by Dr Astrid Jamar - Visual and Digital Cultures Research Centre (ViDi), University of Antwerp.

This conference interrogates what it means to reworlding peace within Burundian-Congolese borderlands. Increasingly, peace and conflict studies recognise the limitations of peace interventions, due to their Eurocentric logics and underlying epistemic violence. Borderlands formed by South Kivu and Burundi are a prime example where large-scale peace interventions have had mixed success in maintaining peace. The Burundian-Congolese borderlands between Bukavu, Uvira and Bujumbura are areas where artificial border lines have been drawn across lands and communities. Consequently, identities have been fragmented in the name of state sovereignty; memories continue to be divided by ideological and political mechanisms designed to construct national subjects; and where, paradoxically, security instability and precariousness result from a simultaneous permeability (with repeated crossings by armed groups) and hardening (increasingly restrictive crossings for communities) of the borders. Originating in the Mexican-US borderlands, border thinking refers to an epistemic stance that takes seriously what the margins produce — namely knowledges, solidarities, resistance and border identities. At the intersection of critical feminist military studies, decolonial feminism, and cultural studies, the lecture seeks to present theoretical grammars and visual aesthetics that describe layers of border violence and resistance that existing academic discourse often fails to capture. Rejecting and confronting normalised militarised and colonial violence, the lecture will highlight pathways to reworlding peace, i.e. articulating visions of peace committed to deliver dignifying decolonial futures.

Dr Astrid Jamar is multidisciplinary researcher based at the Visual and Digital Cultures Research Centre (ViDi), University of Antwerp. Her current research focuses on coloniality of peace, border thinking, knowledge hierarchies, and inter-imperiality within Burundian-Congolese borderlands and in Mexico. Over the past years, she directed the projects “Capturing Fluid Borders and Pluriversal Visions of Peace on the Tanganyika Lake Coast,” and “Dreams, Night Visions and Decolonial Aspirations across Burundian-Congolese Bordelands.” She published widely about the interplay of transitional justice professionals, institutions, norms, aesthetics, and epistemic violence from decolonial feminist perspectives. Prior joining the University of Antwerp, she worked as a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Edinburgh and at SOAS, as well as a lecturer in Global Development at The Open University, UK.

Tuesday 10th November 2026, 2pm-4pm

Salle de Réception de la Maison des Sciences Humaines
Avenue Antoine Depage, 1
Bâtiment R - Niveau 4
1050 Bruxelles

Entrée libre

Contact: creg@ulb.be