeck

An ethnographic and photographic investigation into the complex meanings of living in Congo's urban worlds today.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.Reprint of Suturing the City: Living Together in Congo’s Urban Worlds, Filip De Boeck, Sammy Baloji (Autograph 2016)Look inside and read the preface >

In their internationally acclaimed book, Kinshasa, anthropologist Filip De Boeck and photographer Marie-Francoise Plissart provide a history not only of the physical and visible urban reality that Kinshasa presents today but also of a second, invisible city as it exists in the mind and imagination of its inhabitants. They bring to light a mirroring reality lurking underneath the surface of the visible world and explore the constant transactions that take place between these two levels in Kinshasa's urban scape. With the exhibition that accompanied the release of their Kinshasa book, the authors won a Golden Lion at the 11th International Architecture Bienniale in Venice, 2004. This beautifully illustrated publication is now again made available. Based on lengthy field research, it provides insight into the imaginative ways in which local urban subjects continue to make sense of their worlds and invent cultural strategies to cope with the breakdown of urban infrastructure.

Presents a range of views on the lives of young people around Africa. This book contributes to a theoretical, ethnographic and historical understanding of issues concerning children, youth, agency, locality, globalization and identity from the past to the postcolony and beyond. As such the authors strive to achieve a better insight into what lives in the hearts and minds of African youngsters. Contributors include: Alcinda Honwana, Filip De Boeck, Jean & John Comaroff, Mats Utas, Pamela Reynolds, Tshikala Biaya,Deborah Durham, Nicolas Argenti, Ibrahim Abdullah & Mamadou Diouf North America: Africa World Press; Senegal: Codesria