Paper short abstract:

The paper analyses how the elusive ‘black’ neighbourhood of Matonge (in Brussels)is (re)produced through public performances and mediations.

Paper long abstract:

Today Matonge is so widely known as Brussels' black or Congolese neighbourhood that it is difficult to imagine that until 20 years ago, the name and the neighbourhood led a hidden existence among insiders. Allegedly, Matonge's public existence started off when in the early 1990s it became the hub of new migrants from Africa, Asia, and eastern Europe with very different educational and socio-economic backgrounds. These new urbanites' public activities - commercial, religious, social (including disruptive or illegal/criminal) - in themselves as well as the reactions they elicited from, among others, the media and the local authorities (ranging from city marketing agents to police officers) have been bolstering Matonge's public life ever since. The latter has granted Matonge a degree of distinctiveness and corporeality (most notably its 'blackness') which stands in stark contrast to the super-diverse, elusive, and fragmented character of its networks and infrastructures.

This work-in-progress paper explores the public life of Matonge (a) in a range of everyday as well as special performances of its inhabitants and shopkeepers, its tourists and regulars, its shopkeeper and hustlers, and (b) in a range of very divergent mediations: feature films and documentaries, TV and newspaper items, official documents and pamphlets. More specifically, the paper will focus on events in which performances and mediations are enmeshed. The paper presents historical, ethnographic and discourse analyses of how the elusive 'black' neighbourhood is (re)produced and ends by speculating about its hidden, invisible or secret life.