Charden Pouo Moutsouka

Decolonial Resistance and Political Change in Central Africa: An Examination of Diaspora Political Activism and French Interference in Congo-Brazzaville and Gabon 

Charden is a DPhil student in Political Geography and the Environment at the University of Oxford. He holds a BA in International Relations and Politics (First Class) from the University of Northumbria, an MSc in African Studies (Distinction) from the University of Oxford, and an MLitt in International Political Theory (Distinction) from the University of St Andrews. His research is funded by the Clarendon Fund (Oxford University Press) and Oxford Academic Futures. He was placed on the Dean's List for Academic Excellence in the 2023/2024 academic session and is part of the Oxford Global Leadership Initiative 2025 cohort. 

His work centres on the geographies and geopolitics of social movements and new forms and expressions of imperialism and domination. He specifically investigates the roles of diaspora activist networks and contestations around the political and economic influence of France in decolonial struggles for political change beyond authoritarian capitalism. His arguments draw from work on African diaspora politics, political geography, decolonial resistance and social movement studies, and scholarship on authoritarian politics. Ultimately, his research aims to provide new insights regarding the transnational practices of contemporary political activism in Congo and Gabon within the context of changing formulations of neo-imperialistic relations with France. 

Charden has authored a chapter in the Routledge Handbook of Service Users' Involvement in Research and Education (2020). He co-authored (with Dr Amber Murrey) a chapter in the Encyclopaedia of Human Geography (Springer Nature, 2024) and has an article published in the Political Geography Journal. He is an active member of the School of Geography research clusters, including the Political Worlds and the Economy and Society clusters, which serve as hubs for the exchange and cross-fertilisation of ideas for geographers at Oxford. Charden is also a member of the Oxford Technology and Security Nexus Society. He is an active member of both the Oxford Africa Society and the Oxford Geography Society. 

• Pouo Moutsouka, C. (2025) Spatialities of slow resistance in Congo-Brazzaville. Political Geography, 119. 103320.