CV - LASC - Université de Liège

BENJAMIN RUBBERS
Born in Tournai (Belgium), 27 December 1977
Belgian nationality
Email: [email protected]
Phone: +32.(0)487/62.50.41
Professor of Social Anthropology
Laboratoire d'Anthropologie Sociale et Culturelle (LASC)
Faculté de Sciences Sociales (B 31)
Université de Liège
Place des orateurs, 3
4000 Liège
Belgium
Lecturer in Anthropology
Laboratoire d'Anthropologie des Mondes Contemporains (LAMC)
Institut de Sociologie (CP 124)
Université Libre de Bruxelles
Avenue Jeanne, 44
1050 Bruxelles
Belgium
Research Associate
Society, Work, and Development Institute (SWOP)
Senate House, Braamfontein Campus
1 Jan Smuts Avenue
University of Witwatersrand
2000 Johannesburg
South Africa
Career
Current Positions
2007-
Professor of Social Anthropology, Faculté des Sciences Sociales, Université de Liège, (Belgium)
2007-
Lecturer in Anthropology, Faculté des Sciences Sociales et Politiques, Université Libre de Bruxelles
(Belgium)
2015-
Research Associate, Society, Work and Development Institute (SWOP), University of Witwatersrand
(South Africa)
Previous Positions
2006-2007
Senior Research Associate, Fonds National de la Recherche Scientifique (Belgium)
2002-2006
Research Fellow, Fonds National de la Recherche Scientifique (Belgium)
2001-2002
Academic Assistant, Université Libre de Bruxelles (Belgium)
2001-
Research Assistant, Université de Liège (Belgium)
Education
Degrees
2006
PhD., Anthropology, Université Libre de Bruxelles (Belgium) and Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences
Sociales (France)
Thesis: ‘Congo Casino. The social world of European capitalism in Katanga (DRC)’
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2002
Postgraduate Certificate (D.E.A.), Social Sciences (Sociology, History, Anthropology), Ecole des Hautes
Etudes en Sciences Sociales (France)
Thesis: ‘To become a doctor in the Democratic Republic of Congo’
2000
M.A., Anthropology & Sociology, Université Libre de Bruxelles (Belgium)
Thesis: ‘Between town and country. Identity and exchange among the Lamba of Katanga’
1998
B.A., Social Sciences, Université Catholique de Louvain (Belgium)
Awards & Fellowships
2015-2018
Francqui Research Professor Fellowship (Belgium)
2015-2020
ERC Consolidator Grant for the research project Reinventing paternalism. The micropolitics of work in
the mining companies of Central Africa (1,650,165 €)
2015
Visiting Professorship at the Université de Lubumbashi, D. R. Congo, 1 month
2009-2011
Special Research Fund (Belgium) for the research project Between customary courts and Justice of the
peace courts. The reform of proximity justice in the D.R. Congo (98 593 €)
2007
Young Author Prize received from the journal Sociologie du travail (France) for the article ‘Retour sur le
secteur informel. L’économie du Katanga (Congo-Zaïre) face à la falsification de la loi’
2006-2007
Postdoctoral Fellowship, Institute of Social & Cultural Anthropology, University of Oxford (United
Kingdom), received from the Fondation Wiener Anspach
2006-2007
Postdoctoral Fellowship, Laboratoire d’Anthropologie des Mondes Contemporains, Université Libre de
Bruxelles (Belgium), received from the Fonds National de la Recherche Scientifique
2004
Prize of Belgian Development Cooperation, Musée Royal de l’Afrique Centrale (Belgium), for the book
Devenir médecin en République Démocratique du Congo. La trajectoire socioprofessionnelle des
diplômés en médecine de l’Université de Lubumbashi
2002-2006
PhD. research grant, Laboratoire d’Anthropologie des Mondes Contemporains, Université Libre de
Bruxelles (Belgium), received from the Fondation Bernheim & Fonds National de la Recherche
Scientifique
1999-2000
Erasmus grant, School of Social & Political Science, University of Edinburgh (United Kingdom)
Publications
Books (3)
2013, Le paternalisme en question. Les anciens ouvriers de la Gécamines face à la libéralisation du secteur minier
katangais (R.D. Congo), Paris, L’Harmattan, ‘Cahiers africains’ series, 306 p.
