Patience KABAMBA
Professor of Anthropology (UPN) — PhD, Columbia University
Patience S. Kabamba holds a PhD in cultural anthropology from Columbia University (New York, 2008), with a dissertation titled “Trading on War: New Forms of Life in the Debris of the State in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.” His academic background also includes a Master’s degree in philosophy from the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (2002, on questions of inequality in Amartya Sen’s work), two Master’s degrees from the University of Natal in South Africa — one in philosophy on chaos theory (1999), the other in development studies (2001) —, a Bachelor’s degree in philosophy from Centre Sèvres, the Jesuit College of Philosophy in Paris (1990), and a Bachelor of Science (mathematics and physics) from the Higher Teacher Training Institute of Kikwit (1988).
Professor of anthropology at the National Pedagogical University (UPN, Kinshasa) since 2018, he has held several international academic positions: Assistant Professor and Director of the Anthropology Program at Utah Valley University (2015-2018), Senior Associate Researcher then Senior Lecturer at the University of Johannesburg (2010-2018), Visiting Professor at the University of Pennsylvania (2013-2014), Assistant Professor of International Studies at Marymount Manhattan College (2012-2013), Visiting Fellow at the Kellogg Institute for International Studies, University of Notre Dame (2011-2012), and postdoctoral lecturer at Emory University (2008-2010), after having been an instructor and assistant at Columbia University.
An independent researcher and recognized consultant on development issues in francophone Africa since 2005, he has notably worked as lead socio-cultural expert for Tetra Tech (Central Africa environmental policy support programme, 2018), lead social expert for the mid-term evaluation of USAID’s regional CARPE programme (2016-2017), public finance management and governance consultant for the World Bank in North Kivu (2013-2016), and consultant for the United Nations Development Programme on small arms in the DRC (2005-2007). He was also a prison chaplain in Chad (1994-1996) and Burkina Faso (1992-1994), and a public scribe for Algerian asylum seekers in Paris (1990-1992).
Author of four books, including Comment en finir avec la crise multiforme en RĂ©publique DĂ©mocratique du Congo (L’Harmattan, 2023) and Business of Civil War: New Forms of Life in the Debris of the Democratic Republic of Congo (CODESRIA, 2013), as well as numerous scientific articles published notably in Anthropological Theory, African Studies Review and the Canadian Journal of African Studies. A member of the American Anthropological Association and the African Studies Association, he has been a guest speaker at several universities (Cambridge, Yale, Chicago) and has received several research fellowships, including from the Wenner-Gren Foundation and the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars.
Expertise
Cultural anthropology, governance and development in the DRC, political economy of conflict
Services offered
- Research and consulting in anthropology and development
- Consulting on governance and the political economy of conflict (World Bank, UNDP, USAID)
- University teaching and academic supervision