Side Events – Land of African Business

Soul devourers

In Burkina, as in other African countries, a number of old women are considered soul devourers. For some Burkinabe they think they have the ability to eat the soul of others, thanks to a magic power or gri-gri, that’s why they are excluded from society. They find themselves thus abandoned or driven out of their environment, family, village, under the pretext of devouring souls. My approach is to go beyond the mere representation of these so-called witches or devourers of souls. In an African society that is sometimes complex, prejudiced and taboo, these women occupy a second place, lose their beauty and dignity at an early age. But they are also draped in a sublime pride where the photographic play, this almost theatrical staging of the mirror of those they could have been, becomes funny, light and tender. This diptychic approach between ancestral belief and contemporary reality highlights the ambiguity of representation: An existential interrogation in a changing Africa

nyaba

Born in 1978 in Burkina Faso, Nyaba L. OUEDRAOGO has been awarded several international prizes. He adopts an approach focusing as much on documentary as on anthropology. Nyaba first reflected on contemporary issues (such as wastes with L’enfer du cuivre, 2008, or the mutation of African societies through Erreur humaine, 2011). Then, he embraces a photographic poesy, in particular with his series The Phantoms of the Congo River. In 2014, he produces The Soul Devourers a diptych photograph series that depicts the ambiguity of representation, particularly of women accused of sorcery.

Signature of Daniele SASSOU NGUESSO’s book

Presentation of the book

Gender and development in the Republic of Congo
The book by DaniÃ¨le Sassou Nguesso, Gender and Development in the Republic of Congo, Promoting Gender Equality for Growth, published by L’Harmattan in October 2016, reports on the causal link that exists between improving gender parity and the quest for development in the Republic of Congo. It turns out that the achievement of gender parity is an asset to achieve development as conceived by the World Bank whose model has been adopted by the Congolese state. Favoring this parity is necessary because the observation of Congolese society reveals a number of disparities between men and women in the field of training, health or access to the labor market. These differences are also present in political and administrative institutions where women are generally confined to subordinate functions. The survey conducted by the Sounga Foundation reveals that Congolese women are aware of being relegated to a socially inferior position, which, de facto, excludes them from development. As a result, they believe that in order to achieve development, it is essential to have a congruent gender relationship with this major challenge that their Congo aspires to.

To get the book : http://tinyurl.com/h6ljnjz

Auteur : Danièle Sassou Nguesso
Préface : Michel Courcelles
Editeur : L’harmattan
Date de parution : 05/10/2016
Collection : Harmattan Congo
EAN : 978-2343102795
ISBN : 2343102791

The covers of the book