Karen Büscher
Biographic Data
| ID | 105017 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Karen Büscher |
| GIVEN NAMES | Karen |
| FAMILY NAME | Büscher |
| SIGNATURE | BÜSCHER K |
| AFFILIATIONS | Ghent University |
| ORCID | 0000-0001-9756-9188 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 20 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 178 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 20 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2010 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 8 |
Land Under Siege
This article investigates the relationship between militarization and land grabbing in the context of rapid urbanization and protracted violent conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Drawing on two case studies of the dispossession and privatization of public urban land in Goma, Eastern Congo, during the state of siege, the paper examines how militarized land grabs are tied to broader capitalist transformations of land. It shows how violen…
Contested ‘commune rurales’
This article explores how decentralisation policy and specifically the establishment of communes rurales in DR Congo turned into a profoundly destabilising juncture, shaking existing governance arrangements. In particular, we examine how this has led to a reshuffle of power and a renegotiation of public authoritiy. By analysing the impact of decentralisation on the construction of and competition over public authority in three Congolese towns – R…
Rebellious Riots
Starting from the question why different forms of contentious politics in Africa, from rural uprisings to armed rebellions, have for so long been studied separately and in disconnection to each other, this chapter forms the introduction of our edited volume. We set out the main conceptual and analytical frameworks for the study of contemporary forms of contention in Africa, introducing a critical investigation of the ‘urbanization of conflict’ th…
Rebellious Riots
Is violent conflict in Africa urbanizing? How do urban protests and civil war intersect? How do narratives, mechanisms and identities of contention move between urban and rural arenas? These questions constitute the basis of investigation and analysis of this unique cross-disciplinary volume. Applying diverging perspectives and methods from political science, anthropology and urban African studies, the book carefully constructs the relational and…
Armed conflict and cross-border asymmetries in urban development
In search of chiefly authority in 'post-aid' Acholiland
This paper investigates the complex relation between protracted donor interventions and the production of customary authority. More specifically, the paper analyses the impact of post-conflict donor interventions (and their withdrawal) on the position of customary chiefs in the Acholi region in northern Uganda. As important brokers between international aid agencies, the Ugandan government and Acholi communities, customary chiefs became key actor…
War, Displacement and Rural–Urban Transformation
Intraurban development in a city under protracted armed conflict
Brokering research with war-affected people
This article examines the roles of brokers in conducting research in a (post-)conflict context and uses this analysis as a lens to rethink reflexive ethics in humanitarian research. Drawing on fieldwork in Gulu, northern Uganda, the paper analyses the ambiguous position of brokers, and the complex social space in which they navigate. The paper outlines how brokers, in the pursuit of opportunities and in trying to meet expectations of other player…
African cities and violent conflict
This article forms the introduction of a special issue on the relation between dynamics of violent conflict and urbanisation in Central and Eastern Africa. The aim of this collection of articles is to contribute to a profound understanding of the role of ‘the urban’ in African conflict dynamics in order to seize their future potential as centres of stability, development, peace-building or postconflict reconstruction. This introduction argues for…
Humanitarian urbanism in a post-conflict aid town
This paper focuses on the urban outcomes of protracted humanitarian intervention in Gulu town, Northern Uganda. Using the concept of humanitarian urbanism, we demonstrate how intensive external donor-aid has shaped urbanization in the capital of Northern Uganda. The starting point for our analysis is the recent process of withdrawal of humanitarian NGOs and the shifts from humanitarian to development interventions. This shift was characterized by…
Urbanizing Kitchanga
This article presents the historical and political trajectory of Kitchanga town in North Kivu, to demonstrate how current\nprocesses of urbanization in a context of civil war in Eastern Congo are strongly intertwined with regional politics of refuge. Kitchanga, an urban agglomeration that emerged from the gradual urbanization of IDP and refugee concentrations, has occupied very different positions through different episodes of the wars, ranging f…
A spatial reading of urban political-religious conflict
