Workshop Report: Tracing Legacies of Violence in French Equatorial Africa

Abstract

This report offers an account of an international workshop held at the Omar Bongo University in Libreville, Gabon, from 23 November to 27 November 2018. Bringing together specialists on and from Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Congo, Equatorial Guinea, and Gabon, participants reflected on the ways in which different forms of violence have historically had – and continue to have – an impact on social fabrics and several dimensions of politics. The workshop also sought to relate these legacies of violence to the region’s economies of extraction. The region is confronted with social and political turmoil that receives little international attention. The combination of simmering and open instability and the relatively marginal position of the region vis-à-vis the wider continent risks propelling several countries into outright political strife with regional repercussions. The debates concluded that further thinking on how violence permeates every aspect of social and political life is much needed.