“Social spaces, languages, and material culture in the history of the northern Congo Basin”, an international conference in humanities and the social sciences at the University of Kisangani

From 17 to 21 June 2024, more than 50 researchers in the humanities and social sciences of different nationalities gathered at the University of Kisangani, in the Democratic Republic of Congo, for the conference “Social spaces, languages and material culture in the history of the northern Congo basin”. The themes at the heart of the conference: exchanges, circulations and encounters of people, techniques and languages in the Congo Basin, and linked to this, the dynamics of identification. This week of rich, high-quality papers and discussions far exceeded our expectations. At a time of academic debate on the decolonisation of science, it showed us just how beneficial it can be to organise scientific events in the places and with the colleagues where the research takes place.

As you can read on this website, the BANTURIVERS project has been involved in collaborations with linguists and sociologists from the University of Kisangani since 2019. Thanks to collaborations with Congolese colleagues (from UNIKIS as well as IMNC), the project has been able to carry out lexical documentation in more than 50 languages, ethnographic documentation of fishing techniques in the Tshopo province, and archaeological excavations along the Congo River and its tributaries the Lualaba and the Lomami. With the project coming to an end in December 2024, it was time to share the results. The conference focused on the themes dear to the project, i.e. the historical formation of social spaces from the Bantu expansions to the present day, with particular interest in the spatial distribution of economic, social and political exchange networks, languages and material culture (pottery styles and techniques, metallurgy, fishing). The importance of history in understanding current challenges, environmental disruption, and the historical importance of trade, commerce and economic activities have emerged as key themes for future research.

The conference was organised by the institutions involved in the BANTURIVERS project, in particular the Université Libre de Bruxelles, the University of Kisangani and the Africamuseum. In addition to European funding and logistical support from UNIKIS, the event received financial assistance from the Vice-Rectorate for External Relations and Cooperation and a grant from the Faculty of Philosophy and Social Sciences (both ULB). ULB was well represented, with members of the BANTURIVERS team (Daou Véronique Joiris – online, David Kopa wa Kopa, Elizabeth Kujath, Peter Lambertz, Alexandre Livingstone Smith, Laurent Nieblas Ramirez and Birgit Ricquier), as well as Xavier Luffin and Hélène Mavar Manga Sodila (online), who spoke to us respectively about documents in Arabic script and the conservation of pharmacopoeia through linguistics. The University of Kisangani was represented by 19 participants, including co-organisers Nicolas Mombaya Liwila and Victor Yaaya Liagologa. We also welcomed colleagues from other Congolese institutions and from distant countries such as Cameroon, Germany, the Netherlands and the United States, not to forget the online participants who followed the conference from Belgium, France, Germany, Cameroon and Japan.

The conference also included time for social activities, including a visit to the Wagenya Falls and a whaleboat trip on the Congo River, with an aperitif offered by the Mobeka association. The excursion was followed by a dinner ‘Au bord du fleuve’ (the name of the restaurant, but to be taken literally). The conference provided many opportunities to forge and strengthen links with peers.

Some impressions :

This was the very first time that an international conference in the humanities and social sciences was held at the University of Kisangani. We were over 50 participants of various nationalities, from the DRC, Cameroon, Belgium, Germany, the United States, etc.

A week of rich, high-quality presentations and discussions. In the photo: colleagues from UNIKIS, the University of Yaoundé I (Cameroon) and ULB.

The conference ended with a round table discussion on the role and usefulness of research in the humanities and social sciences today and in the future (left: Stephanie Rupp – Lehman College / City University of New York, centre: La joie Vutseme Sokoni – UNIKIS, right: Victor Yaaya Liagologa – UNIKIS).

The trip aboard the MB Mobeka was organised by the Mobeka initiative in applied anthropology (see www.mobeka.org).

Litanga ya mayele (Lingala: bag of thoughts): instead of a conference bag made of imported, non-renewable fabric, we ordered fifty litanga (game bags) from the forest community of Yamosenge 2, with whom we had studied fishing techniques: as each litanga is a unique piece of craftwork, their presence at the conference promoted and encouraged local know-how rather than the drain of skills and capital.

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