Congo Kinshasa
African philosophical elite brainstorming in Kinshasa

afrol News, Kinshasa, 10 June - Tomorrow, a rare event will open in the Congolese (DRC) capital Kinshasa. A four-days conference/dialogue headed by Africa's greatest thinkers, including Valentin Y. Mudimbe and Joseph and Jacqueline Ki-Zerbo, will discuss over the spiritual theme "the crossing".

The conference, arranged 11 to 14 June, also includes African intellectuals Jean-Marc Ela, Hippolyte Mimbu Kilol and Godé Iwele as presenters. Together with Mudimbe and Ki-Zerbo, they truly make up a dream-team of the African intellectual elite.

The theme of the conference is "The Crossing," which can be interpreted in terms of "going from one place to another," with special reference to the present situation in Africa and Congo Kinshasa. The specific subjects to be dealt with at the conference are; existence, thought and spirituality in Africa. 

It was the 'Institut St Eugène de Mazenod' that took the initiative to this special gathering, also financing it. The institute saw the value in creating this network among leading African intellectuals, having them in Kinshasa to exchange views and share ideas and experiences. This may contribute to the awakening of Africa and in particular the Congo, the institute hopes.

Surely, the so-called 'conference-dialogue' will revolve around important questions aiming at Africa's and Congo Kinshasa's future in particular. Above all, the special touch by having a gathering of philosophers, the profound and analytic root science of humanism, makes the debate even more promising. Current debates about Africa seem all too dominated by economists, while the important issue of African spirituality seems missed out. 

Conference protagonist Valentin Y. Mudimbe, currently professor at Duke University (North Carolina, United States), is a national of Congo Kinshasa. His interests are in phenomenology and structuralism, with a focus on the logic of mythical narratives and the practice of language. He is editor of a forthcoming encyclopaedia of African religions and philosophy and functions as Chairman of the Board of African Philosophy at the University of London. 

Also protagonists, and married couple, Joseph and Jacqueline Ki-Zerbo, are both from Burkina Faso. Mr Ki-Zerbo is professor of history, while Mrs Ki-Zerbo is professor of English, both working in the Burkinabe capital Ouagadougou. Their studies have focused on Africa's place in the world.

Cameroonian professor Jean-Marc Ela is a sociologist, focusing especially on religious and political ethics in his African studies. Congolese professor Hippolyte Mimbu Kilol has been noted for his brilliant studies of African churches and liturgy. Congolese theologian Godé Iwele, is a highly profiled Roman Catholic priest both nationally and internationally.

The conference's organiser, the Institut St Eugène de Mazenod-Missionnaires Oblats de Marie Immaculée, qualifies it as an "exceptional scientific event in Kinshasa." The institute argues "this is an opportunity to think hard about Africa and, in particular the Congo, together with these powerful brains. This event will be scientifically exceptional in Kinshasa and a contribution to a Congo at war."

The institute itself is an international Catholic institute of philosophy and theology, which also provides a big computer sciences centre and one of Kinshasa's more spacious Internet cafés. 

Contacts regarding this event in Kinshasa can be made by e-mail: conferencedialogue@altavista.fr  

By Didiér Veka, afrol DRC

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