Time: 6:00 - 8:00pm Venue: David Sizer LT, Bancroft Building
You are warmly invited to our final History and Politics Forum of the Semester. On Monday of Week 12 (25 March), at 6pm, Dr Reuben Loffman will be talking us through the recent contested elections in the Democratic Republic of Congo, on which he provided international media commentary. It's a great chance to think about how History and Politics interact in central Africa, and to celebrate the end of term over a drink. Details follow below and in the attached flier, and it would be great to see many of you there.
Dr Reuben Loffman, "From Congo with Love: How the Recent Elections in the DRC Followed Putin and Medvedev's 2008 Power Swap"
Monday 25 March, 6 for 6.15pm
David Sizer LT, Bancroft Building
In January 2019, the Opposition candidate Felix Tshisekedi was declared the surprise winner of the Presidential elections in the Democratic Republic of Congo. It was the first electoral transfer of power in 59 years of independence; yet the result has been challenged by both domestic and international observers. The runner-up, Martin Fayulu, called the result an "electoral coup", while the Catholic Church insisted that results did not tally with data collected by its 40,000 election observers. So what can the election tell us about the past, present and future of the DRC? Drinks will be available from 6pm, and the talk will start at about 6.15.
Dr Reuben Loffman is a specialist in the history of the DRC and provided international media commentary on the election. HIs forthcoming book, Church, State and Colonialism in Southeastern Congo, 1909-1962, has been praised by reviewers as a "path-breaking" study, an "exemplary analysis" and "an impressive debut".
Chair: Clive Gabay, Senior Lecturer in Politics and author of Imagining Africa: Whiteness and the Western Gaze (2018)