Upcoming activities
Paper for the 4th Eastern African Literary and Cultural Studies (EALCS) Conference
Date: 16 – 18 August 2019
Place: Woldia University, Ethiopia
Title for paper: Confinement and beyond. Imagining place, mobility and connections in Kenyan detention diaries
Recent activities
2018/2019
1. Introduction during Book Launch: Afrikaanse Letterkunde (written by Mineke Schipper, Daniela Merolla and Inge Brinkman, Amsterdam University Press), Leiden, African Studies Centre, 17 May 2019
2. Organisation of a Lecture (Internationalisation@Home-event): Dr. Sue McWatts, ‘Domestic worker narratives in South Africa: An analysis of their language of pain’, Ghent, 6 March 2019.
3. Organisation of a Book Launch (together with Koen Bostoen). The Kongo Kingdom, Cambridge University Press. With guest speaker: Wilfried N’Sondé. Ghent, 5 December 2018.
4. Organisation of a Lecture: Dr. Sarah van Beurden (Ohio State University), ‘The Cultural Politics of Art and Heritage in Central Africa’, Ghent, AL&C, 14 November 2018.
5. Visit with over 60 participants (students and staff AL&C) to Kirina, performance by Serge Coulibaly, Faso Danse Théatre and Rokia Traoré, in Vooruit, Ghent, 8 November 2018.
6. Organisation of a Lecture: Serge Coulibaly, creator of Kirina, Ghent, AL&C, 7 November 2018.
7. Participation in YEBO training, workshop on ‘Intercultural Competencies’, Bloemfontein (South-Africa), 22-25 October 2018.
8. Participation in Colloquium Afrikaans, Ghent, 5 October 2018.
2017/2018
1. Organisation of Thematic Stream (Godwin Siundu, Tom Odhiambo & Inge Brinkman), ASA-UK, Birmingham, 11-13 September 2018. Title: ‘Text, paratext and context in African autobiographical narratives.’ Organisation of 5 panels with 16 papers.
Title of my presentation in the stream: ‘Translating, editing and self-realisation in Gakaara wa Wanjaũ‘s Mau Mau Author in Detention’
2. Participation in launch of Brill open access journal Bridging Humanities, Amsterdam, 7 June 2018 as member of the Advisory Board.
3. Organisation of a Lecture: Prof. Gastor Mapunda (University of Dar es Salaam): ‘Multilingualism and the Handling of Primary Education in Rural Tanzania’, Ghent, AL&C, 21 March 2018.
4. Organisation of a Lecture: Dr. Sophie Feyder, ‘Private photographic collections from black photographers and the making of archives’, Ghent, AL&C, 20 December 2017.
5. Paper for TAPAS Workshop: ‘(Dis)claiming pasts’, 14/15 December 2017, Ghent. Title of the presentation: ‘Self-realisation, history and the state in Mau Mau autobiographical writing (Kenya)’.
6. Paper for Symposium 'African Art with Words', in the framework of farewell to Daniela Merolla, 1 December 2017, Leiden. Title of the presentation: ‘The Girl and Her Brother’. Concepts of Slavery and Gender Relations in a Gikuyu Tale from Central Kenya.’
7. Organisation of a Lecture: Dr. Walter Nkwi (History, University of Buea, Cameroon), ‘Colonialism and communication: the case of British Cameroon’, Ghent, AL&C, 22 November 2017.
8. 6 october 2017, Ghent: Interview Willem Anker over Buys, ‘n grensroman (2017), in the framework of the: ‘Week van de Afrikaanse Roman’. For a report, see: http://www.litnet.co.za/week-van-de-afrikaanse-roman-2017-letterkundig-symposium-en-slotfeest/
2016/2017
1. Organisation of a Workshop (with Maxim Rigaux & Elizabeth Amann), Ghent, 25 April 2017: “Memories of Being Possessed. Literary Representations of Slavery Throughout History.” With contributions from: Elizabeth Wright, Maxim Rigaux, Sarah Adams, Inge Brinkman and Felicitas Becker. Title of the presentation: ‘The Girl and Her Brother’. Concepts of Slavery and Gender Relations in a Gikuyu Tale from Central Kenya.’
2. Lecture for Poetry Union of Ghent University Auw La: Ghent, 20 March 2017. Title of the presentation: ‘Gikuyu slam-dichters in Kenia: gĩcaandĩ in historisch perspectief’.
3. Library Merelbeke, 8, 15, 22 March 2017: Series of Lectures on African Literatures.
4. Organisation of a Lecture, Ghent, 20 December 2016: In Koli Jean Bofane, Congolese writer.
5. Paper in Migration Studies Group, Ghent, 11 December 2016. Title of the presentation: ‘Travelling words, travelling people: Mobility, space and place on the Kenyan Pundit weblog’.
6. Paper in Collaborative Research Group History of the African Studies Centre, Leiden, 28 November 2016. Title of the presentation: ‘History, fiction and Kenyan autobiography’.