2009, Faire fortune en Afrique. Anthropologie des derniers colons du Katanga, Paris, Karthala, ‘Les Afriques’ series, 287
p.
2003, Devenir médecin en République Démocratique du Congo. La trajectoire socioprofessionnelle des diplômés en
médecine de l’Université de Lubumbashi, L’Harmattan, ‘Cahiers africains’ series, 130 p.
Journal articles (17)
2015, ‘Entre opposition et participation. Les syndicats face aux réformes en Afrique’, Revue Tiers-Monde 224, 1-16 (with
A. Roy)
2015, ‘When women support the patriarchal family. The dynamics of marriage in a Gécamines mining camp (Katanga
province, DR Congo)’, Journal of historical sociology 28 (2), 213-234
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2015, ‘Sociologie coloniale au Congo belge. Les études sur le Katanga industriel et urbain à la veille de l’indépendance’,
Genèses 99, 93-112 (with M. Poncelet)
2015, ‘Réformer la ‘justice de proximité’ en R.D.Congo. Une comparaison entre tribunaux coutumiers et tribunaux de paix
à Lubumbashi’, Critique internationale 66, 145-164 (with E. Gallez)
2013, ‘Introduction au thème. Les sociétés africaines face aux investissements miniers’, Politique africaine 131, 5-25
2013, ‘Why do Congolese people go to court? A qualitative study of litigants’ careers in two justice of the peace courts in
Lubumbashi, D.R. Congo’, Journal of Legal Pluralism 66, 79-108 (With E. Gallez)
2013, ‘Introduction. Identité, culture et intimité’, Civilisations, 62 (1-2), 11-29 (with P. Petit)
2010, ‘Claiming workers' rights in the Democratic Republic of Congo: the case of the Collectif des ex-agents de la
Gécamines’, Review of African Political Economy 37 (125), 329-344
2009, ‘‘We, the Congolese, we cannot trust each other’. Trust, norms and relations among traders in Katanga, Democratic
Republic of Congo’, British Journal of Sociology, 60 (3), 623-642
2009, ‘The story of a tragedy. How people in Haut-Katanga interpret the post-colonial history of Congo’, Journal of
Modern African Studies 47 (2), 267-289
2009, ‘La coopération universitaire belgo-congolaise : le rôle des mises en récit’, Revue Tiers-monde 199, 647-662 (with P.
Petit)
2008, ‘Entre collaboration et confrontation : l’ambivalence des rapports entre pouvoirs publics et enfants de la rue à
Lubumbashi (RDC)’, Autrepart (47), 25-42 (with O. Kahola)
2007, ‘Retour sur le secteur informel. L’économie du Katanga (Congo-Zaïre) face à la falsification de la loi’, Sociologie du
travail 49 (3), 316-329
2006, ‘L’effondrement de la Générale des Carrières et des Mines. Chronique d’un processus de privatisation informelle’,
Cahiers d’études africaines 181, 115-134
2006, ‘Les mesures de la dissimulation. Les méthodes de recherche en sciences sociales face à la falsification de
l’économie congolaise’, Civilisations 53 (1-2), 57-66
2004, ‘The University of Lubumbashi between the local and the global. The dynamics, management and future of
university education in the DRC’, Canadian Journal of African Studies 38 (2), 318-343
2004, ‘La dislocation du secteur minier au Katanga (DRC). Pillage ou recomposition ?’, Politique africaine 93, 21-41
Edition of special issues (3)
2015, ‘Les chantiers du syndicalisme en Afrique’, Revue Tiers-Monde 224 (with A. Roy)
2013, ‘Micropolitiques du boom minier’, Politique africaine 131
2013, ‘Identité, culture et intimité. Les stéréotypes dans la vie quotidienne’, Civilisations, 62 (1-2) (with P. Petit)
Book chapters (4)
2015, ‘Beyond corruption. The everyday life of a justice of the peace court in the Democratic Republic of Congo’, in J.-P.
