Exploratory fieldwork in Lubumbashi, DR Congo, June 2022

University Lubumbashi

Exploratory fieldwork in Lubumbashi, DR Congo, June 2022

In late June 2022, I traveled to Lubumbashi, southeastern DR Congo, for an exploratory fieldwork stay of five days to visit colleagues at the Université de Lubumbashi, specifically Prof. Dr. Georges Mulumbwa who has worked extensively on Kindubile, the urban Swahili youth language from Lubumbashi – and to meet speakers, get to know research assistants and connect with other Swahili speakers in the city. Apart from a meeting at the university where future research collaborations with regard to the project were discussed with Georges Mulumbwa, research assistant and translator Wilfried Sakabwang was involved in the project to identify youth language speakers and help with a first collection of data. In the following days, a first set of audio recordings were made that are currently being analyzed. Especially Lubumbashi, a mining city in the Copperbelt near the Zambian border with more than 2 mio. inhabitants, will surely provide exciting new data with regard to microvariation in the Swahili spoken in urban spaces across East Africa! The second (longer) research in Lubumbashi is planned for February/March 2023.

Picture of Nico Nassenstein

Nico Nassenstein

PI, Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz

More Activities

Maskani – a youth chill spot in Stone Town, Zanzibar

Fieldwork in Tanzania July/August 2022

Together with my research assistant Faris Ramadhani I explored Kiswahili youth language practices, often referred to as lugha ya mtaani in Stone Town, Zanzibar and ...
Read More
Simbabwe Kooperation Visit

Zimbabwe Cooperation, Visit November 2021

In late November 2021, Nico Nassenstein and Humboldt fellow Prof. Sambulo Ndlovu organized a visit to GZU Masvingo in Zimbabwe in order to prepare the ...
Read More
Meeting research partners and team members in Bulawayo and Harare, Zimbabwe,

Meeting research partners and team members in Bulawayo and Harare, Zimbabwe, May 2022

From mid-May to early June 2022, I spent time in Zimbabwe to meet team member Prof. Sambulo Ndlovu and other colleagues from Great Zimbabwe University ...
Read More

Research trip to Zambia and youth language practices in Zambia

Research trip to Zambia and youth language practices in Zambia In February 2024, Hannah and Elvis went on a research trip to Zambia. Here they ...
Read More
Workshop, advisory board meeting and team meeting Essex

Workshop, advisory board meeting and team meeting at the University of Essex in May/June 2024

Workshop, advisory board meeting and team meeting at the University of Essex in May/June 2024 On the 31st of May we held our final project ...
Read More
Fieldwork Nassenstein

Fieldwork in Kinshasa, DR Congo, March-April 2022

In March I traveled to Kinshasa, the capital of the DR Congo, to collect data on “Lingala ya BaYankee”, the Yankees’ Lingala or urban youth ...
Read More