Panel 12 Revisiting the Congolese Sixties

ASAUK PANEL PROPOSAL 12 (of 12)

This panel will be presented at the biannual conference of the ASAUK (African Studies Association in the UK) in September 2012 (Leeds, Sept 6-8). The organizers have invited the Congo Research Network to participate in this. 12 Congo related panels have been accepted.

If you wish to participate, you can join already accepted panels or you can submit a stand-alone paper. Participants should submit their paper abstracts via the ASAUK website. First, they should register as authors, then select the panel in which they want to participate, and then enter their abstract.

The following link gives you more information about registration: http://www.asauk.net/conferences/asauk12.shtml

The deadline for the submission of paper abstracts is 27 April 2012.

To attend the event without presenting a paper, contact the conference organizer David Kerr (conference@asauk.net, +44 (0)121 414 5124)

Pedro Monaville
Doctoral Candidate – University of Michigan
pmonavil@umich.edu

Revisiting the Congolese Sixties – Panel Proposal – ASAUK 2012

This panel seeks papers and original contributions on a crucial decade in the Congo’s recent history. The 1960s saw the country’s access to independence, the so-called “Congo crisis,” Katanga’s and Southern Kasai’s secessions, the UN intervention, Lumumba’s assassination, numerous rural uprisings, the development of insurgent activities by politicians exiled in Brazzaville and other neighboring counties, the army ‘s capture of the power in 1965, and the emergence of a new style of political discourse and practices under Mobutu’s regime. At the same time, the sudden disappearance of formal colonial rule coincided with a time of important Sate’s investment in education, high artistic creativity, and the blossoming of the urban culture that had emerged in Leopoldville and in other colonial centers since 1945.

Panelists should explore the Congolese 1960s by offering new readings of its history and iconic events. They are also encouraged to focus on lesser known events and aspects of the decade. Papers should aim at uncovering unexplored connections and at situating the Congolese 1960s in its regional and global contexts.

A moment when the Congolese intensely experienced warfare and repeated instances of political violence and when the Cold War kept the country at the center of the world’s attention, the post-independence years offer many points of comparisons with today’s Congo. “Revisiting the Congolese Sixties” will display the decade’s relevance for a history of the present. Contributions on the memory of the 1960s and on the trajectory of the “Sixties generation” are welcome.

Finally, the panel also seeks papers that revisit previous works in the social sciences and humanities that have problematized the 1960s in the Congo. Scholars interested in questioning the 1960s’ archive, and the place of histoire immédiate and other intellectual contributions of the time in that archive, are particularly encouraged to submit paper’s proposals.

Ideally, the panel’s papers will combine case studies with methodological and theoretical questions. They will pay attention to situate the Congolese 1960s in relation to other historiographies; and they will discuss possible new research agendas for the future.