Septembre 2026 à Juin 2027
La résidence de Calvin Minfegue s'inscrit dans le cadre des résidences FIAS.
Calvin Minfegue is a lecturer and researcher in the Department of Political Science at the Faculty of Legal and Political Sciences of the Catholic University of Central Africa in Cameroon. He is a researcher at the Institute of Social Policies and Initiatives, a research centre at the same university. He holds a PhD in Social Sciences (Political Sociology) from the Catholic University of Central Africa and a PhD in Geography (Political Geography) from Université Grenoble Alpes.
His research has so far focused on (i) border-related issues in Central Africa, approached from the perspective of critical geopolitics; (ii) questions of hospitality and the political dynamics surrounding humanitarian interventions, particularly in relation to refugees; and (iii) contemporary transformations of public policy in Africa. More recently, he has developed an interest in ecological issues as they are expressed through cosmologies and sector-specific forms of mobilisation in Cameroon.
He is a member of the Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa (CODESRIA) and the Association for the Anthropology of Social Change and Development (APAD).
The Harassing State: An Analysis of the Structuring Logic of a Mode of Governance in Central Africa
This project examines roadside harassment, paying close attention to its political significance and underlying dynamics. Rather than viewing such harassment merely as an obstacle to the continent’s economic integration processes or as an indicator of the quality of regional governance systems, the project foregrounds its structuring force. In this perspective, harassment is understood as a mode of governance. It produces or reaffirms, both situationally and structurally, specific political subjects as categories of populations upon whom forms of action exercised by figures of authority may be imposed. Roadside harassment is therefore constitutive of what this project refers to as harassing governance.
This form of governance is explored empirically through three field sites. The first examines the practices and logics of extraction observed along the Douala–N’Djamena/Bangui corridor and on rural roads in the Eastern Region of Cameroon. The second focuses on harassment targeting Central African refugees travelling within Cameroonian territory. The third field site examines roadblocks and the forms of harassment they enable in parts of the Central African Republic.
Minfegue, C. (2021). Espace(s) de domination, espace(s) du relèvement. À propos de la pensée spatiale chez Eboussi Boulaga. Politique africaine, 164(4), 55‑72.
Minfegue, C. (2023). Trapped in the global? A look at the contemporary evolution of migration policies in Cameroon. Territory, Politics, Governance, 11(4), 730‑748.
Minfegue, C. (2023). Une « petite » localité face à l’accueil des réfugiés. Le bricolage et l’adaptation comme leviers d’une politique locale d’hospitalité à Garoua-Boulaï (Est-Cameroun). Migrations Société, 194(4), 27‑44.
Minfegue, C., & Sourna Loumtouang, E. (2023). La frontière nationale comme dispositif carcéral. Justifications et matérialités en situation camerounaise. Criminologie, 56(2), 169‑193.
Minfegue, C. (2023). Les corps des tracasseries : Circulation, corps et violence sur le corridor Douala–N’Djamena/Bangui. Canadian Journal of African Studies / Revue canadienne des études africaines, 57(2), 283‑303.
Minfegue, C. (2026). Les choses de la route. Barrages routiers, pouvoirs négociés et corps d’extraction à Kette (Est-Cameroun). Suds. Géographies critiques, perspectives des Suds, (291). (À paraître)