Lecture

Hadassa Ngamba was born in 1993 in Kizu, in the province of Kongo Central in the DRC. She holds a Bachelor's degree in Criminology from the University of Lubumbashi and lives and works in Katanga and Central Kongo. She is currently a postgraduate candidate and resident at the HISK (Hoger Instituut voor Schone Kunsten - Higher Institute of Fine Arts) in Ghent.

Hadassa Ngamba is a visual artist. She participated in the 5th and 6th Lubumbashi Biennial. In 2019, she carried out a residency at WIELS. She also received the Moonens Foundation prize, which enabled her to carry out field research in the province of Kongo Central in 2019.

Her work consists of paintings, drawings, photographs, videos, installations and performances. She is interested in economic indicators and the monitoring of strategic spaces in the DRC in relation to the exploitation of mining and land resources. Her work is based on cartography, hence her interest in the museum and its archives. In her paintings and drawings - often large formats - she creates a mental cartography with an emphasis on distortions and shortcomings. She often uses mineral materials as pigments, particularly malachite from Katanga.

Join us each month for an exciting talk about one particular aspect of the permanent exhibition! Take a look behind the scenes of the AfricaMuseum and discover the work of its scientists and its collaboration with African artists.

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About the speaker

Jean Omasombo Tshonda is a researcher in the History and Politics Department of the Royal Museum for Central Africa and a professor at the University of Kinshasa.

Wannes Hubau explores tropical African vegetation responses to climate change at several timescales. He obtained his PhD at Ghent University in 2013 and conducted post-doctoral research at Leeds University, the Wood Biology Service of the AfricaMuseum and Ghent University. He led numerous field expeditions in four African countries (Liberia, Ghana, Cameroon, DR Congo).

Join us each month for an exciting talk about one particular aspect of the permanent exhibition! Take a look behind the scenes of the AfricaMuseum and discover the work of its scientists and its collaboration with African artists.

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Tine Huyse is a senior researcher at the Biology Department of the Royal Museum for Central Africa. Previously, she worked at the KU Leuven, the Institute of Tropical Medicine and the Natural History Museum in London. 

She studies the emergence and spread of infectious diseases such as bilharzia and fasciolosis in Africa, which affect millions of people and animals worldwide.

Join us each month for an exciting talk about one particular aspect of the permanent exhibition! Take a look behind the scenes of the AfricaMuseum and discover the work of its scientists and its collaboration with African artists.

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• 14.30 - 15.00

Contrasting styles of post-caldera volcanism along the Main Ethiopian Rift: Implications for contemporary volcanic hazards

Karen Fontijn (Université libre de Bruxelles)

The Main Ethiopian Rift (MER, ~7-9 °N) in East Africa is the type example of a magma-assisted continental rift. The rift axis is populated with regularly spaced silicic caldera complexes and central stratovolcanoes, interspersed with large fields of small mafic scoria cones. The recent (latest Pleistocene to Holocene) history of volcanism in the MER is poorly known, and no eruptions have occurred in the living memory of the local population. Assessment of contemporary volcanic hazards and associated risk is primarily based on the study of the most recent eruptive products, typically those emplaced within the last 10-20 ky. We integrate new and published field observations and geochemical data on tephra deposits from the main Late Quaternary volcanic centres in the central MER to assess contemporary volcanic hazards. 

• 15.15 - 15.45 

La gestion des foules et des évacuations au Piton de la Fournaise lors de "l’éruption du siècle" en avril 2007

Julie Morin (Université Clermont Auvergne)

Le Piton de la Fournaise, sur l’île de La Réunion, est un volcan à dominante effusive dont les coulées de lave menacent occasionnellement des zones habitées. Du fait de sa fréquence éruptive élevée (cinq éruptions répertoriées à ce jour pour la seule année 2019), les populations comme les autorités sont habituées à côtoyer les phénomènes volcaniques. Pourtant forts de cette expérience, et même en l’absence de danger direct pour les zones habitées, la gestion des foules et des évacuations est parfois problématique. Elle révèle alors des jeux de vulnérabilités liées aux contextes socio-économique, culturel, territorial et politique. La gestion de « l’éruption du siècle » en avril 2007, qui sera au cœur de cette conférence, en est un exemple parlant.

• 16.00 - 18.00

Doctoral defense:

La variation spatio-temporelle de la population et l’analyse de l’accessibilité à ses ressources vitales : Vers une meilleure gestion du risque volcanique à Goma, République démocratique du Congo

Adalbert Muhindo (Observatoire volcanologique de Goma, Royal Museum for Central Africa, Université libre de Bruxelles)

Les aléas naturels, souvent imprévisibles, peuvent être à l’origine de situation de crise de grande ampleur. Connaître la répartition spatio-temporelle de la population, la disponibilité et la localisation des ressources vitales nécessaires en cas de crise, et évaluer l’accessibilité spatio-temporelle de la population à ces ressources à partir de scenarios d’occurrence de ces aléas sont des informations scientifiques, économiques et politiques particulièrement cruciales dans les zones à risque. 

Dans le cadre de notre doctorat, nous avons développé cette approche pour la ville de Goma (RDC) et ses environs. Cette région compte actuellement près d’un million d’habitants et fait face de façon permanente à la menace des coulées de lave du volcan Nyiragongo, un volcan très actif situé à seulement 15 km au nord de l'agglomération. 

Theodore Trefon carries out environmental governance and political economy research in the Earth Sciences Department of the Royal Museum for Central Africa. His books include Congo’s environmental paradox: Potential and predation in a land of plenty (2016) and Congo masquerade: The political culture of aid inefficiency and reform failure (2011).

Join us each month for an exciting talk about one particular aspect of the permanent exhibition! Take a look behind the scenes of the AfricaMuseum and discover the work of its scientists and its collaboration with African artists.

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