Not sure if ‘Circumcised’? Ask Jason Stearns

The Eastern Congo, specifically the South Kivu Region, has been experiencing recurring violent trajectories. The region of Minembwe-Bijombo, the homeland of Babembe, Banyamulenge, Bafuliro, and Banyindu, is currently facing an unprecedented humanitarian crisis. Since 2017 up to recently, Hundreds have died, more than 160 villages have been burnt down, leaving 200,000 civilians without homes and shelter; schools and health facilities destroyed and Banyamulenge cattle estimated around 27,000-30000 have been looted by militias.

One of the reasons for ethnic-based confrontation is a sense of belonging. Referring to reproduced and distorted colonial ‘literature’, some communities are considered ‘autochthonous’, while others are viewed as ‘immigrants’. Many of these written documents were oversimplified or simply lacked objectivity. Some features were politically motivated to halt and contain the hegemonic colonial superpower. However, they ended by harming, and it will take time to repair, while some of the stories were swiftly and slightly presented. Nonetheless, we are the ones to pay for these loopholes. Therefore, this is a time to call upon experts to be fair and objective whenever writing others’ stories.

Experts are amazingly curious when they want to know each detail regarding their subjects of interest. At some point, some people’s unfamiliarity with any domain of expertise may fail to understand what can be a motive behind scratching to get what we always think we know. However, what makes a ‘pundit’ famous is how they dig deeper and try to deconstruct the details. By trying hard to grapple with everything, experts can bring up some features that may sound irrelevant in the context of knowledge production. Would this be the flip side of expertise? To some extent, some of these unnoticed, unnecessary features may harm some individuals, especially when they refer to a violent environment.

Moreover, expertise can likely fall within a “raw generalization” of their perceptions by simply applying what they have seen from X individuals to Y gentlemen. This post recapitulates a few features from Jason Stearns’ book, which need to be reviewed and noted as part of knowledge production. One of these is “Circumcision” of Banyamulenge, which sounds irrelevant in terms of knowledge production, though it might be harming. However, his book is worthy of reading as it contains many characteristics of the complex Eastern Congo violence. Thus, this article agrees with many of the aspects presented by the author. I believe that it would be hard to contest Jason’s expertise in the Eastern Congo experience. His book stands among my favorite scholars I have been referring to whenever looking back to see “who we are”. Besides its relevance, failing to mention such minor misinterpretations would lead to tremendous effects through the reproduction and retransmission of scholarships and knowledge. Many would agree that minor omissions have been exploited by manipulators and led to huge and unpredictable consequences.

Jason Stearns is a leading expert on the Eastern Congo conflict, with roughly ten years spent studying the origins and causes of violence in the Kivus. When I attempted to raise a minor interpretive disagreement with his work, I found it challenging to articulate my argument against such a respected, native English-speaking scholar. His concise and precise writing made me hesitant to argue that he might be mistaken. Nonetheless, I felt a responsibility to highlight that minor errors become more significant when repeated.

I am indebted to Alex for indicating one of the two ideas discussed in this post. Without his input, I may not have realized that, according to Jason, I am allegedly not “circumcised.” Each time I encountered this argument, I believed it reflected others’ positions, which Stearns sought to quote. However, after a lengthy discussion with Alex, I understood that Jason has simply accepted the claim that nearly a hundred thousand Banyamulenge are, in large numbers, uncircumcised. I would nonetheless apologize if I misinterpreted Stearns’ formulation. I continue to wonder how an expert could confidently assess circumcision status for males in any ethnic group. In addition to the circumcision issue, this post questions Stearns’ stance on downplaying the statement made by the former Governor of South-Kivu, Lwabanji Lwashi Ngabo, who is currently the South-Kivu Interior Minister in Gwabidje’s team.

As someone who has written books and many academic articles―papers on the Eastern Congo, this post refers specifically to one of Jason’s fascinating books. The title of the fascinating book is “Dancing in the Glory of the Monsters: The Collapse of the Congo and the Great War of Africa”, published in 2011. I largely agree with his understanding of what are the root causes of the Eastern Congo conflict. The book covers Zairean state fragility since its creation up to recently. The state’s decay for decades has widened frustration that, in turn, fuels violence. Dancing in the Glory of the Monster presents clearly the challenge of failing to redistribute public resources and its effects on pushing young people to violence. He likely agrees with Nzongola-Ntalaja on how a “real scandal” in Congo is that the “geological scandal” has failed to redistribute national wealth since King Leopold II up to Kabila.

