UF professor hosts events promoting Congolese art, history

Nancy Hunt is using a gangster film, a comics workshop and a discussion of masculinity to change how students view the Democratic Republic of the Congo, an African country stained by violence and civil wars.

The UF history professor said she and UF’s Center for African Studies helped organize “Congo-Kinshasa Meets Gainesville,” three events starting today to teach students about Congolese art and history.

“There’s nothing else like it in the world,” she said.

Today at 6 p.m., The Wooly in downtown Gainesville is screening “Viva Riva!” a film by Congolese filmmaker Djo Munga using gangster themes to analyze issues like gender and race, Hunt said.

On Thursday, from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m., historians will host a workshop discussing comics by street artist Papa Mfumu’eto in Smathers Library, Room 100, she said.

Felicien Maisha, a 35-year-old anthropology graduate student from the Congo, said he plans to attend and thinks students interested in colonization should also go.

“The history of the Congo is of great importance in Africa,” he said.

On Friday, Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis professor Didier Gondola will lead a discussion about how America’s Buffalo Bill influenced 1950s and 1960s Congolese masculinity in Grinter Hall, Room 404, from 3:30 p.m. to 5 p.m.

Hunt said she wants attendees to think of the Congo beyond the violence in the country.

“Through this major city we are showing that, yes, people are struggling, but there is also enormous creativity,” she said.

Events

• Today: free screening of “Viva Riva!” at the Wooly, 20 N. Main St., at 6 p.m.
• Thursday: workshop discussing comics by street artist Papa Mfumu’eto in Smathers Library, Room 100, 3 p.m. to 5 p.m.
• Friday: discussion on Congolese masculinity in the 1950s and 1960s in Grinter Hall, Room 404, from 3:30 p.m. to 5 p.m.