This article presents a spatial approach to the recent history of conflict and confrontation between the Ethiopian Government and Ethiopian Muslim Communities in Addis Ababa. Based on original ethnographic data and inspired by existing academic studies on political-religious relationships in Addis Ababa, this study takes a closer look at the significance of the urban public landscape in power-struggles between the EPRDF and the Muslim communities…
Navigating the Urban “In-Between Space”
This chapter starts from an ethnographic study of the urban borderland of Goma (Democratic Republic of the Congo)-Gisenyi (Rwanda), and more specifically the border district Birere. This Congolese urban district is situated right upon the border with Rwanda, and it partly occupies the zone neutre or zone tampon, the natural buffer strip that runs along the border separating the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) from Rwanda. In Birere, the ge…
Borderlands, Identity and Urban Development
This paper challenges traditional studies that explore border sites from a central or capital city perspective. Focusing on expressions of identity in the border city of Goma, it illustrates how the struggle for political, social and economic control affects local urban life and has broader implications for regional relationships and realities. The paper suggests that Goma must be understood as a site of change and fluidity rather than (as border…
Recruiting a nonlocal language for performing local identity
This article describes discursive processes by which inhabitants of the Congolese border town Goma attribute new indexical values to Lingala, a language exogenous to the area of which most Goma inhabitants only possess limited knowledge. This creative reconfiguration of indexicalities results in the emergence of three “indexicalities of the second order”: the indexing of (i) being a true Congolese, (ii) toughness (based on Lingala's association w…
Conflict, state failure and urban transformation in the Eastern Congolese periphery. The case of Goma
Investigating the urban impact of local conflict dynamics 1.1.2.'Non-state' urban development?1.1.3.Informality 1.2.Politico-geographic location: the central role of the periphery 1.2.1.Centrality of the margins: a changing urban order?1.2.2.The urban borderland-angle 1.3.Urban processes of transformation: a conceptual framework 1.3.1.Governance 1.3.2.Navigation 1.3.3.Identity 1.3.4.Landscape 1.4.Outline of the thesis 2. Methodology 2.1.Choice of…
Conflict, state failure and urban transformation in the Eastern Congolese periphery. The case of Goma
Urban Governance Beyond the State
Humanitarian presence and urban development
This paper examines the impact of the presence of international humanitarian organisations on local urban transformation processes in the city of Goma, Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). Rather than evaluating the direct effects of humanitarian interventions and strategies, it focuses on the indirect but profound effects of the presence of this 'humanitarian sector'. It argues that the international humanitarian presence became a significant…
Humanitarian presence and urban development
This paper examines the impact of the presence of international humanitarian organisations on local urban transformation processes in the city of Goma, Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). Rather than evaluating the direct effects of humanitarian interventions and strategies, it focuses on the indirect but profound effects of the presence of this 'humanitarian sector'. It argues that the international humanitarian presence became a significant…
African cities and violent conflict
This article forms the introduction of a special issue on the relation between dynamics of violent conflict and urbanisation in Central and Eastern Africa. The aim of this collection of articles is to contribute to a profound understanding of the role of ‘the urban’ in African conflict dynamics in order to seize their future potential as centres of stability, development, peace-building or postconflict reconstruction. This introduction argues for…
Urban Governance Beyond the State
Brokering research with war-affected people
This article examines the roles of brokers in conducting research in a (post-)conflict context and uses this analysis as a lens to rethink reflexive ethics in humanitarian research. Drawing on fieldwork in Gulu, northern Uganda, the paper analyses the ambiguous position of brokers, and the complex social space in which they navigate. The paper outlines how brokers, in the pursuit of opportunities and in trying to meet expectations of other player…
In search of chiefly authority in 'post-aid' Acholiland
This paper investigates the complex relation between protracted donor interventions and the production of customary authority. More specifically, the paper analyses the impact of post-conflict donor interventions (and their withdrawal) on the position of customary chiefs in the Acholi region in northern Uganda. As important brokers between international aid agencies, the Ugandan government and Acholi communities, customary chiefs became key actor…
Humanitarian urbanism in a post-conflict aid town
