"Se Débrouiller" or the Art of Serendipity in Historical Research

Se Débrouiller: to manage (on your own), sort things out (by yourself), cope, get by.

I

A school has no textbooks: the teachers are told "débrouillez-vous," use the notes you took as a pupil. The pickup truck breaks down and will go no further: the passengers realize they will have to find another way home—"débrouillons-nous." A resourceful man, who has learnt to turn his hand to a variety of things in order to survive, gives his job description with a smile as "débrouillard."¹ In the Democratic Republic of Congo the phrase "se débrouiller" has entered the realm of myth, joke, and national identity. The French words even puncture conversations in vernaculars. Congo has suffered from a long history of colonial oppression, economic mismanagement, political dictatorship, and most recently violent internal warfare.²

The Congolese know that they must learn how to manage on their own, to sort things out by themselves, to cope somehow, to get by. Such is the necessity of being able to deal with the unexpected or the unfortunate that Congolese joke—and many sincerely believe—that "débrouillez-vous" the "golden rule of resourcefulness" is written into the constitution.³ In a difficult situation they will remind each other of "Article Quinze." Congolese people understand themselves as those who endure hardship, but have the resilience to rise to whatever comes their way, to cope with the unexpected. Indeed, so often does the unexpected occur that managing events as they happen rather than planning ahead for events that might not happen often seems the most effective way to cope with life.

II

In what way does the western researcher engage with this type of corporate consciousness in Congo? In what way does it affect the manner in which historical research is carried out? How does it impinge on the response of the Congolese to the researcher? In this paper I use the particular example of "se débrouiller" in Congo to explore the interface between the good practice expected of those undertaking fieldwork in Africa and the cultural identity and expectations of those who contribute to that research by their willingness to share their knowledge and experience with the researcher. I recommend that researchers take a person-centered approach to research methodology and search for what could be called the "life-organizing categories" of those among whom they are carrying out research and argue that this ultimately makes for good history. I also give examples of the way in which an understanding of the Congolese golden rule—"se débrouille"—aided fieldwork and historical interpretation and suggest that researchers embrace—in full, critical knowledge of what they do—the art of resourcefulness which leads to serendipity.⁴

In a previous article in History in Africa about an archive and oral history project in Congo I concluded:

Researchers in Africa will recognize two basic methodological principles on which this project has been carried out: taking opportunities as they arise, and flexibility to change plans when circumstances prevent first ones from being carried out…What was lost in the inability to execute carefully worked out programs to their conclusions was gained by surprising discovery of possibilities elsewhere.⁵

This paper is in many ways a continuation of that train of thought. I will not argue that this flexible, opportunistic approach be followed simply because the unexpected is so prevalent in many research situations that it has to be managed. Rather I suggest that this approach arises from the respect of "person-centered values" required in order to carry out good historical research. It does not argue that Western-educated researchers should ignore historical methodology, but that they take into account the present circumstances of fieldwork, and most particularly the frameworks of experience that provide the people among whom they are working with a way of organizing their lives. Of course this is already happening in much fieldwork, but my contention here is that it needs to be further acknowledged; otherwise the "best practice" of western academia is in danger of...