Becoming a Diplômé in Kinshasa. Education at the intersection of politics and urban livelihoods

Abstract

Like other cities around the globe where the state organizes exams, Kinshasa’s exetat shows the degree to which social difference and urban livelihood are intimately connected. However, despite the assumption that diplomes master book knowledge, recent changes in the practice of the exetat have transformed the meaning of a diplome, turning that figure into a yankee, i.e., someone who possesses street knowledge that comes from experience with the informal and the illegal. More abstractly, the identity of a diplome has become a signifier for the opposite of its taken-for-granted signified. Kinois society publicly acclaims the social and cultural capital attached to school degrees; however, most recent diplomes have obtained their degree through bribes and organized cheating.