Rwandan or Burundian?
The focus of the project lies on the indication of language borders and national belonging in Central Africa. The colonial demarcation of borders turned two closely-related languages in Rwanda and Burundi into separate linguistic entities. Yet, more recent waves of migrants to neighboring Uganda reveal the actual ambiguity of boundaries between the languages: Whenever needed, these can be accentuated or levelled by speakers – whereafter national borders no longer correlate with creative and hybrid language practices of migrants and transients. The project thus investigates: How do speakers highlight or conceal linguistic difference and which new and fluid affiliations emerge in the process?
Project team
Jun-Prof. Dr. Nico Nassenstein (PI)
Deborah Wockelmann (PhD student)