Ch. Didier Gondola

Westerns, Violence, and Masculinity in Kinshasa

Tropical Cowboys

Stan D

This book focuses on youth, masculinity, and performative violence. In 1950s Kinshasa, “tropical cowboys” formed gangs of Bills (a moniker drawn from Buffalo Bill Cody), infused their quest for masculinity with daring deeds, street slang, performative violence, bodybuilding, kâmo and rape. The book addresses the manner in which a certain idea of the “West”, and especially cowboy films engendered among Kinshasa’s disaffected youth affected standards of masculinity and manhood that rested on the construction of a new vernacular of violence during the colonial encounter and beyond.

Tropical Cowboys Westerns, Violence, and Masculinity in Kinshasa

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