Felix Ulombe Kaputu

Accomplished and versatile academic with expertise in history, anthropology and cultural studies, human rights, comparative literature, King’s studies, and interdisciplinary education. Adept at delivering undergraduate and graduate instruction in diverse settings, including in-person, hybrid, and online formats. Recognized for mentoring master's and doctoral candidates in research and writing. Prolific author and presenter with a distinguished record of publications and contributions to global academic discourse. Passionate about fostering cross-cultural understanding and advancing knowledge of human rights, gender studies, and global conflicts.

• Fulbright Alumnus
• Scholars at Risk Network
• African Literature Association
• International Cities of Refuge Network
• African Association for the Study of Religions
• Clean Africa Campaign
• Initiative of Change for Security and Fair International Politics
• American Academy of Religion (AAR)
• Pan-African Association of African Catholic Exegetes

• Fulbright Scholar at the University of California Santa Barbara (UCSB), extensive expertise in cultural anthropology, African Studies, gender, postcolonial literature, comparative literature, and comparative cultures.
• Recognized as a thought leader in global citizenship, equity education, and cross-cultural research.
• Created innovative, interdisciplinary courses bridging literature, politics, religion, and art.

• Black/Africana Studies: Examining cultural communication, museum roles, and identity construction within global contexts.
• Martin Luther King, Jr.: Investigating history, heritage, and application in Global Conflict Zones.
• Cultural and Medical Anthropology: Investigating migration, ethnicity, and racialization intersections.
• Gender Studies: Analyzing African gender issues, domestic violence, and their representation in literature.
• African Studies: Focused on African and global diasporas, African politics, and oral traditions.
• Religion and Philosophy: Exploring African religions, ancient and modern shamanisms, and their cultural dimensions.
• Postcolonial Literature: Addressing material culture, identity construction, and interdisciplinary studies.
• Language and Translation: Proficiency and pedagogical expertise in English, French, Swahili, Lingala, Portuguese, and Chokwe.
• University Pedagogy: Specializing in curriculum development, education technology, and effective teaching strategies in higher education.

Academic Advisor of the Black Students’ Union, Co-organized Africa Day at Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Brazil., Delivered academic presentations on Africa for Polish universities, scholars, and journalists., Served on the Academic Committee at Massachusetts College of Art and Design., Director of University Cooperation: Led bilateral and multilateral relations, project development, and scholarship initiatives., Director, University Pedagogy Office: Focused on new technologies in teaching and curriculum design., Academic Advisor to the University President: Advised on academic policies and institutional partnerships., Residence Director: Oversaw socio-academic life and managed campus housing for over 12,000 students., Represented the university in education quality certification processes with partner institutions., Engaged at Saint Peters church from Great Barrington for interracial community., Engaged with Congado communities in Brazil on education and career opportunities., Volunteered at Saint Joseph Nursing and Rehabilitation Center, Boston., Conducted social work and youth training in farming techniques and computer sciences.

• Open Society Foundations, 2015 & 2020, Funds for anthropological research in the Chokweland at the intersection of Angola, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Zambia.
• Flemish Research Funds, 2015, Funds for anthropological research or art and social life in the Chokweland.
• Ghent University, 2013–2015, Scholar at Risk; conducted research in Africana Studies and Diaspora.
• The Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences, 2014, Investigated cultural reinvention in Zambian mining communities.
• Harvard University, 2006–2007, Sheila Biddle Ford Fellowship; research on oral literature, politics, and gender in Central Africa.
• Japanese Government Fellowships, 2008–2011, Comparative study of shamanic practices in Japan and Congo.
• Fulbright Fellowship, 2003, Research on religion, politics, and gender at UC Santa Barbara.
• Belgian University Cooperation Fellowship, 2004, Curriculum development and education quality certification.