Moreover, Stearns exposes clearly how the Congolese society is challenged and remain inclined onto ethnicity. An ethnic group has occupied a primary position whenever someone needs to undertake any initiative. This post could fall or be interpreted by Jason as falling in the same line of ethnicity. The sense of a commonly shared nation is yet dragging behind, and violence falls into intractability. Even revolutionaries/armed combatants willing to bring change are constrained by this sort of thinking that leans towards ethnicity. Strikingly, violence ethnically oriented had created “popular prejudices” that keep fueling a cycle of massacres and killings. Stearns mainly stresses how any incident can revive memories, and hence, lead to endless killing, in which everyone does not want to see others’ plights.

Specifically, social and political projects are grounded in ethnic lenses. Stearns sees this mobilisation as “usually exclusive in nature and does not form an equitable or truly democratic basis for the distribution of state resources…” (Stearns 2011:216). He rather warned that “It will take generations to rebuild institutions or social organisations that can challenge the current predatory state without resorting to ethnicity”. His warning seems to bring up an idea of a cycle of violence that would remain for years to come. “Dancing in the Glory of the Monsters”? A very worthwhile read for anyone willing to see how others see us.

Against this background, Stearns failed to consider the dynamics around customary “rituals”. While Stearns would have unlikely undertaken an experiment to determine how many went through this ritual circumcision, he strongly confirmed that “Banyamulenge are usually not circumcised” (Stearns 2011:63). Usually not circumcised? He is totally wrong. I argue that, unless someone spends decades on watching and capturing pictures, taking notes of people taking a shower on the Kalimabenge/Karyamabenge river, so that s/he bring up such generalisation. Why Karyamabenge? Those who are familiar with this type of open-air shower facility would get the meaning of my viewpoint. This is an open-air space where people used to take a shower while coming from the highlands.

1984, DRC has not yet organised any systematic census on which one can rely on to give a figure around the circumcision matter. I am so sceptical that even the 1984 census had covered this aspect. Hence, it seems that Jason would have been misled by expertise confidence or by relying on biased information. He might be referring to the 40-50s generations. Though slightly meaningful, informed observers would testify that generations of the 60s-70s have undergone circumcision not as a traditional ritual but as something whose importance is sometimes Biblical.

Moreover, one can slightly agree that circumcision marks a “graduation to manhood”, but there is a possibility of questioning this stance that keeps measuring being a man as going through circumcision. In addition, I am still struggling to understand the relevance and meaning of such an argument-statement within the complex factors that characterise the socio-cultural context of the region.

At some point, and this would be elaborated later, Stearns had likely downplayed Lwabanji’s declaration that culminated in mass killings in Baraka, Uvira, Mutarule, Kamanyola, Lweba, Ngandja… While trying to elaborate on the meaning of Lwabanji’s declaration that ordered military and security services to round up the Banyamulenge community, Stearns (2011:58) states that:

“Lwabanji later protested that the regrouping of the Banyamulenge community was for their own protection, and in villages in Zaire, not in Rwanda. His explanation was to little avail; for the Banyamulenge, his name was henceforth tied to eviction from their country”

Stearns’ book seems “playing the devil’s advocate or downplaying the consequences of what is presented as “anti-Tutsi hyperbole”. The use of Radios as the sole means of access to information cannot be blamed on these locals. In addition, Lwabanji’s statement warned that anyone who would not leave these mountains would be considered as “rebels”; it was much threatening for the local population listening to the voice of a Governor during Mobutu’s rule. Strikingly, there is unlikely such thing as ‘distortion’ so long as the Governor had confirmed that “six days are enough” for Banyamulenge to pack their stuffs and leave.

More shocking, there have been military orders to round up some groups based on his clear stance that singled out one ethnic community. For instance, following this order, Banyamulenge in Bibogobogo were manu militari rounded up by security forces up to Baraka. Corroborated sources referred to more than 500 Banyamulenge killed in Baraka, 250 killed in Lweba, and up to now, the whereabouts of 146 children remain a mystery. Would this be written down as something that is intended to protect?