"The book is the study of literary texts and films seen as the manifestations of the Congolese consciousness and a response to the colonial discourse of denial, deletion and co-optation. It is a historical and ideological account of how writers and filmmakers have conceptualized the DRC or Zaire as a space supposedly out of a chaotic mode in need of domestication. Extending back to the precolonial times, it studies the epistemic foundations that underlie literary writings at various historical periods: an area to discover, to evangelize to exploit and to civilize. At the same time, the book addresses the problematic issue of nation-building and national identity that has dominated Postcolonial discourses in the last two decades. It examines postulations of national consciousness formation as a sedimentation drawn from various elements of which the result is a new cultural and political space. In studying literary texts and films, it identifies elements of national identity (political discourse, education system, history, ethnic identification) consciously or unconsciously articulated in the claims of commonality. The book highlights three factors of great importance that paved the way to a national discourse"--Publisher's website.