Research projects

The staff of the MA African Studies are involved in a number of larger, externally funded research projects:

Current research projects

  • CongUbangi (ERC, 2024-2027) – The Congo-Ubangi watershed: An interdisciplinary approach to the genesis of a linguistic accretion zone in Central Africa
  • OL4D (VLIR-UOS, 2022-2027) and Young People Coping with Crisis: Oral Narratives and Crisis Management in Kenya and Ethiopia
  • CongoConnect (2014-2019) – Objects and power institutions in north-east Congo (1800-1960)

Research cooperation projects

Past research projects

  • BantuFirst (ERC, 2018-2022) – The first Bantu speakers South of the rainforest: A cross-disciplinary approach to human migration, language spread, climate change and early farming in Late Holocene Central Africa
  • KongoKing (ERC, 2012- 2016) – An interdisciplinary approach to the origins of the Kongo kingdom
  • Kwilu Bantu (Volkswagen Foundation, 2012 – 2015) – Documentation of cultural heritage in three endangered Bantu languages of the Kwilu (DR Congo): Ngong, Nsong and Nsambaan

PhD research projects

For ongoing research projects by PhD students, see researchers.