Joseph Mangarella

Joseph holds a PhD in political anthropology from Leiden University (2019). His research interests include the intersections of extraction, environment, climate change and governance in and around the Congo Rainforest and Basin. As the 2nd largest tropical rainforest in the world, The Congo Basin is critical to global ecological systems and the longevity of human life on Earth, yet the Basin remains under threat. While six different states—Cameroon, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea and Gabon—occupy the Congo Basin, all pursue extractive and conservationist policies to quite varying degrees. How and why do these policies and attitudes evolve? How does the past inform the present, and hopefully the future? Last but not least, which ethnological, political anthropological, and political economic approaches can best help us understand the path to global resilience and sustainability? Joseph is also working with CEFRES and Charles University to help build CUNI’s study of, and research capacities for, African Studies. Africa’s importance to world affairs has grown with trends in immigration, climate change, demographics, and renewed scrambles for African resources in the past decades, and CUNI is well placed to potentially become a leader in these fields. Please contact Joseph if you are interested in joining the Africa-Charles Project.