The French Institute for Research in Africa (IFRA) in partnership with Open University, ARES, Columbia Global Center | Nairobi and the Catholic University of Leuven hosted the 4th Burundi Research Network (BRN) Conference, in Nairobi, mid-June. The conference brought together researchers from different social sciences disciplines and strategically convened in Nairobi, to contribute toward academic decolonization of information and knowledge through its production and diffusion within the East African region.
The BRN believes there is a need for independent, scholarly work on Burundi’s past, present, and future. Thus, the conference provided a forum for scholarly exchange by presenting and discussing academic research related to Burundi and and addressing the challenges both at the regional level. The focus of the conference was on two key themes; the current exile, refugees’ status and mobility of the people of Burundi and their social, political and economic causes and effects of political crises within the geopolitical dimensions of the African Great Lakes region.
