Breaking Rocks - (Dislocations) by Joe Trapido (Paperback)

About the Book

• This book presents an ethnography of spectacle and deceit.
• It provides a vivid description of life and meaning in one of the fastest growing mega cities in Africa/the global south.
• It makes a series of innovative connections between power, economics and culture.

Book Synopsis

Based on fieldwork in Kinshasa and Paris, Breaking Rocks examines patronage payments within Congolese popular music, where a love song dedication can cost 6,000 dollars and a simple name check can trade for 500 or 600 dollars. Tracing this system of prestige through networks of musicians and patrons - who include gangsters based in Europe, kleptocratic politicians in Congo, and lawless diamond dealers in northern Angola - this book offers insights into ideologies of power and value in central Africa's troubled post-colonial political economy, as well as a glimpse into the economic flows that make up the hidden side of the globalization.

Review Quotes

"While the book's subject - the economics of Rumba Congolaise - is arguably hyper-specialized, its intellectual scope and ambition are extensive. Trapido's considerable insights engage a diverse, expansive body of literature that will be germane to readers interested in the Congo Basin, economic anthropology, ethnomusicology, postcolonial theory, and beyond." - Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute

"Built upon a stunningly rich ethnography, Breaking Rocks elaborates on the political entanglement of the music industry spanning across the Democratic Republic of Congo and the Congolese diaspora. A witty, fresh account, including stories and case studies rooted in a thorough period of fieldwork, Breaking Rocks is simply a must-read for anyone either professionally or amateurishly inclined to anthropology or musicology." - Kristien Geenen, Ghent University

"This is a highly impressive, utterly original, often brilliant book on both the empirical and theoretical levels... A wonderful ethnography of music production, performance, spectacle, and deceit." - Nancy Rose Hunt, University of Michigan

"This is an excellent book, written with great warmth and verve in the narrative... Breaking Rocks will make a significant impact on African Studies." - Michael Rowlands, University College London

About the Author

Joe Trapido works in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at the School of Oriental and African Studies. A fan of Congolese music, he is also a follower of Congolese society and politics more generally. His work has been published in the New Left Review and in Africa.