ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the contrast between a claimed colonial success and the alleged incapability of the Congolese authorities in the domain of healthcare via another angle. It focuses on the notion of “governmentality” to blur such distinction between the colonial past and the postcolonial present. The chapter deals with “governmentality,” or the “art of government” and the way it relates to the design and use of space, both architectural and urban as a powerful entry point. It explores the Hopital Provincial General de Kinshasa, a large medical complex situated in the city center of Congo’s capital city. A combined spatial analysis on the scale of the complex and its immediate surroundings, and an investigation of everyday hospital life demonstrate that the Hopital des Noirs differed significantly from the ideally sanitized and disciplined space which a Foucauldian perspective suggests.
