A unique and forward-thinking book that sheds new light on the origins, dynamics, and cosmopolitan culture of the Kongo Kingdom from a cross-disciplinary perspective.

This interdisciplinary volume brings together English and French language contributions that add to an in-depth picture of the Democratic Republic of the Congo's current state of affairs. The authors from various academic fields who research and teach at universities in Africa, Asia and Europe focus on political and economic perspectives, education and civil society, health and environment, the country's international relations as well as historical foundations. They analyse the problems the country is facing but also point out where progress has been made, where possibilities lie - and how these possibilities can come to fruition.

Scholarly, detailed account of the history, social structure, and traditions of an African civilization between the 16th and 18th centuries.

2011 Updated Reprint. Updated Annually. Congo Democratic Republic Foreign Policy and Government Guide

"This book presents a provocatively new interpretation of one of New Orleans's most enigmatic traditions--the Mardi Gras Indians. By interpreting the tradition in an Atlantic context, Dewulf traces the 'black Indians' back to the ancient Kingdom of Kongo and its war dance known as sangamento. He shows that good warriors in the Kongo kingdom were per definition also good dancers, masters of a technique of dodging, spinning, and leaping that was crucial in local warfare. Enslaved Kongolese brought the rhythm, dancing moves, and feathered headwear of sangamentos to the Americas in performances that came to be known as 'Kongo dances.' By comparing Kongo dances on the African island of Saao Tomae with those in Latin America, the Caribbean, and Louisiana, Dewulf demonstrates that the dances in New Orleans's Congo Square were part of a much broader Kongolese performance tradition. He links that to Afro-Catholic mutual-aid societies that honored their elected community leaders or 'kings' with Kongo dances. While the public rituals of these brotherhoods originally thrived in the context of Catholic procession culture around Epiphany and Corpus Christi, they transitioned to carnival as a result of growing orthodoxy within the Church. Dewulf's groundbreaking research suggests a much greater impact of Kongolese traditions and of popular Catholicism on the development of African American cultural heritage and identity. His conclusions force us to radically rethink the traditional narrative on the Mardi Gras Indians, the kings of Zulu, and the origins of black participation in Mardi Gras celebrations"--Provided by publisher.

Seminar paper from the year 2022 in the subject History - Africa, grade: 1,0, University of Hamburg (Fakultät Geschichte), course: Einführung in die Geschichte Afrikas, language: English, abstract: Since the first enslaved Africans had reached the coast of Virginia in 1619, European, American, and African slave traders captured about one-quarter of all African slaves in Central Africa to ship them to America via the Congo River or other ports along the Congolese Loango due to the transatlantic slave trade. Significantly, these enslaved people, mostly from the Congo regions, did not solely bring a free workforce, but also a huge cultural heritage that shaped the American culture. Likewise, these slaves practiced African religiosity despite the established Catholicism by Europeans in the Americas. Out of this blending of African religiosity with Christianity developed the Afro-American syncretism today known as “voodoo”. Widely unknown is the immense influence of Congo religiosity on voodoo, due to slave imports from Congo to New Orleans. Accordingly, this leads to the question, which elements of Congolese religiosity originate within New Orleans Voodoo due to the transatlantic slave trade?