Konstrukcije i interpretacije kolonijalne prošlosti u postkolonijalnom Kongu

Fiolić, Marta. (2015). Konstrukcije i interpretacije kolonijalne prošlosti u postkolonijalnom Kongu. Diploma Thesis. Filozofski fakultet u Zagrebu, Department of Ethnology and Cultural Anthropology
Department of History. [mentor Škrbić Alempijević, Nevena and Klasić, Hrvoje].

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Abstract

La S.A.P.E. (acronym for la Société des ambianceurs et des personnes élégantes) is an association coming from French verb se saper which means to dress nicely and elegantly. La sapologie is another important word derived from it which means the art of elegancy, or dressing with a style. So finally le sapeur is a member of that elegant society. It’s a phenomenon first occurred in twilight of colonization, first in Brazzaville from where it spread to neighboring Kinshasa, and later to Paris and Bruxelles. Every sapeur knows the rules in dressing up, in saying hello to each other, and even in walking. Although most of them come from deprivileged parts of the society, they are prepared give large sums of money to wear a proper la griffe. It seems to me that this phenomenon can be explored as a cultural strategy of appropriation among sapeurs. This notion is a mixture of history, tradition and local structures of desire for modern. It seems that sapeurs share specific collective memory which defines their identity in the community. Thus, sapologie has emerged as a consequence of cultural encounter between two worlds – at first Western and Congolese, but it spread all over the town(s), and today even across borders. This thesis is trying to explore the connections between colonial tradition in Congo and specific interpretation of it noticed among group around la S.A.P.E and try to understand the group in all their complexity – historical, social, cultural, etc. Definitely the two worlds opposed to one another for the most part of the contemporary history now finds themselves together identified as la S.A.P.E.

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