With a little help from my ‘ordinary friends’: relationships, networks, and resilience in Masisi, North Kivu, eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo

Are social networks the key to understanding resilience in conflict? Recent studies suggest so, but relational research in conflict-affected areas is rare. What exists stresses the importance of small circles of close family members, trusted friends, and co-ethnic persons/groups, but tends to overlook their aggregate effect. Drawing on data from a relational study of personal support networks in Masisi, a rural area of North Kivu province, eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, I show how people rely on large, widespread networks of ethnically diverse recent strangers. I highlight the types of relationships people value most, assess how they make and maintain them, and begin to explore some of their cumulative socio-political effects. I posit that reputation and improved local security are support networks' most important outcomes, although the latter comes at a price. The findings reveal a fundamental paradox: while resilience in conflict is primarily relational, its dependence on connections limits its scope and makes it inherently unstable.