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2 - N’kamba

The Road to Revelation

from Part II - Biography

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 February 2023

Ramon Sarró
Ramon Sarró
Affiliation:
University of Oxford
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Summary

This chapter starts the biography of Wabeladio Payi, the inventor of the writing system called Mandombe. It focuses on the early years, when Wabeladio received the revelation from God (through the prophet Simon Kimbangu) that led, first, to his personal pilgrimage to the holy mountain of N’kamba (a sacred place in Kimbanguism) and later to the invention of Mandombe. It highlights the overall spiritual context and the continuities between the anti-colonial religious culture of Kimbanguism and Wabeladio’s invention in Mobutu’s Zaire in 1978.

Keywords

biographyrevelationpilgrimageprophecy
Type
Chapter
Information
Inventing an African Alphabet
Writing, Art, and Kongo Culture in the DRC
 , pp. 31 - 52
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2023

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  • N’kamba
  • Ramon Sarró, University of Oxford
  • Book: Inventing an African Alphabet
  • Online publication: 17 February 2023
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009199476.004
Available formats
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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 Dropbox.

  • N’kamba
  • Ramon Sarró, University of Oxford
  • Book: Inventing an African Alphabet
  • Online publication: 17 February 2023
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009199476.004
Available formats
×

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.

  • N’kamba
  • Ramon Sarró, University of Oxford
  • Book: Inventing an African Alphabet
  • Online publication: 17 February 2023
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009199476.004
Available formats
×