A Kinshasa Star: Papa Mfumu'Eto, Street Comics and the Popular in Congo's Long 1990S

A groundbreaking set of interventions about the legendary comic artist Papa Mfumu'Eto 1er.

The audacious and unsettling comic zines of Papa Mfumu'Eto 1er are the central subject of this volume. This Congolese artist sold his comics on the streets of Kinshasa in the 1990s. A diverse group of scholars and artists-including Mfumu'Eto himself-engage with the found vernacular archive of this legendary cartoonist. The authors analyze his sequential art, unique framing techniques, copious use of Lingala, as well as vivid scenes of troubles, dreams, and the everyday. Combining anthropology, linguistics, and visuality with history and autobiography, A Kinshasa Star offers a wonderful mixture of interventions into Mfumu'Eto's oeuvre and well beyond. Included are contrapuntal forays into colonial and postcolonial comics, Kinshasa lives and afflictions, the occult, Kongo shrines, domesticity, and the political turmoil of the last years of Mobutu's twisted regime.

This book will be made open access within three years of publication thanks to Path to Open, a program developed in partnership between JSTOR, the American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS), University of Michigan Press, and The University of North Carolina Press to bring about equitable access and impact for the entire scholarly community, including authors, researchers, libraries, and university presses around the world. Learn more at https://about.jstor.org/path-to-open/