7. Paper & Participation in conference: ‘Music and Dance Research in East Africa, Nairobi, Kenya, 12-13 October 2016. Title of the presentation: ‘Representing performance. Memories of music and dance in Kenyan autobiographical writing’.
2015/2016:
1. Paper & Workshop ‘Digital Publics in Africa’, Cambridge, 10 September 2016. Title of the presentation: ‘Social diary and news production: audience and identity in social media during elections in Kenya (2007)’.
2. Paper & Participation in conference: ASA-UK, Cambridge, 7-9 September 2016. Title of the presentation: ‘Mau Mau memoirs and Kenyan cultural history’.
3. Introduction, TAPAS (Thinking about the past), Ghent, 7 June 2016, Introduction into discussion on Wole Soyinka.
4. Paper & organisation, Ghent, 26-27 May 2016: Workshop KongoKing with international guest speakers and KongoKing team members. Title of the presentation: ‘Book cultures: Kongo vocabulary for the concept ‘book’ from the 17th to the 20th century’.
5. Paper, Ghent, 22 March 2016: Literary Studies Workshop. Title of the presentation: ‘Outlining the paper ‘Mau Mau memoirs and Kenyan cultural history’.
6. Lecture: Nairobi, British Institute for Eastern Africa (BIEA), 4 February 2016:
‘Song and nationalism: political communication during the Angolan and Kenyan liberation wars (1950s-1975).’ http://www.biea.ac.uk/event/song-and-nationalism-political-communication-during-the-angolan-and-kenyan-liberation-wars-1950s-1975/
7. Participation in conference, Ghent, 17 December 2015: GAPSYM, ‘The role of trade with Africa’.
8. Discussant. Ghent 1 December 2015: TAPAS (Thinking about the past), discussant to the lecture of Paul Bijl, ‘From innocence to grudge. Colonial memory in The Netherlands’.
9. Paper & participation in Symposium: Birmingham University (UK), 12-14 November 2015: ‘Landscapes, Sources, and Intellectual Projects in African History: Rethinking Historical Evidence and its Interpretation’, in honour of Paulo Fernando de Moraes Farias.
Title of the presentation: ‘The material aspects of the Christian education system in the Kongo Kingdom (16th-18th century)’.
10. Lecture: Bayreuth (Germany), 3 November 2015, Guest lecture in the African History Seminar, organised by Prof. Achim von Oppen. Title of the presentation: ‘Education and politics in the sixteenth century Kongo Kingdom’.
For a full list of papers and presentations, do not hesitate to contact me.
PhD Committees
2017
- December 2017, INALCO, Paris, committee of PhD defence: Aicha Aid Berry, ‘Rituel et Oralité chez les Ait Soukhmanes. Le cérémonial du mariage: une pratique en mutation’. Supervised by Prof. dr. Daniela Merolla.
- November 2017: Ghent: Secretary to the committee of PhD defence: Deo Kawalya, 'A corpus-driven study of the expression of modality in Luganda (Bantu, JE15)'. Supervised by Prof . Dr. Koen Bostoen and Prof. Dr. Gilles-Maurice de Schryver.
- February 2017: Helsinki, Finland: committee of PhD defence: Jonna Katto, ‘Beautiful Mozambique. Haptics of belonging in the life narratives of female war veterans’. Supervised by Prof. Dr. Axel Fleisch.
2016
- November 2016: Ghent: committee of PhD defence Lydia Namatende, ‘Agency within Interstices of Subodination [sic]: Female Teacher Educators’ Gendered Lived Experiences in Uganda’. Supervised by: Prof. dr. Chia Longman and Prof. dr. Martin Valcke.
- September 2016: Ghent: committee of PhD defence Bastiaan de Roo, ‘Colonial taxation in Africa. A fiscal history of the Congo through the lens of customs (1886-1914)’. Supervised by: Prof. Dr. Baz Lecocq.
- July, 2016: Ghent: Secretary to committee of PhD defence: Mrisho Malipula, ‘Ethnicity, Voting and the Promises of the Independence Movement in Tanzania: The Case of the 2010 General Elections in Mwanza’. Supervised by: Prof. Dr. Koenraad Stroeken.
- May 2016: Leiden, committee of PhD defence of Fatima Diallo, 'L'état spontex. Négocier l'autorité dans les marges conflictuelles: le cas de la Basse-Casamance (Sénégal)'. Supervised by: Prof. Dr. Mirjam de Bruijn and Prof. Dr. Han van Dijk (ASC, Leiden).
- April, 2016: Lisbon, committee of PhD defence of Pedro Miguel Mendes Pereira Figueiredo Neto, ‘Um mundo em movimento. Horizontes operativos entre refugiados e regressados angolanos (Campo de Meheba, Zâmbia)’. Supervised by: Prof. Dr. Rosa Maria de Figueiredo Perez (ISCTE, Lisbon) and Prof. Dr. Michel Agier (EHESS, Paris).
