http://orcid.org/0000-0002-3109-6514
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ABSTRACT
War, a protracted humanitarian crisis and the omnipresence of an active volcano in eastern Congo's North Kivu province have had a massive impact on the formation of urban social space in Goma. Recent perspectives on urbanity in Africa echo complaints about the ungovernability of mushrooming cities and the appraisal of urban vitality and innovation. Studies that consider and reflect both the agency of the actors and the city as a structured setting are still rare and virtually non-existent in urban and conflict theories. Based on extensive anthropological fieldwork since 2008, this actor-centred approach provides insights into Goma's “conflict-urbanism” by examining the particular nexus of roads, rumours and roaming the city. Therefore, this paper identifies how urbanites or more precisely motorcycle taxi drivers (motards) engage in the formation of social space across the city and how dialectically the city is transformed by their practices. In particular, motards connect diverse urban landscapes and social networks while transporting people, goods and information in a fast transforming context. Furthermore, as urban infrastructure, roads provide or restrict access to certain urban areas, are used to transport conflict-related material or information, are spaces of trade and commerce, and their condition is part of everyday communication. This hints at my take on conflict-urbanism which is based on Lefebvre's “production of space” (1974). My contribution interrogates how conflict-cities can be conceptualized through paying attention to urbanites’ imagination of Goma's social space. By investigating the dialectical processes of agency, the different actors’ perceptions of urban space and their impact on the material and social environment, this paper demonstrates how the urban in Goma is lived, conceived and perceived and argues that an ethnography of motards’ everyday lives provides an in-depth local-level analysis of the relationship between urbanization and protracted armed conflict in eastern Congo.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.
ORCID
Silke Oldenburg http://orcid.org/0000-0002-3109-6514
Notes
1 Lefebvre, Production of Space, 33.
2 Ibid.
3 Ferme, The Underneath of Things.
4 Rubbers, “We Cannot Trust Each Other,” 624.
5 Masquelier, “Road Mythographies,” 381.
6 Autesserre, “Trouble with Congo;” Vlassenroot and Raeymaekers, “Conflict and Social Transformation.”
7 Büscher, “Urban Governance Beyond State.”
8 Förster “On Urbanity,” 240f.
9 Oldenburg, “A Goma on Sait Jamais.”
10 Oldenburg, “Under Familiar Fire.”
11 Taussig, Law in a Lawless Land, 8.
12 Lefebvre, Production of Space, 33.
13 See e.g. Amin and Thrift, Reimagining the Urban.
14 Obrist et al., Living the City.
15 Pieterse, City Futures.
16 Martin, Leisure and Society; Weiss, Street Dreams.
17 Büscher and Vlassenroot, “Humanitarian Presence.”
18 Vlassenroot and Raeymaekers, Conflict and Social Transformation.
19 Jackson, “Sons of Which Soil.”
20 Vlassenroot and Romkema 2002.
21 Jourdan, “Being at War.”
22 Raeymaekers, “Captured Lives.”
23 Baaz and Stern 2008; Lwambo, “Before the War.”
24 Hannerz, Exploring the City.
25 Doevenspeck, “Constructing the Border.”
26 Doevenspeck and Morisho, “Navigating Uncertainty.”
27 Jackson “It Seems to Be Going.”
28 Doevenspeck, “Lake Kivu,” 2007.
29 Büscher 2012; Büscher and Vlassenroot 2010; Vlassenroot and Büscher 2009.
30 Interview Division de Plan, Mairie de Goma, 19.07.2009.
31 Beall and Goodfellow, “Conflict and Postwar.”
32 Chrétien, L’Afrique des Grands Lacs.
33 Northrup, Beyond the Bend, 106ff.
34 Roitman, Fiscal Disobedience, 139ff. for Colonial Cameroon.
35 Lefebvre, Droit à la Ville.
36 Willame, Provinces de Congo, 30.
37 Verhoeve, “Conflict and Urban Space,” 105.
38 Interview with Muzee Zacharias, Keshero, September 2008.
39 Oldenburg, A Goma on Sait Jamais.
40 RCD means Rassemblement Congolais pour la Démocratie.
41 M23 stands for Mouvement du 23-Mars.
42 Trefon, Précarité, 117.
43 Lingala is one of the four national languages and the lingua franca of the military. Having been confronted with the presence of the military during a long period, in Eastern D.R. Congo where Swahili predominates, Lingala shows exposure to the military.
