This new edition of the Congo Research Network (CRN) international and transdisciplinar Congress focuses on the concept of becoming: the becoming of research on/around the Congo (new paths and new links between knowledge andepistemologies, new means of communication (ICTs, new media, videos) and agents - academics,artists, writers, cultural actors, journalists and bloggers, activists and others); the becoming of Congolese culture (new places of creation and exhibition, new ways ofsharing/transmitting knowledge and cultural practices); the becoming of the country and the dynamics of mobility and stability not only in Congo, but also in Africa and the world (anthropological, climatic, epistemic, social, health and economic changes); the becoming of politics, between trauma, memory and resilience.

Argument

The Congo Research Network (CRN) is organising its fifth international colloquium at the University of Milan, from 13 to 15 September 2022.The conference aims to bring together junior and senior researchers in the field of Humanities and SocialSciences who share a common interest in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Africa. The scientific andorganising committee particularly hopes to encourage the emergence of transdisciplinary and comparativereflections and analyses, within and beyond Congolese studies.This new edition of CRN, which takes place after a long delay due to the pandemic, focuses on the concept of becoming: the becoming of research on/around the Congo (new paths and new links between knowledge andepistemologies, new means of communication (ICTs, new media, videos) and agents - academics,artists, writers, cultural actors, journalists and bloggers, activists and others) ; the becoming of Congolese culture (new places of creation and exhibition, new ways ofsharing/transmitting knowledge and cultural practices); the becoming of the country and the dynamics of mobility and stability not only in Congo, but also inAfrica and the world (anthropological, climatic, epistemic, social, health and economic changes); the becoming of politics, between trauma, memory and resilience.

The conference will take place over three days and will be structured around three key words: Collaborate, Imagine, Change. The days will be divided into plenary sessions with key-note speeches by eminent specialists. Each panel will have a maximum of 4 participants or groups of participants (preferably in face-to-face mode; a MicrosoftTeams connection is however foreseen).

Panels

• Panel 1: Disciplinary boundaries in Congo studies and strategies for collaboration beyond and within the academic world
• Panel 2: Digitisation and media culture: platforms, visual expressions, databases, accessibility to Information and Communication Technologies, Open Science
• Panel 3: African and Congolese Renaissance: decoloniality of knowledge and new cultural and linguistic practices
• Panel 4: Imagining the future of Congo through writing, cinema and visual arts 
• Panel 5: Mobilities inside and outside the Congo: anthropological, economic and environmental changes
• Panel 6: Trauma, resilience, transformation: political and social dystopias and utopias
• Panel 7: Transformations and (self)representations: 'mikilismes', new social classes, (de)gendered perspectives inside and outside Congo 

Submission guidelines

Proposals (title and abstract, max. 400 words with bibliography) must be sent to the organisers by email to congoresearchnetwork@gmail.com and to silvia.riva@unimi.it

before 15 June 2022.

Proposals can be sentin French or English. Participants will be informed on 30 June 2022 about the acceptance of their proposal. 

Unfortunately, the organising committee cannot reimburse travel and accommodation costs for participants. Participants will also have to pay for their own meals for the duration of the conference. We will provide you with a list of options. There are no registration fees for the conference.

Conference venue

Università degli Studi di Milano, Sala Malliani, Via Festa del Perdono n. 7, 20123 Milan, Italy, first floor (compliant with accessibility rules). Capacity: 73 seats. Equipment: audio and video projection system.

Scientific Committee

• Stefano Allovio (Professor of Cultural Anthropology at the University of Milan, Italy)
• Susanne Gehrmann (Professor of African Literature and Cultures at the Institute for Asian and African Studies at the Humboldt University of Berlin, Germany) 
• Rosario Giordano (Professor of African History at the University of Calabria, Italy)
• Matthias De Groof (Professor of Film Studies at the University of Antwerp, and researcher at the University of University, Tokyo)
• Emery Kalema (Visiting researcher at the Université Libre de Bruxelles, Belgium)
• Nadia Yala Kisukidi (Professor of African Philosophy, Université de Paris VIII, France)
• Pedro Monaville (Professor of Modern African History at New York University Abu Dhabi, UAE)
• Katrien Pype (Professor of African Cultural Anthropology at the Institute for Anthropological Research in Africa, KU Leuven, Belgium)
• Edoardo Quaretta (Professor of Cultural Anthropology, Link Campus University)
• Silvia Riva (Professor of French and Francophone Literature at the University of Milan)

Organising Committee at the University of Milan

• Silvia Riva (Professor of French and Francophone Literature at the University of Milan)
• Donato Lacirignola (Doctor in French-speaking African Literature at the University of Milan-Université Paris III)
• Virginie Lesoeur (PhD student in French Literature at Sorbonne Universities and University of Milan)
• Francesca Paraboschi (Researcher in Francophone Cultures at the University of Milan)