Olivier de Sardan and T. De Herdt (eds.), Real governance and practical norms in Sub-Saharan Africa. The games
of the rule, Londres, Routledge, 245-262 (with E. Gallez)
2008, ‘Au temps béni de la colonie. Le Congo belge dans la mémoire des anciens coloniaux et des anciens colonisés.’, in
Giordano, R. (ed.)., Autour de la mémoire. La Belgique, le Congo et le passé colonial, Paris, L’Harmattan, 121-129
2007, ‘Pour une anthropologie du racisme. Réflexions à partir du cas de la minorité blanche au Katanga’, in Petit, P. and J.
Noret, (eds.), Corps, performance, religion. Etudes anthropologiques offertes à Philippe Jespers, Paris, Publibook,
117-136
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2002, ‘L’insertion professionnelle des diplômés de l’Université de Lubumbashi (RDC). Le cas des médecins’, in Akam, N.
and R. Ducasse (eds.), Etat des lieux des campus africains: au-delà des refondations et du virtuel ?, Pessac, Editions
de la Maison de l’Homme d’Aquitaine, 75-98
Reviews (5)
2012, Review of Hilgers, M., 2009, ‘Une ethnographie à l’échelle de la ville. Urbanité, histoire et reconnaissance à
Koudougou (Burkina Faso).’, in Cahiers d’études africaines 205, 272-275
2011, Review of Weber, F., 2009, ‘Manuel de l’ethnographe.’, Paris, PUF, collection Quadrige, in Sociologie du travail 53
(1), 147-148.
2010, Review of Blundo, G. and P. -Y. Le Meur (eds), 2009, ‘The Governance of Daily Life in Africa. Ethnographic
Explorations of Public and Collective Services’, in African Studies Review 53 (1), 193-195
2008, Review of Tréfon, T. and B. Ngoy, 2007, ‘Parcours administratifs dans un Etat en faillite: récits populaires de
Lubumbashi (RDC)’, in African Studies Review, 51 (3), 198-199
2005, review of Mac Gaffey, J. and R. Bazenguissa-Ganga, ‘Congo-Paris. Transnational Traders on the Margins of the
Law’, in Cahiers d’études africaines, 177, 286-287
Unpublished reports (2)
2007, La reconfiguration de l’enfance au Katanga, Université de Lubumbashi, Observatoire du Changement Urbain, 99 p.
2002, ‘Les trajectoires professionnelles des diplômés de l’Université de Lubumbashi (RDC)’, in Laurent, P-J., Petit, P. and
M. Poncelet, Fin d’études, destins et trajectoires des jeunes diplômés des universités de Lubumbashi, de Ouagadougou et
de l’Université Nationale du Bénin, Coopération Universitaire au Développement, 126 p.
