Negotiating Nostalgia with and among Ex-Mineworkers

The ex-mineworkers in Lubumbashi (Democratic Republic of Congo) who are the focus of this monograph lost their jobs in 2003 as part of a deal of the Union Minière du Haut-Katanga, respectively its successor company Gécamines, with the World Bank to save the run-down company. These ex-mineworkers were all born between the 1930s and 1950s, began their careers in the late 1950s to early 1970s, and experienced a workers life that was characterised by a paternalistic approach exerted by the mining company over all aspects of their lives. However, after the severe and sustained economic decline in the Democratic Republic of Congo that began before they lost their jobs and continued for a long time, the ex-mineworkers speak of this work life and the attendant living conditions with immense nostalgia. This monograph focuses on two aspects. Firstly, it mainly asks why former mineworkers in Lubumbashi (DR Congo) remember exploitative working conditions and measures to control their private lives with nostalgia. I analyse the specific form of the recurrent narrative about nostalgia used by the ex- mineworkers. I build a history of nostalgic expression, referring to a popular narrative from Lubumbashi and comparing it with equivalent material such as interviews and the barazaweb, a council. Furthermore, I draw on other histories of nostalgia to further define the specific circumstances in which nostalgic backward projection has developed among the ex- mineworkers as a solution to current problems and the future. Building on the ex-mineworkers `objects of loss`, this book answers the main research question, foregrounding the voice of so-called Départs volontaires. The study combines linguistics, anthropology, and archives research to explore what ex-mineworkers regard as material and emotional objects of loss. Secondly, I ask: what kind of contextual methodology can help answer the crucial question of nostalgia and ensure that the voices of the so-called Départs Volontaires are heard? I developed a unique approach, the barazaweb-council. This enabled sharing with the ex-mineworkers material from the archives that was not accessible to them; the provision of a forum for sharing their collective memories while granting their voices the status of alternative archives; or the space for participatory scholarship wherein all voices are given prominence. I thus focus on contextual, group knowledge (de)construction, and the communicative processes involved, which were crucial to understand the ex-miners nostalgia. The book offers another reading of the history of the community of the ex-mineworkers in Lubumbashi (DRC) and reveals aspects of this history that only the combination of alternative archives and the focus on linguistic strategies and language abilities can render visible and hearable.