African Great Lakes Region Diaspora in Brussels (Belgium) and the Transnational Urban Translation of Violent Conflict and Ethnic Tension

Situating itself at the intersection of migration studies, urban studies and conflict studies, this paper investigates the everyday spatial translations of the ongoing civil war and ethnic violence in Eastern Congo through processes of conflict-induced migration to (Belgium).

To understand the ways in which the ongoing civil war in Eastern DRC shapes the everyday urbanity amongst Congolese diaspora in Brussels, we put forward the concept of ‘transnational urban warscapes’. The paper is based on data gathered in collaboration with Congolese (diaspora) informants and researchers through transnational fieldwork across Brussels (Belgium) and Goma (DR Congo) on spatial manifestations of conflict narratives (and discourses as well as everyday urban practices of inter-communal fear, suspicion, othering and boundary making). This transnational focus on everyday city-making through migration deliberately aims to go beyond the narrow analytical frameworks of ‘spill over’ effects of ethnic violence through African migration and diaspora, and looks into spatial translations of ethnic war experiences across (post)colonial geographies.