TEMBO KASH

Born in Butembo, in the north-eastern part of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Tembo Kash completed his primary and secondary education in the town of Beni. After obtaining his diploma in the Latin-Philosophy track, he landed in Kinshasa, where he enrolled at the Académie des Beaux-arts in 1987. Three years later, he was awarded a degree in Graphic Arts, with a focus on advertising (now Visual Communication).

Alongside his comic strip creations, Kash can claim the distinction of being the first cartoonist to really sink his teeth into the socio-political scene of the DRC, beginning in 1990 with his work for the daily, Le Phare. From 1991 to 2005, together with other culturally active friends, he helped to organise five editions of the African Reading and Comic Book Fair for Youth.

From 1992 until the present day, Kash has freelanced from his studio, Studio KASH, working as a designer for numerous advertisers. Over the past 20 years, he has exhibited his work in the DRC, Congo-Brazzaville, France, Belgium, Luxembourg, Morocco, Niger, Vietnam, Réunion, Mauritius, Algeria, Cameroon, and Guinea-Conakry.

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Bukavuseries

TEMBO KASH

“A (non-academic) collaborator living in Canada – and, what’s more, a member of my own ethnic community – was the first to attack me. He circulated a message on social media questioning my findings. But beyond simply challenging my research, he called on armed groups to kill me.”

“Research contracts rarely include any sort of clause about researchers’ physical safety – much less, their mental well-being. Responsibility for these aspects of the work falls entirely to individual researchers themselves.”

“Knowledge production protocols instruct us to detach ourselves from our field in order to study it. But what does this imply for field ethics in poor and insecure places?”

“I was alone with a driver, who took me to see a spot where a rebel commander had killed a Colonel from the national army. I was familiar with the Colonel in question, as he had been one of the leaders of my own community.”

“Conceiving of ourselves as brothers in some sense (‘kaka, ndugu’), we found mutual support was as central as the mutual criticism to our improvement.”

“[T]he researcher from the Global South largely remains invisible in the research outputs, including the publications…”

“[V]ery few academics are conscious of the fact that the decolonisation of knowledge production involves them personally.”

“[I]t’s clear that there are still major power imbalances and counterproductive rationales within the academic enterprise. Because of unfounded assumptions, the work of research assistants in the production of knowledge often remains entirely invisible.”

“This dynamic evokes a sort of ‘academic colonialism’ that fails to treat the research assistant as a collaborator whose rights are equal to those of counterparts from the Global North.”

“Shouldn’t they have the opportunity to be a part of the subsequent stages of a study, even after the submission of their reports? This sort of visibility could, after all, open doors for them and allow them to make professional progress.”

“By ignoring a key actor who knows the data better than anybody, one ends up missing out on valuable insights and original analytical perspectives.”

“Getting out of such situations requires a lot of rhetorical effort and strategic humor. But it may also result in lingering frustration and even trauma.”

“If actors in the field come to regard the researcher as a spy, or to see him or her as a threat due to meetings or interviews, then there’s reason to fear that the entire research project will be called into question. It eventually can also put the researcher’s life in danger.”

“The simple act of being present or asking questions on a certain topic can create a new conflict and/or revive an existing one.”

“The simple act of being present or asking questions on a certain topic can create a new conflict and/or revive an existing one.”

“Sir, stop coming here to get rich off the backs of others. When your research is done, you’ll get your diploma, and be given honours, and earn recognition and a good reputation – while me, I’ll always be stuck back here, unhappy in my village.”

“[R]esearchers aren’t considered just researchers but also donor representatives, thus raising expectations among respondents. One consequence can be the reticence or refusal to share information without a financial reward in return.”

“[P]roject leaders often deploy research assistants as simple ‘data collection robots’, without first involving them in methodological reflections or giving them the space in which to provide valuable orientation for their foreign counterparts.”

“The issues an NGO targets are not necessarily related to the realities or the actual problems that the population experiences but rather are determined by the organisation’s own priorities.”

“The subordination of African thought to Western paradigms extends from teaching programmes through research projects to the point of publication by supposedly well-regarded Western journals.”

“Real collaboration isn’t only about doing things together at each stage, including project design and proposal writing; it implies questioning the reference frameworks and practices we rely on.”

“The question they ask is always the same: ‘When will we get a report on your findings?’ For lack of a better response, I tell them (dying a little inside), ‘Hold on; we’re still thinking it through.’ Deep down, though, I know no report is coming. And this weighs on me.”

“[I]n the absence of any measures to provide communities with the results of the research they participate in, one can already see participants displaying an attitude of reticence and/or refusal that may jeopardize the work of future researchers on the ground…”

“[T]he researcher can’t just force her way into the field; her access to the information she needs to carry out good research is always dependent on the good will of the research participants.”

“When researchers are perceived as ‘getting fat off their respondents’ time and energy’, it’s easy to see how this could present problems for reliable data collection.”

“[I]t would be important to create space for discussions and exchanges about the human challenges of research.”

“[A] research assistant’s involvement is not limited to data collection alone… the assistant must often work under the pressure of a timetable imposed by a donor who may not have a sufficient understanding of realities on the ground.”

“Academic and research institutions must take the lead in improving the remuneration of researchers from the Global South, by taking into account the complexities and risks that arise in the field.”

“To her, all the cries for divine assistance in a moment of terror had meant absolutely nothing… During difficult moments, true cross-cultural communication indeed becomes a great challenge.”

“Many are deeply traumatised by the violence they have experienced, or witnessed, or heard about in their research participants’ accounts; or by their feelings of helplessness in the face of the injustices they encounter.”

“Local researchers do the fieldwork, but the risks they face are often ignored. In the event of illness, kidnapping, or accidents, the research commissioners usually decline all responsibility.”

This could be the title for the video

When the backpack is full…