With photographs by Badru Katumba, Zahara Abdul and Kristof Titeca; and text by Kristof Titeca and Yusuf Serunkuma.
“The material choices add a clever touch to an already fantastic book. The cardstock used throughout the book structures and presents the content perfectly, creating a uniquely supportive platform for Titeca’s research.” (Alex Lin)
APERTURE
“Nasser Road is exciting in both its content and presentation. The photobook is a deep dive into the layers that underlie a complex social phenomenon, its archive of bright posters providing an entry point into a range of cultural issues. It’s also an engaging example of extending the definitional boundaries of the photobook to include printed photographic ephemera, where photography and collage come together in imagery made and circulated for a specific kind of communication.” (Olga Yatskevich)
COLLECTOR DAILY
“For a majority of Ugandans on the street, he continues, these posters, which resonate with the aesthetic deployed by Wakalywood, the local film industry, are above all anti-imperialist symbols that crystallise local frustrations in the name of ‘rejection or resistance to global power structures and hegemonic systems such as colonialism, imperialism and capitalism’.” (Jean-Christophe Servant)
LE MONDE DIPLOMATIQUE (IN FRENCH)
“The flashy calendars, bundled in the book Nasser Road / Political Posters in Uganda, are colourful, graphic and wryly humourous. Here, the very figures that so many see as villains are anti-heroes against Western imperialism. The calendars are not an endorsement of violent actions, says compiler Kristof Titeca, but an outlet for frustrations about unfair power relations in the world.” (Rosa Luna van Crevel)
AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL (IN DUTCH)
“I find this book a treasure trove of awe-inspiring images and a confrontation with the limits of my own political and aesthetic imagination. While reading, I am constantly challenged to reconsider my assumptions about propaganda and the power of images.”
WILCO VERSTEEG IN TRIGGER (FOMU)
With contemporary photographs from Georges Senga, and additional text contributions from Jonathan Littell, Harriet Anena, Rein Deslé, and Christine Oryema Lalobo.
Rebel Lives is a visual story about life inside the LRA: based on photographs taken by LRA commanders between 1994 and 2004, this book documents life within violent circumstances, and depicts the rebels as they wanted to be seen among themselves and by the outside world.
Kristof Titeca, Associate Professor in Development Studies at the University of Antwerp and expert on the LRA, collected this material, and used it to trace the photographed (former) rebels. Together with Congolese photographer Georges Senga, he travelled back to photograph the former rebels in their current context.
“Disturbingly haunting and banally quotidian at the same time. Based on meticulous research and astute writing, with beautiful poems and remarkable follow-up photos, Rebel Lives unveils a layer of humanity that makes the rebels’ own photos worth understanding in the first place. It is a most important historical document.”
Sverker Finnström, author of award-winning Living with Bad Surroundings: War, History, and Everyday Moments in Northern Uganda
“This is a remarkable book. Using the numerous photographs taken by people recruited into the Lord’s Resistance Army, and linking these to more recent images and testimonies, it succeeds in bringing the contradictions and complexities of their experiences to life. The shocking violence of the LRA is not hidden, but the humanity of those involved and those forced to participate is foregrounded in a compelling way. There is nothing like it in the substantial literature on the LRA, and I am not sure there is anything like it for other conflict zones either. It is a unique and substantial contribution, which makes us recognise that demonized and condemned groups, from ISIS to FARC, are made up of real people, drawn into extreme circumstances.”
Professor Tim Allen, Director of the Firoz Lalji Centre for Africa, London School of Economics
The book also was an exhibition (see here LINK). Press on the book and exhibition in the Economist, the Washington Post, Le Monde Diplomatique (one of the ‘Books of the Month’), the Smithsonian Magazine, the Conversation, Africa in the Photobook, NRC, Volkskrant, Knack, Klara, VRT, VPRO, De Standaard, De Morgen, Radio 1/Interne Keuken.
With contributions from Stylianos Moshonas, Stéphanie Perazzone, Camilla Lindstrom, Jean-Pierre Mpiana Tshitenge, Michel Thill, Albert Malukisa, Randi Solhjell, Aymar Nyenyezi Bisoka and Klara Claessens
The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has been widely derided as a failed state, unable to meet the basic needs of its citizens. But while state infrastructure continues to decay, many essential services continue to be provided at the local level, often through grassroots initiatives. So while, for example, state funding for education is almost non-existent, average school enrolment remains well above average for Sub-Saharan Africa.
This book addresses this paradox, bringing together key scholars working on public services in the DRC to elucidate the evolving nature of governance in developing countries. Its contributions encompass a wide range of public services, including education, justice, transport, and health. Taking stock of what functions and why, it contributes to the debate on public services in the context of ‘real’ or ‘hybrid’ governance beyond the state: does the state still have a function, or is it no longer useful and relevant? Crucially, how does international aid help or complicate this picture?
We summarized our main argument for The Conversation (25/09/19) and Democracy in Africa (31/01/20). A review in the Washington Post describes it as a ‘smart and compelling read’.