ABSTRACT
Each in their own way, Kinshasa and Gaza are highly complicated environments in which to live. Many restrictions are imposed on people living there. Yet it is precisely there that ‘positive fatalists’ were encountered: they embrace their fate and find a way of exercising some control over their lives through music, among other things. In this chapter I discuss the phenomenon of positive fatalism through reflections on my work in Kinshasa and Gaza. I propose this phenomenon needs further consideration when researching social music projects in complex settings.