• Could we Have Franz Fanon, Edwards Said, Amir Nizar Zuabi, and Achilles Mbembe on the same Panel or in the same Class, 2022, Bard College at Simon’s Rock
• O refugiado, este outro, 2019, Direção cultural de Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Festival de Verão, UFMG
• From Masks to the Supernatural, from the Supernatural to Masks or the Invention of God in the Likumbi Lya Mize Luvale Masquerade of Zambia: the Supernatural in Cultural Spaces, 2016, June, Krakow, Poland
• Film and Cultural Productions of the Democratic Republic of the Congo since 1950, 2016, April, Krakow Film Festival
• Global Migration, Diasporas, Literature and Identities, 2016, April, Ghent University, Belgium
• Academic Freedom and the Writing Power, 2016, April, ICORN General Assembly Conference, Paris
• African Politics and Academic Freedom, 2013, August, September, October, Amsterdam University, Tubingen University, Leiden University
• God Grew Tired of Us or New Paradigms in African Human Rights, 2012, Conference on Global Citizenship, Centennial College, Toronto, Ontario
• Refugees: the 'Other' Human Face, and the 'Other' Academics, 2012, Conference on Global Citizenship, Centennial College, Toronto, Ontario
• HIV-AIDS, Gender Issues, Cultural and Linguistic Contexts, 2011, Bloomsburg University, Philadelphia
• Violence, War and Local Languages: Invariable Patterns, 2010, March, African Association Conference at the University of Arizona, Tucson

Fidèle Mwepu, 2019, Ecological Problems and Religion in Wole Soyinka’s Plays., Kajita Tshishimu, 2013, Feminism and Gender Ancestry in Shakespeare’s Tragedies., Alice Peixoto, 2020, Identity and Space in African Novels., Ntange Mesumbe Ngande Ivo, 2013, Mobile Phones and HIV-AIDS Risk Behavior in Cameroon.

• Prof. Brendan Mathews, Dean of Faculty & Curricular Development, Bard College at Simon's Rock, +1-413-351-4576, bmathews@simons-rock.edu
• Prof. Anne O’Dwyer, Professor of Psychology, Bard College at Simon’s Rock, +1-646-265-3848, aodwyer@simons-rock.edu
• Prof. Robert Quinn, Executive Director, Scholars at Risk Network, +1-212-998-4402, scholarsatrisk@nyu.edu
• Prof. Robert Gerst, Massachusetts College of Art and Design, +1-617-879-7600, robert.gerst@massart.edu

English, French, Portuguese (Brazilian), Chokwe, Kiswahili, Swahili, Lingala, Kibemba, Minungu, Kaonde, Lamba, Kiluba, Zeela, Kishila, Luvale, Umbundu, Latin, English, French, Portuguese, Chokwe, Swahili, Umbundu, Bemba, Kaonde

• Night Librarian, Bard College at Simon’s Rock, 2024, Present
• Advisor, Black Students Union, 2024, Present

