Law and Disorder in the Postcolony? Law, Missionaries, and the Utopias of Pre-colonial to Present-day Kongo DRC

• Our panel turns to history to understand challenges to law and order in the present; examining the present-day ‘failed state’ of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). Drawing on unique archival material, centring on the activities of Mission Covenant Church of Sweden (Svenska Missionskyrkan) in lower Congo, 1881–1961, we take on the well-established thesis that ‘disorder’ in the contemporary ‘postcolony’ flows from how the introduction of law and order was pursued during the pre-colonial and colonial era. In this panel Christian and Global North contributions towards the establishment of the Rule of Law, as well as the international legal interests and investments, in contemporary Congo DRC are examined through critical international legal, social-anthropological, and historical trajectories.

Subject headings

HUMANIORA  -- Historia och arkeologi -- Historia (hsv//swe)

HUMANITIES  -- History and Archaeology -- History (hsv//eng)

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Sociologi -- Socialantropologi (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Sociology -- Social Anthropology (hsv//eng)

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Juridik (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Law (hsv//eng)

Keyword

The Mission Covenant Church of Sweden

Congo

Missionaries

colonialism

global legal history

legal anthropology

Publication and Content Type

vet (subject category)

kon (subject category)