Substitute professorship in "Afrikanistik" ("African Languages and Literatures")

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Office: 2.206
Phone: +49 - (0)341 - 97 37028
Office hours: Wed 15-16:00 h, Thur 13-14:00 h & prior arrangement

Curriculum vitae

Since 1.10.2009 holding the vacant professorship in Afrikanistik (linguistics and literatures)

03.2008 - 09.2009 Lecturer in the section “African Languages and Literatures”, Institute of African Studies, University of Leipzig, Germany; courses on language documentation, language contact, Swahili grammar and African oral literature

2007, 25.10. Appointment as professor ("Apl. Professor") at the Goethe-University of Frankfurt am Main, Germany

2007, Editor within the long-term encyclopedic project Enzyklopädie des Märchens, Akademie der Wissenschaften in Göttingen, Germany (on temporary employment)

2003-2008 Freelance editor and writer in Cologne

2001 Habilitation at the Goethe-University of Frankfurt am Main; Venia legendi for African Linguistics, Associate Professor (Privatdozent) until 25.10.2007

2000-2002 Curator of the Janheinz Jahn-Library for African literature, Department of Anthropology and African Studies, University of Mainz

2000 Kiswahili teacher to German army personnel at the Federal Office of Languages (Bundessprachenamt) in Hürth near Cologne

1997-1999 Habilitation fellowship by the German Research Foundation (DFG)

1991-1996 Researcher at the Collaborative Research Centre 268 History of Culture and Language in the Natural Environment of the west African Savannah, University Frankfurt/Main; Member of the Joint Research Project Frankfurt – Maiduguri, Nigeria; Part-time Senior Lecturer of the University of Maiduguri

1984-1991 Lecturer for African Philology, Department of Anthropology and African Studies, University of Mainz, Germany

1989 PhD degree at the University of Cologne

1981-1983 PhD grant by the Post-graduate Foundation of North Rhine-Westphalia, University of Cologne

1974-1980 Student of African Studies, Anthropology and Geography at the University of Cologne and the University of Bonn, Germany; degree: M.A. (Cologne 1980)

born 1953, married with two children

Scholarly interests

• Oral and written literatures in African languages: Theory, methodology, bibliography, educational material, folk narrative motif research, interdisciplinarity; especially North-East Bantu: Swahili, Pokomo (Kenya), Central Sudan: Kanuri (Nigeria), also Africa-wide perceptions

• History of the Science of African Studies and related philologies (Oriental Studies, German Language and Literature Studies), Folkloristics, Ethnology, Comparative literature; Methodology of Interdisciplinary research

• Literature and loanword relations in the Western Indian Ocean with focus on the Swahili coast and hinterland

• Pokomo (North East coastal Bantu) Dictionary and Grammar

• African literature and culture in the German-speaking area

• African languages and literatures on the internet

• World literature discussion, general history of theory and history of the concept, comparative literature; working towards the inclusion of Africa's oral and written literatures

• World heritage discussion (UNESCO, informal concepts) and further ‘world’ discourses

Further activities

Referee for African literature and oral literature, African sociolinguistics - at the Alexander von Humboldt-Stiftung, for the German Research Foundation (DFG), the Studienstiftung des deutschen Volkes and FWF Austrian Science Fund, Vienna.

Field work and stays in Africa

Kenya: 1977, 1979, 1981, 1982-83, 1988; Nairobi, especially Tana River District, Lamu-Archipelago; Research Associate, University of Nairobi; 24 months in total
Nigeria: 1991-96, 2002; Borno State; 1992 also Cameroon; Joint Research Project Frankfurt - Maiduguri; 20 months in total

Conference participations 

Conference Deutschlands Koloniallinguistik - Die Beschreibung afrikanischer und ozeanischer Sprachen zur Zeit der deutschen Kolonialherrschaft (1884-1914/20), Universität Bremen, 23.-24.09.2009 (Paper: "Überblick über die afrikanistische Sprachforschung 1880-1945 in den ehemals deutschen Kolonial- und Missionsgebieten").

