Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2017

DOI

10.4000/cea.2225

Publication Title

Cadernos de Estudos Africanos

Issue

33

Pages

157-182

Abstract

This article argues that the famous Kongo uprising of 1913 epitomized a breakdown of patron-client relationships between the Portuguese colonial state, the Kongo rulers at São Salvador, and their local constituents. On the one hand, the colonial imposition of contract labor undermined a social contract that held the king of Kongo accountable to senior chiefs and their followers. The subsequent revolt against the incumbent ruler, Manuel Kiditu, is explained in moral economy terms as a collective response to the repudiation of the rules of social reciprocity by Kiditu and his assistants. On the other hand, a breakdown in relations of trust between Kiditu and the leader of the revolt, Álvaro Buta, also played a crucial role in the revolt.

Comments

Published under an Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 International (CC-BY-NC 4.0) license.

https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/

ORCID

0000-0002-0468-9082 (Jelmer Vos)

Original Publication Citation

Vos, J. (2017). Empire, patronage and a revolt in the kingdom of Kongo. Cadernos de Estudos Africanos(33), 157-182. doi:10.4000/cea.2225

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