The Democratic Republic of the Congo: Broken State, Collapse of Law, Human Rights Violations, Veil of injustice and Constitutional Smokescreens – A Case Study in State failure: A Complaint against a Postcolonial Dictatorship, 2024, Xlibris, 9798369424438, Lula do Kongo, 2022, Editions Muse, 6204958232, We have Come to Conquer Belgium and Confirm Cultural Occupation of the Western World: The Modernity Boomerang Re-Contextualized, 2022, LAP. Lambert Academic Publishing, 6205493063, Chilima and the Remaking of Chokwe Identity: An Interdisciplinary Study on Globalization, Material Traditions and Gendered CosmoPolity, 2017, VUPress, K-triangle de la mort: Descente aux Enfers, 2013, Presses Universitaires du Nouveau Monde, Power: Exquisite Meat, 2011, Xlibris Corp, Jo-Mary: Black, Free Slave, 2010, Xlibris Corp, Wall Street Re-berlingue l’Afrique, 2010, l’Harmattan, L’Ange gardien Inutile, 2009, Editions écrire l’Afrique, l’Harmattan, The Book of Revelation, Literature and Exegesis: A Psychoanalytical Analysis, 2 volumes, 2009, University of Lubumbashi Press, Understanding Nowadays Africa through Discursive/Imagery Fragments, 2023, CEBRI-Journal, Year 2, No. 6, 200-213, https://doi.org/10.54827/issn2764-7897.cebri2023.06.03.09.200-213.en, Between Confidence and Mistrust, Rejection and Collaboration: Angolan Region Drums in Third Academic Space at Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Brazil, 2022, Staci B. Martin and Deepra Dandekar, Global South Scholars in the Western Academy: Harnessing Unique Experiences, pieces of knowledge, and Positionality in the Third Space, New York: Routledge Taylor & Francis Group, Between Ethnicity and Medicine: Reinventing Legitimacy in Chokwe and Sukuma Chieftaincies, 2021, Arne S. Steinorth, Sabine Klocke-Daffa, Challenging Authorities: Ethnographies of Legitimacy and Power in Eastern and Southern Africa, Switzerland: Palgrave Macmillan, Tradições orais nigerianas: herança histórica, um patrimônio para a literatura local e global e para as artes, 2019, Cultura, história intelectual e patrimônio na África Ocidental (séculos XV-XX), Brazil Publishing, Ciências Humanas, História, Angolan, Congolese, Zambian Chokwe Identity Ruptures and Disjunctions: Interpretation through Bourdieu’s Field Theory and Chokwe Socio-Religious Constructions, 2018, Religion, Spirituality, Mental Health: current Approaches in the Psychology of Religion, Adam Anczyk, Halina Grzymala-Mosyńska, Agnieszka Krysztof-Świderska, Katarzyna Skrzypińka, Gdańsk-Katowice: Sacrum Publishing House, From Masks to the Supernatural, from the Supernatural to Masks or the Invention of God by Luvale/Chokwe women in the Likumbi Lya Mize Luvale Masquerade of Zambia: The Supernatural in Cultural Spaces, 2018, Religion, Spirituality, Mental Health: current Approaches in the Psychology of Religion, Adam Anczyk, Halina Grzymala-Mosyńska, Agnieszka Krysztof-Świderska, Katarzyna Skrzypińka, Gdańsk-Katowice: Sacrum Publishing House, The Old-New Arenas of Imperialism: Western Asia and North Africa, 2015, The Return of the Fallen Empires, Krakow: Villa Decius Association, Beyond the East and the West: An African View of Japanese Aesthetics, 2010, Questioning Oriental Aesthetics and Thinking Conflicting Visions of 'Asia' under the Colonial Empire, Kyoto, Japan: International Research Center for Japanese Studies, Global Shamanism in Context: Itako (from Osorezan, Aomori, Japan) and Mikishi (Lake Mweru, Katanga, Democratic Republic of Congo), 2010, Asian Cultural Studies, International Christian University, Publications 3-A, 36, The Deadly Pandemic, Quarter a Century After: The Katanga Province (D.R. Congo), and the Northwestern Province (Zambia) Women in a World of HIV-AIDS, 2010, The Journal of Social Sciences, 69, International Christian University Social Sciences Research Institute, Central African Women: Victims between African and Christian Traditions, 2005, Historicizing 'Tradition' in the Study of Religion, Steven Engler and Gregory P. Grieve, New York: Walter de Gruyter, Religion and Memory: The Well-Being in Question for a Century in the Democratic Republic of Congo, 2002, The Power of Oral Memory, Healing and Development, XIIIth International Oral History conference, University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg, Ambiguité et Pouvoir sous Mzee Laurent Désiré Kabila, 1999, Journées Scientifiques sur le mandat de Mzee L.D Kabila, Président de la République du Congo, Bilan et Perspectives, Université de Lubumbashi, Continuity, Discontinuity, Invention, Reinvention of African Aesthetics or Cultural Memory and Change: Glocal and Diaspora Perspectives, 2020, Kaputu, F.U. and Mwepu, F., Aletria, Belo Horizonte, 3, 2002-224, Eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo on the way to Peace? War remembrances, Post Conflict Discourse Construction: A Discursive Analysis of Novellas selected and edited by Charles Djungu-Simba in Les Terrassiers de Bukavu: Nouvelles, L’Harmattan, 2009, 2014, Afrika Focus, 27, 1, 9-29, Refugees: the ‘Other’ Human Face, and the ‘Other’ Academics, 2012, Journal of Global Citizenship & Equity, 2, November, 182-196, http://journals.sfu.ca/jgcee/index.php/jgcee/issue/view/5/showToc, Democratic Republic of the Congo, 2012, M. Juergensmeyer & W. Roof, Encyclopedia of Global Religion, 288-291, Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications, Inc., Globalization: Gender, Religion, Poverty or Failure of Women’s Non-Governmental Organizations in Lubumbashi (DRC), 2004, Recherches Linguistiques et littéraires, Numéro 9, Presses Universitaires de Lubumbashi, 60-78, J.P. Clark’s Song of a Goat and its Far Origin, The Bible: A Mythical Analysis, 2004, Recherches Linguistiques et littéraires, Numéro 9, Presses Universitaires de Lubumbashi, 79-102, Savannah Kingdoms and their Daily Perpetuation in the D.R. Congo, 2003, Likundoli, Série A, 98-108, Université de Lubumbashi, Université d’excellence?, 2003, Likundoli, Série A, 109-125