‘Weapons only are not sufficient’: former Congolese soldiers’ accounts of the power of ritual practices’ in wartime

ABSTRACT

Soldiering involves a multifaceted process of training designed to erode candidates’ civilian values and instil a military culture. While weapons and modern equipment are essential for military strength, the importance of rituals, integral to both military training and warfare, should not be undermined. This article shares results derived from unstructured interviews and participant observation conducted over a span of seven months, from July 2015 to January 2016, with ex-soldiers from the Democratic Republic of Congo who now reside in South Africa as refugees. These soldiers have experienced these rituals firsthand. The article argues that these rituals serve as a symbolic form of mortality and pursue several objectives. In addition to offering protection to soldiers, the execution of rituals aims to enhance team cohesion and showcase soldiers’ obedience and allegiance to their superiors. The symbolic death, which symbolises shedding their civilian identity to embrace military values, prepares soldiers to embody a specific form of masculinity that is highly valued within the army. Furthermore, these rituals confer powers that transform individual soldiers, prompting them to exhibit distinctive behaviour, especially in the face of the enemy. The rituals instil a sense of assurance and safety, enveloping the initiates with otherwordly might. This study, based on accounts from former soldiers, illustrates that despite being armed with sophisticated weaponry, soldiers maintain a connection to rituals that, in their beliefs, play a crucial role in the success of their military operations, particularly on the battlefield.

KEYWORDS:

• Military institution
• training and warfare
• magico-religious rituals
• Democratic Republic of Congo

Acknowledgments

I would like to express my gratitude to Dr Ryan Essex from the Institute for Lifecourse Development (University of Greenwich) for his exceptional support. His enthusiasm, knowledge and exacting attention to detail have significantly contributed to the production of the final draft of this paper. I also want to express my profound appreciation to the anonymous reviewers of this paper.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. Biloko ya pauvre père (mixture of Lingala and French) literally translated as the things of the late father, is a term used to talk about the power of rituals. This term is used to emphasize that in some cultures fetiches, or rituals are also part of a legacy passed down from generation to generation.

2. The gri-gri (often small in size, believed to carry magical powers to do good or harm) is an object used for protection from adversity or danger or for attracting fortune.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Dostin Mulopo Lakika

Dostin Mulopo Lakika holds an MA and a PhD in Migration and Displacement from the African Centre for Migration & Society (ACMS) at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg (South Africa). Currently, he is a Postdoctoral Fellow at ACMS and a Research Associate at the French Institute of South Africa (IFAS-Recherche). His research areas focus on militarization, violence, and memory; (ir)regular migration and resilience; mental health issues among refugees; and topics related to food, health, and illness. Additionally, he serves as a reviewer for several peer-reviewed academic journals.