On the occasion of the launch of the Trilingual Dictionary of Kaaps, the Ghent Center for Afrikaans and the Study of South Africa (GAZ) organizes on May 18, 2022 (1pm-2.30pm) a webinar on “Kaaps, language variation and the future of Afrikaans” in which also Gilles-Maurice de Schryver (BantUGent) participates.
Online participation is possible.
On Monday May 2, Dr. Mary Charwi from the University of Dar es Salaam arrived in Ghent for a three-month research stay at BantUGent, which is co-financed by the Global Minds Fund of Ghent University and the Commission Scientific Research (CWO) of the UGent Faculty of Arts and Philosophy. With Prof. Koen Bostoen and his team she will work on an Ethnobotanical and Ethnolinguistic Study of Kuria Medicinal Plants. Kuria is a Bantu language spoken in the Mara region of Northern Tanzania, adjacent to Lake Nyanza/Victoria.
Prof. Joseph Koni Muluwa (ISP Kikwit – BantUGent), former post-doctoral researcher and visiting professor at Ghent University, has recently been promoted to the position of General Academic Secretary (“secrétaire général académique“) of the Institut Supérieur Pédagogique of Kikwit (DRC), i.e. Vice-Rector for Education Policy.
On May 3 at 4.15 pm (CET), Koen Bostoen (BantUGent) gives a talk for the digital Colloquium of African Linguistics and Languages of the Humboldt University Berlin on the research he did with Sara Pacchiarotti as part of the BantuFirst project, i.e. “Erratic velars in West-Coastal Bantu: Explaining irregular sound change in Central Africa”. More info is available here.
On April 30 at 4.30pm (CET) Koen Bostoen (BantUGent) gives an online talk titled “Kongo Kingdom and Kongo Language: Divergent Pasts, Converging Presents” for the Kongo Academy, a platform created in December 2019 by a group of intellectuals interested in promoting the Kongo culture through research, education and training, cultural events and partnerships with institutions and individuals interested in Kongo culture, history, and language. For more information on the event, including the Zoom link and password, see here. The recording is available here (passcode: S!?aFC5j).
The third Research Day of the Faculty of Philosophy of Arts whose central theme is ‘research valorisation’ takes place on Thursday April 28, 2022, in the Faculty Library. BantUGent is represented with a talk by Prof. Inge Brinkman on “Het Monster – Other/Alternative project” and with one poster by Heidi Goes and another one by Peter Coutros, Jessamy Doman & Koen Bostoen.
Ernest Nshemezimana (Burundi University, Bujumbura) arrived on April 22, 2022 in Ghent for a one-month research stay at BantUGent co-financed by a fellowship of the Africa Platform of the Ghent University Association. He will continue the research on Kirundi information structure which he started here as part of his PhD project (2011-2016).
Prof. Igor Matonda (Université de Kinshasa – BantUGent associate), who obtained in 2017 his joint PhD degree at UGent and ULB as part of the KongoKing project and currently is associate researcher of the BantuFirst project, has been nominated Head of the Historical Sciences Department at Kinshasa University (UNIKIN). We wish him congratulations and good luck!
On April 8, 2022, Koen Bostoen (BantUGent) offers an online information session on the Bantu languages for the Service for the Certification of Social Interpreting and Translation (Dienst certificering sociaal tolken en vertalen) for the Integration Agency (Agentschap Integratie en Inburgering) of the Flemish government.