On August 29, 2022, Sara Pacchiarotti (BantUGent) and Koen Bostoen (BantUGent) were invited at the Institut Supérieur Pédagogique de la Gombe in Kinshasa to talk about BantUGent research on the Bantu Expansion. Their talk was titled “L’occupation ancienne de l’Afrique centrale par les Bantouphones: recherches linguistiques et archéologiques“. Prof. Jean-Pierre Donzo (ISP-Gombe & BantUGent associate) animated the talk and the lively debate that followed.
From August 6 until August 30, 2022, Sara Pacchiarotti & Koen Bostoen are on a BantuFirst mission in the DRC. They mainly stay with Prof. Joseph Koni Muluwa (ISP Kikwit & BantUGent associate) in Kikwit where they are doing linguistic fieldwork on several West-Coastal Bantu languages, most notably Eastern and Western Ngwi (B861). They also teach classes in Methods in Linguistic Research (Sara) and Comparative Bantu Linguistics (Koen) at the MA1 students of the English and African Cultures program at the Institut Supérieur Pédagogique de Kikwit. In Kinshasa they work with Prof. Jean-Pierre Donzo Yugia (ISP-Gombe & BantUGent associate) on other West-Coastal Bantu languages, mainly Northern Boma (B82).
From June 28 until August 13, 2022, Guy Kouarata is doing again linguistic BantuFirst fieldwork on lesser known varieties of the Teke group (Bantu, B70), both in Congo-Kinshasa and Congo-Brazzaville. Just like during his 2021 fieldwork campaign, he will collect new data to feed several ongoing historical-comparative linguistic investigations aiming at a better understanding of their classification within West-Coastal Bantu.
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.
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. Peter Coutros, Jessamy Doman & Koen Bostoen are there with a poster on BantuFirst research.
Peter Coutros (BantuFirst) is in Kinshasa from March 21 to April 11 2022 to examine the archaeological data excavated as part of our project during three successive fieldwork campaigns in 2019, 2020, and 2021. This post-excavation analysis is done in close collaboration with Prof. Igor Matonda (UNIKIN) and Isidore Nkanu.
From February 16 until May 15 2022, BantUGent associate Joseph Koni Muluwa (ISP Kikwit) will be in Ghent for a visit as a research fellow of the BantuFirst project to work on the languages spoken in the West-Coastal Bantu homeland area (Kwilu Province).
The Faculty Magazine Binnenstebuiten interviewed Peter Coutros (BantUGent) about his archaeological research inside and outside the BantuFirst project.
Following the short documentary film which Peter Coutros produced on the archaeological BantuFirst fieldwork he did in the Congo last summer together with Prof. Igor Matonda (UNIKIN), the editorial board of the Dutch web magazine Stemmen van Afrika invited Koen Bostoen to write up a short article in Dutch to provide some scientific background information to explain the goals of that linguistically inspired archaeological research in layman’s terms. The post is available here.
Peter Coutros has created a short film on the archaeological BantuFirst fieldwork he carried out in 2021 with Prof. Igor Matonda Sakala (UNIKIN), Isidore Nkanu and Arnaud Mabuaka (IMNC) along the Kwilu, Kasai, Kamtsha and Loange Rivers in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
