Excavating Family and Intimate History to Write an alternate History of Congo
A conversation with Alain Kassanda, director of Colette & Justin (2022)
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.51185/journals/rhca.2023.entretien08Keywords:
Congo, memories, family history, intimate history, microhistory, colonial history, decolonization, archives, biography, documentary, film, mediaAbstract
In 2015, French-Congolese film director Alain Kassanda, grabbed his camera to film his grandparents: Colette Mujinga et Justin Kasanda. Led by their grandson’s questions, Colette and Justin narrated their life and couple stories from their flat in Paris. As the story unfolds, the couple’s memories lead us through the history of Congo, from the beginning of 20th century to the 2000s. Based on these intertwined testimonies, interwoven with archival images and videos, Alain Kassanda released a personal and moving historical documentary in 2022. Family and intimate history, memoirs, audio-visual sources and biographical interviews form the material for an innovative analysis of the political history of the young Republic of Congo. By placing two figures outside conventional historical narratives at the centre of the narrative, Alain Kassanda delivers an alternative account of the institutional and political history of this country. Based on the documentary film, this interview gives the floor to Alain Kassanda, its director. The exchange questions the relationship between family history and institutional history, between intimacy and politics, between history and memory. It also proposes to reflect on new ways of doing history by breaking with the conventional biographical genre in African history. Finally, this conversation is an opportunity to question the historical use of colonial images and to make a plea for the decolonisation of audio-visual archives.
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