Press (2)
2006, ‘Une promesse difficile à tenir’, La Libre Belgique, 20/10/2006 (article on the social consequences of the Voluntary
Departure Program for ex-Gécamines employees)
2004, ‘Conversation sur la couleur des hommes’, in Politique, 35, pp. 43-45 (article on the history of race relations in the
D.R.Congo)
Teaching activities
Courses & Seminars
2007-
Professor – Economic anthropology, M.A.1, Université de Liège (Belgium)
Professor – Anthropology of development, M.A.1, Université de Liège (Belgium)
Professor – Fieldwork, M.A.1, Université de Liège (Belgium)
Professor – Social and cultural anthropology 1, B.A.1, Université de Liège (Belgium)
Professor – Social and cultural anthropology 2, B.A.2, Université de Liège (Belgium)
Lecturer – History of anthropology, B.A.3, Université Libre de Bruxelles (Belgium)
2005-2006
Lecturer – Socio-anthropology of everyday life, B.A.2, Université Libre de Bruxelles (Belgium)
2001-2002
Academic Assistant – Exercises in social and cultural anthropology 1, B.A.1, Université Libre de
Bruxelles (Belgium)
Academic Assistant – Exercises in social and cultural anthropology 2, B.A.2, Université Libre de
Bruxelles (Belgium)
Academic Assistant – Debates in social and cultural anthropology, M.A.1, Université Libre de Bruxelles
(Belgium)
Supervision
2007-2015
2 postdoctoral fellows; 6 PhD. students; 20 Master thesis
Institutional Responsibilities
2015-2017
Director of the Laboratoire d’Anthropologie Sociale et Culturelle, Université de Liège (Belgium)
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2013-
Member of the Bureau of the Development Cooperation Platform, Université de Liège (Belgium)
2012-2015
Chairman of the Examination Board for the Master in anthropology, Université de Liège (Belgium)
2009-2015
Member of the Admission Board for the Master in anthropology, Université de Liège (Belgium)
2008-2015
Secretary of the Doctoral School in Social & Political Sciences, Université de Liège (Belgium)
2008-2010
Director of the Laboratoire d’Anthropologie Sociale et Culturelle, Université de Liège (Belgium)
2006
Co-director of the Observatoire du Changement Urbain, Université de Lubumbashi (D.R.Congo)
Research
Fieldwork
My research focuses on economic, political, and social changes affecting the mining and industrial province of Katanga, in
the Democratic Republic of Congo (1999-2015, cumulative field residence: 3 years). The various research projects I have
carried out in this area pay particular attention to work, capitalism, mining, the state, racism and family dynamics. In
studying these topics, I developed a theoretical approach combining insights from anthropology, sociology, and history.
Direction of research projects (3)
2015-2020
Collective research on the micropolitics of work in the mining sector, Zambia and D.R.Congo, 6
researchers, 5 years
2010-2011
Collective research on customary courts and Justice of the peace courts, D.R.Congo, 3 researchers, 1 year
2001
Collective research on the career of ex-students from the University of Lubumbashi, D.R.Congo, 4
researchers, 3 months
Organization of Scientific Meetings (8)
2015
Workshop Co-organizer, Regimes of responsibility in Africa. Genealogies, rationalities and conflicts,
Université de Liège (Belgique)
2013
Panel Organizer, The functioning of public services in semi-urban areas, International Conference on
‘Semi-urban Territories: Development, Issues and Perspectives in the South’ (Belgium)
2012
Panel Co-organizer, The neoliberal effect in Africa: normalization, exclusion and resistance, International
Conference on ‘Norms in the margins and margins of the norm. The social construction of illegality’
(Belgium)
2011
Panel Co-organizer, Comparing the Copperbelts: Politics, economy and society in Haut-Katanga
(DRCongo) and the Zambian Copperbelt, 4th European Conference of African Studies (Sweden)
2010
Panel Co-organizer, Family dynamics and practical kinship in Africa, Conference of the European
Association of Social Anthropologists (Ireland)
2009
Panel Co-organizer, Trust and markets. Investigating social and cultural dimensions of trust, Conference
of the American Anthropological Association (United States)
2009
Conference Co-organizer, Observing the details: Methods of description and their use in social sciences,
International Conference, Belgium
2009-2014
