KONGOKING : Workshops

9 March 2012 : Ghent University presentation workshop

Held at Ghent University, in the Faculty Board Room of the Blandijn building and organized by the Centre for Studies in African Humanities (CESAH) in collaboration with the KongoKing research group.

Some 45 participants from Ghent University and other research institutions in Belgium and the Netherlands listened to the three parts of the Kongo kingdom research project presentation and then participated in a discussion during a brainstorming session.

K. Bostoen (UGent) first explained why this ERC funded project was set up, how it will function, which institutions will be directly involved and which are the partner institutions in Africa, Europe and North America. He finished his part of the general presentation by presenting the historical linguistic research planned during the KongoKing project.

During the second part of the presentation, P. de Maret (ULB) talked about "The Kongo kingdom and related states: an archaeological perspective". He discussed the complex pathways leading to the development of complex structures like the Kongo kingdom.

Before letting the participants ask their questions and clarifications, B. Clist (UGent) talked about "Archaeology of the Kingdom of Kongo and surrounding areas: Republic of the Congo, Republic of Angola and Democratic Republic of the Congo". He gave an overall picture of our present-day archaeological knowledge of the last 2,000 years in the three countries directly impacted by the project .

=> The next workshop will be held in Kinshasa (Democratic Republic of Congo) with our African colleagues.

=> A pdf of the general powerpoint-presentation will be shortly available for download here.

=> A video recording of the three talks can be obtained on demand (koen.bostoen@ugent.be).