'C'était bien à l'Époque': Work and Leisure among Retrenched Mineworkers in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
This article discusses the significance of work and leisure in (post)colonial Lubumbashi as it emerges from the narratives of ex-workers of the Union Minière du Haut-Katanga (UMHK) and its successor, Gécamines. In the ex-mineworkers' narratives, kazi (work) refers to a period when employment stood f...
| Published in: | African Studies Vol. 82; no. 1; pp. 24 - 43 |
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| Format: | Article |
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Taylor & Francis Ltd
Mar2023
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| Online Access: | View this record in EBSCOhost |
| fields | @attributes: recordID: 1 pdfLink: plink: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=hlh&AN=169833533&site=ehost-live header: @attributes: shortDbName: hlh uiTerm: 169833533 longDbName: Humanities International Complete uiTag: AN controlInfo: bkinfo: jinfo: jid: 00020184 35L jtl: African Studies issn: 00020184 maglogo: N pubinfo: dt: Mar2023 vid: 82 iid: 1 pid: 377 pub: Taylor & Francis Ltd artinfo: ui: 169833533 10.1080/00020184.2023.2195358 ppf: 24 ppct: 19 formats: fmt: – @attributes: type: T – @attributes: type: P size: 1.4MB tig: atl: 'C'était bien à l'Époque': Work and Leisure among Retrenched Mineworkers in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. aug: au: Waldburger, Daniela affil: Department of African Studies, University of Vienna, Austria su: Layoffs Miners Masculinity Leisure Productive life span Congo (Democratic Republic) Lubumbashi (Congo) sug: subj: Congo (Democratic Republic) Lubumbashi (Congo) Layoffs Miners Masculinity Leisure Productive life span keyword: Katanga leisure masculinity mineworkers nostalgia Union Minière du Haut-Katanga ab: This article discusses the significance of work and leisure in (post)colonial Lubumbashi as it emerges from the narratives of ex-workers of the Union Minière du Haut-Katanga (UMHK) and its successor, Gécamines. In the ex-mineworkers' narratives, kazi (work) refers to a period when employment stood for prosperity, reflected in material benefits such as housing, food, wages, healthcare provision, education, prestige and, not least, leisure activities. The ex-mineworkers in question are members of the Collectif des ex-agents de la Gécamines, who all lost their jobs in 2003 in a deal with the World Bank to save the run-down company. Following a severe and sustained economic decline in the Democratic Republic of Congo, which began before the workers lost their jobs and continued for a long time after, the ex-mineworkers speak of this work life and of the attendant leisure activities with an immense nostalgia for an 'object of loss'. This article examines the narratives of loss of income and the subsequent radical redefinition of leisure – which is also seen as a loss – paying particular attention to the ways in which the ex-mineworkers link these matters to notions of masculinity. pubtype: Academic Journal doctype: Article src: R language: English refInfo: copyright: @attributes: flag: Y custom: Copyright of African Studies is the property of Taylor & Francis Ltd and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. item: African Studies holder: Taylor & Francis Ltd dt: @attributes: year: 2023 holdings: @attributes: islocal: N |
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