Co-organizer of the Anthropology Seminar, Université de Liège (10 speakers/year)
Invited presentations (20)
26/10/2015:
09/10/2015:
06/10/2015:
Seminar, University of Paris-Sorbonne 1 (France)
Seminar, University of Pretoria (South Africa)
Seminar, University of Witwatersrand (South Africa)
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29/01/2015:
08/12/2014:
05/09/2014:
25/02/2013:
28/03/2013:
22/01/2013:
25/02/2011:
24/02/2011:
02/12/2011:
15/04/2008:
01/02/2008:
25/04/2007:
05/04/2007:
04/05/2007:
02/11/2006:
08/07/2003:
20/01/2001:
Lecture, Université de Lubumbashi (DRCongo)
Seminar, Université Libre de Bruxelles (Belgium)
Conference, University of Pretoria (South Africa)
Lecture, CREA-AC Policy talk, House of Representatives (Belgium)
Seminar, Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales (France)
Lecture, Université de Lubumbashi (DRCongo)
Malinowski Seminar, London School of Economics (United Kingdom)
Africa Seminar, London School of Economics (United Kingdom)
Seminar, University of Sheffield (United Kingdom)
Lecture, Académie Royale des Sciences d’Outre-Mer (Belgium)
International Conference, Centre d’Etudes et de Documentation Guerre et Sociétés (Belgium)
Lecture, Oxford University Anthropological Society (United Kingdom)
Lecture, African History Seminar, Universita della Calabria (Italy)
Lecture, African History Seminar, Universita della Calabria (Italy)
International Conference, Université de Lubumbashi (DRCongo)
International Conference, Université de Lubumbashi (DRCongo)
Workshop on African Universities, Université de Bordeaux (France)
Paper presentations (25)
2015
2015
2014
2014
2013
2013
2012
2012
2012
2011
2011
2010
2010
2010
2009
2008
2007
2006
2006
2004
2004
2003
2002
2002
Workshop ‘Regimes of responsibility in Africa’ (Liège, Belgium)
European Conference of African Studies (Paris, France)
Conference of the International Sociological Association (Yokohama, Japan)
Workshop ‘Law and social order in Africa’ (Oxford, United Kingdom)
Workshop on the history of social sciences in Belgium (Brussels, Belgium)
European Conference of African Studies (Lisbon, Portugal)
Conference ‘Norms in the margins’ (Brussels, Belgium)
Terzi Conferenza di studi africani (Pavia, Italia)
Conference of the African Studies Association of the UK (Leeds, United Kingdom)
Conference of the Ghent Africa Platform (Ghent, Belgium)
European Conference of African Studies (Uppsala, Sweden)
Conference of the European Association of Social Anthropology (Maynooth, Ireland)
Conference on social critique today (Liège, Belgium)
Conference ‘Struggling in Africa’ (Paris, France)
Conference of the American Anthropological Association (Philadelphia, USA)
Conference of the European Association of Social Anthropologists (Ljubljana, Slovenia)
Conference of the Association for an Anthropology of Development (Louvain-la-neuve, Belgium)
Conference of the European Association of Social Anthropologists (Bristol, United Kingdom)
Conference on civil society organizations (Lubumbashi, D.R.Congo)
Seminar ‘Redifining citizenship and access to the public sphere (Amsterdam, Netherlands)
Conference of the European Association of Social Anthropologists (Vienna, Austria)
Euro-African Doctoral School (Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium)
Conference of the African Studies Association (Washington, USA)
Conference of the Canadian Association of African Studies (Toronto, Canada)
Reviews
Occasional reviewer for paper manuscripts: Civilisations, Journal of Modern African Studies, African Studies Review,
Sociologie du travail, Autrepart, Review of African Political Economy, Qualitative Sociology, Cahiers d’études africaines,
Childhood, Anthropologie et sociétés, Futures, BMC Health Services Research, and Déviance et Société
Occasional reviewer for book manuscripts: Cahiers africains, Presses de l’Université Libre de Bruxelles, IRD Editions, and
Editions de l’Université de Lubumbashi
Occasional reviewer for grant proposals: Fonds National de la Recherche Scientifique (Belgium), Agence Nationale de la
Recherche (France)
Membership of editorial boards: Civilisations (2010- ), Editions de l’Université de Lubumbashi
Membership of scientific committees: Evaluation Comittee 29, ‘Innovation, Regulation, Governance’, Agence nationale de
la recherche (France), 2014
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