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Periodical article Periodical article Leiden University catalogue Leiden University catalogue WorldCat catalogue WorldCat
Title:Provisional notes on the postcolony
Author:Mbembe, A.ISNI
Year:1992
Periodical:Africa: Journal of the International African Institute
Volume:62
Issue:1
Pages:3-37
Language:English
Geographic terms:Africa
Togo
Cameroon
Subjects:power
State
External link:https://www.jstor.org/stable/1160062
Abstract:The exercise of power in African States since independence - generalized here under the term the 'postcolony' - has been marked by a liking for ceremonial and by an exhibitionism that is the more remarkable seeing how illusory are the States' practical achievements. Furthermore, power is exercised with a degree of violence and naked exploitation that has its antecedents in previous colonial regimes. People's response is a ribaldry that revels in the obscene. The general question is why this power, despite its obvious limitations, is seemingly so effective. More specifically, why does the population apparently collude with its government; how can it laugh at the antics of its rulers and yet at the same time join in celebrating them? The argument put forward here, along with evidence mainly from Cameroon and Togo, is that, if analysis focuses on the detailed processes and rituals of collusion, it becomes clear that there is an intimacy, an almost domestic familiarity, in the relationship between ruler and ruled which effectively disarms both and turns power play into performance. Bibliogr., notes, ref., sum. also in French. (A slightly modified version of this article has been published in French in: Politique africaine, no. 60 (1995), p. 76-109.)
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