Having long remained in the shadows, the issues of legal history and colonial justice are now experiencing a revival. For about a decade, researchers of different imperial spaces have placed this issue on their agenda. The panel we propose aims to deepen and explore the role of justice in the policies of Central Africa. More specifically, we wish to highlight the intervention of colonial courts in dealing with disputes, revolts and resistance (open or silent) of the African population. The analysis of the repression of resistance leads to consider the implications of colonial policy on local populations and that of the dynamics of power between the administration, the magistrates and the natives.

Argument

Having long remained in the shadows, the issues of legal history and colonial justice are now experiencing a revival. For about a decade, researchers of different imperial spaces have placed this issue on their agenda. The panel we propose aims to deepen and explore the role of justice in the policies of Central Africa. More specifically, we wish to highlight the intervention of colonial courts in dealing with disputes, revolts and resistance (open or silent) of the African population. The analysis of the repression of resistance leads to consider the implications of colonial policy on local populations and that of the dynamics of power between the administration, the magistrates and the natives. Through various cases of repression of revolts in the African colonies, this panel wishes to examine the many facets of legal practice: What role does the judiciary play in systems of social control? What are the penalties? To which resources / legal instruments do colonial states resort? What goals are reflected in the repressive policy of the colonial governments? Besides institutional and normative aspects, we also want to focus on the actors of repression: who collaborates with the repressive system? Can we define any intermediaries?

Submission guidelines

To submit : http://www.ecas2015.fr/propose-a-paper-for

1500 characters maximum

Deadline: January 9, 2015

The Sixth European Conference on African Studies (ECAS-6) will take place in Paris 8-10 July 2015 at Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne University.

Convenor(s)

• le Polain de Waroux Pascaline / cegesoma
• Piret Bérengère / Université Saint-Louis

Theme of the VIth Conference

Collective Mobilisations in Africa: Contestation, Resistance, Revolt

The historic turn embodied by the Arab “revolutions”, whose repercussions are felt throughout the Sahel; anger, expressed in a range of ways, at the rising cost of living; mobilisations around issues of citizenship; manifold forms of religious revival: all seem to attest to a profound political reconfiguration underway across Africa. These and associated forms of contestation have pushed new actors to the front of the stage, at the crossroads of local and global dynamics. To fully appreciate the complexity of these developments, we must consider longer-term histories of uprising, stand-taking and engagement on the continent, casting a renewed gaze on jihads, slave uprisings, mass conversions and dynastic conflicts. Too, we must reflect in novel ways on the social trajectories of actors involved in present-day contestations and on the responses that the latter elicit from those in power. This in turn should bring us to pay close attention to repertories of collective action, to modes of transgression and subversion, to takes on activism, and to ways in which all of these intersect with social, generational and gender statuses.

In many settings, associations, religious groups and trade unions, all of which play a central part in the articulation of “civil society” – a concept whose pertinence as an analytical category is open to debate – function as mediators and manifest as forms of counter-power. In this capacity, however, they commonly entertain ambiguous relations with the powers that be. It remains to be seen whether political parties, beyond strategies they deploy to capture power and given their oft-observed role as clientelistic electoral reserves, can viably counter established authority. In parallel, attention needs to be focused on the increasing visibility of human rights associations, advocacy groups and related, cause-driven organisations seeking to position themselves as watchdogs of state action. Also requiring particular attention are international and transnational logics, notably of professionalisation, to which many emergent modes of collective action are intimately linked. To understand mobilisation processes, a focus on violence is required as well; the proliferation of militias, their modes of socialisation and politicisation, and the shift to armed protest that their action frequently entails require close scrutiny. The same is true of religious movements, new prophetic teachings, moralisation campaigns, processes of evangelisation and re-Islamisation, and the boom in faith-based NGOs, all of which play a key role in the construction of social imaginaries. Such imaginaries must be considered too in light of less explicitly political mobilisations. This is so, notably, in the realm of urban cultures or, more generally, of artistic and cultural expression. Here, rituals of inversion and rebellion, carnivals, music (Hip-Hop and Kuduro, to cite but two examples), literature, theatre and performance are of particular relevance.

Steering committee

• Séverine Awenengo (IMAF-CNRS)
• Pierre Boilley (IMAF-Université Paris 1)
• Michel Cahen (LAM-CNRS)
• Salomé Cheval (IMAF)
• Jean Paul Colleyn (IMAF-EHESS)
• Carole Craz (IMAF-EHESS)
• Thomas Fouquet (IMAF)
• Laurent Fourchard (LAM-Science Po Bordeaux)
• Véronique Lautier (IMAF)
• Camille Lefebvre (IMAF-CNRS)
• Dominique Malaquais (IMAF-CNRS)
• Léonie Marin (IMAF)
• Aïssatou Mbodj-Pouye (IMAF-CNRS)
• Fabrice Melka (IMAF)
• Hervé Pennec (IMAF-CNRS)
• Caroline Roussy (IMAF, doctorante)
• Kadya Tall (IMAF-IRD)
• Céline Thiriot (LAM-Science Po Bordeaux)
• Elizabeth Vignati (LAM)
• Héloïse Kiriakou (IMAF, doctorante).

Scientific committee

• Anthropology: Giorgio Blundo (Centre Norbert Elias-EHESS), Rémy Bazenguissa (IMAF-EHESS), Filip de Boeck (Institute for Anthropological Research in Africa-KU Leuven), Thomas Fouquet (IMAF), Aïssatou Mbodj-Pouye (IMAF, CNRS)
• History: Henri Médard (IMAF-AMU), Laurent Fourchard (LAM-FNSP), Anne Hugon (IMAF-Université Paris 1)
• Geography: Julien Brachet (IEDES-IRD), Géraud Magrin (PRODIG-CIRAD), Monique Bertrand (CESSMA-IRD)
• Sociology: Mahamet Timera (URMIS-Université Paris Diderot Paris 7), Sylvie Capitant (IEDES-Université Paris 1)
• Political Science: Marie Emmanuelle Pommerolle (IMAF-Université Paris 1), Richard Banégas (CERI-Science po)
• Economics: Boris Samuel (CERI-IEP Paris), Vincent Geronimi (CEMOTEV-UVSQ)
• Archaeology and Prehistory: Anne Haour (Sainsbury Research Unit-University of East Anglia), Caroline Robion Brunner (TRACES-CNRS), Benoit Chevrier (ANTET-Université de Genève)
• Linguistics: Cécile van den Avenne (IMAF-ENS), Sophie Manus (DDL-Université Lyon 2)
• Philosophy: Abel Kouvouama (Université de Pau et des pays de l’Adour), Nadia Yala Kisukidi (Université de Genève)
• Literature: Nicolas Martin Granel, Daniel Delas, Alain Ricard (LAM-CNRS)
• Demography: Valérie Golaz (CEPED-INED), Marc Pilon (CEPED-IRD)
• Visual and Expressive Cultures: Peter Mark (Art &Art history faculty-Wesleyan University), Dominique Malaquais (IMAF-CNRS)
• Law: Matthieu Fau-Nougaret (CERDRADI-GRECCAP-Université Montesquieu – Bordeaux IV), Augustin Emane (Université de Nantes)