15. Kongress of the International Society for Folk Narrative Research (ISFNR): Narratives Across Space and Time: Transmissions and Adaptations, Athen, 21.-26.06.2009 (Paper: "In Which Ways Can Oral Narratives Be Integrated into the Discussion of World Literature?").

3rd European Conference of African Studies (ECAS): Reshaping Africa, Universität Leipzig, 04.-07.06.2009 (Discussant in Panel 121 Textwork/Fieldwork: "On Swahili and Other Horizons", Panel organizer: Alain Ricard).

3rd European Conference of African Studies (ECAS): Reshaping Africa, Universität Leipzig, 04.-07.06.2009 (Paper: "The Ideal Text Edition of (African) Oral Literature Starts in the Field").

Workshop Literatur, Kultur und Migration, University of Tübingen, 16.-18.11.2007 (Paper: "Weltliteratur in der Perspektive einer Longue Durée (II): Die Routen des ‚Swahili-Korridors’").

International Conference On the Wise Fool in Narrative Cultures, University of Malta Junior College, Msida, Malta, 07.-10.12.2006 (Paper: "Abu Nuwas Extending to the East African Coastlands and Savannahs, Schoolbooks and Popular Media").

8. Janheinz Jahn-Symposium African Language Literatures: Production, Mediation, Reception, University of Mainz, 17.-20.11.2004 (Paper, in Press.).

57. Wolfenbütteler Symposium The Arabian Nights: Past and Present (1704-2004), Herzog-August-Library Wolfenbüttel, 05.-08.09.2004 (Paper).

Memorial Symposium for Janheinz Jahn, Der Schwarze Orpheus als interkulturelle Metapher, University of Mainz, 23.07.2004 (Paper: "Der Schwarze Orpheus auf dem Weg zur Weltliteratur: Janheinz Jahn vermittelt").

4th ISOLA-Conference African Orality and Creativity, Université de Savoie, Chambéry, France, 10.-12.07.2002. (International Society for Oral Literature in Africa) (Paper: "From Pattern to Performance: The Figure of the Ogre in Pokomo and Other Bantuphone Oral Literature").

International Conference Environmental and Cultural Dynamics in the West African Savanna, Centre for Trans-Saharan Studies, University of Maiduguri, Nigeria, 03.-08.03.2002 (Paper: "Kanuri Oral Literature and Its Regional and World Literary Interconnectedness in a Culture Historical Perspective").

International Symposium Text in Context: African Languages between Orality and Scripturality, University of Zürich, 17.-20.10.2001 (Paper: "Towards the Inclusion of Africa's Oral and Written Literatures into the World Literature Discussion: Basic Propositions for Africanist Scholarship").

Publications (selection)

Books:

2003. Motivforschung in Volkserzählungen der Kanuri (Tschadsee-Region). Ein Beitrag zur Methodenentwicklung in der Afrikanistik. (Wortkunst und Dokumentartexte in afrikanischen Sprachen, 17). Köln: Rüdiger Köppe. 420 pp.
= Habilitation Thesis, University of Frankfurt/M. 2000.

1998. (ed., with Heike Behrend) Afrikaner schreiben zurück. Texte und Bilder afrikanischer Ethnographen. Köln: Rüdiger Köppe. 375 pp.

1997. (ed., with Norbert Cyffer) Advances in Kanuri Scholarship. (Westafrikanische Studien, 17). Köln: Rüdiger Köppe. 353 pp.

1994. (ed., with Raimund Kastenholz) Sprachen und Sprachzeugnisse in Afrika. Eine Sammlung philologischer Beiträge Wilhelm J.G. Möhlig zum 60. Geburtstag zugeeignet. Köln: Rüdiger Köppe. 471 pp.

1990. Die Figur des Oger in der traditionellen Literatur und Lebenswelt der Pokomo in Ost-Kenya. 1. Analytischer Teil. 2. Dokumentationsteil. (Wortkunst und Dokumentartexte in afrikanischen Sprachen, 1). Köln: Rüdiger Köppe. 790 pp.
= Dissertation, University of Cologne 1988.

