Contenu du sommaire : Figures de la réussite et imaginaires politiques

Miraculous Prosperity
Over the past ten years in Nigeria, as in other countries throughout the continent, one can observe changes in the social categories and representations of success and power, with the emphasis now on the informal, tactics associated with ruse and « getting-by », the criminal and above all the occult and the supernatural. During the same decade, a new sort of figure of social success and power has come to the fore in urban Nigeria – pasters of the new wave of pentecostal churches. Associated in the past with poverty and sacrifice, the vocation of pasteur is now synonymous with wealth, prestige, transnational and political connections. This paper analyses the changes which have occured in the pentecostal imaginary over the past twenty years, and explores their implications for the pentecostal community, and popular imagination more broadly.

Prayers, Guns and Ritual Murder
In Ghana, as in Nigeria, Pentecostalist videos are enormously popular. This article analyses the development of this form of popular cinema, which stages figures of power and social success, most of which are marked by « born again » family morality. The author shows that the schema of signification expressed by this fictions are works in progress: the positive heroes of « family dramas » are being replaced by immoral protagonists who kill and ally themselves with occult forces in order to ensure their prosperity. These transformations of the imaginary are correlated to transformations in Ghanaian public space.

The « Bul Faale » Ethos and New Figures of Success in Senegal
Through the bul faale (« keep to yourself ») movement, urban youth in Senegal express their desire for emancipation and their capacity for innovation. Incarnated by emblematic figures (rap singers, Mike Tyson), which function as models, this movement carries a true ethos – the bul faale ethos – which underscores success through effort and work, indicating a undeniable process of individualization among the youth. Viewed in terms of relations between generations, the movement's impact is considerable from both a social a political point of view

« Tcheb-Tchib » and Company
Over the past twenty years, a new category has emerged in the Mauritanian vocabulary: tcheb tchab. This term designates a resourceful person who goes to all lengths to succeed, and encompasses a whole constellation of practices associated with the art of opportunity-seeking. Associated with the figure of the el-gazra, the practices of the tcheb-tchib have spread through all strata of society, becoming a veritable moral economy in this time of austerity which has greatly influenced representations of the state. Nonetheless, being unevenly institutionalized, this moral economy of cunning might also indicate a process of « civilisation des mœurs ».

The Arts of the « feyman » in Cameroon
In Cameroon, a new figure of success with a fairly ambiguous status has appeared over the past years: the feyman. These nouveaux riches have built their fortunes on fraud, swindling, and resources of extraversion. And they have conjured more than the simple jealous envy and desires of the young « adjusted » men in Douala. More than that, they have given birth to a widespread social phenomena known as feymania, which is indicative of changes in longstanding itineraries of accumulation in the context of the criminalization of the state.

The Figure of the Hunter and the Hunter-Soldier
The image of the man in arms often struck observers of the civil war in Sierra Leone. This figure was the « kamajô », or hunter-soldier. This article traces out the genealogy of this hunter-soldiers, who are seen as both populist heroes who saved besieged villages, on the one hand, and warmongers, on the other. Against the well-known image of the « traditional » Mende hunter, the author shows, through analysis of rural history and its methods of dealing with the crisis of war, that this figure of the hunter-soldier arises out of an urban tradition invented by skillful cultural entrepreneurs, who constructed their social mobility through the objectification of « Mende culture ».

« Down with the rhetoric, long live geopolitics! »Both the Bush Administration and the American Congress have shown a lack of interest for African affairs. This means that, as in the past, american policy with respect to the continent will be defined, for the most part, by the State Department and Secretary Colin Powell, as well as by those tending to the bureaus responsible for Africa. The main line of rupture from the Clinton administration should be manifest by a geostrategical vision of Africa based on close ties to the principal regional powers on the continent.

The death of Kabila: a new deal in the war in the RDCThe death of Laurent Désiré Kabila has produced a new set of parameters in the conflict that has torn apart Central Africa for the last four years. The first steps taken by Kabila's son, Joseph – chosen to assure the « regency » – included the nomination of a new administration and, most importantly, shifts in the DRC's position with respect to the Lusaka peace process. This raised hopes in the international community, which began referring to Kabila as a « blessed surprise ». This article shows, however, that the obstacles to peace and prosperity in the DRC are far from being lifted.