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6 - On the Kongo Road

Writing and Entrapping Culture

from Part III - Writing, Art, and Kongo Culture

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 February 2023

Ramon Sarró
Ramon Sarró
Affiliation:
University of Oxford
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Summary

This chapter discusses how Wabeladio inscribed Mandombe into Kongo culture, giving a centrality to the analysis of the ‘Kongo Road’ song (about a trap), which is where he got the names that he gave to the basic geometric elements of his invention – pakundungu and pelekete – and also how he invented all the other names that make Mandombe sound so Kongo, including the word mandombe itself. It helps the reader understand the structures of plausibility of the invention and why it was so quickly adopted by its publics.

Keywords

culturetrapspublics
Type
Chapter
Information
Inventing an African Alphabet
Writing, Art, and Kongo Culture in the DRC
 , pp. 116 - 125
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2023

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  • On the Kongo Road
  • Ramon Sarró, University of Oxford
  • Book: Inventing an African Alphabet
  • Online publication: 17 February 2023
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009199476.009
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  • On the Kongo Road
  • Ramon Sarró, University of Oxford
  • Book: Inventing an African Alphabet
  • Online publication: 17 February 2023
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009199476.009
Available formats
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Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • On the Kongo Road
  • Ramon Sarró, University of Oxford
  • Book: Inventing an African Alphabet
  • Online publication: 17 February 2023
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009199476.009
Available formats
×