44 The context in Sierra Leone seems to provide some similar dynamics; compare the studies of Menzel, Bürge and Peters.
45 This has emerged in other countries of the Great Lakes Region as well, I thank Karen Büscher for pointing this out. Goodfellow and Titeca analyse the dynamics of the motorbike-sector and their role in the informal urban realm in Uganda (see, “Presidential Intervention”). The situation in Goma is peculiar because of the volcano and the regulations.
46 I have found no reliable date, the vieux sage of the moto association COTAM referred to 1982, a date I cannot verify.
47 Goodfellow and Titeca, “Presidential Intervention.”
48 Oldenburg “Everyday Entrepreneurs”; Oldenburg “I am an Intellectual.”
49 Motards pay 50 Dollars per week to the owner of the motorbike or 7 Dollars a day. They pay 15 Dollars to their mototaxi association which includes the package of a vest, the affiliation (card) and correau. A good helmet costs 15 Dollars (you need 2) or a middle quality helmet is 7 Dollars (between 800 and 1200 Dollar, moto d’occasion). The cost of a new helmet starts from 1500 Dollars.
50 As bike-riding in the particular context of Goma's unpaved roads is physically demanding, there are only very few older men offering their service. Therefore, the aim of many motards is to become “a patron” so they can refrain from bike-riding to dedicate themselves to other economic activities, Oldenburg, A Goma on Sait Jamais.
51 However, this number is only approximate as not all motorcycles that are no longer operational are de-registered.
52 Interview with member of committee COPTAM, July 2016.
53 Interview with Motard Benjamin, December 2008.
54 Mairie de Goma, Interview with state functionary, 08.09.2017.
55 Goodfellow and Titeca 2012, see note 45.
56 Fieldnotes, 10.08.2009.
57 Fieldnotes, July 2017.
58 Holston, Insurgent Citizenship.
59 Informal conversation, November 2008.
60 See Hendricks, this issue.
61 6 Dollars which comprises: 4 Dollars for the fabrication, 1 dollar for the mairie and 1 dollar for the association; COTAM wanted to sell them for 15 dollars and make a share, interviews with motards, moto associations.
62 Manifestations and claim-making are integral to urban landscapes and transforming urban identities, see Mathys and Büscher, this issue.
63 Interview with Motard Bienfait, June 2008.
64 Hansen and Verkaaik “Urban Charisma.”
65 Issues of ethnic belonging and particularly questions of autochthony are relevant in this regard. Many motards joined the moto-associations where they found “brothers,” an indicator of the strong influence of ethnicity in this conflict-sensitive urban market, see Peyton, this issue.
66 Motards who consider themselves as popular and streetwise try to integrate themselves in the moto committees to benefit from economic, political and social advantages.
67 Titeca, “Commercialization of Uganda’s Elections.”
68 ACCO is the acronyme for Association des Chauffeurs du Congo.
69 Interview with Gilbert, August 2008.
70 Vigh, “Vigilance.”
71 Interview, motard, 29 May 2008.
72 Interview, student, July 2009.
73 Interview, NGO member, July 2009.
74 Interview, female student, November 2008.
75 Förster, “On Urbanity,” 242.
76 Berger and Luckmann, Die gesellschaftliche Konstruktion.
77 Raeymaekers, “Captured Lives.”
78 E.g. Bazenguissa-Ganga, “Milices Politiques et Bandes Armées.”
79 E.g. Feldman, “Ethnographic States of Emergency;” Simons, “Beginning of the End.”
80 Interview with Motard Bienfait 24.10.08.
81 Rubbers, “We Cannot Trust Each Other,” 624.
82 Tsing, Friction, 215.
83 Oldenburg, “Everyday Entrepreneurs.”
84 In this sense, I would be careful to speak about relations of manipulation. Most motards I talked to were very well aware of their position. Even if money comes in return, they have some leeway to negotiate.
85 Hoffman, “City as Barracks.”
86 Moser and McIlwaine, “New Frontiers,” 336.
87 Murray and Myers, “Situating Cities.”
88 Kaplan, “Coming Anarchy,” 44.
89 Moser and McIlwaine, “New Frontiers,” 341.
90 Förster, “On Urbanity,” 242.
91 Ibid.