Co-editor of the journal "Swahili Forum":

A. Web issues, published at the Dept. of Anthropology and African Studies, University of Mainz, ed. with Rose Marie Beck, Lutz Diegner, Uta Reuster-Jahn and (from 2005 on) Clarissa Dittemer (from 2007 on Clarissa Vierke):

2008. Swahili Forum XV. 141 pp.
2007. Swahili Forum XIV. 254 pp.
2006. Swahili Forum XIII. 200 pp.
Special Issue: Uta Reuster-Jahn & Roland Kießling, ‘Lugha ya Mitaani’. The Poetics and Sociology of a Young Urban Style of Speaking, with a Dictionary Comprising 1100 Words and Phrases.
2005. Swahili Forum XII. 240 pp.
2004. Swahili Forum XI. 237 pp.
2003. Swahili Forum X. 101 pp.
Special Issue: Thomas Geider, A Bibliography of Swahili Literature, Linguistics, Culture and History.

B. Printed issues as special issues of the quaterly Afrikanistische Arbeitspapiere (AAP), published at the Institut für Afrikanistik, University of Cologne, ed. with Rose Marie Beck, Werner Graebner and (from 2000 on) Lutz Diegner: Swahili Forum I/1994 - IX/2002. Available here.

Articles (selection): 

2009. 'Afrikanische Sprachen und Literaturen an der Universität Leipzig'. In: Claus Deimel, Sebastian Lentz & Bernhard Streck (eds), Auf der Suche nach Vielfalt. Ethnographie und Geographie in Leipzig. Leipzig: Leibniz-Institut für Länderkunde.

2009. 'The Swahili Language Cosmopolis. Islamic Influences on the Language of East Africa', Art & Thought - Fikrun wa Fann 91: 64-66. (Goethe-Institut, München).

2009. 'Zur Geschichte der interdisziplinären Erforschung afrikanischer Volkserzählungen'. In: Rolf-Wilhelm Brednich (ed.), Erzählkultur. Beiträge zur kulturwissenschaftlichen Erzählforschung. Hans-Jörg Uther zum 65. Geburtstag. Berlin / New York: Walter de Gruyter: 145-172.

2009. 'Weltliteratur in der Perspektive einer Longue Durée II: Die Ökumene des swahili-sprachigen Ostafrika'. In: Özkan Ezli, Dorothee Kimmich & Annette Werberger (eds), Wider den Kulturenzwang. Migration, Kulturalisierung und Weltliteratur. (Kultur- und Medientheorie). Bielefeld: Transcript: 361-401.

2008. 'A Survey of World Literature Translated into Swahili'. In: Anja Oed & Uta Reuster-Jahn (eds), Beyond the Language Issue. The Production, Mediation and Reception of Creative Writing in African Languages. Selected Papers from the 8th International Janheinz Jahn-Symposium, Mainz 2004. (Mainzer Beiträge zur Afrikaforschung, 19). Köln: Rüdiger Köppe: 67-84.

2006. 'Janheinz Jahn als Vermittler afrikanischer Literatur in den deutschen Sprachraum und die Weltliteratur'. In: Carola Lentz & Anna-Maria Brandstetter (eds), 60 Jahre Institut für Ethnologie und Afrikastudien. (Mainzer Beiträge zur Afrikaforschung, 14). Köln: Rüdiger Köppe: 141-161.

2005. 'Code-Switching Between Swahili and English in East African Popular Literature. David Maillu's ‘Without Kiinua Mgongo’ and Other Cases'. In: Alain Ricard & Flora Veit-Wild (eds), Interfaces between the Written and the Oral. / Interfaces entre l’écrit et l’oral: Versions and Subversions in African Literatures 2. (Matatu, 31-32). (Humboldt Contributions, 2). Amsterdam / New York: Rodopi: 115-132.

2005. 'Afrika im Umkreis der frühen Weltliteraturdiskussion: Goethe und Henri Grégoire', Revue de Littérature Comparée 79, 2 (L'Afrique en marge, ed. by Jean-Marc Moura & J