Continuous Outrage as Congolesse essence (New Yorker's Philip Gourevitch)

I retweeted today this powerful exercise in self-reflexive journalism

filed from Goma on November 27 by Philip Gourevitch and posted on the

New Yorker Web site.



There are blocks of the piece I disagree with, but overall the report

is a valid condensed vignette of the recent history of the DRC.



I also disagree with the piece's underlying essentialism and

essentialization of the Congolese--though "outrage as a Congolese

condition of being makes for disturbing lasting impression on one's

mind.



But that's precisely why this kind of "thick description" is called

self-reflexive reporting.



A TEASER:



"It is impossible to be Congolese," [Salvador Muhindo] said at one point,

"without being continuously outraged."



Read the colorful narrative here:



m.newyorker.com/online/blogs/newsdesk/2012/11/outraged-in-congo.html



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PHOTO CREDITS: Phil Moore/AFP/Getty