Croquemort: A biographical journey in the context of Chad

N’Djaména

January 2015, N’Djaména. Didier Lalaye alias Croquemort is writing his slam in a bar close to the Preston studio, which produced his last CD, Apprenons à les comprendre. The song Prisonnier speaks about how we are all our own prison, how we make our own borders. It is too easy to […]

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tagged co-creation / ICTs / itineraries / m-health / medical doctor / mobile / N’Djaména / scenario / slam

Itineraries of serendipity in an unreported Chad Didier/Croquemort is a big fan of The Simpsons. Every time he has some free time he watches some TV episodes about this crazy family, whose life is a strong comment on the outside world and the ways we organize ourselves. On his laptop, […]

Does the scenario ever end?

tagged Android Youth / entrepreneurship / Facebook / festival / ICTs / Internet / itinerary / m-health / N’Djaména / nomadic mind / oppression / slam / youth

By Annigje van Dijk* This post was published on Facebook on 9 June 2016, about five weeks after I had returned from my fieldwork in N’Djaména, the capital of Chad, where I stayed from 6 February to 30 April 2016. Didier addresses with irony the country’s ‘problem’ […]

Alcohol consumption and alcohol narratives in Chad

tagged Facebook / N’Djaména / youth

It is important to note that from 10 April 2016 until the end of November 2016, Chad was partially deprived of Internet services. The government closed down Facebook, WhatsApp, and other specific websites, with the explanation that there were technical problems. None of my informants believed this explanation. These young […]

Internet connectivity in Chad

tagged Android Youth / communication / Facebook / Internet / N’Djaména / phones / smartphone / social media / youth

In recent years, the slogan about N’Djaména becoming the ‘vitrine de l’Afrique’ has been a central theme in the propaganda of Déby for assuring his position in Central Africa. The transformation, modernization, and beautification of the city have been among the priorities of the government, which seeks to transform the […]

Youth protest in Chad: the anger behind the vitrine

tagged crisis / Déby / Internet / la vitrine d’Afrique / N’Djaména / oppression / phone / terrorism / voices / youth protests

On 8 August 2016, Idriss Déby Itno was installed as president for his fifth term. The electoral victory was celebrated exuberantly and was well attended by international guests. Present, inter alia, were the presidents of Mali, Niger, Mauritania, Nigeria, and Burkina Faso, the Minister of Defence of France, and several […]

Anger and désespoir: the inescapable crisis of present Chad

tagged crisis / Déby / la vitrine d’Afrique / le Tchad émergent / N’Djaména / protests

N’Djaména livelihood I returned from Chad on 1 March 2015, where I had shared life with the N’Djamenakois—a daily life that is fed by hidden emotions that have to do with anger and the wish to live a decent life, one that is so blatantly denied to the population. I […]

Chad and la peur: a painful path

tagged Chagoua / Déby / la vitrine d’Afrique / N’Djaména / oppression / peur / voices

The Dawa Mobile-Health project After he went to Pala, capital of the Mayo-Dallah department in south-western Chad, to give a concert in 2013, Didier/Croquemort discovered his ‘home’ region anew and was shocked by its poverty and need for development. Being a medical doctor, he recognized the high child mortality caused […]

Medicine and entrepreneurship

tagged entrepreneurship / m-health / medical doctor / mobile / N’Djaména / Pala / technology

Didier is always on his phone. He assured me that this phone is, in fact, his livelihood. He does not use it for making phone calls but rather as a tool for accessing the Internet and social media. The networks on Facebook and WhatsApp keep him always on the move; […]

Internet and the android youth in Chad

tagged Android Youth / communication / Dawa / entrepreneurs / Facebook / ICTs / Internet / m-health / mobile / N’Djaména / phone / smartphone / social media / terrorism / youth

>> Read the full biography Until the last century in Belgium, the word croquemort (lit. ‘corpse biter’) designated the gravediggers who, fearing to bury a person alive, used to bite the corpses’ little fingers in order to wake up those that only seemed to be dead. Inspired by this metaphor, Croquemort […]

An artist “en colère”: meet Croquemort, slammeur

tagged ICTs / la peur / N’Djaména / slam / voices

Didier Lalaye, alias Croquemort, is an engaged slam artist from Chad. He is also a medical doctor in Chad and a PhD student at the University of Utrecht. Didier does not spend his life in one place but is often on the move. In recent years he has been living […]

Didier Lalaye, alias Croquemort

tagged Facebook / itineraries / m-health / medical doctor / N’Djaména / Pala / slam / Tchad Plus

Reflections of Mirjam Didier Lalaye and I have now, in November 2016, reached the conclusion of an ever-continuing anthropological journey—a journey which started purely by chance. I quote Didier: ‘You know, we could just as well not have met. When you called at the beginning of March 2014, I did […]

Nomadic minds

tagged co-creation / communication / Facebook / ICTs / itineraries / itinerary / m-health / medical doctor / mobile phones / N’Djaména / nomadic mind / oppression / Pala / phones / scenario / slam / smartphones / Tchad Plus / voices