This paper focuses on the urban outcomes of protracted humanitarian intervention in Gulu town, Northern Uganda. Using the concept of humanitarian urbanism, we demonstrate how intensive external donor-aid has shaped urbanization in the capital of Northern Uganda. The starting point for our analysis is the recent process of withdrawal of humanitarian NGOs and the shifts from humanitarian to development interventions. This shift was characterized by…
Borderlands, Identity and Urban Development
This paper challenges traditional studies that explore border sites from a central or capital city perspective. Focusing on expressions of identity in the border city of Goma, it illustrates how the struggle for political, social and economic control affects local urban life and has broader implications for regional relationships and realities. The paper suggests that Goma must be understood as a site of change and fluidity rather than (as border…
Urbanizing Kitchanga
This article presents the historical and political trajectory of Kitchanga town in North Kivu, to demonstrate how current\nprocesses of urbanization in a context of civil war in Eastern Congo are strongly intertwined with regional politics of refuge. Kitchanga, an urban agglomeration that emerged from the gradual urbanization of IDP and refugee concentrations, has occupied very different positions through different episodes of the wars, ranging f…
Intraurban development in a city under protracted armed conflict
War, Displacement and Rural–Urban Transformation
Recruiting a nonlocal language for performing local identity
This article describes discursive processes by which inhabitants of the Congolese border town Goma attribute new indexical values to Lingala, a language exogenous to the area of which most Goma inhabitants only possess limited knowledge. This creative reconfiguration of indexicalities results in the emergence of three “indexicalities of the second order”: the indexing of (i) being a true Congolese, (ii) toughness (based on Lingala's association w…
Rebellious Riots
Is violent conflict in Africa urbanizing? How do urban protests and civil war intersect? How do narratives, mechanisms and identities of contention move between urban and rural arenas? These questions constitute the basis of investigation and analysis of this unique cross-disciplinary volume. Applying diverging perspectives and methods from political science, anthropology and urban African studies, the book carefully constructs the relational and…
Humanitarian presence and urban development
This paper examines the impact of the presence of international humanitarian organisations on local urban transformation processes in the city of Goma, Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). Rather than evaluating the direct effects of humanitarian interventions and strategies, it focuses on the indirect but profound effects of the presence of this 'humanitarian sector'. It argues that the international humanitarian presence became a significant…
Conflict, state failure and urban transformation in the Eastern Congolese periphery. The case of Goma
Investigating the urban impact of local conflict dynamics 1.1.2.'Non-state' urban development?1.1.3.Informality 1.2.Politico-geographic location: the central role of the periphery 1.2.1.Centrality of the margins: a changing urban order?1.2.2.The urban borderland-angle 1.3.Urban processes of transformation: a conceptual framework 1.3.1.Governance 1.3.2.Navigation 1.3.3.Identity 1.3.4.Landscape 1.4.Outline of the thesis 2. Methodology 2.1.Choice of…
Conflict, state failure and urban transformation in the Eastern Congolese periphery. The case of Goma
Urban Governance Beyond the State
Navigating the Urban “In-Between Space”
This chapter starts from an ethnographic study of the urban borderland of Goma (Democratic Republic of the Congo)-Gisenyi (Rwanda), and more specifically the border district Birere. This Congolese urban district is situated right upon the border with Rwanda, and it partly occupies the zone neutre or zone tampon, the natural buffer strip that runs along the border separating the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) from Rwanda. In Birere, the ge…
Borderlands, Identity and Urban Development
This paper challenges traditional studies that explore border sites from a central or capital city perspective. Focusing on expressions of identity in the border city of Goma, it illustrates how the struggle for political, social and economic control affects local urban life and has broader implications for regional relationships and realities. The paper suggests that Goma must be understood as a site of change and fluidity rather than (as border…
Recruiting a nonlocal language for performing local identity
This article describes discursive processes by which inhabitants of the Congolese border town Goma attribute new indexical values to Lingala, a language exogenous to the area of which most Goma inhabitants only possess limited knowledge. This creative reconfiguration of indexicalities results in the emergence of three “indexicalities of the second order”: the indexing of (i) being a true Congolese, (ii) toughness (based on Lingala's association w…
A spatial reading of urban political-religious conflict
