Dostin Lakika, University of the Witwatersrand - War takes a toll on soldiers’ bodies and minds. To prepare for battle, soldiers are taken through various forms of training. Part of this training aims...
In the lush interior of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where the forest canopy presses close and rivers cut through red earth, the nation’s culinarytraditions draw deeply from both the soil...
Dostin Lakika, University of the Witwatersrand - War takes a toll on soldiers’ bodies and minds. To prepare for battle, soldiers are taken through various forms of training. Part of this training aims to strip candidates of their civilian values and inculcate military culture.
While armies have access to an array of contemporary strategies and weaponry during training, one element isn’t often discussed: the rituals incorporated in training and those performed before engaging in warfare.
Rituals include the magico-religious practices performed for various purposes, such as seeking blessing, power or protection or even imbibing military customs. Rituals or ceremonies are believed to bestow specific abilities upon individuals and shape their behaviours.
War...
In Kinshasa, the humid air hums with sound and movement. Street vendors call out over the steady rhythm of traffic; shopfronts spill their colors onto cracked sidewalks. Here, style is not a matter of...
In the Democratic Republic of Congo, the line between the raw power of nature and the pulse of human life is rarely clear. This vast nation — a mosaic of rainforest, savannah, volcanic slopes, and dense urban sprawl — resists simplification. Its landscapes and cities present themselves with equal intensity, each demanding their own kind of endurance.
The journey began in Goma, the fractured lakeside city that serves as the...
In the heart of Kinshasa’s bustling streets, color spills into view—kaleidoscopic fabrics drying in the sun, the rhythmic hum of sewing machines, and the measured hands of artisans cutting cloth with precision passed...
By Jonas Loubin
The scent of palm oil drifts from a pot balanced over glowing charcoal. Outside, rain presses on the corrugated roofs of Kinshasa’s open-air markets. In a city where sound is constant—car...
Dostin Lakika, University of the Witwatersrand - War takes a toll on soldiers’ bodies and minds. To prepare for battle, soldiers are taken through various forms of training. Part of this training aims...
Lindy Heinecken, Stellenbosch University - The death of South African soldiers on a Southern African Development Community (SADC) mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has sparked fierce debate about the deployment...
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