ABSTRACT This paper uses the history of the religious/healing movement Kitawala in the Democratic Republic of Congo as a lens to explore the relationship between forms of state-sanctioned “customary” authority and alternative nodes of “authority that is customary.” Focusing on three different case studies from different eras of the colonial and post-colonial history of Kitawala, the article explores the history of how the movement became part of the broad field of authority in Congo – at times cutting across, at times transforming, and at times subverting or fracturing the authority of customary chiefs. The article emphasizes not only how state-appointed customary authorities had to negotiate their position between emergent institutions like Kitawala and the colonial state, but also how Kitawalist communities themselves cultivated ideas and institutions of authority, legitimacy, and morality that were often explicitly critical of the state and its institutions and representatives (whether colonial or customary). The article argues that alternative nodes of authority like those cultivated by Kitawalist communities were and are, even in their innovations, rooted in the dynamic history of Central African ideas and institutions of power and must therefore be considered in histories of customary authority in the region.

中文翻译：

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习惯权威：Kitawala，习惯酋长和刚果历史上的多重权力

摘要本文以刚果民主共和国的宗教/康复运动Kitawala的历史为视角，探讨了国家认可的“习惯”权威的形式与“习惯权威”的替代节点之间的关系。本文着眼于Kitawala殖民和后殖民历史不同时期的三个不同的案例研究，探讨了该运动如何成为刚果广阔的权威领域的一部分的历史-时而跨越，时而转变，有时会颠覆或破坏惯常酋长的权威。这篇文章不仅强调了国家指定的习惯当局必须如何在Kitawala等新兴机构与殖民地国家之间谈判其立场，而且还介绍了基塔瓦主义者社区自身如何培养出权威，合法性和道德的观念和制度，这些观念和制度常常明确批评国家及其机构和代表（无论是殖民地还是习惯）。文章认为，类似的权力替代结点，如基塔瓦主义者社区所培育的那样，即使在其创新中也扎根于中非思想和权力机构蓬勃发展的历史中，因此必须在该地区习惯权威的历史中加以考虑。