NEWSLETTER OCT 2021

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October 25, 2021

Dear CASA Members,

This 2021 Newsletter hopes to find you in great physical and intellectual shape!  We would like to share some information about our organization, the Central African Studies Association (CASA).

First we want to celebrate the success of our 1-2 July 2021 International Conference on CENTRAL AFRICA’S RENAISSANCE, 1960-2020. With over 75 participants and a wide audience, the conference reinforced connections between scholars and students from Africa, Europe, Canada and the United States, and provided many insights on how to foster the advancement of the many nations and people of Central Africa. The Conference will serve as the springboard for organizing in-person Africa Renaissance Conference in Kinshasa in the near future. 

Special kudos to the organizing team, Charles Tshimanga and Didier Gondola, for their dedication and hard work in allowing the conference to happen! Also, big thanks to members of the Scientific Committee for their insights and thoughtful suggestions. We also want to give many thanks to Social Science Research Council’s (SSRC) Understanding Violent Conflict Program (New York), the College of Liberal Arts at the University of Nevada, Reno, and the History Department at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, for their support. You can check the Conference Program and participants here: http://centralafricanstudiesassociation.org/conference-schedule/

With the goal of starting a close collaboration between Central African, European and American researchers and enhancing the presence and visibility of academic research in Central Africa, a diverse group of researchers (composed of anthropologists, historians, political scientists, sociologists, specialists in literature and arts, etc.) participated in an international virtual conference from July 1-2, 2021, on the revival of Central Africa covering the post-colonial period (1960-2020). The conference set out to examine forms of political, social, and cultural renewal in countries of the sub-region.  Some of the questions examined by participants were: Are Central African societies developing new cultures and visions that break from those of 1960 through 2000? Are the cultures and modes of thinking that emerged after Central African independence progressively being replaced by 21st century innovations? Are central African countries celebrating the potential of man and woman? Is a renaissance of literature, arts, science taking place in Central Africa?

In collaboration with the African Studies Review (ASR), CASA co-hosted an interdisciplinary seminar that was attended by 22 emerging scholars. The Seminar was designed to help junior scholars prepare their papers for publication in a peer reviewed journal. Seminar mentors included Benjamin Lawrence (ASR Editor-in-Chief), Didier Gondola and Katrien Pype, who serve as ASR Editorial Review Board Members, and Charles Tshimanga (CASA President). The seminar also benefited from technical assistance provided by Kathryn Salucka (ASR Managing Editor). Participants were granted free digital access to a cluster of recent scholarly articles, published in the ASRgermane to scholars of DR Congo, Cameroon, Angola, Congo Brazzaville, Gabon, Equatorial Guinea, Rwanda, Burundi, and Central African Republic, to read in advance of the seminar.

A committee is conducting an initial evaluation of papers that were presented at the conference. Papers that meet the standards will be forwarded to a publishing house for publication in a collection.

1) CASA has become a coordinate organization of the African Studies Association (ASA). This partnership is beneficial to our two associations. Among other things, CASA member publications on the Central African sub-region will allow us to engage in scholarly conversation with colleagues whose works focus on other regions of the African continent.

2) Please note that CASA will be at the 2021 Annual ASA Conference online, on 18-21 November 2021. Here is a list of panels sponsored by CASA, and/or panels featuring members of CASA.

1) “New Forms of Religious Expertise and Ritualization in Africa” (Friday, November 19, 10 am ET)

Participants: Benjamin Soares, Agnes Kedzierska, Asonzeh Ukah, Cheikh Babou, and Florence Bernault.

2) “Is Democratic Progress Being Made in Central African Countries?” (Saturday, November 20, 5:00pm ET)

Participants: Claudia Gastrow, Roger Alfani, Jean-Michel Mabeko-Tali, and Charles Tshimanga.

3) During the ASA meeting, we will announce the third recipient of CASA’s Annual Prize for the Best Essay in Central African Studies written by a junior scholar, and the two other finalists for the prize.  Previous recipients were Chetima Melchisedek (2016), and Claudia Gastrow (2018).

4) Make sure to subscribe and contribute to CASA’s list-serv: [centralafricanstudies@googlegroups.com]

To be added to the list, please contact Pedro Monaville [pedro.monaville@nyu.edu] or Nikki Eggers [eggersna@utk.edu]. Once you are on the list, you can contribute news, questions, and calls simply by copying centralafricanstudies@googlegroups.com in the recipient email (to:)

5/ Please Renew your 2021 subscription to CASA ($30 for faculty, $20 for students). This is important to support our social events and bi-annual prize.  To subscribe if you’re a new member, first register on the ASA site (https://myasa.africanstudies.org/register/). Then go to the command “Join a Coordinate Association” (https://myasa.africanstudies.org/subscription/fill/22), and choose the following option First Year Members Only | Free!  

You can find detailed instructions (with images) on how to join CASA or pay your due. [Also, please, follow instructions that were sent by Nikki eggers a few weeks ago].

6/ We are very happy to welcome a group of new members of CASA, among which Fridolin Kimonge Malemba (Centre Carter, Lubumbashi (DR Congo); Placide Mumbembele (Université de Kinshasa, RDC), Antomella Atipo (Université Marien Ngouabi, Brazzaville, République du Congo); Arsène Ntamusige (Université Alternative en Afrique de l’Institut Interculturel dans la région des Grands Lacs (Pôle Institute), Goma, RDC; Élisée Cirhuza (GEC-SH/CERUKI/ISP-Bukavu, RDC); Germain Ngoie Tshibambe (Université de Lubumbashi, RDC); Goudem Bertelot (Université de Yaoundé II, Cameroun); Xavier Subha (Emory University, United States); Stevio Ulrich Baral-Angui (Université Marien Ngouabi, Brazzaville, République du Congo); Denis Nzita Kikhela (Université de Kinshasa, RDC); Joachim Emmanuel Goma Thethet (Université Marien Ngouabi, Brazzaville, République du Congo); Pierre Francis Mepondo Fouda (Université Yaoundé I, (Yaoundé, Cameroun); Robert Beya Keshi (Université de Kinshasa, RDC); Jacques Ngangala (Université de Kinshasa, RDC); Diansana Libambu (RDC); Adam Mahamat (ENS Maroua, Cameroon); Elaine Sullivan (The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, United States), Charlotte Grabli (CIRESC-CNRS, France / University of California, Los Angeles, United States); Carolina Nve Diaz San Francisco (Harvard University, United States); Gertrude Mianda (Glendon-York University, Canada).

7) Latest publications by CASA members:

Didier Gondola, Matswa vivant: Anticolonialisme et citoyenneté en Afrique Equatoriale française, Paris: Éditions de la Sorbonne, 2021.

Gertrude Mianda, V.Y. Mudimbe. Les africaines, le genre et l’ordre social, Paris: Éditions du Cygne, 2021.

Benoit Henriet, Colonial Impotence: Virtue and Violence in a Congolese Concession (1911–1940), De Gruyter Oldenbourg, 2021.

Wishing you all a successful and healthy 2021-2022 academic year, and looking forward to hearing from you!

Charles Tshimanga (President) [ckashama@unr.edu]

Florence Bernault (Vice-President) [florence.bernault@sciencespo.fr]

            Nikki Eggers (Treasurer) [eggersna@utk.edu]