Call for Papers: Grassroots Perspectives on the conflict in DRC,
05/04
CALL FOR PAPERS
CONFLICT RESEARCH GROUP
'GRASSROOTS PERSPECTIVES ON THE DRC CONFLICT'
Ghent, 26-28 MAY 2004
Introduction
On May 26-28, 2004, the Conflict Research Group (University of Ghent) will
convene a seminar entitled "Grassroots Perspectives on the conflict in the
Democratic Republic of the Congo". The seminar will be organized in Ghent,
Belgium, and will be hosted by the Centre for Third World Studies at the
University of Ghent.
The purpose of this seminar is to take on the double issue of war and
transition in the DRC to initiate an academic discussion on grassroots
dynamics of violence and war, and on local processes of conflict-resolution.
On the one hand, the organizers want to develop an interdisciplinary dialogue
between the different field specialists and scholars that are active in the
area of conflict analysis, social anthropology and international relations
dealing with "grassroots" impacts of the DRC-conflict on a political,
socio-economic and socio-cultural level. On the other hand, this seminar
intends to combine thorough field research with broader theoretical
discussions on violent economic and social transformation in a context of
decreasing statehood in Africa.
The perspective from which the participants to the seminar will be working is
a "grassroots perspective", meaning the relations and interactions that are
occuring amongst "ordinary" people in society. This perspective, which include
both rural and urban communities and local economic and political elites, is
mainly intended to differentiate our discussion from macro-level analyses that
tend to characterize political and political economy research on contemporary
conflicts in Africa.
Organization of the Seminar
There will be four panels, each dealing with a different aspect of the
conflict in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Each panel will be hosted by
an area specialist and a non-area specialist.
- The First Panel will address the issue of 'Identity, Conflict and
Social Transformation' in the DRC. Centered around the themes of urban and
rural patterns of identity formation, militia formation and grassroots
processes of social interaction, this Panel will concentrate on the social and
individual implications of violent conflict at a grassroots level of society.
- The Second Panel will discuss 'Local Patterns of Economic Control'
in the DRC. This discussion will include the impact of violent conflict on
local and regional economic interaction, as well as the different coping
strategies that are developped by grassroots populations and economic elites
as a response to enduring conflict.
- Panel Three will treat the issue of 'Politics and Transition' in the
Great Lakes region in general and the DRC in particular. It will analyse,
amongst others, the impact of the political transition process on local
societal relations, the process of state-building and the influence of
regional political strugggles on the Congolese transition process.
- Panel Four will focus on 'Peace Building and Conflict
Transformation' in the DRC. This discussion will include an evaluation of
current local peace building practices and their impact on grassroots coping
mechanisms.
Call for papers
If you wish to submit a paper, or to attend the conference, please contact the
seminar coordinators with the following information: a paper title, an
abstract of 300 words, your name and full contact details including e-mail
address and a short biography. Proposals may be made either by e-mail, by
mail or by fax. The deadline for submitting abstracts is April 15, 2004.
Authors of accepted paper proposals will be invited to present an
article-length paper of no more than 8000 words in their respective field of
interest. Accepted papers will be included in the Conference proceedings, to
be published and available at the Conflict Research Group website. The
official languages used at the seminar will be English and French. The
registration fee is 100 Euros.
For further queries, please feel welcome to contact the seminar coordinators
at the CRG:
Tim Raeymaekers
Koen Vlassenroot
Tel: +32 9 264 68 33 Tel: +32 9 264 69 16
Mobile: + 32 485 74 93 30
e-mail: timraey@eudoramail.com, koen.vlassenroot@Ugent.be
Page Editor: Ali B. Ali-Dinar, Ph.D.