This article presents a spatial approach to the recent history of conflict and confrontation between the Ethiopian Government and Ethiopian Muslim Communities in Addis Ababa. Based on original ethnographic data and inspired by existing academic studies on political-religious relationships in Addis Ababa, this study takes a closer look at the significance of the urban public landscape in power-struggles between the EPRDF and the Muslim communities…
War, Displacement and Rural–Urban Transformation
Intraurban development in a city under protracted armed conflict
Brokering research with war-affected people
This article examines the roles of brokers in conducting research in a (post-)conflict context and uses this analysis as a lens to rethink reflexive ethics in humanitarian research. Drawing on fieldwork in Gulu, northern Uganda, the paper analyses the ambiguous position of brokers, and the complex social space in which they navigate. The paper outlines how brokers, in the pursuit of opportunities and in trying to meet expectations of other player…
African cities and violent conflict
This article forms the introduction of a special issue on the relation between dynamics of violent conflict and urbanisation in Central and Eastern Africa. The aim of this collection of articles is to contribute to a profound understanding of the role of ‘the urban’ in African conflict dynamics in order to seize their future potential as centres of stability, development, peace-building or postconflict reconstruction. This introduction argues for…
Humanitarian urbanism in a post-conflict aid town
This paper focuses on the urban outcomes of protracted humanitarian intervention in Gulu town, Northern Uganda. Using the concept of humanitarian urbanism, we demonstrate how intensive external donor-aid has shaped urbanization in the capital of Northern Uganda. The starting point for our analysis is the recent process of withdrawal of humanitarian NGOs and the shifts from humanitarian to development interventions. This shift was characterized by…
Urbanizing Kitchanga
This article presents the historical and political trajectory of Kitchanga town in North Kivu, to demonstrate how current\nprocesses of urbanization in a context of civil war in Eastern Congo are strongly intertwined with regional politics of refuge. Kitchanga, an urban agglomeration that emerged from the gradual urbanization of IDP and refugee concentrations, has occupied very different positions through different episodes of the wars, ranging f…
In search of chiefly authority in 'post-aid' Acholiland
This paper investigates the complex relation between protracted donor interventions and the production of customary authority. More specifically, the paper analyses the impact of post-conflict donor interventions (and their withdrawal) on the position of customary chiefs in the Acholi region in northern Uganda. As important brokers between international aid agencies, the Ugandan government and Acholi communities, customary chiefs became key actor…
Armed conflict and cross-border asymmetries in urban development
Rebellious Riots
Starting from the question why different forms of contentious politics in Africa, from rural uprisings to armed rebellions, have for so long been studied separately and in disconnection to each other, this chapter forms the introduction of our edited volume. We set out the main conceptual and analytical frameworks for the study of contemporary forms of contention in Africa, introducing a critical investigation of the ‘urbanization of conflict’ th…
Rebellious Riots
Is violent conflict in Africa urbanizing? How do urban protests and civil war intersect? How do narratives, mechanisms and identities of contention move between urban and rural arenas? These questions constitute the basis of investigation and analysis of this unique cross-disciplinary volume. Applying diverging perspectives and methods from political science, anthropology and urban African studies, the book carefully constructs the relational and…
Contested ‘commune rurales’
This article explores how decentralisation policy and specifically the establishment of communes rurales in DR Congo turned into a profoundly destabilising juncture, shaking existing governance arrangements. In particular, we examine how this has led to a reshuffle of power and a renegotiation of public authoritiy. By analysing the impact of decentralisation on the construction of and competition over public authority in three Congolese towns – R…
Land Under Siege
This article investigates the relationship between militarization and land grabbing in the context of rapid urbanization and protracted violent conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Drawing on two case studies of the dispossession and privatization of public urban land in Goma, Eastern Congo, during the state of siege, the paper examines how militarized land grabs are tied to broader capitalist transformations of land. It shows how violen…
Political science (19 works) · Geography (15 works) · Politics (13 works) · Sociology (12 works) · Law (9 works) · Development economics (8 works) · Economics (8 works) · Democracy (7 works) · Economic growth (6 works) · Political economy (6 works)